The Times Says What?

Last Post About “Vows” (I Promise)

Allen Mogol — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 15:01:38 +0000

I can’t resist quoting another “Vows” article. About the bride, a ballet dancer, Lois Smith Brady writes:

“And she eats cupcakes sometimes and advises young, up-and-coming ballerinas to do the same, just to experience a little imperfection.”

Ballerina Haiku:

Please eat a cupcake

Without making it a sin

If not, what’s the pointe?

You can read the full article here.

I Knew Publishing was Tough These Days…

Allen Mogol — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 00:42:14 +0000

Great article in The Times by Julie Bosman about how recent college grads are clamoring to be admitted to Columbia’s annual six-week graduate school in publishing. The competition to get in is higher than ever as those entering the field want to hear whether e-books are going to kill traditional publishing or save it.

But the sentence that really caught my eye was this one:

“The chosen candidates tend to emerge from college with impressive résumés: some have journalism degrees, successful climbs of Mount Kilimanjaro or stints working in independent bookstores or for literary magazines.”

So the big three differentiators between the merely above average and those worthy of entering the world of publishing: journalism degrees, working in a bookstore… or making it all the way to the top of one of the highest mountains in the world. Guess that last one comes in handy as you climb your way to the corner office.

See!?

Allen Mogol — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 20:37:04 +0000

French cognitive social scientists are suggesting that people argue just to win.

In today’s Times, Patricia Cohen writes that ”some researchers are suggesting that reason evolved for a completely different purpose: to win arguments. Rationality, by this yardstick… is nothing more or less than a servant of the hard-wired compulsion to triumph in the debating arena.”

I knew it!

Here’s the full article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/15/arts/people-argue-just-to-win-scholars-assert.html?ref=todayspaper

And I Didn’t Even Mention the Red ’65 Mustang

Allen Mogol — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 16:17:30 +0000

And now the award for most cliches in a single Times article: (1) “I knew I was going to marry her.” (2) “I am so glad he came back into her life.” (3) “He was always ’that guy.’” (4) “You’ve been a light in my life.” (5) “You’re someone who cares about me for who I am.” (6) “I think I’m going to marry Calvin.” (7) “With the Louvre on one side, the Eiffel Tower on the other, Mr. Ford got down on one knee.” (8) “Two flower girls were in white with wreaths of flowers on their heads, much like those at the April wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton.” (9) “Peter Duchin and his orchestra played two songs before dinner began.” And, last but not least, (10) “We knew it was supposed to happen.”

Check out the full article here to see how Micheline Maynard managed to keep a straight face (mostly) in telling this story of the inevitable joining in matrimony of Ms. Fox and Mr. Ford, who “met as toddlers in a play group at the church.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/fashion/weddings/sarah-fox-and-calvin-ford-weddings.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&sq=vows&st=cse&scp=4

On the Nose

Allen Mogol — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 15:00:29 +0000

You never know what you’re going to find in the newspaper of record. In today’s print edition, most of a page is devoted to exposing what people–men people as well as women people–do to minimize the size of the pores on their noses:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/02/fashion/many-seek-to-minimize-enlarged-pores-for-a-flawless-look.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hpw

Here’s what a guy from a men’s grooming company says: “… today men worry about looking shiny or clogged… and… maintaining a normal pore size.’”

I guess that’s possible. But The Times is ever balanced, so the article by Catherine Saint Louis then offers an opposing view from a financial services guy from Brooklyn who shares that he “could care less about their size.” By which from the context I think he means he couldn’t care less. “I see men out there who have no visible pores. It works for them. But this is me.”

Ah. A man comfortable in his own skin.

Hot Dog Haiku

Allen Mogol — Tue, 31 May 2011 18:16:03 +0000

Here’s an article by Adam Nagourney that The Times just posted about New York’s Papaya King opening a stand to sell its famous hot dogs in the heart of Hollywood. No mention of New York water, which is always an issue whenever someone gets the bright idea to offer decent bagels on the left coast. I guess Papaya King grills, never boils.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/01/us/01papayaking.html?_r=1&hp

Let’s speak frankly here

Exporting New York’s hot dogs?

I sauer on that

Slow News Day?

