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  • From: Carrie McLaren <stay.free AT verizon.net>
  • To: stayfree AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Stay F---! | March 15
  • Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 13:13:26 -0500

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




  • Stay F---! | March 15, Carrie McLaren, 03/15/2005

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