March 2005 Archive
Note that some of these links are short term and will expire after two weeks. If you have access to Lexis-Nexis at your college or university library, you can retrieve many of the stories that are no longer on the web.
Main Archive List
Thursday - March 31, 2005
- Not Everyone Wants FCC to Crack Down on Indecency
Apparently not everyone is Washington is eager to see the FCC start regulating the content of cable and satellite television. Rep. Bernard Sanders has proposed a bill that would keep the FCC from regulating the content cable and satellite carry. (Washington Post)
- Record Press Run Planned for New Harry Potter Book
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is scheduled to have a record initial press run of 10.8 million copies. That's 4 million more than Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Harry Potter gossip can be had at the web site www.the-leaky-cauldron.org.
- AP Stylebook Stays Up To Date
If you're a journalism student, you've probably had to learn a lot of details from the Associated Press Stylebook. (Hi, John!) Fishbowl DC, the blogger with White House press credentials looks at the latest rules. (BTW, Fishbowl is a great source of media news and commentary. A regular part of my daily blog diet.)
- Working With RSS
I've been looking for good information about RSS lately because of demand I'm getting to start an RSS feed. It won't happen until the end of the semester in May, but in the mean time, the Free Range Librarian has a useful entry on the topic. (Thanks to librarian.net for the link!)
Wednesday - March 30, 2005
- Is This The Information Age? Dept. - Student Paper Figures Out Women's Team Headed to NIT Finals
I'm not a big fan of picking on student newspapers for their alleged failings, but I was really outraged on Tuesday when I picked up the WVU student newspaper and couldn't find a single mention of the fact that the WVU women's basketball team had won a thrilling double-overtime game Monday night and was headed to the finals of the Women's NIT. Now I realize that the men's team had just completed an amazing run up through the Elite 8 in the NCAA tournament, but the paper could have mentioned that the women's game had been played. They did manage to get the story in on Wednesday. BTW - Congrats to the ladies! My youngest and I had a great time at the first of the NIT games when WVU dispatched Maine
- Supreme Court Hears Grokster Case
This case isn't looking at whether file sharing is legal. (Hint - File sharing of copyright material is clearly illegal if the copyright owners don't consent to it.) But the question is should copyright holders (i.e. the recording industry) be able to sue the companies that make file sharing technology (i.e. Grokster or LimeWire)? The issue is problematic because these peer-to-peer file sharing networks can be used to share non-protected files. So if the software has a legitimate use, is it protected? This is similar to the case that was being made about the VCR back in 1984. (BTW, not all recording artists are opposed to file sharing.) (Washington Post)
- Freelance Writers Settle in Online Sales Case
Downloaders aren't the only folks who have been potentially misappropriating copyright work. Freelance writers have just settled with publishers who resold work by freelance writers through online sources. For example, the New York Times was being sued for re-selling the work of freelancer's through its database services and web site without making additional payments to the writers. (You will note that Times charges to view many of the articles on its web site about two weeks after they have been originally posted. That's one of the main reasons I try to avoid linking to the Times site.)
- Branded Entertainment - We Used to Call It Product Placement
Branded entertainment - Isn't that a lovely term? Does it mean they take glowing red-hot irons to Hollywood entertainers? Pleasant thought, but incorrect. It's the featuring of brand-name products during entertainment programs as a way of getting viewers to pay attention to advertising messages. But have there gotten to be so many of these product placements that we no longer pay attention to them? (New York Times)
Tuesday - March 29, 2005
- Howard Kurtz: Bob Schieffer Reinvents CBS Evening News
I must confess that I don't often watch the evening network news - it really doesn't fit into my schedule. But everything that I have been reading about Bob Schieffer makes me want to take a look. I'm impressed with what I saw about his coverage of several recent stories, and his remake of the CBS Evening News sounds like exactly what is needed in a post Dan Rather era. The anchor and his reporters are allowed to note what they think about the news, to be informed observers, without being partisan. Interesting reading.
- Schiavo Update - News Hour Looks at the Media Circus
Yesterday's entry looked at (among other things) the level of coverage that the Terri Schiavo case has been receiving. PBS's News Hour takes an in-depth how the media has handled this story. Link includes transcript, streaming audio, and streaming video.
- PR Problems - When Students Misbehave
When university students misbehave, it can get ugly for the school's public relations office. West Virginia University is currently having to fight an image of a school with unruly sports fans, not only with the media around the nation, but with bloggers as well. All that said, I think that the story did get a bit overplayed simply because WVU students have a reputation for setting street fires. Fans may reconsider their behavior after they see how the university is cracking down on ill-behaved students.
