June 2012
1 post
“Scott Smith: CP Guest Editor, June A huge thanks to Nick and Nadine of...”
– Coudal Partners Scott Smith: CP Guest Editor, June
Hey, that’s me! Look for clever asides and links from me at the Fresh Signals blog all month long.
“I don’t mean that the people who latched on to this particular meme are...”
– There Is No Miami Zombie Apocalypse, Just Mentally Ill People With No Safety Net
May 2012
14 posts
“Folks who decry the idea of subscriber fees argue that paywalls won’t work, and...”
– David Simon, creator of The Wire and Treme, on the Times-Picayune cuts : CJR
Smart people aren’t advocating the substitution of previous paid models for journalism that don’t work online in favor of amateurs/hobbyists so maybe take that straw and use it for something other than...
“The Denver Post is eliminating its copy desk and moving away from an...”
– Denver Post, Bay Area News Group revamp story editing with fewer copy editors | Poynter.
Oh! Hi, future.
A version of this will likely surface in every other form of reported media.
“Surprisingly, Dan stated that they had changed DC’s policy in this regard. And...”
– DC Comics To Switch The Sexual Orientation Of An Established Character | Bleeding Cool
There’s a turn starting to happen in this conversation. From “one of our most prominent gay characters” to “one of our most prominent characters will be gay.” Pretty sure DC’s...
“Mr. Ricketts has become an increasingly active player in Republican politics...”
– G.O.P. ‘Super PAC’ Weighs Hard-Line Attack on Obama - NYTimes.com
That would be Joe Ricketts, the founder/CEO of news site DNAinfo.com which launches a Chicago version very soon. (And he’s the father of Tom Ricketts who owns the Cubs.)
“The station’s a lot like Wrigley Field itself—charming, if you can ignore...”
– The Sheridan station: The forgotten Cubs CTA stop | The Bleader
“But sitcoms, for example — or let’s take a step back — the phenomenon of rock...”
– Cheezburger’s Ben Huh says news organizations should think like teenagers if they want to survive » Nieman Journalism Lab
There was very little that was “visually appealing” about rock music on television until the 1970s. Not to mention all the rock stars prior to that who were not...
“Two events last year symbolized Playboy’s reversal of fortune over the past...”
– ‘There are few things sadder than throwing your own going-away party’: Playboy leaves Chicago
I wrote this/read this at The Paper Machete last weekend. You can read it at WBEZ’s site or at mine. (WBEZ has the audio.)
“Cowley claimed his tweets were “satire.” If anything, this would be...”
– Joe Cowley, Sexism, and Title IX - The 312
April 2012
20 posts
“I think the coverage of the Burge case is indicative of the failure of...”
– John Conroy’s ‘My Kind of Town’ at TimeLine Theatre - Chicago magazine
“Correction: April 26, 2012 An earlier version of the Samuel L. Jackson Movie...”
– How Samuel L. Jackson Became His Own Genre - NYTimes.com
Or was it a hologram….?
“The magazine’s success was really unprecedented, and beyond my wildest...”
– Hefner says goodbye to Chicago - chicagotribune.com
It’s quite notable that this history jumps from 1989 to the present day within a sentence. The heart of Playboy magazine - for good or for ill - is Hefner. While Playboy could not have started anywhere else, its identity has been driven by...
“Dumbness runs deep in our shallow campaigns sometimes. I am an American...”
– Is This The Dumbest Election Cycle Ever? - GQ on Politics
“But, he warned, you need not just intelligence, but emotional intelligence to...”
– Buzzfeed CEO: Social Marketers Need to Tap Emotional Intelligence | Special: Digital Conference - Advertising Age
“A writer’s brain is full of little gifts, like a piñata at a birthday party....”
– McSweeney’s Internet Tendency: The Ultimate Guide to Writing Better Than You Normally Do.
“Kartheiser: I don’t think the character does that to me, but I think that as a...”
– Mad Men’s Pete Campbell: An interview with Vincent Kartheiser - Slate Magazine
Totally nails why Campbell is still sympathetic. Also this: “With success comes a level of sadness. You think, ‘I’ll reach this goal, and then I’ll feel a sense of completeness, of wholeness. I’ll feel...
“The proposed expansion of public-private partnerships to rebuild Chicago would...”
– Critics of Emanuel’s infrastructure trust say it gives too much power to the mayor - chicagotribune.com
What could possibly go wrong?
“I’ve never cared much about Black Sabbath. Ozzy’s turned into a bit of a farce...”
