I got to Reason Magazine – Ghetto Capitalists from a link from a link from a link from Fark – but it’s an interesting read. It’s review of a book about the economics of the urban poor, and a reminder that there is an economy and capitalism, even among the urban poor. It’s also an argument for deregulation that you probably won’t find anywhere else.
Yearly Archives: 2007
Drawing, on paper and everything
Sometimes you have to sit down and have a strict talk with yourself about expectations. I did that recently with the comic — decided it was OK for things to not always be so colorful and formatted and etc. etc. (I really look up to the artists who write, draw, color, and shade comics three times the size of mine every day. I don’t ever expect to get there, but I admire the ones that do.)
I also sat on the porch in the beautiful weather a few days ago and sketched, on real sketch paper, with real sharpies (my media of choice), and liked what I did.
So today – sketchy theater on the difficulty of drawing. Next comic: a paper version of Marin, threats included. After that: a much looser on-paper sketchy Night Fugues unlike anything I’ve produced yet… but hopefully still to your liking. After that? Who knows?
A review: It’s Not News, It’s Fark
A review: It’s Not News, It’s Fark.
What it is
Fark as most of you know, is a news aggregator website, of sorts. You see an article such as “Road crew bludgeons hurt deer on I-440” and you retitle it If you were ever curious about how many shovel-hits it takes to kill a deer, the Tennessean has an article for you. The goal is a humorous headline for the article in most cases – only the occasional serious articles (usually earning the tag of “News Flash”) generally escape the usually-dark humor of it.
Fark isn’t just a small-time news aggregator slash blog slash forum, though. It started that way, as a website for friends. But then a few radio DJs started surfing the page to find the weird news to discuss on their shows. Now, according to the website’s stats, just about every major news source (radio, newpaper, television, cable, other Internet news sites, collectively the “Mass Media”) uses Fark as a touchpoint to know what’s going on and find out what their competitors are saying.
Having run Fark since 1999, Drew Curtis has seen a lot of Mass Media-produced “news” articles hit the web. Sometime around 2005-2006 (based on the content — I’m guessing on the date) he decided to write a book about the news, and the not-news that overwhelms it. He mentions toward the back of the book that some folks had wanted him to do a “Best of Fark”, but what he’d really wanted to do was a Media critique. This book is both. It breaks down the news that we devour every day into eight categories, or media news patterns: News, Media Fearmongering, Unpaid Placement Masquerading as Actual Article, Headline Contradicted by Actual Article, The Out-of-Context Celebrety Comment, Seasonal Articles, Media Fatigue, and Lesser Media Space Fillers.
Or, if we wanted to be realistic about it, News and Entertainment We’d Like To Pretend Is News — what Drew calls Fark.
Since the book is not about news, it’s about Fark, News gets very little coverage. Sadly, there’s a strong case made for the fact that in the real world News gets very little coverage as well.
Why you should read it
First, it’s funny as hell. Each pattern is broken into a series of articles that illustrate the pattern: a Fark-ified headline, a summary of the story and its context and how it fits the pattern, and then (in most cases) comments by Fark members on the article.
Second, it’s frighteningly accurate. When you finish reading this book and then turn the TV to CNN or pull up the news online (or even pick up the paper), whether you like it or not you’re going to start seeing the patterns in what you’re reading and viewing. You’re not watching the news, you’re watching Fark. If you get ten minutes of brand-new news out of a 60-minute show you’ll be doing very, very well — and my guess is that if you then changed the channel to any other news show, you’re going to see that same ten minutes of no-longer-news-to-you running somewhere else. Almost verbatim.
The only downside was that small portions of the book are a little repetitive. The writing style reminded me a bit of research papers I read (and wrote) for college – tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them. On the other hand, when you’re making the case that “these patterns are everywhere – look, they even overlap!”, it’s hard not to repeat yourself if you’re doing a good job.
Summary: Read it.
If you’re interested in the news, in marketing, in the “spin” put on events covered by Mass Media, or on selling content, you need to read this. If you’re wondering why we spent more time covering Paris Hilton’s jail time than actual important news, you’ll find your answers in this book. If you want to laugh your ass off at the news and the people who pretend to bring you news every day, this is the read for you. If you’d rather get the latest update on Jessica Simpson, please go pick up a tabloid – there’s nothing here for you.
Science Imitates (Comic Book) Art
So very wrong
It’s the weekend!
Left work a bit late, headed to Sears where I discovered that despite all the signs telling me about the caterpiller-killing rose-saving chemicals they sell, they didn’t actually stock more than one brand and I’m not 100% convinced it’ll do the job without killing my dog.
Bought another bunny statue for the garden along with some annuals, and some grass seed. Had it all planted before the Phillies game was more than halfway through, always a plus. It’s the bottom of the ninth and Jose Mesa’s on the mound for the Phils (never thought I’d ever type that again) but we’re up 6-0 so at least it’ll be a challenge for them to lose the game tonight.
Tomorrow I’m going to work on gutting the master bedroom closet and maybe installing some floor. (Mesa just walked a batter on 4 pitches. God help me.) After that I expect to curl into a little ball and groan in pain. At least I’m realistic in my expectations.
Anyway, assuming no screw-ups (not a safe assumption, Mesa just worked a full count before the Teguchi grounded out, and then Nunez failed to get a high chopper out of his glove to get the batter out) I’m going to bed in just a few moments, at the end of the game. We’re in the 70° range here (maybe a little lower) and it’s good sleeping weather.
Ah, thank God, we won. A good start to the weekend.
If only this happened more often…
Blatantly stolen from tifreak8x:
A man was being tailgated by a stressed out woman on a busy boulevard. Suddenly, the light turned yellow just in front of him. He did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.
The tailgating woman was furious and honked her horn, screaming in frustration as she missed her chance to get through the intersection, dropping her cell phone and makeup. As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer.
The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up. He took her to the police station where she was searched, finger printed, photographed and placed in a holding cell. After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.
He said, “I’m very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you,and cussing a blue streak at him. I noticed the ‘What Would Jesus Do’ bumper sticker, the ‘Choose Life’ license plate holder, a ‘Follow me to Sunday School’ bumper sticker, and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk naturally, I assumed you had stolen the car.”