ONLINE EXCLUSIVES
STOP SMILING BLOG
- City of High-Rises Looks Downward
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There is renewed interest in the underground in Chicago -- and not just the whole Obama / Weather Underground flap. Tempers are flaring as developers, backed by Mayor Daley, aim to ravage the city's manicured lakefront to build a children's museum, situated underground. [Read Post] - Posted: 05 | 12 | 2008 // Posted by: Stop Smiling
// HAPPENINGS
- When Lame Pranks Fizzle Into Oblivion
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Does a prank count if it backfires? Last week, when the bumbling Bonnie & Clyde of Brown University took out their aggression by throwing a pie at New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman during a college lecture, they couldn't even land their toss. [Read Post] - Posted: 05 | 09 | 2008 // Posted by: Stop Smiling
// BOILERPLATE, INBOUNDS
- Plenty of Real Talk in Illinois
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The Texas exploits of the Chicago Bears running back Cedric Benson (he was arrested for boating while intoxicated in Austin) capped an unusual week of activity back on the homefront in Illinois. [Read Post] - Posted: 05 | 05 | 2008 // Posted by: Stop Smiling
// HAPPENINGS, INBOUNDS
- Blunders on the Hustings
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Has the age of gotcha gaffes found its Holy Grail? Take a botched photo-op, add a dash of Curb Your Enthusiasm klezmer music and you've got the Clinton campaign's worst nightmare (or at least a disturbing cat-nap). [Read Post] - Posted: 05 | 02 | 2008 // Posted by: Stop Smiling
// BOILERPLATE
- Bedfellows From Beyond
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Some sex scandals refuse to die. A couple weeks ago, a New York businessman spent $1.5m on a 15-minute film of Marilyn Monroe engaging in an oral sex act with an unidentified man. Was it JFK? According to a source in this piece, at one point "a team of nine individuals were analyzing the tape inside a lab. [Read Post] - Posted: 04 | 29 | 2008 // Posted by: Stop Smiling
// BOILERPLATE
AMUSING OURSELVES TO DEATH
- 05 | 09 | 08
- 05 | 08 | 08
- 05 | 07 | 08
- 05 | 06 | 08
- 05 | 05 | 08
NYT: Arianna Huffington reported this week on her popular web site, The Huffington Post, that John McCain told her (and others) at a Hollywood dinner at Candice Bergen's house in 2000 that he did not vote for George W. Bush in that year's presidential election, and went on to talk negatively about the president, citing some of the smear tactics Bush & Co used against him in the primaries earlier in the year. Former West Wing actors Bradley Whitford and Richard Schiff, who were at the same dinner, backed up Huffington's claims.
Media Bistro: Major-league douche bag, Ryan Seacrest, is apparently in talks with CNN to replace Larry King.
Variety: Having checked off every conceivable good idea for new programming, Comedy Central announced this week that they're going to revive The Gong Show.
Reuters: Fundraising scuzz and Hillary Clinton campaign chair, Terry McAuliffe, said Thursday that the Democratic presidential nomination process will go on until June, even though Clinton's chances of becoming the nominee are next to none.
NYT: MTV plans to increase its blending of ads and shows. For example, a short chase movie called “Get Moe,” intended to look like an ersatz “Bourne Ultimatum,” is actually a series of 60-second commercials for Mountain Dew. A series of shorts called “Men of Action” thrusts the heroes into violent confrontations that somehow promote the virtues of KFC and Kay Jewelers.
Forbes: If it wasn't bad enough that newspapers are dying as cheap web-based rivals thrive, now media companies will have to get by notoriously fickle Apple chief executive Steve Jobs if they hope to secure a prime spot on the screen of the iphone that could give them the best shot at digital relevance.
NYT: After last night's primaries, pundits declare the democratic race for the presidential nomination is over.
The Smoking Gun: Weather Channel's execuitives are trying to keep secret the details of an arbitration ruling in favor of a former anchorwoman who charges that she was subjected to unrelenting sexual harassment by her male co-anchor, who was "romantically obsessed" with her and frequently made crude remarks like, "Will you lick my swizzle stick?"
Folio: Barnes & Noble to sell print and digital magazine subscriptions online.
AP: Stephen Colbert, will.i.am and Michel Gondry top the list of recipients to this year's Webby Awards for web sites and online achievements.
Peter W. Olson, the chief executive of Random House, who is famously known for putting profits over everything else in the book publishing world, will step down in the next few weeks, according to the New York Times, because Bertelsmann, RH's parent company, has been damaged by lower profits and steep losses in its American book clubs, which Olson also oversees.
NYT: Barack Obama on "Meet the Press" beats Hillary Clinton on "This Week" among Indiana viewers. According to data from Nielsen, “Meet the Press,” on NBC, was viewed in 91,000 households there, a third of all of those watching television at the time. “This Week,” on ABC, was watched in 14,000 households, just 4 percent of those watching television. The margin of victory for Mr. Russert over Mr. Stephanopoulos was larger than usual in Indianapolis.
Financial Times: Yahoo under pressure after takeover from Microsoft collapses.
Washington Post: Obama's chilly spring: the once-cordial press coverage turns decidedly cool, Howard Kurtz reports.
Editor & Publisher: Five years after the Jayson Blair scandal at the New York Times, former editor Howell Raines has few regrets.
SET LIST: THE STOP SMILING MP3 BLOG
Click Here for MP3 Download Instructions- The Upsetters - Jungle Lion
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A start-of-the-week tonic from Lee Perry and the Upsetters. Drum break? Check. Dubbed out lazerface vocals? Check. The "Love and Happiness" opening guitar lick to set things off proper? Lee Perry literally doing an impression of a lion? Oh yes. If this doesn't brighten your day just a little bit, I'm not really sure what will. [Read Post] - Posted: 05 | 05 | 2008 // Posted by: Stop Smiling
// SET LIST
- Heatwave!
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The latest free-music-on-the-internt gem we've come across is from the UK's Heatwave collective. They've been putting out killer reggae / ragga-tinged remixes, mostly on limited edition 45s. Now they've posted a handful of them online, available as free downloads. [Read Post] - Posted: 04 | 18 | 2008 // Posted by: Stop Smiling
// SET LIST
STOP SMILING MEDIA BLOG
- City of Chicago to Regulate Live Music / A Petition Worth Signing
- We usually try to stay pretty neutral on this media blog and not try to point fingers, but the recent live music / promoter debate in Chicago is worth speaking up on. Essentially, the City of Chicago is trying to pass on ordinance that require music / theater promoters to register and get licensed from the city. As with many of the ordinances passed in our fair city, the language is pretty loose, but it will require a promoter to pay a fee between $500 - $2000 dollars for a license, jump through what are sure to be countless hurdles to get the venue licensed in the first place, and to notify the police 7 days before an event, among other things. [Read Post]
- Posted: 05 | 12 | 2008 // Posted by: Stop Smiling
// MEDIA
- The Future of the Music Industry Pt. II
- Remember this post? The trend -- and the debate surrounding it -- rages on. The London Times recently ran this piece, with quotes from a member of one of our favorite bands, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, advocating the partnership of musicians directly with brands. [Read Post]
- Posted: 05 | 05 | 2008 // Posted by: Stop Smiling
// MEDIA
EVENTS
- Currently, there are no upcoming events.