Sunday April 30, 2006

Kill the Correspondents Dinner

The blogosphere is aflutter about what many seem to think was a subversive victory for Stephen Colbert at last night’s White House Correspondents Association annual gag fest. Colbert took lots of shots at Bush and the assembled press, but then so did Bush, who appeared alongside an impersonator who helped him make comic hay out of his dismal approval rating and disintegrating administration. I don’t care what licks Colbert got in, the annual dinner has to go.

Launched during the Wilson administration, the dinner is unsuited for the Age of Irony, or—rather—it is so well suited for the Age of Irony that it has become little more than a showcase for the sitting president to flourish his self-deprecating side—even if he believes himself to be the Messiah. If self-deprecation can extend careers as varied and lame as William Shatner’s and Robert Goulet’s, there is no limit to the evil it might launder.

The dinner is little more than a video news release—the morning news shows featured nothing but Bush’s routine, accompanied by approving guffaws—and the press corps has no business supporting it, especially in an era when politicos clamor to poke fun at themselves on Letterman and Leno and, yes bloggers, even The Daily Show to goose their approval ratings. It’s a product placement, where Bush pays with his participation so he can unfurl his nonexistent humility like a Target umbrella on Pagong Beach.

Will Colbert’s barbs dampen Bush’s press-sponsored credibility bonanza? Please. They’re still just jokes, and the more Bush takes, the better he looks. If Colbert had really wanted to disrupt the love-in, he would have looked straight into the cameras and told everyone to go home.

Posted by jim at 03:44 PM ||

Saturday April 29, 2006

’Cause You Had A Bald Day

Who does Daniel “Bad Day” Powter think he’s fooling with these idiot hats?

Posted by jim at 03:28 PM ||

Thursday April 27, 2006

The Sophist

Jerry Falwell may be exaggerating their prowess, but his plan to create an army of right-wing debaters at Liberty University—who will then go on to control the government—might have some merit. That’s right, talking head turned White House press secretary Tony Snow was a college debater.

Snow apparently debated for Davidson College (in Davidson, NC) in the mid-seventies. This is reflected in his Davidson bio, which says he was a member of the honorary forensics society DSR-TKA. Snow also attended Princeton High School in Cincinnati, which hosted a major national high school tournament in the late ’80s, although I have no idea if he debated there. In any case, whatever experience he has debating both sides of an issue will come in handy, given his recent criticisms of the administration.

Posted by jim at 09:10 PM ||

Monday April 24, 2006

The Baby Name Shortage

Lots of ink has been spilled lately on the pressing problem of why celebrities give their children strange names. Last week, the New York Times went looking for explanations. As the story notes, unconventional names aren’t just for celebs. Names like “Karen” and “Joseph” have been replaced by “Madison” and “Caleb” on the list of America’s most popular names—celebrities just take it a bit further.

The Times offers a sociological answer, suggesting that “if celebrities are the new American aristocracy, the exotic baby name can sometimes function as the equivalent of a royal title, a way for a privileged caste to bestow the power of its legacy on future generations.”

But I think the baby name boom is tied to a much more banal fact, which is that you probably don’t want to name your child after someone you’ve slept with. Divorce has become more common and parenthood often comes later in life, which gives future parents lots of time to get their freak on and effectively eliminate a lot of names for their children. According to the CDC, women 30-44 report having had four sexual partners, while men report having had six to eight. That’s a dozen or so baby names gone—more if you were around long enough to learn a partner’s middle name—before you’ve even settled down to have kids. It’s no wonder “John” has completely slipped out of the top 10.

Now imagine how quickly potential names for celebrity offspring vanish. No wonder Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are considering a Namibian name for their child. Between their hotness and Angelina’s bisexuality, that might be all they have left—especially if it’s a girl. Chris Martin, of course, is a rock star (the most promiscuous baby-name eliminators), so “Apple Paltrow” starts to seem reasonable—and the fact that he and Gwyneth were still able to name their son “Moses” makes Ms. Paltrow seem postively chaste. On the other hand, Beth Riesgraf—fiance to Jason Lee and mother to Pilot Inspektor—must have quite a past, or else Mr. Lee has been eliminating boy names on the sly.

And then Tom Cruise names his daughter Suri, which—well—doesn’t really have anything to do with this theory. He’s just a weirdo.

Posted by jim at 03:11 PM ||

Thursday April 20, 2006

Coked Up

AdJab has a link to the fabled Coke spot that features music by Jack White. The ad, created by Mother/London, broke in England a few months ago and has now surfaced on YouTube. White’s track is good, but the direction is more remarkable. Shot by Japanese director Nagi Noda—who I recently wrote about for Creativity—the spot simulates time-lapse photography with a long tracking shot featuring multiple actors. The execution feels rushed, however, and the technique was on much better display in Noda’s sublime “Sentimental Journey” video for Japanese pop star Yuki (pictured). You can find that, and more of Noda’s films, on her website.

Posted by jim at 11:37 AM ||

Monday April 10, 2006

Three Little Dots: Yeah Yeah Edition

According to Rolling Stone’s David Fricke, “Gold Lion”—the lead track on the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ new album—is named after the awards at the International Advertising Festival in Cannes, where the Adidas Spike Jonze/Karen O. collab “Hello Tomorrow” won just such a Lion. But judging from the lyrics, it isn’t about anything. … My good friend Bill Whitten of the band Grand Mal has started a blog—and you will read it. … The Associated Press takes a swing at the Liberty Debate chestnut with a slightly more accurate headline: “Falwell Touts Christian College Debaters.” Why everyone has been so anxious to help him do so remains a mystery.

Posted by jim at 05:28 PM ||

Tuesday April 04, 2006

81 Feeds and Nothing On?

I’m experiencing a malaise that will be familiar to my fellow bloggers. I’m reading all my feeds every day, like usual—I just don’t have anything to say about any of them. Is it them or me? It’s probably me. But in the interest of keeping the blog fires burning, I will remind you that I will be reading some fiction at the New York Public Library next Tuesday, April 11. Details here.

Posted by jim at 10:28 AM ||