Tag: asshats

It’s been unbelievable to see what Louis’ been able to do when left to his own devices.

John Landgraf Prexy of FX (because “President” is apparently far too long a word for your average linotyper to cast and print successfully in an online medium; best to shorten it in idiotic ways) comments on the success of Louis CK when left to his own devices. Other artists, of course, need to be ground down with notes and other suggestions liberally applied by the folks that know entertainments best: the network prexies and their staffs.

worship the glitch: “Louie” not returning until 2014.  

Why You Should Ignore the Verge (in 44 words or less)

Josh Topolsky: I am now responding to Marco Arment, John Gruber, and anyone else who sets up a minimal WordPress blog and thinks that the ability to publish text onto the internet gives them insight into what journalism is or what I do for a living.
Businessweek: John Gruber makes an estimated $500,000 a year from his [minimal WordPress] blog Daring Fireball. [But, let’s face it, how can he possibly know about or even have passing insight into real journalism such as that practiced The Industry Leader (and daily lesson for us all), The Verge.com?]

You can’t jam a major arms control treaty right before Christmas. What’s going on here is just wrong. This is the most sacred holiday for Christians.

Senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), explaining his highly principled opposition to NewSTART. Which I still think is most likely a dead letter. And, frankly, now that I know The Lord has come out categorically agin it, well, I fear for ‘Merica. Somebody get Pat Robertson on the horn.

Are Stieg Larsson and Dan Brown a match for literary fiction?

givemesomethingtoread:

Not least among the reasons for the bafflement of the industry (and fellow writers) is the amateurishness of the books – something, curiously, that Larsson has in common with Brown. Readers, publishers and writers alike can agree that John Grisham, Robert Harris, Tom Clancy or Danielle Steel build up their massive readerships by knowing precisely what they are doing; they are master practitioners of their highly skilled craft. Conversely, Brown and Larsson – in their different ways – are mesmerisingly bad.

I tend to agree, but good Christ is this article also a fine example of exactly why “literary” fiction is dying:

…in order to effectively conjure my cup of lactescent silt into existence, the barrista in question would have to put down his… Stieg Larsson.

I’d aver this gentleman has been, puis-je se permettre de dire le, duly hoisted upon his own petard.

Are Stieg Larsson and Dan Brown a match for literary fiction?

45 Seconds

Rachel Maddow touches on something critically important while discussing the GOP’s latest complaint: that Obama simply doesn’t use the word “terrorism” enough:

[Republicans are] lying in a way that can be obviously, demonstrably, embarrassingly proven by anyone who has a spare 45 seconds and the Google. When the people in the Republican Party who have the highest profile on national security say things that are easily, provably, flagrantly false, that’s a mistake. That makes it look like the party doesn’t know what it’s talking about a national security issues…. You guys, when you say President Obama doesn’t use the word terrorism, try to remember that when you say that, people are laughing at you.

That’s wonderful. Except that it’s easily, provably, and flagrantly false. First: The Conservative Media (and their beloved right-wing noise machine) still, still hews to the notion that the GOP is automatically and always the National Security Party. Cokie Roberts said so just the other day on that “liberal” bastion NPR. Everyone on-air agreed with her. Her comments and those of several others are what led to the creation of this handy guide. Second: The fundamental constituent for this sort of unsupported-by-facts nonsense is not someone who knows what “a Google” is, may think “the internet” is that Explorer shortcut on their desktop, and frequently worries that this time they’ve really missed their chance at riches from a mysterious Nigerian businessman who wanted to send all his money their way, just for a few days.

People are not laughing at the GOP, Rachel. You and I are. Unfortunately, we don’t really matter. The GOPers peddling this nonsense never had our vote to begin with. Low information voters, hell, no information voters are bathed daily in information- and context-free nonsense from Rush, FOXnews, Glenn Beck, talk radio, and 50 other sources. To them, these claims sound not only supportable but utterly reasonable and serious-minded. Google, if they even know what it is, doesn’t enter into the equation. Until Democrats internalize this and message accordingly, nothing will change. Until the media at large internalizes this and begins to challenge, immediately and on the spot, and embarrass into silence these asshats the instant this sort of statement emits from their fetid pie-hole, nothing will change.

This is what Karl Rove fundamentally understood: in the modern media environment, the truth doesn’t matter. The initial lie, no matter how quickly or decisively defenestrated it may be, is out there. And, just like Cokie’s Law states: if it’s “out there” we have to treat it as fact and discuss it. Repeatedly and without recourse to anything approaching helpful context. That’s what we call good, hard-nosed journalism.

The One True Creed: Apollo

Let the Creed apologia begin, apparently. Tucked in amongst this collection of rampant ass-hattery (“more and more couples today find that Creed was underrated!” is the only hack statement not made in there) we have this remarkable statement:

By late 2002, singer Scott Stapp was on a near-daily regimen of alcohol and Percocet—prescribed after a car crash

Uh, what? Is Jonah Weiner trying to tell us that Scott Stapp went to the doctor in the aftermath of a car crash and was prescribed a regimen of alcohol and Percocet, but that said regimen was Q-whenever you feels like it? And don’t fuck around with that rum, Scott, go straight for the gin. I’ve seen some nasty Percocet interactions with the other clear liquors…and, furthermore, as your doctor, I demand you buy the good stuff: Hendricks.

Moving on, we get to this:

Listening to Creed today, it’s hard to reconcile the animus against the band with the music.

See, I’d word that differently too. I’d go:

Listening to Creed today, the animus against the band seems another example of liberal namby-pamby-ism; in any functioning Western society, this band would have been forced to eat its own intestines long ago.

It’s basically the same statement, but I think mine captures the sense of it with a little more flair.