Today we’ll keep it simple, because I have a lot to do. In one of my many Wikidventures, I found this fantastic sentence:

“Drummer Frank Beard does not have a beard.”

And a video:

Even if you are the luckiest journalist in the world, you’ll never get to write a lede like this:

If a scholar of Norse mythology had been in the stands of Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night, he or she probably would have advised Yankees fans to not make too much out of the 5-3 victory against the Red Sox.

…

The best thing I’ve read all week is a feature on… well, you know how people get all up in arms over Al Gore’s carbon footprint, since he went and made an important and widely-seen documentary on global warming? OK, so Leonardo DiCaprio did the same thing for “The 11th Hour” and everybody’s waiting for the same questions: But Leo, they’ll squeal, veins a-blazing, how can you say anything about the environment when you sometimes use fossil fuels?

Well, Kate Coe has a really fantastic, nuanced approach to this on Grist. Please read it — it’s not a defense of DiCaprio. Not hardly. But it also condemns those consarned private-jet questions, if less loudly (and vulgarly) than I might do myself. A taste:

All the lite ‘n’ easy questions have been asked and answered. Conners Petersen was pretty passionate about consumers affecting corporate change. I’ve got only one shot, so I ditch my question about spreading the word to the folks on the block and go for a quality-of-life topic. I introduce the showbiz equivalent of the “conscious consumption” issue that peppers their press materials.

“Is this a union film?”

Whoa, baby. Steeee-rike. Ms. Kate Coe, I’d send you flowers if it weren’t for the environmental implications. (Wait–are there environmental implications? Must be.) Anyway, it’s a great piece for anybody with an interest in documentary films, Hollywood, the environment, the environment and class, unions or magazine journalism. Um, and writers writing about how awesome they think their press conference question is. Because that’s what happens. But read it! (And for someone really mad at Leo, check this out.

Technorati tags: [ environment | yankess | red sox | dicaprio | 11th hour | hollywood | union | labor ]

On the way out the door for a free show (cross your fingers for good weather), but here are two worthy reads for today…. Read the rest of this entry »

Hey, here’s Sunday again. That means more journalism nerdery (and general nerdery) distilled right here for you. And maybe I’ll even write some jokes this week. No promises. On to the good stuff:

Can’t drive in Beijing. Not for four days. Seriously, they’ve gone and banned it in an effort to get people to try public transportation. What an idea!

The experiment will see 1.3 million fewer cars on the city’s busy streets, and officials hope for some change in their notoriously smoggy skies. Commuters — who face a $13 fine if they violate the rule — can take advantage of taxis, extra buses, and expanded subway hours.

Read the rest of this entry »

Good morning! What kind of Sunday is it? Why, it’s the grab-bag kind! Three things for your consideration: enviros, nerds and a comedian.

Grist is doing a good job of interviewing presidential candidates (so far exclusively of the Democratic variety) on their environmental stances. At the moment, they’ve got Richardson, Gravel and Clinton. Here’s a nugget from the Richardson interview:

Q. These goals are even stronger than some environmental groups are calling for. Why such dramatic targets? Read the rest of this entry »

Yes, it’s the return of the Sunday Morning Reading, wherein I compile stuff that I felt obligated to circulate to friends via forwarded emails and so on, but did not.

On Gothamist: What would you get if you crossed a nefarious super-villain with an environmental activist? A plan to invade New York with one million trees! Bwa ha ha! Fitting for a plan cooked up by some kind of mad scientist, it lays out the goal without really thinking much about the details. Read the rest of this entry »

Hey, read about beer and the environment.

In 1998, [New Belgium] became the first U.S. brewery to be powered entirely by wind. It now meets all its energy needs through a combination of wind power purchased from the city and cogeneration of thermal energy from the brewing process. Brewing uses a lot of water, an average of eight barrels of water to produce a single barrel of beer; through recapture and reuse, New Belgium has cut its water use in half. In winter, induction fans pull in cool outside air to chill the beer, reducing the need for refrigeration, which can account for up to 30 percent of a brewery’s electric use. Finally, New Belgium recycles or reuses 98 percent of its waste stream–converting spent grain into cattle feed, for example. Hybrids or high-mileage diesels are used for company business.

