(Comics) Journalism: One More Thing…
Jun 27Okay, I sorta swear this is the last I’ll say on this subject.
As this conversation about comics journalism has wound its way around the web, folks have been asking in the comments, “What’s the big deal?”
For me, it boils down to this:
“CONSTANT VIGILANCE!”
There is so much bullshit in the media at every level in every way possible that it sorta shocks me to hear folks expect such antiquated notions as “journalistic standards” from their sources of information. Is “information” even the right word anymore? It’s all “infotainment,” isn’t it? The daily metropolitan newspaper delivered to my Orlando doorstep has less reporting than the paper put out by the high school up the street; questions for “hard-hitting” interviews are faxed in advance so that the interviewee can have every response carefully prepped by a PR flack; some douchebag with a camera crew shows up at a trailer park, spends twenty minutes talking to a neighbor of a felon, and files a story about the “bad economy” and how it makes people steal.
Lemme paraphrase Alexander Hamilton, or maybe Bob Dylan, here: If you don’t question everything, you’ll fall for anything.
I personally think most major and minor media outlets of any kind, from Newsarama to the New York Times, should be questioned, absorbed, and dismissed, in about that order. Journalistic “standards” have always been a bit of an illusion, designed to camouflage whatever imperceptible biases and flaws are inherent in the process of reporting; that’s never been more true than it is today.
So buy a salt shaker, toss out lotsa grains, and consume with voracious pleasure. And if you’re not tossing the salt, you deserve whatever shit you eat.
I think that’s about it. Back to geek now.
In Defense of Heidi; Or, What Blogs Is
Jun 25It sure seems to me that Heidi MacDonald may be taking it on the chin a bit with regards to the issue of comics “journalism” these days, such as it is. (Although as I’ve already pointed out, and no one seems to have noticed, journalism itself these days is a true rarity outside maybe the hallowed halls of the NYTimes and the WashPost; certainly the idea of entertainment “journalism” is long dead, including comics “journalism,” which one could argue never got itself born to begin with.)
These rants across the comics web are coalescing with some “day job” crap that I’m encountering regarding the idea of “blogging,” and what it means. Namely, that few people understand it whatsoever, leading to massive confusion over what any individual blogger’s “responsibility” may be to his/her “audience.”
So lemme ramble atcha and see what you think. If you are out there. But you must be–I can feel you clicking.
WAAAAAAH-LEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
Jun 24Here’s the robot his own self, walkin’ around for reals!
Whatever you may think of Disney, those Imagineering folks are stone-cold brilliant.
UPDATE: Our Utter Wrongness (DiDio Stays)
Jun 23So I guess in the heady morningtime of last Friday, when e-mails about earth-shattering news flew across yon interwebs like bluejays across a field of Kentucky bluegrass, it sure seemed possible that beleaguered DC executive editor Dan DiDio would be packing his office and sharing his personal e-mail with all his former work buddies.
This did not happen. In fact, the opposite has already happened. Dapper Dan will be with us a while.
First off, yeah–sorry for the rumor-mongering! Or speculation, rather. That’s what it was. I’m not a journalist blogger; I’m a pontificating hack who likes to shoot his mouth off. God bless America.
However, the story doesn’t end there–like the adventures of the very heroes they shepherd to the stands each week, the tale of DC Comics never ends. It can’t end. There’s always another book to put out, always another crossover to plan, always another list of characters due for dismemberment.
What next? I’m not an editor in chief, or a publisher, but if I did happen to be DC Publisher and Boy Wonder Paul Levitz, I’d sit DiDio down this afternoon for a Come to Krona meeting, and here’s what I’d say.
Lucas on Broadway: BUH-WHAAA–???
Jun 23He’s made seventeen googillion dollars as a filmmaker, and he’s on the march toward TV.
What’s next? Producing records? Promoting concerts? Ghostwriting novels?
Nope–George Lucas is out to conquer Broadway!
George Lucas is planning to direct a Broadway musical, with the help of Whoopi Goldberg.
Lucas is in negotiations with Goldberg to collaborate on the musical Bricktop: Queen of the Night, based on the life of famed Parisian nightclub owner Ada ‘Bricktop’ Smith.
“They’re talking about playing with Cubist images and jazz from the 1920s,” a source reported, saying that Lucas “could do things Broadway has never seen before”.
Maybe he can get his bloodsport daughter to star in it. I think her name is Tygar. Just like on Thundercats.
