In their annual push to boost newsstand sales, People magazine has named Gwyneth Paltrow this year’s “World’s Most Beautiful Woman.” Suffice to say this was not a popular choice, particularly amongst readers of the L.A. Times. And the award for World’s Most Ridiculous Reaction goes to:
I gotta say, I laughed at the Kardashian bit, but that last sentence? Yeah, I’m not even going to touch that one…
Juron: A curse, a swear or a naughty word, often with religious connotations (ie blasphemy).
As seen in: « Surprise, les livres destinés aux jeunes enfants qui apprennent à lire ne sont pas toujours inoffensifs et peuvent même contenir des jurons et des sacres. »
(Translation: “Surprise! Books intended for young children who are learning to read aren’t always inoffensive and can even contain swear words and curses.”)
As recently revealed in the British press, the publishing industry is full of sexist, chauvinist pigs. Just ask Esquire UK editor Alex Bilmes. On second thought, don’t. But Bilmes’ ill-conceived contention that women’s magazines are worse than the lads’ papers might have been partially proven by this recipe in Women’s Health:
Now, who’s to say that legless strumpet with the parasol is a prostitute? Perhaps she’s simply trying to stay shady atop a warm summer’s pudding cake? That’s rather judgmental of the little plastic man in the overcoat, who appears to be dressed like either a flasher or a Columbine killer—but I’m not one to judge any baking accessories!
That being said, the British press is all up in arms, with The Guardian stating “the caption, on page 110 of the May/June issue, is likely to leave a nasty taste in the mouth.” One reader went even further, writing “Who’d have thought misogynistic attitudes would be alive and well on a sponge cake?” Methinks a boycott of the offending dessert is in order. I’m know I’m never eating caramelised pear and buckwheat pudding cake again! 
The editor of the English edition of Esquire really dug a hole for himself by appearing on a panel about feminism in the media. His speech, captured on video, essentially outraged all the other panelists at the debate. Telling women that your magazine exists to objectify them—on a panel about feminism—is not a very smart move, mate.
Then again, there are certainly magazines out there that objectify men—but most of them are targeted towards teenage girls, who probably think sequestration is the latest hair-style craze:
That said, the U.S. deficit, like the British boy band, is only heading in One Direction these days…
If you give a million monkeys a computer, eventually one of them will log on to Wikipedia, steal a bunch of information about plants, and use it in a book. Perhaps that would be the best defense for noted primatologist Jane Goodall, who issued a semi-apology for her “well-researched book” that stole several unattributed passages straight from Wikipedia and other websites. According to the Washington Post, her transgressions “range from phrases to an entire paragraph from Web sites such as Wikipedia and others that focus on astrology, tobacco, beer, nature and organic tea.” Man, I hope there isn’t a passage about Coors Light being the World’s Most Refreshing Beer in there. Here’s hoping she didn’t use their website in her research…
Don’t get me wrong, when it comes to primates, Goodall is one of the foremost experts in the field. But by her own admission, she has never studied plants, which happen to be the topic of her new book Seeds of Hope: Wisdom and Wonder From the World of Plants. Thus, as the Post remarks, “It is when the book moves away from Goodall’s own stories to deliver background information on plants and their history that the instances of borrowing creep in.” In fact, when an expert botanist was invited to review the book by the D.C. based newspaper, he jumped all over the plagiarized passages and declined the assignment.
But this shocking revelation isn’t bad news for everybody. In fact, if you contributed to the Wikipedia page on 18th-century botanist John Bartram, you could probably demand royalties from Goodall’s publisher, as she reportedly lifted a sentence from the site. Said publisher, Grand Central, says it plans on “crediting the sources in subsequent releases,” but in the meantime, you could surely find a lawyer who would take your case—if you can prove you’re the one who wrote it in the first place. 
