Recently in The Media Category

So I'll be the first to go on record and say that perhaps these two headlines don't quite mesh...

(Bonus points to the bear headline too).

I've been hunting for this clip for a few years now, and thankfully, it's finally surfaced on the internet. It features an on-air squabble between Good Day New York anchor Jim Ryan and his man-on-the-street, Howie. Two parts awkward, one part delightful.

Via BWE

Kind of NSFW

Oops. Jane Fonda accidentally dropped the C-word on The Today Show this morning — as in C U Next Today Show — a transgression that would certainly make an exec like Jack Donaghy's blood boil. It all happened when Meredith trotted her and Eve Ensler out to discuss the tenth anniversary of The Vagina Monologues. One thing led to another, "vagina" was uttered several times, and as one is wont to do in such situations, the c-word just rolled right out. To be fair, Hanoi Jane didn't use the term in its most vulgar sense. She merely referenced the unsafe-for-TV title of a monologue. Alas, the damage was done, and Meredith Vieira had to later apologize for the offending term. A rousing way to start Valentine's Day, if I do say so myself!

I love when the Yahoo! News algorithms go funky, as evidenced here when a picture of a dog was chosen to represent the twenty-four semifinalists on American Idol. Ominous foreshadowing or merely wishful thinking? I'd tune in.

Renfro? Really? Him?

Has Brad Renfro received an upgrade in the legacy department? The troubled actor, who never quite lived up to his perpetual "rising star" status, has suddenly been thrust into the upper echelon Died-Young category, joining the likes of River Phoenix, Tupac, and Janis Joplin, and it all seems to be thanks to Heath Ledger. You see, with the tragic news of the actor's passing, media outlets have been compiling lists of major, iconic stars who have died before thirty, and while Ledger certainly deserves a spot on that list, Renfro's inclusion seems dubious. Clearly, he benefited from editors' guilt. After all, how could they not include him when he died just days ago? Still, I'm not sure that his death, while sad, rocked the world the way, say, Jim Morrison's did. So enjoy the upgrade now, Ghost of Renfro, because it won't be long before the editors slowly weed you off the list (cough, Jonathan Brandis, cough).

Am I a bastard?

• Gone Before 30: Stars Who Died Young [ABC News]

One of my favorite writers in the blogosphere is none other than S. Irene Virbila, the Los Angeles Times's head food critic. Her reviews are known for their brutal honesty ("It may be all right for a drink, but the confusing concept, lame cooking and general ineptness make Hidden a no-go zone for anybody who cares about food.") and their terse, understated outbursts of approval. ("Fun.") Personally, I love reading them. But what's even better are S. Irene's occasional posts to the LAT's food blog, Daily Dish. Her recent New Years entry, a lush glimpse into her world of fireside caviar binges and Provencal daubes, was an instant classic, but now, it seems as though The Virbs may have outdone herself.

In today's Daily Dish, Virbila extols the virtues of spices, specifically those which boast a certain tactile interactivity:

AND HOW! Who hasn't felt the toe-curling, orgasmic thrill of a well-employed microplane? The Virbs then goes on to explain her unorthodox method of keeping her spices unlabeled, thus allowing her to revel in the whimsical joys of sniffing out her unknown quarry. To some readers, this might reek of highfalutin, esoteric crap. To me, it's glorious.

•New Spices for a New Year [Los Angeles Times]

What magazine am I? I'LL NEVER TELL.

I love two things in this world (at least for the purpose of this bombastic opening line): snooty New Yorker condescension and Gossip Girl. But what I love even more is when the two combine to create a sudden, unexpected "Oh SNAP!" moment. Conveniently, that's just what happened when I read the vaunted magazine's November review of the show. The writer, Nancy Franklin, seems somewhat unimpressed with the series (she clearly hasn't seen the light), and as the column reaches its final paragraph, it seems inevitable that we'll receive some sort of withering critique about television's shallow depiction of teen culture. Instead she ends with this:

OH SNAP! If Nancy Franklin were mediating, this strike would be OVER!