Media-Whore D'Oeuvres



"Score another one for new media: an anonymous, twenty-something blogger has become Mexico's go-to for information on the country's deadly drug war. Blog del Narco, launched in March, includes postings from both drug traffickers (such as warnings and even a beheading) and law enforcement (crime scenes accessible only to the police and military). In one case, Blog del Narco helped lead to a major arrest, when a video posted detailed a prison warden's system of setting inmates free at night to carry out drug cartel murders. The AP tracked down this mysterious blogger, who revealed that he is a student in northern Mexico majoring in computer security. When he launched the blog, he intended it to be a hobby, but has grown faster than his wildest expectations, now receiving 3 million hits weekly. The blogger also uses Facebook and Twitter. Since late 2006, over 28,000 people have died in drug-related violence in Mexico. The country has become one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists ..." (ForeignPolicy)



"Charlie Rangel ended his raucous birthday fundraiser last night by encouraging the attendees to see if the bar was still open, then leading a Si Se Puede chant, then a 'Fired Up! Ready To Go!' cheer, and finally, dancing on stage, alone. Today, he is entering full campaign mode with a kick-off announcement of sorts up in Harlem. (Of sorts because the campaign already did do their kick-off in Washington Heights, which was panned in New York Magazine and which Jonathan Tasini said was in that neighborhood because they wanted to neutralize his candidacy.)" (Observer)



"Dr. Laura Schlessinger recently berated a black woman who called to complain that her white husband's friends are racists. To be more specific, they regularly come over, ask impolite questions about black stereotypes, and use the n-word as if she isn’t there. The talk-radio host replied that black people frequently use the n-word, so getting upset about its use by non-black people is nothing but oversensitivity. 'Turn on HBO and listen to a black comic, and all you hear is nigger nigger, nigger,' Schlesinger said. 'I don't get it. If anybody without enough melanin says it, it's a horrible thing. But when black people say it, it's affectionate. It's very confusing.' Unsurprisingly, the exchange made news, owing largely to the fact that Dr. Laura used the n-word 11 times during the woman’s relatively brief call. 'You said ni**er nig**er ni**er, and I hope everybody heard it,' the caller exclaimed. Replied the talk-radio host: 'Yes they did, and I'll say it again: Nigger nigger nigger is what you hear on HBO.' It should be noted that Dr. Laura invoked the n-word not as a racist, but as a bullying, tone-deaf, faux-naïve, tendentious blowhard." (TheDailyBeast)



"Most every young actress in Hollywood wants to play homicidal, binge-drinking bisexual Lisbeth Salander, the title character in the upcoming movie 'The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.' Some industry insiders say there hasn't been such a frenzied casting search since the two-year hunt for Scarlett O'Hara in 'Gone with the Wind' (1939), which propelled Vivien Leigh to stardom. 'There aren't that many good parts out there these days,' one producer said of the adaptation of the best-selling novel. 'Every chick wants to play it.' But the plum will probably go to an unknown, now that director David Fincher has rejected such name stars as Natalie Portman, who's almost too old at 29; Ellen Page, 23 ('Juno'), and Carey Mulligan, 25, ('An Education'), who were deemed to be too clean-cut; and Emma Watson, 20, of the 'Harry Potter' movies, who denied she cut her hair short to audition for Fincher." (PageSix)



"Move over Best Coast and Freddie Gibbs at Pitchfork, Wavves and Frederico Rasperrini (pictured above) had a little smoke session of their own at Lollapalooza. For those that don't recognize intrepid BV reporter Frederico Rasperrini (pictured above in the white hat), it's true, he's none other than John McCauley of Deer Tick in disguise. Deer Tick played the Chicago festival too last weekend, just like they'll play Webster Hall tonight (8/13) after a special opening set by Delta Spirit's Matt Vasquez. Tickets should be available at the door. Wavves' next NYC show is at Music Hall of Williamsburg (tickets). Before and after that they're on a tour that also brings them to Madison Square Garden to open for Phoenix who also played Lollapalooza (while some guy was starting a fight with the police)." (BrooklynVegan)



"When 'Walking Man 1' sold for (then $103 million) in February to become, for a few months, the most expensive work bought at auction, Alberto Giacometti completed a rags-to-riches trajectory only rivalled in art history by Vincent van Gogh. At the end of the second world war, when the artist was already in his mid-forties, his entire output fitted into a few matchboxes; whatever he sculpted, his urge to reduce was so overwhelming that the work more or less disappeared. For 12 years, he had no exhibitions; then, gradually, he managed to maintain the height of his figures so long as he could keep them thin as a thread, attenuated, eliminating mass and volume." (FT)



"Andy Capper, editor of Vice magazine, shot a film about Liberia last year during which he was given access to (former Liberian president Charles Taylor's). 'It was smart by Liberian standards, there was a massive gold eagle statue and a large reception area,' he said. "There were big oil paintings of Charles and his ex-wife and the actual photo that was shown at the court proceedings of Charles stood very close to Naomi Campbell. In the trial, Naomi said she barely spoke to Charles during the course of the dinner, but in this photo at least they look extremely friendly.' The former head of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, who accepted the diamonds from Miss Campbell and hid them in a safe at his home in Johannesburg for 13 years, will next week face a hearing of his case by fellow trustees of the fund. Jeremy Ractliffe will be invited to give formal submissions to the trustees, who will then vote on whether he should resign his post or not." (Telegraph)



"THE day after he turned 92 (yes, 92), Sidney Harman, audio industry pioneer, philanthropist, author, university professor, lover of Shakespeare and soon-to-be-owner of Newsweek, was feted at the Aspen Institute, the research organization on whose board he sits. There, against the pristine backdrop of the Rocky Mountains, over green gazpacho and salmon, chocolate cake and Champagne, Mr. Harman was asked why he bought the money-losing magazine. 'Hugh Hefner wasn’t ready to sell,' he replied. The flip remark was typical of Mr. Harman, a man of boundless energy and cheeky one-liners, though he quickly followed with his latest stump speech, about Newsweek as 'a national treasure' worth preserving. Still, questions about the sale, announced earlier this month, are lingering here in the thick August air. What would possess a 92-year-old man with virtually no experience in publishing to embark on a business venture that lost nearly $30 million last year? And what, precisely, will Mr. Harman do with Newsweek once he gets it?" (NYTimes)