The French presidential election has been a little crazy all along, but as Nicolas Sarkozy’s polling numbers seem to have become untouchable, storm clouds are gathering. Sarkozy’s one of the fellers that many young French rioted against a couple of years ago. Remember that? Pretty crazy. Also of some (unrelated, but interesting from an American p.o.v.) significance is that his opponent would have been the first female president of France.

Sarkozy, 52, a Hungarian immigrant’s son who wants to modernise France, enjoyed a nine-point lead over Ségolãne Royal, 53, the Socialist candidate, in one of the last polls taken before the second and final round of voting. In a desperate effort to catch up with him, Royal, the first woman to reach the second round, warned that Sarkozy would trigger “violence and brutality” and was a “dangerous” choice for France.

She was playing on her rival’s reputation as a hate figure among minorities in the suburbs because of his “zero tolerance” crackdown, as interior minister, on crime and illegal immigrants.

Oh, and check this stat:

Voting was reported brisk. According to official figures, more than 75 percent of registered voters had been to the polls by 5 p.m. local time.

This week’s Sunday Morning Reading comes on a Monday because that’s how life is sometimes. Additionally, I’m moving tomorrow, so it’s just one article. That just goes to show you that I respect you so much that I would never try to pass off just some crap I found on the Internet as riveting. If it’s good, I post it, and if I’m lazy, I don’t. So there it is. And here this is:

NYT goes two pages on heckling and a movie called “Heckler.” It’s a pretty good read and I think pretty accurate. I’m looking forward to the film, which the article says debuts at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 26. Included in the story are David Cross, Penn Gillette, Jamie Kennedy and Kathy Griffin. That’d be a weird table at dinner, wouldn’t it?

This isn’t the most outrageous part of the story, but it’s a quote that’s shocking if only because it really illustrates how important this guy thinks he is to everyone else’s experience when out seeing comedy:

“I would never go somewhere intentionally to be a jackass,” Mr. Patrick, 22, said. But Mr. Kennedy’s flatulence jokes were unworthy of what he considers “good” comedy, he said, and live settings are the perfect forum to censure unsatisfactory performers. “It’s kind of a cool opportunity to tell them how terrible they are,” Mr. Patrick said.

I’m not primarily a fart joke man, myself, but I think I’d have the sense to just split or not see Jamie Kennedy a second time rather than taking it upon myself to tell him “how terrible” he was. Some people like him, dude. He’s making a living. That’s part of the deal. (Via Gothamist.)

Yo, The Apiary teases a cool piece for anyone interested in late-night writing. The people behind Late Night with Conan O’Brien got together at the Museum of Television and Radio to brag and meet ladies. Instead they revealed industry secrets! The original words are in New York Magazine.

Joe Mande has an insightful take on Blue Collar Comedy. Worth a read, and be sure to watch the accompanying video analysis.

Y’ever want to watch Newt Gingrich speak Spanish? (Via PrezVid, which also has a really cool piece on which presidential candidates are using Google AdSense to advertise when you search which opponents’ names–seriously, read it if you’re my kind of nerd.)

Oh, and pick up a copy of Spin. In print but not online is MY NAME IN A SENTENCE ABOUT ME and, uh, GerRee Anderson and Freak Train are also in there. But anyway, we’re mentioned in a regular Spin department called “The Best Times You’ll Have All Month.” They call us “wiseacres” (on account of we’re wise).

Technorati tags: [ conan | comedy | engvall | blue collar | gingrich | presidential | clinton | obama | gore | richardson ]

Sunday morning dork-out, quickly this time…

Sports Illustrated talks about how global warming could affect… sports! Grist, in covering the, uh, cover story, did ‘em one better and dug up a bunch of information on sports going green.

More sports, more mainstream media. USAToday on senior dance squads!

The NYT has the first chapter of word-nerd tome “When You Catch an Adjective, Kill It.” Read only if you totally want to talk adjectives. I do.