- NPR Audio Story: PR Video News Releases Find News Airtime
For all the recent fuss over video news releases, the simple fact is that a lot of television stations are voluntarily choosing to run them. Listen to this story from All Things Considered about why they are getting used. ATC had a another story on the topic as well, looking at the use of VNRs by the Bush administration.
Monday - March 28, 2005
- Updated - What Makes a Story Big News? Does Race Matter?
There is a lot of debate as to how important a given story is. For example, for the last couple of weeks, the heartbreaking story of a family being torn apart over whether the courts should order doctors to re-insert Terri Schiavo's feeding tube has played out through the news media. And last week the nation was shocked by another school shooting, this one in Red Lake, Minnesota. The Schiavo case has gotten enormous amounts of ink, in part because Schiavo has become a pawn in the battle among Washington politicians. And it has appeared to me (though I haven't investigated this thoroughly) that the Schiavo case has gotten much more attention than the Red Lake slayings - the second deadliest school shooting in U.S. history (CBS's Bob Schieffer is a notable exception).
There are a number ways of explaining this, but one particularly ugly scenario raises its head...
You all remember the Lacy Peterson case, right? The murder of a pregnant, reasonably wealthy, white woman. It was all over the news for more than a year. How many other pregnant women were murdered during that same time? I can't give you an exact figure, but a 2003 AP story points out that murder is the leading cause of death for pregnant women. Why was her story such big news? Because she was well off and white? Why is the Schiavo story so big?
Now, the question then becomes, were the Red Lake slayings under covered? (Compare the coverage of Columbine with that of Red Lake.) And if so, was it because the kids slain at Red Lake were all Native American? Don Wycliff at the Chicago Tribune says he doesn't it see it that way. He thinks the story was well covered, especially considering the remote location where it happened. On the other hand, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune finds that Red Lake got substantially less coverage than did the Columbine slayings, that took place in a wealthy and largely white suburb. But was this racism? Or was it simply a much harder story to cover, for a range of reasons explained by the StTrib's reader representative?
No answers here. Just questions.
Friday - March 25, 2005
- Cinderella's Headed to the Ball Dept. - WVU Men Advance to Regional Semis
OK, so this is a media news blog, not a sports blog. But the WVU men have had an incredible run in tournament play and become the darlings of the national media. (Hey, I said media. Maybe this does apply!) Partisan rooting aside, the Mountaineers have all the elements of a Cinderella team that gives them the media attention college presidents crave. WVU Coach John Beilein was the subject of a lead story on the sports section of USA Today on Thursday, and the image of the team on the bench linking arms has been a staple of the CBS promos. The Mountaineers are getting attention they richly deserve, but they are also getting attention because their story fits the Cinderella sports narrative so perfectly. (And if I might add a personal note here, Coach Beilein is an incredibly decent person who takes a strong personal interest in the academic success of his kids.)
Reading more on this topic, WVU doesn't quite match the ideal of a Cinderella team because it comes from a strong basketball conference. But the 'Eers certainly weren't expected to have the run they've had through the Big East tourney and the NCAA.
- WVU Women go to semi-finals in NIT
And if all the excitement of the men wasn't enough, the WVU women have shot their way into the semi-finals of the Women's NIT! One of the great things about the NIT is that you can actually get to the games if you are lucky enough to have the home court advantage. (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)
Thursday - March 24, 2005
Wednesday - March 23, 2005
- WP's Dana Milbank - My Bias for Mainstream News
Washington Post reporter Dana Milbank looks at the charges of bias in political reporting. He does a pretty good job of explaining why there are such strident charges of bias from the left and the right, and what he perceives to be the actual bias issues to be. He followed up the article with this live chat that is fascinating in how strongly many folks hold their beliefs about bias. There's also some pretty thoughtful comments. Highly recommended.
- NY Times: Blockbusters and Multiplexes
Interesting and provocative review of two new books about the movie business. One is Edward Jay Epstein's The Big Picture: The New Logic of Money and Power in Hollywood .- Epstein wrote News from Nowhere: Television and the News and several books about spies and assassins.
- Recording Artists Moving Into Home Studios
It used to be that you needed to go to a fancy studio to record an album. Now with a computer and a few software tools (and an engineer/producer who knows what he or she is doing), you can record almost anywhere. Great stuff on the changing nature of the recording industry and why the labels may become irrelevant when it comes to anything other than commercial pop music. (NY Times)
- Who is Robert Iger and How Will He Run Disney?