Just finished reading the Tony Iommi autobiography Iron Man: My Journey Through Heaven & Hell with Black Sabbath. I’ve read a couple other Sabbath books before, but I found this one to be quite interesting, particularly as it relates to the recording process of several Sabbath albums. Known both as the sane, sober one–relatively speaking, of course–as well as the de facto band-leader, Iommi was the only member to survive every incarnation of Black Sabbath, with the band undergoing several lineup changes around him in the 80′s and 90′s. In fact, if he hadn’t owed Warner Bros another Sabbath album during the Seventh Star sessions, it’s quite likely Sabbath would’ve called it a day back in ’84…
Reading the book feels kind of like sitting down with an old man and hearing him spin tales of yore–only the tales in question happen to be about the founding fathers of doom. The writing style is very informal, un-fancy and conversational, short on transitions and literary devices, and sometimes jumping from one era to another, say, when the author recalls a particular prank he pulled on Bill Ward. It’s almost amazing that the drummer’s still alive after all he went through–both this and Ozzy Osbourne’s autobiographical tome, I Am Ozzy, detail all kinds of wicked pranks pulled on Ward over the years.
Ozzy’s book goes into greater detail about certain hilarious incidents, both pre- and post-Sabbath, but when it comes to the band, sometimes he and Tony don’t have their stories straight. For instance, I might believe Ozzy’s version that it was he, not Bill Ward, who accidently pulled the burglar alarm in Bel Air–were he not out of his mind on drugs all the time. And, as a result, I Am Ozzy contains very little about the writing or recording process aside from amusing anecdotes about staying in a haunted castle, or paying Rick Wakeman in beer to play keyboards on “Sabbra Cadabra.” That said, Ozzy’s recollections are side-splittingly funny at times; the man’s output on paper is about as zany as what comes out of his mouth. For an entertaining read, I’d certainly recommend it.
On the other hand, Iron Man gets more into the nuts and bolts of Black Sabbath. Aside from his infamous metal-cutting accident, we don’t learn as much about Iommi’s past as we do Ozzy’s from reading their respective tomes–but we do get a more complete tale of his Sabbath years, all 40+ of them. While Ozzy tails off into his solo career and reality TV stardom, the riffmeister keeps plugging away–although there’s certainly less ink spilled over, say, Forbidden than the immortal first four albums. (FWIW, Iommi wasn’t thrilled by the latter’s producer, Ernie C. of Body Count fame, who apparently kept trying to tell Cozy Powell how to play drums like a hip-hop artist.) And while there might be quite a few books out there about Sabbath’s glory years, Iron Man is probably the first to tell the story from start to finish–or at least until Dio’s passing, anyways. It’s probably worth reading for that reason alone.
Iommi’s book, written in 2011, concludes with him suggesting that by the time you read it, Sabbath “might be in a studio recording, or we might even have an album in the shops already,” also hinting that they might be planning another tour–or not. Of course, the band would officially reunite a couple months later, although between Iommi’s own health issues and the bickering with Bill Ward, things still seem to be sorta up in the air at this point. And speaking of the latter, the last line in Iron Man is beautifully stated: “I will never set fire to Bill Ward again.” Of course, you’ll actually have to read the book to uncover the importance of that statement…
In the breaking news-media story of the day, it’s been widely reported that Superman’s alter ego Clark Kent has quit the Daily Planet, disenchanted with its dumbing-down of the news. In a couple pages from the new Superman #13 (uh, shouldn’t they be on, like, #13,000 by now?) Kent is seen having a disagreement with Perry White and Lois Lane about the state of journalism at the paper.
On Page 6, he complains about how Lois Lane’s last broadcast (apparently, she works in TV now) ran a White House transcript without asking questions, followed by a four-minute, 37-second story about “Lookie’s” love child (heh heh). Then, on Page 7, he laments that news should actually be about news, and is told by Perry White that putting a reality star on the front page helps sell papers, after mentioning that it’s a dying medium. Word has it he later resigns in front of the entire office, Jerry Maguire-style—but to see that, I guess you’ll hafta buy the comic book.
DC Comics writer Scott Lobdell, who just started working on Superman last month, tells USA Today, “This is really what happens when a 27-year-old guy is behind a desk and he has to take instruction from a larger conglomerate with concerns that aren’t really his own.” And here I thought the Man of Steel was at least 75… Lobdell adds that “He is more likely to start the next Huffington Post or the next Drudge Report than he is to go find someone else to get assignments or draw a paycheck from.”
