Recently in The Media Category
True insanity. I just woke up and discovered an inordinately large amount of tweets congratulating me. For what? I had no idea. But then I got to thinking — late last night, a writer from Entertainment Weekly had contacted me, telling me to keep an eye out for Julie Chen's EW blog going up today. Naturally, I immediately headed over to the site, and there it was: Julie Chen mentioning yours truly:
But first (wink), let’s talk about the elephant in the EW blog room…The Chenbot! I was horrified when my best friend from college first told me about my Big Brother nickname. But, there was a side of me that kind of also got it right away. When I played dumb and asked her to explain it...it was exactly what I expected to hear. Then I was kind of embarrassed and yet unsure how to feel or react. (Chenbot was hurt...does this mean the Chenbot has emotions!?!?!). But, when I told my agent to get some sympathy, he made a funny remark in a robot-like voice and said something like...”Oh-yeah-you-did-not-know?” And he e-mailed me a link where someone edited together all my "But firsts…" (You know who you are, Ben Mandelker!) from the live shows and I laughed my head off. I WAS the Chenbot. Each delivery was EXACTLY the same -- different hairdos, different outfits...same damn robotic delivery with precision and zero emotion. That's when I said to myself, "Can I blame em? I AM the Chenbot!" The Beatles' lyrics of "I am the Walrus" went through my head but I substituted in Chenbot.
CRAZINESS!!! I think the fourth wall has officially crumbled. Thanks for the shout-out, Julie!!
To read The Chenbot's full entry, check it out here.
And to follow me on Twitter, check out twitter.com/bsideblog
If I were a sports reporter, I could see myself doing this (minus the ability to dunk a ball successfully in a kiddie basketball hoop).
Via Gawker
Playboy Enterprises revealed a new chief executive for its company today, and based on the photo Yahoo paired with this announcement, it looks like the coveted position went to Tits McGillicutty, who narrowly beat out Boobs MacIntosh and Mammary Jones for the job. Well done to all involved.
Update: Apparently the new executive's name is Scott Flanders. No word on whether or not he has a heaving bosom as depicted.
God Bless human errors. The local ABC News affiliate for Los Angeles just tweeted a weather update (http://twitter.com/abc7weather), complete with a link to the station's website. One problem: whoever runs the Twitter account accidentally linked to PORN instead. Talk about a hairy forecast (zinger!).
There's a good chance all will be deleted soon, but don't worry, I have both a screen grab AND the offending link, which is VERY NSFW (that means not safe for work).
To see where ABC News just directed its readers, click here: http://tinyurl.com/8jrgm (don't say we didn't warn you...)
UPDATE: It appears as though ABC has removed the offending tweet. Still was pretty funny though for the few hours it was up...
UPDATE 2: Franklin Avenue seems to have isolated the problem: for whatever reason, ABC accidentally dropped the "4" at the end of the tinyurl. You see, http://tinyurl.com/8jrgm4 directs to the very safe for work KABC webpage. Lose the "4," and, well, you get a whole lot of anus. The perils of a poor executed cut-and-paste...
Via D-Listed
Reality Blurred: 13th finalist will get a different, non-sex number; Fox exec: “we knew†IDOLS-13 wasn’t available
Lisa Timmons: Creation of Shia
LA Rag Mag: Amazing Race Winner Eric Sanchez's Naughty Webcam Photos!!!
Midseason Replacements: AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL: THE FALL OF TYRA
TV Week: Defeating the DVR to Promote Shows
Socialite Life: 'Gossip Girl' Star Arrested
Flickr: Feb09 757
Franklin Avenue: Spot Today's Downsized L.A. Times Mistake
Jokers Updates: Big Brother Casting Has Begun
LAist: Man Dies After Eating Mushrooms Picked in a Park
Anyone who watched last night's episode of 24 here in Los Angeles witnessed the local news team on Fox 11 promote a Very Important News Story about students on Spring Break being forced to relocate from Mexico to a new hotspot in California. Naturally, this intrigued IndianJones and I, and so we fast forwarded through the news to learn more. We just assumed the story would air thirty or forty minutes into the broadcast but never underestimate Los Angeles local news. This report was the #2 story of the telecast, edging out other fluff pieces such as stem cell research under the Obama administration and various international crises of the moment. Way to go, Fox!
Nevertheless, if you ever want to get a sense of what local Los Angeles news is like, be sure to check out the clip above for some high quality journalism.
Favorite quote of the segment, courtesy of a drunk co-ed: "You know what? When anytime, like, you have a risk of, like, being cut open and drugs shoved in you, I say no."
One of the perks of being in the Writers Guild is that I get to go to all sorts of screenings and events free of charge. Tonight, I have the option of seeing Seven Pounds a full day before its release (!!), but is it worth the effort to trek down to Beverly Hills just for a few hours of bragging rights? After reading A. O. Scott's review in The New York Times, I'm not so sure. Check out this ringing endorsement:
"Frankly, though, I don’t see how any review could really spoil what may be among the most transcendently, eye-poppingly, call-your-friend-ranting-in-the-middle-of-the-night-just-to-go-over-it-one-more-time crazily awful motion pictures ever made."
Ouch.
Check out the rest of A. O. Scott's scathing review here.
Check out this clip which features two guys "making out" behind a CNN reporter live at Lehman Brothers. I don't know what's more amusing — the faux-nipple licking or the anchor's attempt to parlay it into some sort of new analysis.
Anyone notice something strange about this clipping from Yahoo! News?
The article, btw, can be found here.
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!