Robert A. Iger has been named as the new CEO of Disney, replacing long-time supreme leader Michael Eisner. (NY Times)
- Kevin Martin Named New FCC Chair
President Bush has appointed a strong opponent of broadcast indecency to chair the Federal Communication Commission, so we can expect the current crackdown that began under previous chair Michael Powell to continue. (Though Powell was not always a strong proponent of the indecency fines the commission leveled under his leadership.) It appears likely that under Martin the FCC will do more regulation of content and less regulation of ownership. (Washington Post)
- When Is It OK To Use The "Cheney Word" on TV?
WP TV columnist Lisa de Moraes looks at the varying standards at the FCC for using the "Cheney Word." Apparently it's ok to use it as an explative of excitement, but not as a word refering to sex.
Monday - March 21, 2005
Happy Birthday To Us
The Living in a Media World weblog had its first birthday this weekend. Here's a few items from the first year:
Friday - March 18, 2005
- Media Giant Viacom Contemplates Splitting Into Two Companies
Viacom, owner of CBS television, MTV Networks (let's face it, virtually every music video network that matters commercially!), and Paramount Pictures, is contemplating splitting into two separate companies - one devoted to radio and broadcast television, the other to movies and cable television. The hope is that such a split would improve the company's sagging stock price and would make the company more flexible. In short, the question is whether giant companies like Viacom or Time Warner are really the most efficient and profitable way to run the media. (Time Warner has made noises about a similar split, perhaps selling off AOL.) Without further commentary, here's a roundup of stories about Viacom:
- Betelsmann Has Sharply Higher Profits
The German music and book publishing giant had higher profits for 2004, based in large part on its European television operations. Its BMG music division did well, too. (Washington Post)
- Commentary on Gov't Video News Releases
Romenesko has a round up of several editorial and op/ed pieces on the recent dust-up over Bush administration video news releases.
- Coming Monday - FCC and Disney News
Thursday - March 17, 2005
- DVDs Hit The Shelves Sooner
It used to be that the theatrical box office was the main event for major movies, and so it might take a typical film six months or so to make it from premier to video/DVD release. But today the DVD revenues can be even bigger than the box office, and so movies are now showing up at the local video store on an average of 4.5 months after release. A good look at how movie economics are changing. (Washington Post)
- Fox Wins February Sweeps
We used to talk about the Big Three networks: NBC, CBS, and ABC. With the rise of the Fox network, the Big Three became the Big Four, though Fox was clearly still the second class citizen in the club, consistently finishing behind the Big Three. But then something started to happen. Fox wasn't always on the bottom of the heap. With special programming on Fox, such as the start of the NFL season, and reruns on the Big Three, Fox could occasionally beat one of the original three. But this February, Fox flat out won the major ratings period. The number four network was now Number 1. The smart alecks in the back of the room might point out that the Super Bowl helped push Fox over the top, but as USA Today notes, Fox would have won even without the big game. Keep in mind, however, that the national ratings typically ignore the Spanish-language stations, which can often be the top-rated stations in their markets.
Wednesday - March 16, 2005
- de Moraes Talks About the FCC and Decency
You're going to have to read past the jump of Lisa de Moraes' TV column in the WP to get at the real controversy at the FCC these days. de Moraes looks at the FCC's recent decision not to penalize ABC for running the infamous Desperate Housewives promo during Monday Night Football. Although the FCC declined to penalize the network for the relatively tame spot, several of the commissioners were openly critical of the network. If someone is really concerned about television decency during sports programming, please stop advertising erectile dysfunction drugs during college basketball on TV. Try watching the tournament play with your favorite nine-year-old and see how long it takes before you become bothered. (And a Google of Cialis and college basketball found only two stories, neither of which really dealt with this issue. Though a search on erectile dysfunction ads found at least one letter to an editor echoing this view.)
- Creative Commons Provides an Alternative Approach to Copyright
Traditional copyright protection starts out with the notion of "all rights reserved," that is, that the copyright owner has complete control over how his or her work is used. Creative Commons, which we've mentioned here before, starts with the assumption that authors and artists want some level of control over their work, but don't need to stop all uses of it. This article from the Washington Post looks at the implications of Creative Commons, especially for those outside of the commercial mainstream. And as file sharing becomes more and more pervasive, it may be the only answer.
