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[Carrie McLaren <stay.free AT verizon.net>]

Howdy. Here are a few recent highlights from our new blog. There's more 
stuff, including photos, at:
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/


THE DARK SIDE OF NET COMMUNITIES

A fews weeks back, I was on a panel with Clay Shirky, who spoke 
eloquently on a serious drawback of the internet as a basis  for 
community. One of his students had been working for the online wing of 
a popular magazine for teen girls; she told him that the magazine ended 
up having to shut down its health chatrooms because girls were using 
them to trade tips on starving themselves. I was reminded of this when 
I stumbled across a “pro-ana” (that is, pro-anorexia) website the other 
day...
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/03/the_dark_side_o.html



ORWELL ROLLS OVER IN HIS GRAVE

Sunday New York Times features an important investigation on the U.S. 
government’s increasing production and distribution of fake news 
stories to TV news networks across the country. Any doubt that the 
current administration yearns for a bigger, better Pravda can be put to 
rest with some of the mind-boggling hypocrisies chronicled here. 
Remember last month how the Government Accounting Office (GAO) said 
federal agencies may not produce prepackaged news reports “that conceal 
or do not clearly identify for the television viewing audience that the 
agency was the source of those materials”? Well, on Friday, the Justice 
Department and the Office of Management and Budget told all executive 
brand agencies to ignore the GAO findings because they failed to 
distinguish between propaganda and “purely iHowdy. Here are a few 
recent highlights from our new blog. There’s more stuff, including 
photos, at:
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/



THE DARK SIDE OF NET COMMUNITIES

A fews weeks back, I was on a panel with Clay Shirky, who spoke 
eloquently on a serious drawback of the internet as a basis  for 
community. One of his students had been working for the online wing of 
a popular magazine for teen girls; she told him that the magazine ended 
up having to shut down its health chatrooms because girls were using 
them to trade tips on starving themselves. I was reminded of this when 
I stumbled across a “pro-ana” (that is, pro-anorexia) website the other 
day...
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/03/the_dark_side_o.html


ORWELL ROLLS OVER IN HIS GRAVE

Sunday New York Times features an important investigation on the U.S. 
government’s increasing production and distribution of fake news 
stories to TV news networks across the country. Any doubt that the 
current administration yearns for a bigger, better Pravda can be put to 
rest with some of the mind-boggling hypocrisies chronicled here. 
Remember last month how the Government Accounting Office (GAO) said 
federal agencies may not produce prepackaged news reports “that conceal 
or do not clearly identify for the television viewing audience that the 
agency was the source of those materials”? Well, on Friday, the Justice 
Department and the Office of Management and Budget told all executive 
brand agencies to ignore the GAO findings because they failed to 
distinguish between propaganda and “purely informational” news 
segments....
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/03/orwell_rolls_ov.html


SIGN THE FREE PRESS PETITION TO COMBAT FAKE NEWS
http://www.freepress.net/action/petition.php?n=fakenews


OF ICE CREAM, AND HOMOGENIZATION
Posted by Jack Silbert

I have an opinion piece on page 17 of the New Jersey section of The New 
York Times today; It deals with that nefarious chain, Cold Stone 
Creamery, running an independent Hoboken ice cream shop out of 
business. The Times doesn’t post regional-section content till after 
the 7-day free window, so I’ve copied it below.
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/03/if_you_are_in_n.html


INTERVIEW WITH EUGENE MIRMAN, COMEDIAN

We’ve got a new issue of Stay Free! coming out in May, which means it’s 
time to get the last issue online. So here’s an interview with Brooklyn 
comic Eugene Mirman, along with his commentary on various Park Slope 
hangouts (both from SF! issue #23). Mirman, I’m delighted to report, is 
going to be doing a restaurant column for us.
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/03/eugene_mirman_c.html


YOU CAN LEAD A DOG TO WATER
Posted by Charles

It’s hardly news that the pet market makes a handy mirror of American’s 
anxieties and misplaced priorities. But bottled water for dogs?
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/03/you_can_lead_a_.html


THE TRUCKER HAT ODYSSEY; U.S. CASTOFFS FILL MEXICAN THRIFT STORES

We love the Philadelphia Independent so it was very exciting to get a 
new issue in the mail yesterday, despite the rumors of its demise. Mara 
Hvistendahl has a great article on the front page, from which I’ll 
quote...
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/03/the_trucker_hat.html


VD IS FOR EVERYBODY
Posted by Skip Elsheimer

In collecting film materials about venereal disease for a book I’m 
slowly working on, I found this public service announcement from the 
early 1970s.  Produced by the American Social Health Association and 
the Ad Council, this “infectious” little piece tells us that anybody 
can get venereal disease, but also implies that having venereal disease 
can help you have an attractive, wealthy and active lifestyle. Perhaps 
this PSA is where the Valtrex marketing folks got the idea for their 
equally upbeat ad campaign.
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/03/vd_is_for_every.html


VAGINAL SURGEONS: CEASE AND DESIST!

