Daily Blague

¶ There's a must-read story in the curent New Yorker that is, happily, online. Nicholas Lemann talks to Bill Keller (of the Times) and other MSM heavyweights about bias attacks from left and right ("Fear and Favor"). There was one little bit that hit me with the force of revelation; let me see if I can communicate it. Ann Marie Lipinski, the Chicago Tribune’s editor-in-chief, plays a piece of voice-mail from a reader who complains about a human-interest story. The story is about the plight of a woman who can't get health insurance because she suffers from depression. The reader complains, in effect, that the very printing of such stories suggests that health care is a right in the United States, and that this country is as "socialist" as Sweden. The story, I repeat, was not overtly political, but, to the reader, everything is political. Ms Lipinski is bemused:

“I get surprised,” Lipinski said. “Even something like this is seen through a political lens, rather than as, Here’s somebody with a different experience from me.”

Reading that, I saw at once that Ms Lipinski is indeed guilty of unconscious liberal bias. If she were truly objective, she would have omitted the "rather than as" part of her statement, and replaced it with a colon. Ms Lipinski finds it interesting to read stories about "somebody with a different experience from me." The complaining reader does not even want to know that such people exist.

¶ What Jason Kottke has to put up with! Last year, he was threatened with a lawsuit by the "Jeopardy" people. Now his reputation is being picked over at Wikipedia, where contributors are voting whether or not to continue the online encyclopedia's entry for him. As he ruefully remarks on Kottke.org, he'd just as soon they dropped him. I don't begin to understand the "environment," technical and otherwise, in which the vote is taking place (if it is "taking place"), but then I can't figure out how to install a plugin to moderate old-comment spam.

¶ Boo! nothing about the crash and burn, yesterday, of Jeff Gannon/Jim Guckert, in today's Times. Grey Lady's disdain for the blogo thingy?

¶ Finally! A description of what it is that gaffers and best boys do that you will never forget. Cinematographer-hopeful Ski Jagninski explains it all at Gothamist. (I can see why we don't hear much from Best Girls.)

What are the stupidest questions people come up and ask you while you're working?
Bar none: "Are you working on a film?" Gee, what gave it away, the big film lights in the middle of the street? My favorite query was from the homeless guy who wanted a job but was to lazy to walk 150 yards down the street to talk to the person who could actually give him one.

Excuse me, is this a line?