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

Hello. Here are recent highlights from Stay F--- Daily. For full 
text, links, images, comments, and more stories, visit 
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org



NEW FROM STAY F---! MAGAZINE

Francis Heaney made a fine crossword puzzle for the most recent Stay 
Free! and, thanks to modern crossword technology, you can now do it 
on your computer at work. It requires special software, which you can 
also download. The puzzle is titled "Brooklyn Unreal Estate" and 
that's the only hint we'll give you (unless you count the answers, 
which are also here).
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/08/crossword_brook.html


BLURB RACKET

Gelf Magazine's Blurb Racket is a fine column documenting the more 
egregious misrepresentations of reviews cited in advertisements. The 
column needs some editing, but with a little filtering you'll find 
some outrageous examples. For example:

     Fantastic Four (Twentieth Century Fox)
     Blurb from Charlotte Weekly: "Fun!"
     Actual line: "Fantastic? Not exactly, but Tim Story's take on 
Marvel Comic's first family of superheroes can be fun if your 
expectations are low enough."
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/08/movie_blurbs_ad.html


BABY CAN'T BOARD

I'm not big on faux security but I can't say I'm against anything 
that keeps babies and children off planes. Apparently, every major 
airport has prevented a child under 2 from flying because his/her 
name was the same as someone on the no-fly list.

(Be sure to read the comments on this one)
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/08/baby_cant_board.html


QUICK LINKS

"Our Global Food-Service Enterprise Is Totally Down For Your Awesome 
Subculture," Starbucks knockoffs, styrofoam hummers, penis-fixation 
as anorexia, and the new male consumer.
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/08/quick_links.html


AND SOMETIMES A CIGAR IS A METAPHOR

A new study by a Cornell researcher has found that men whose 
masculinity is threatened are more likely to buy an SUV, support the 
war in Iraq, and gay-bash.
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/08/suvs_men_mascul.html

WHAT DO PHARMACEUTICAL GIANTS AND ANTI-ABORTION NUTS HAVE IN COMMON?

The Wall Street Journal reports that drug companies have started 
putting language in their contracts with medical institutions to 
shape what doctors can and cannot tell patients about specific drugs. 
Case in point: Eli Lilly offers a discount to major purchasers of 
antidepressant Cymbalta as long as those purchasers refrain from 
"negative D.U.R. [drug utilization review] correspondence to 
physicians" or "negative educational counter-detailing" -- in other 
words, as long as they shut up about side effects and the drug's high 
costs.
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/08/cymbalta_eli_li.html


MAYBE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE IS ON TO SOMETHING

You know there's something wrong with a given trade when it launches 
a feel-good ad campaign; the question is only a matter of *what.* So 
when American Medical Association launched its new "Everyday Heroes" 
campaign, you had to wonder: is the group worried about the public 
awareness of medical errors? ...its reputation as an opponent of 
patients' rights? ...its sagging membership? Well, I don't know, but 
there has been a lot of solid reportage lately on the sorry state of 
American medicine.
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/08/cymbalta_eli_li.html


MY CUDDLY NEW PET IS A SMITH & WESSON

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting story about new gun 
industry promotions - "now with adjustable safety... in fashionable 
olive green or 'urban camouflage!'
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/08/gun_industry_ad.html


GANGSTA GANGSTA

Going back to an earlier post about Freakonomics, recall that the 
authors attribute the 1990s drop in violent crime to the legalization 
of abortion (in combination with increased jailing and tougher gun 
laws). But  anthopologist Grant McCracken has a still more novel 
hypothesis: the drop in crime, he argues, can be attributed to 
hip-hop. (After all, they coincided...)
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/08/freakanomics_cr.html


MUSICAL ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER

At first I thought I was just tired of my music. I'd had an iPod for 
a year or so and increasily found myself skipping from song to song 
on shuffle mode, vetoing each one after about 5 seconds. Was I really 
tired of all 3,800 songs? Or was something else happening?
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/08/musical_attenti.html

HOW TO GET A SUIT FROM FEDEX

Wired News has a story about Jose Avila, a broke kid who, instead of 
buying actual furniture, decided to build his own out of Federal 
Express Boxes.  His bed, couch, desk, chairs, shelves, and dining 
table are all made from Fed Ex shipping boxes.  He even made a 
website about it called Fed Ex Furniture.  Now FedEx has come after 
him for violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. 
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/08/how_to_get_a_su.html


GENIUSES OF (CHRISTIAN) ROCK

So I was listening to one of my favorite WFMU DJs, Dave the Spazz, 
the other night and was surprised when he invited a Christian punk 
rock band to play on his show. Dave usually plays 60s r&b, soul, 
country and punk, and so it wasn't much of a stretch, particularly 
considering the band was playing Maxwell's that night and did indeed 
rock. They also had a delightfully goofy sense of humor. Their album 
is titled My God Is Alive! Sorry About Yours!; a song about 
Catholics' gambling is "Father Bingo"...
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/08/geniuses_of_chr.html


DEATH RIDES THE BUS

I don't like bus wraps; the rolling billboards are intrusive and they 
make the view from inside the bus hazy and depressing. So damn you, 
HBO, for finding a bus ad that I can't resist! Claire Fisher's lime 
green avocado hearse is going to roll down New York's streets like a 
harbinger of death to us all for the Six Feet Under DVD release. San 
Francisco and Los Angeles turned down the ad because they thought it 
would reduce ridership, but New York (and Chicago) approved it. More 
proof that New Yorkers are tough, unflappable and looking for any 
source of revenue.
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/08/death_rides_the.html


TAMPONS FOR TWEENS?

So a bit ago Carrie posted something about deodorants aimed at 
pre-teen girls... Relatedly, a friend of mine working at an ad agency 
here in LA tipped me off to a new Procter and Gamble product: 
pre-menstrual tampons. They're called Almost, and I think they will 
be sold under the Always brand.
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/08/meet_me_before_.html


WHY I LOVE MY LITTLE BLACK BURKA

While in Spain, I saw an exhibit that included work by Iranian 
photographer Shadi Ghadirian. I couldn't find images of the 
particular pieces online but the subject was more interesting that 
the execution anyway: Ghadirian discussed how the Iranian government 
will censor magazines from the US and Europe by physically blacking 
things out -- particularly, models' skin. In women's magazines, for 
example, the government will black out any place where a woman's body 
is visible. Kind of ambitious, huh?
http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2005/07/iran_censorship.html


-- Posts by Damian Chadwick, Steve Lambert, Carrie McLaren, Charles 
Star, and Jason Torchinsky