A plastic surgeon who specializes in “tightening” vaginas has 
trademarked the term  vaginal rejuvenation and is threatening to sue 
doctors who use the phrase in their advertising.... which really makes 
it tough to calculate the asshole points here: is he a bigger dick for 
crying trademark infringement or for coining the sicko euphemism in the 
first place?  I’ll go with the latter on this one since I’d love to see 
every last one of these doctors cease and desist myself. ( I hope this 
doesn’t mean we start getting hits for people searching for  “labia” 
again...)
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/03/vaginal_surgeon.html


UPDATE ON HARRY POTTER SPOOF WIZARD PEOPLE

This just in: Warner Brothers has contacted every theater in the 
country scheduled to show Wizard People, Dear Readers and threatened to 
cut off all ties with the venues unless they cancel their screenings. 
(See previous post) Nice, huh? Personally, if I were (Wizard People 
creator) Brad Neely, I’d start holding screenings with DVD copies of 
Harry Potter in clubs and bars. This movie is just too good for people 
not to see.
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/03/the_trucker_hat.html


I GOT YOUR AD SPACE, RIGHT HERE!
Posted by ja3

Thankfully, our editrix’s colon remains ad-free, but the trend of 
auctioning off the human body as an advertising medium continues, as 
today’s LA Times reports (registration required). The big news from the 
article is that there is now an ad agency that brokers deals between 
advertisers and willing freaks. Dickerson writes that so far “TatAd 
Inkorporated” has placed three tattoos. But a few more rockin’ trade 
shows and we’ll see those numbers jump.
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/03/i_got_your_ad_s.html


MEDIATED BY THOMAS DE ZENGOTITA
Posted by Damian Chadwick

Great segment yesterday on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer Show -- an interview 
with Thomas De Zengotita, author of Mediated: How the Media Shapes Your 
World and the Way You Live In It. His basic premise is that our lives 
are mediated (that is, seen through the lens of various media) to such 
an extent that we experience reality in a completely artificial way. 
This makes us resemble method actors, he asserts: always immersed in 
our roles, always “in the moment”, always knowing our “motivation”.
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/03/great_segment_y.html


MARKETING TO LUDDITES

This week’s Advertising Age has an article entitled Marketing to 
American Luddites: Targeting Sweet Spots in an Ignored Demographic, 
notable mostly for the author’s muddled grasp of English.
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/03/marketing_to_lu.html


WAL-MART: WORKING HARD TO INVENT NEW SLEAZY THINGS TO DO
Posted by Tim Harrod

Like Wal-Mart’s previous crimes aren’t bad enough, it seems they’re 
restocking returned electronics and selling them as new. They may not 
stop doing this any time soon, but I bet after this news story, they’ll 
at least erase the child pornography first.
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/03/walmart_working.html


BILL O’REILLY IS AT IT AGAIN

You’d think Bill O’Reilly and his goons would have learned something 
after the disaster of a lawsuit against Al Franken. But no, the company 
that syndicates O’Reilly’s column, is trying to bully a weblog into 
removing links to an O’Reilly column, under the guise of copyright 
violation. That’s right: Creators Syndicate has sent a cease and desist 
letter to Newshounds for merely linking to this column.
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/03/bill_oreilly_is.html


RENAMING THE NETS

The Newark Star-Ledger reports today that the owner of the New Jersey 
Nets has sold a “presenting sponsorship” to Jackson Hewitt; from now 
on, the Nets will be known as “The New Jersey Nets presented by Jackson 
Hewitt.”
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/03/nascarizing_the.html


LIKE REGULAR SCI-FI AND FANTASY DIPSHITS, BUT WITH SLAVES
Posted by Jason Torchinsky

If you’re like me, you’ve wasted a reasonable amount of time on the web 
rolling your eyes at the insanely detailed websites dedicated to any 
number of dorky D&D or fantasy books or some similar crap. And yet if 
they were set into your head with ball bearings you’d never be able to 
roll your eyes enough at the Goreans. The Goreans are a group of 
seemingly run-of-the-mill fantasy dweebs inexplicably hooked on a 
series of books from the 60s and 70s by author John Norman. The novels 
are awful, but what makes them stand out is the very prominent theme of 
sadomasochistic slavery of the women in the books...
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/03/like_regular_sc.html


NAME THIS BOOK
Posted by Rachel Neumann

A contest sponsored by Campus Progress to name Ann Coulter’s next book 
had one simple rule, the format had to be a single word followed by an 
explanatory subtitle. After soul-searching and careful deliberation of 
the over a hundred entries, they found a winner: “Roosevelt: 
Wheelchair-Riding, America-Hating Terrorist” submitted by Ryan 
Sniatecki, 26, of Baltimore. A close runner-up: “Democracy: The Liberal 
Plot to Feed Your Children to the Poor.”
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/03/campusprogresso.html


LOCK, STOCK AND CRACKER BARREL

Brooklyn may be the new land of plenty for national retail chains, but 
at least one corporate giant won’t be setting up shop anytime soon. 
Yes, we’re talking about Cracker Barrel, that legendary Tennessee 
restaurant chain that offers a deeply sanitized, ersatz version of 
down-home, old-timey culinary goodness. Brooklyn residents won’t be 
getting a chance to sample the Barrel’s soggy biscuits or purchase a 
rocking chair from its dee-lightful “general store” anytime soon, 
because, surprise, the company has a history of attracting lawsuits for 
its alleged poor treatment of blacks, women and gays (ribs just don’t 
taste the same without a little segregation, y’all.)
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/03/lock_stock_and_.html


COPYRIGHTS KEEP TV SHOWS OFF DVD

Wired News reports that popular TV shows will never be released on DVD 
due to the high costs (and hassle) of clearing the rights for music in 
them. For example, WKRP in Cincinatti is unlikely to ever be released 
on DVD because the show contained a ton of music.
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/03/copyrights_keep.html


CONSPIRACY THEORY ROCK

I don’t know how many of you ever saw Robert Smigel’s “Conspiracy 
Theory Rock” on Saturday Night Live but Move Left Media has posted an 
mpeg of it online. The short was originally broadcast on SNL in 1998, 
but once the powers that be at NBC got wind of it, it was pulled from 
episode so that it wouldn’t appear in reruns. Though not as funny as 
some of Smigel’s other shorts, it was one of those rare moments where 
an honest critique of big media made its way out on the airwaves, if 
only for a short time.
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/03/conspiracy_theo.htm