- New Blogs Listed
Tuesday - March 15, 2005
- Desperate Promo Was Not Indecent
The FCC has ruled that a somewhat risqué promo for the ABC soaper Desperate Housewives that ran during Monday Night Football was not indecent. The skit received numerous complaints. While I'm a big fan of DH, and I really didn't see what all the fuss was about with the Janet Jackson case, I really have to wonder what the folks at ABC were thinking. (USA Today)
- Speaking of Risqué Ads/Promos During Football
Internet domain name registry GoDaddy.com scored a big hit with its titillating Super Bowl ad that supposedly showed a young woman having a "wardrobe malfunction" during a congressional hearing. The ad attracted attention of viewers, but even better, got banned from being aired a second time during the Super Bowl by the NFL. That led to more than 600 mentions during local, national, and cable news broadcasts. And GoDaddy didn't even have to pay for the second ad that didn't run. A great look at maximizing the win through an effective mix of advertising and PR. (USA Today)
- Howard Kurtz: How Much Opinion Is On The News? Fox Has The Most
A recent study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism looked at the use of opinions by reporters and anchors in stories about the war in Iraq. The study found journalists' opinions in 73 percent of the Fox News stories, 29 percent of the MSNBC stories, and 2 percent of the CNN stories.
- UPDATED - GAO Rules Gov't PR Videos are "Illegal Propaganda"
The Government Accountability Office has said that video news releases that don't reveal that they are produced on behalf of the government constitute illegal propaganda, a position the that Bush administration rejects. The questions about the government's use of VNRs surfaced last year when a group of VNRs produced by the Karen Ryan Group were aired as news on several broadcast stations. (Washington Post)
Monday - March 14, 2005
- Watch the "Two Mommies" Episode of Postcards From Buster
FamilyPride.org, a gay/lesbian family organization, has posted a copy of the "Sugertime" episode of Postcards from Buster series that didn't get broadcast because the parents of the child featured in the show were both women. (Thanks to Wonkette for noting this sources.)
- Sanity Rules Dept. - Leno Can Tell Jackson Jokes
Not that I think that child molestation trials are funny, but do think that it was absolutely absurd that a gag order on potential witnesses in the Michael Jackson trial kept Tonight Show host Jay Leno from telling jokes about the case. (Washington Post)
- On the Naming of Names
One of the most contentious issues in the news business these days is naming names. When should names be used, when should they be left out of a story? In this case, ChiTrib ombudsman Don Wycliff looks at leaving out the names of people who are the peripheral characters in news story, people who are named in public documents but not in the news story. Typically this happens with the names of sexual assault victims, but they it happens in other cases as well. A good overview of this troubling issue that journalists don't agree on.
Friday - March 11, 2005
- FCC Chair Michael Powell Waves Good Bye
It's been awhile since we've had an FCC head who's become a household name. The only other one who comes immediately to mind is Newton Minnow, who as head of the FCC under John F. Kennedy, called television a "vast wasteland." Under Powell's leadership, the Federal Communication Commission moved to crack down on broadcast indecency and attempted to roll back media ownership restrictions. While his efforts on regulating decency seem to have led to change, the FCC's efforts to allow even greater media consolidation were opposed by legislators and the public on both sides of the political spectrum. (Washington Post)
- Weblogs and Wikis Find a Place in Campus Classes
An interesting article about how weblogs and wikis can be used in college classes to promote discussion and interaction. Interesting reading for anyone who is using interactive web tools in class. (BTW, this is the first time I've seen a definition of the word wiki. It's a Hawaiian word meaning "quick" and is used to refer to web pages that anyone who visits can make changes to. Which actually goes back to Tim Berners-Lee's original notion of the world wide web as an environment where everyone is both an audience member and message creator. (Washington Post)
- End of an Era in Television News?
I hate the headline I just wrote on this item, but I'm too lazy to change it. There, a question mark makes it better. NPR ran this story on Thursday looking at how network news is changing with both Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather retiring. While NPR does not say this is the end of an era, that's been a popular theme for coverage this winter. Network news is changing, but I think that the old era of television news came to a close back in 1990, when people started turning to cable for news about the Persian Gulf War rather than the Big Three broadcast networks. (This is Ken Auletta's argument that he presents in Three Blind Mice.)
Thursday - March 10, 2005
- Say Goodnight, Dan
Given that I've never been a big Dan Rather viewer, I really can't summon a lot of interest in all the sturm und drang over his retirement. The link above will take you to Romenesko's roundup of good-bye Danny stories.