– Lollapalooza 2012 | 10 acts we most want to see - Time Out Chicago
That WOULD be pretty amazing and well worth whatever price Lollapalooza charges. Mostly because Ronnie James Dio died two years ago.
“A different interpretation of these events is that Twitter is not a bubbling...”
– Santorum Quits on the Same Day That [Blank]. Coincidence? The Atlantic Wire
This must be why I like Twitter so much.
“Don’t get The A.V. Club wrong. We love 4 a.m. bars. They’re a Chicago...”
– The 4 a.m. bar, or why Complex’s list of Chicago’s 25 douchiest bars is flawed |The A.V. Club Chicago
“Then there’s that Church-State quandary. The old magazine business–editorial...”
– Editors and the ‘Cult of the Brand’ - WWD.com
I don’t think we live in a world where editors can afford not to think like publishers.
“Where do we start? What is that cape/shawl? Why is this top a turtleneck? Is it...”
– Take a Tour of Debra Messing’s Remarkably Terrible Wardrobe on Smash — Vulture
March 2012
13 posts
“My alma mater is in the Sweet 16. They shouldn’t be there. A 13 seed. For...”
– How The Hell Did We Get Here? An Ohio Fan (Sorta) On Rooting (Maybe) For His School Because Of A Hot Tub (Definitely)
“We start with a young man named Marvin Gresham Jr. He was arrested in December,...”
– In Cook County, the costs of catching a case | WBEZ
Also: “The bank statement shows 8 charges for phone calls at $14.99 apiece. A third of Gresham and his fiance’s net worth was spent on those phone calls, and that’s from just one month. ‘Fifteen dollars is a lot. It buys a meal in my...
“Last year the Sox’s marketing slogan was “All In.” This year it’s “Appreciate...”
– Chicago Baseball Preview: The Most Dismal Season in 30 Years? - Chicago magazine
I’m a Sox fan and it’s hard to argue against that.
“In the most recent event, on Feb. 27, the 53-year-old funnyman posted a link to...”
– DREW CAREY’S MIDLIFE CRISIS: HIS BIZARRE BEHAVIOR REVEALED! - The National Enquirer
Do you have two ears? Congrats, you are now an “insider.”
3 tags
Out-of-context excerpts from SXSW panel...
“Our speakers are social technology hotties. They have Klout scores ranging from the high 60s to the high 80s—so these are leaders of the social media pack.”
2 tags
SXSW 2012: Entertain or Fail - Brands as...
Anthony Batt
Katalyst
Thrashlab YouTube channel
Allen DeBevoise
Machinima
Ads in the gaming space convert better than traditional media - stats on this?
New user-generated model drives creative careers and opens up opportunity in the marketplace
Brands need to partner with people who make content, cannot do it themselves because they are too focused on their primary product. Goal is to...
Out-of-context excerpts from SXSW panel...
“The sharp-tongued @BronxZoosCobra gained 200,000 followers as she live-tweeted her escape from the zoo. She is the second-most followed animal on Twitter and will be the conference’s first reptile speaker.”
1 tag
Malort discussion at Frank in Austin
You can take a shot of anything. - @chavoen
That’s like saying ‘You can take any kind of bullet’ but it’s what happens afterward that’s the problem. -
(Then we walked out of Frank and ran into a pedicab offering free BBQ from @Uber. This is why we’re fat.)
No posts yet
(I think this joke works way better when you view the site itself.)
“When it came time for a 22-year-old named Jeremy Hammond to talk, his blue eyes...”
– The Hacktivist - Chicago magazine - July 2007 - Chicago
Hammond and five others were charged this morning with conspiracy as part of a crackdown on the LulzSec group, an offshoot of Anonymous.
“The scouts did not mince any words when talking to reporters about the theft:...”
– Thief Robs Girl Scouts | TM Daily Post
“We’re going to find you.”
“It seems President Obama finally decided it wasn’t such a great idea to...”
– G8 moving to Camp David = one less summit to protest | Bleader
“Plus, there’s the comforting familiarity of his bickering tension that...”
– Dane Cook is a smarmy misogynist douchebag (on NBC) | The A.V. Club
February 2012
30 posts
“…the combination of Monkees reruns and copious airings of “Weird...”
– Davy Jones, R.I.P. - New York Music - Sound of the City
Today in: Sentences That Perfectly Describe My Life.
“The youngish guy is trying to get himself and two buddies into the Vanity Fair...”
– Vanity Fair Oscar party a star-studded dream - chicagotribune.com