The less said about Apple’s new thingy the better. It’s not that I’m dying for one or that I wish to put it in a blender, as that guy did that one time with the iPhone, there has just been a lot of media saturation for a product that really isn’t that exciting. As a friend put it, I’d be excited if it had a LCARS OS.
Charlie Brooker – How to Report the News
The boring intros with establishing shot, the awkward cutaways to hide editing flaws, voxpopping and the cliche ending; it’s my Video Journalism class all over again! I’d like to say I’m kidding but this is exactly how they taught us to make news for TV. Don’t go breaking that mould.
Scientists, the IPCC wants you
I find the rabble-rousing on News Limited blogs, in particular Herald Sun’s resident “expert” on the environment, Andrew Bolt’s to be particularly infuriating. My resolution this year is to only visit the site once a week, lest I have a stroke. Thankfully the boys at Pure Poison keep me up to date most of the time. I’ve only ever heard of a couple of people who have felt the wrath of angered Bolt readers (Former Media Watch host David Marr, who received homophobic threats after being “rude” to Bolt on Insiders, and UOW lecturer Jason Wilson, who has a very punchable face, apparently after this piece on Bolt at New Matilda) but reading how Bolt readers treat scientists who Bolt has deemed to be part of the Great Climate Change conspiracy is another thing entirely.
As the man himself so often puts it – What is it with the [Right] and violence?
Bunch of Phonies Mourn J.D. Salinger
I seriously <3 The Onion. And I think even Holden would be pleased with their obit effort. Many have tried to capture Holden’s voice before, but this one is the best I’ve seen in a while and it makes me wonder if The Onion had the obit prepared for a while, in the same morbid fashion TV news programs prepare showreels in advance in case people die (The Richard Wilkins/Jeff Goldblum incident springs to mind).
Research Shows Two Gay Parents Better Than A Single Straight One [well duh]
I’m of two minds about this. There is nothing wrong with single parents, and I don’t think equality should be gained in any way by pointing out that one type of family is better than another (that’s kinda what we should be fighting against, right?) but it is nice to have research to back what people have been saying quite a while: kids adapt to their environment and two gay parents? Not such a bad one.
Multiplexity
Tony Martin is by far my favourite comedian, and I’ve followed his work ever since I first snuck a few laughs at the Bargearse VHS at a friend’s place in Year 7. His column on films and cinema etiquette is Tony in his film geek element.
“‘Still, rather that than fucking Avatar,’ he added, pronouncing the ‘Ava’ to rhyme with ‘raver’, momentarily creating, in my mind, an image of Sam Worthington spending an entire movie operating a virtual Ava Gardner.”