Allen Mogol — Mon, 30 May 2011 18:23:03 +0000

So where was I?…

Everyone knows that national holidays are slow news days. But major news organizations don’t shut down just because it’s Memorial Day. And–true story!– the newspaper of record puts out a handy disposable print version that’s more forgiving of poolside splashes and melting ice cream than the real digital edition is.

My eye was drawn to an article in today’s paper. This one is about “radio,” which the article implies people still listen to.

But that’s not the news part. The news is that radio station executives are telling their disk jockeys that it would be a good idea for them to let their listeners know the names of the songs they’re playing, and maybe they should throw in the names of the artists, too, just before or after they play them.

Here’s the article by Ben Sisario:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/30/business/media/30radio.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=media%20CBS%20radio&st=cse

To the Times’ credit, there’s no effort at all to pretend that this is news. The article quotes the president and chief executive of CBS Radio–who should know–as saying that the idea to tell radio listeners what they’re listening to is “probably… a no-brainer.”

Breaking news: area residents flock to beaches and pools in large numbers. Slow news day.

Times Haiku—Nooks and Crannies

Allen Mogol — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 12:26:29 +0000

“The company that owns the Thomas’ brand says that only seven people know how the muffins get their trademark tracery of air pockets — marketed as nooks and crannies — and it has gone to court to keep a tight lid on the secret.”

The nooks and crannies!
Cap’n Crunch to hold hearings
Split me with a fork

Here’s the complete article.

An Element’s Faithful One Hundred Percent

Allen Mogol — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:58:34 +0000

Here’s a letter to the editor that appeared in the print edition of the Times last week (10/6):

To the Editor:

I could not agree more with Ms. Brody’s exhortation to talk and read to young children all the time. It reminded me of the game that my husband, a chemistry professor, and I would play with our daughter when she was 2.

We would each hold one of her hands, and on every step we would lift her up and say one of the elements of the periodic table. By the time she was 4, she could recite the first 45 elements of the period table (up to Rhodium), on demand.

Susan Poser

Lincoln, Neb.

What a missed opportunity! I wish the Posers had been more ambitious with their daughter. Only 45 elements in two years? Listen to how the great Tom Lehrer set to the music of the great Gilbert & Sullivan (well, actually Sullivan) a song that teaches all of the elements in less than two minutes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmwlzwGMMwc

Imagine this poor four-year-old showing up at preschool and knowing only the first 45 elements. With the same effort, she could have learned the names of all the US presidents. Or all the amendments to the Constitution – more than twice over. Now those are games!

Or the two-year-old Poser could have been taught games not so worthy of mentioning in a letter to the Times. But what would be the fun of that?

Travesty of Justice: Star Witness Dunst Dissed for Willowy-ness on Stand

Allen Mogol — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:38:56 +0000

Guilty of being blond!

Maybe I’m being too sensitive, but I’m detecting an inappropriate note of ridicule, if not derision, in this article in today’s print edition of the Times:

Kirsten Dunst, the willowy blond movie star, tiptoed through the door Thursday afternoon with a grin on her face. “Hi,” she said, peering toward the gallery as if addressing adoring fans waiting for an autograph. “How are you?” she asked the judge moments later.

“Willowy?” “Tiptoed?” Loaded words for the newspaper of record. If only more witnesses, much less talented and beautiful ones, were thoughtful enough to ask about the well-being of the judge.

She was in State Supreme Court in lower Manhattan testifying (or, as the article puts it, “making a cameo”) about being the victim of a burglary while making a movie in New York a couple of years ago.

Full disclosure: Ms. Dunst once glared at me on Fifth Avenue, warning me not to recognize her. No, wait, that was Clare Danes. Never mind.

The article also has her “giggling,” “grinning,” and “thanking a court officer for bringing her a cup of water.” Not typical public behavior for a movie star. I think Ms. Dunst should be praised, not made fun of, for doing her duty as a citizen. And in such a positive and friendly frame of mind.

I’m sure Ms. Dunst had better things to do yesterday. After all, as the article goes on to say, she gets a $2,000 per diem in cash when she makes a movie. Do you have any idea how far that would have gone in Century 21, just blocks away?

You can read the full article by John Eligon here: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/24/a-star-turn-in-a-manhattan-courtroom/?scp=2&sq=kirsten%20dunst&st=cse

The Times Says *What*?