- Halloween Writer/Producer Debra Hill Loses Battle With Cancer
Debra Hill, who co-wrote the original 1978 Halloween film with John Carpenter, died this week following a battle with cancer. Hill was one of the pioneering women producers in Hollywood. Halloween was one of the first big indie films, with a budget of $325,000, and a gross of $47 million. (BBC)
- Leno Brings In Comics To Tell Jokes He's Barred From Telling
Tonight Show host Jay Leno, as a potential witness in the Michael Jackson trial, is forbidden to discuss the trial in any way because of a judge's gag order. So he's bringing in comics to tell his jokes for him. I understand (even approve of) trying to control the circus surrounding the Jackson case, but it's pretty hard to really keep people quiet who don't want to stay quiet. (Washington Post)
Wednesday - March 9, 2005
Advertising News
Lots of interesting news about advertising recently:
- Best and Worst Commercials from the Oscars
Stuart Elliot rates the best commercials from the recent Oscar broadcast. Oscar commercials don't get quite the level of attention that Super Bowl ads do, but they do sell for $1.6 million per 30 seconds! (No wonder the folks behind the Oscars love to claim 1 billion viewers world wide!) Stop me before I use another exclamation point! (NY Times)
- CNN Starts Carrying Booze Commercials (Excuse me, Ads for Distilled Spirits)
Remember when it was controversial for a local television station in Texas to carry an ad for Seagram's Crown Royal? Well, now CNN and Headline News are planning on running ads for distilled spirits. Until recently, alcohol ads on television were limited to beer and wine, and are not supposed to appeal to children. But the folks manufacturing liquor want to get in on the TV advertising game. Grey Goose Vodka is supposed to be the first advertiser to take up CNN's new policy. Absolut has been advertising its flavored vodka since September on cable networks such as E!, FX, and VH1. (NY Times)
- How Do You Advertise a Tasteless Product?
Forbes.com looks at how you go about advertising premium vodka, which tastes exactly the same as the cheap stuff.
- Broadcast Alcohol Ads
The Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth has a gallery of a wide range of recent alcohol broadcast (and print) ads.
- Trying to Make Not Smoking Cool
Slate's Seth Stevenson looks at recent anti-teen-smoking ads and how effective they have been.
Tuesday - March 8, 2005
- Get Your Daily Show Fix at One Good Move
Welcome the link to the blog One Good Move. Pay attention to or ignore the politics as you please. The great thing about this blog is that it frequently has QuickTime files of recent materials from the Daily Show and other sources. Thanks to University Jan for the link.
- Utah Seeks to Ban Internet Porn
Pornography law in the United States is based on local community standards, which was probably a pretty decent idea in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, when you had to go somewhere -- the dirty book store, the XXX theater, the stag party -- to get your porn fix. But now smut can come into communities by way of satellite television or the Internet, bypassing any concept of place. Do these new channels mean that local communities no longer have a right to control what comes into their neighborhoods? Laws seem to be having a hard time keeping up with technology. So the state of Utah is trying to do something about this. We'll see how much success they have. (Daily Herald)
Monday - March 7, 2005
- Don Wycliff - A Serious Look at the Funnies
If you ever want to humble yourself as a journalist, try the following experiment. On one day, leave an important news story off the front page. On the second day run all the news, but leave a popular comic strip out of the paper. See which one generates more complaints. You won't like what you discover. The ChiTrib's ombudsman takes a look at readers' reactions to comic strips in his paper, most notably the reliably controversial The Boondocks.
- Gunner Palace Appeals, Gets PG-13 Rating
The Iraq war documentary Gunner Palace has received a PG-13 rating rather than the initial R that it was awarded. The film about troops serving in a field artillery unit in Iraq received the initial R rating for language, not violence. But the producers of the film appealed the decision, arguing that teens considering joining the military ought to be able to see the film. The use of harsh language by soldiers in films and on television has been a hot issue over the last few months. A large number of ABC television stations declined to skip the WWII film Saving Private Ryan on Veterans Day for fear of being punished by the FCC for broadcasting bad words. And PBS put out two versions of a recent Frontline documentary about soldiers in Iraq - one with and one without harsh language - again because of FCC concerns.
- UPDATE - Legal Status of Bloggers
Last Friday, I ran an item looking at whether bloggers could claim legal protection under journalistic shield laws. Here's the NY Times story about Apple Computer vs. The Bloggers. And here is a second story on bloggers as journalists noting that blogger was recently given a press pass to the White House. (The blogger, fishbowl DC, has been added to the link bar at right on the main page here. Not as much fun as Wonkette, but very interesting nevertheless.)