Man, I can’t wait for New Superman #152 when Clark Kent gets taken to court for not paying his bloggers!
Apparently, reading Batman and Spider-Man comics can make you stronger—but only if you have a “parasocial relationship” with your favourite heroes, according to a recent University of Buffalo study. As Canada.com reports, “Roughly 100 young men had their affinity for Batman and Spider-Man separately assessed by researchers to determine the strength of their parasocial relationship (science-speak for unreciprocated or one-sided fandom) with the respective characters.” I guess that Batman doesn’t love you back, no matter how many of his action figures you collect, is what they’re saying.
That said, the web-slinger and the caped crusader do improve male body image amongst their die-hard readers, as researchers discovered. After being shown either muscular or scrawny Bat- and Spider-men, both fans and non-fans were asked to rate their “satisfaction with their biceps, chest, overall fitness and other physical traits.” The ones who don’t read comics felt inferior afterwards, but, according to Canada.com, “when men were fans of the muscular figure – whether it was Batman or Spider-Man – it not only eliminated this negative effect, it also led them to demonstrate greater grip-strength than men exposed to the non-muscular figure.”
Forget going to the gym, looks like I need to start reading comic books again!
Yesterday, I mentioned plagiarism in reference to the latest scandal at the University of Alberta, perhaps giving the impression that it wasn’t the most serious professional misconduct that occurred at the Ewe of Eh. But let’s be honest, ripping off someone else word-for-word without attribution is no laughing matter, whether it’s the dean of a major university or a columnist for a major newspaper—heck, any newspaper, for that matter. That said, any rants or opinions expressed here are my own, and where I quote something from another source, I make sure to attribute it properly, and even leave a link. But it appears my standards are higher than the Globe and Mail’s, at least as far as columnist Margaret Wente is concerned…
One week ago, the Media Culpa blog exposed Wente in an in-depth posting that laid out how a column she wrote—in 2009, mind you—was almost entirely stolen from other sources. This isn’t the first time blogger Carol Wainio has taken Wente to task, either, but it certainly happens to be the most extensive raking over the coals one could possibly present. The posting gathered steam on the internet, leading to a memo from the Globe’s Editor-in-Chief, John Stackhouse, which minced no words in stating: “The journalism in this instance did not meet the standards of The Globe and Mail in terms of sourcing, use of quotation marks and reasonable credit for the work of others. Even in the spirit of column writing, which allows for some latitude in attribution and expression, this work was not in accordance with our code of conduct and is unacceptable.” So, that should seal the deal, right?
Wrong. Wente’s column written today seems to gloss over the issue, stating “My aim was to be conversational and readable, and to present the gist of his work – not to pass off other people’s words or ideas as my own.” Except that her conversation seemed to use the exact same words as other sources, but okay. Wente continues, “Journalistic practice around quotations and attribution has become far more cautious in the past few years, and mine has, too. If I were writing that column again today, I would quote and attribute more carefully.” I can’t say I was aware of any major changes within the last three years (though I suppose the New York Times might be at least partially responsible), but if standards were really that tight at the Globe and Mail, wouldn’t Wente have received more than some non-disclosed “appropriate action,” ie a suspension, or even dismissal?
Anyways, just to reiterate, this blog has higher standards for attribution than one of Canada’s major newspapers. Whether you choose to see it as a credible source of information is entirely up to you.
From: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/09/14/william-kate-topless-photos.html
French gossip rag Closer, in living up to its name, got closer to the Duchess of Cambridge than ever before by publishing photos of Kate Middleton sunbathing topless in today’s edition. The media and internets are all in a tizzy over this invasion of your her privacy—particularly in the UK, but also in other Commonwealth countries such as Canada. But the mag has defended its decision, stating «Ces photos n’ont rien de choquant, elles montrent une jeune femme bronzant seins nus, comme on en voit des millions sur les plages» (Translation: “There’s nothing shocking about these photos, they show a young woman tanning bare-breasted, like the millions we see on beaches.”) However, one CBC commentor, who’s been to the south of France, begs to differ:
Guess I’ll just hafta visit Amsterdam instead…
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