Friday - March 4, 2005
- George McGovern Remembers Hunter S. Thompson
McGovern was the Democrat who ran against Nixon in 1972, and so was one of the subjects of Thompson's Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72. He reflects on his contacts with Thompson in this article from the LA Times. (Update: Thanks to John Weispfenning of Otterbein College for this item. He notest that the article provides "wonderful insight into both of them.")
- Inside Al Jazeera
The NY Times Sunday Book Review takes a look at Hugh Miles' book Al-Jazeera: The Inside Story of the Arab News Channel That Is Challenging the West. Miles is a Arabic-speaking British journalist who looks at the development of the leading Arab-language satellite news network.
- Are Bloggers Journalists? Court Ruling For Apple Seems To Say "No"
One thing that has always concerned me about shield laws is that they seem to define who is a journalist and who isn't. And in the 21st Century, this is getting more and more problematic. I mean we start with all the folks who go back and forth between politics and the TV news/talk stations - George Stephanopoulos, Dick Morris, and Pat Buchanan, to name just a few. Then we have the folks blur the line, one way or the other between PR and news, such as Armstrong Williams or Karen Ryan. And finally there are the bloggers such as the Daily Kos, Power Line, last century's flavor-of-the-month Matt Drudge, or even the student journalist bloggers I link to.
In general, the answer to this question doesn't mean a lot. Anyone who wants to call him or her self a journalist can. After all, you don't need a license to be journalist in the U.S., the way you do to be a doctor, lawyer, or barber. But what about when a court wants to make several bloggers testify as to who is giving them secret information about Apple Computer? Are they journalists when it comes to shield laws? And if not, why not? (c|net)
- And finally... Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid
Journalism student blogger Dave Ryan is celebrating Retro Week. I'm not sure I really understand the reasoning behind it, but he's given his blog a 1990s, 14.4K modem look...
p.s. Don't encourage him.
Thursday - March 3, 2005
- Cooper / Miller Update
The latest issue of Columbia Journalism Review has an interesting article from Douglas McCollam on why the Plame case is so scary - in short, why journalists should not be forced to testify unless there is a compelling reason to do so.
As you may recall, Time's Matthew Cooper and the NY Time's Judith Miller are still facing jail time for refusing to testify before the grand jury over who their sources were for stories about the Valerie Plame case. Remember, Cooper and Miller are not the ones who printed Plame's name. That was Robert Novak, who will not say whether he has been asked to testify, whether he has testified, or whether he has named names.
- Senator Wants 'Decency' on Cable/Satellite TV
Senator Ted Stevens, chair of the commerce committee, says he wants cable and satellite television to meet the same decency standards as broadcast television. (Washington Post)
- Did Newsweek Learn Nothing From the Time O.J. Cover? Dept. - Newsweek Runs 'Photo Illustration' of Martha Getting Out Of Prison
Newsweek's cover story this week is on how Martha Stewart will be doing once she gets out of prison, and they needed a great cover shot. What? You can't take pictures of Martha looking fit and trim in prison? Oh, let's just put together a photo illustration of a celebrity in legal trouble and acknowledge it quietly with a credit line on the table of contents page. That worked great ;-) for Time when they ran the photo illustration of O.J. the week he was arrested... (USA Today).
Wednesday - March 2, 2005
Tuesday - March 1, 2005
The Other Movie Awards
The Oscars weren't the only movie awards given out this last weekend. On Saturday, the Independent Spirit awards were given out, honoring (duh!) the world of independent, low-budget films. The awards program aired on the Independent Film Channel (and will air several more times). The top honoree was the movie Sideways, which picked up six awards. Though if truth be told, the indies didn't do that bad at the Oscars, either.
- NY Times: A History of and Feature on the Indie Spirits
Article is almost bloglike with lots of hyperlinks to related stories. Now if the NYT would only give us persistent links instead of charging to connect two weeks after publication!
- Wine International Talks About Sideways
It's always interesting to me to see how non-industry publications cover the movies. As you know now by all the "wine-drenched" references you've seen, Sideways is all about travelling through California and getting wrecked.... Well, somewhat more than that... Anyway, what the wine press has to say (ba boom).
- CNN: Sideways Sweeps Spirits
Though the story is about the Indie Spirits, there's also links to Oscar galleries.
- Links to Oscar Pages
