THE NEWS HACK'S CREED:
I know more than you.
I make lots more money than you.
I'm smarter than you.
I'm sexier than you.
I appear on TV all the time.
I work ten minutes a day.
I rule the universe.
I'm going to live forever.
You are an idiot.
THE NEWS HACK'S CREED, No. 2:
A lie isn't a lie when it tells THE TRUTH.
THE NEWS HACK'S CREED, No. 3:
I've come to realize that the looseness of the journalistic life, the seeming laxity of the newsroom, is an illusion. Yes, there's informality and there's humor, but beneath the surface lies something deadly serious. It is a code. Sometimes the code is not even written down, but it is deeply believed in. And, when violated, it is enforced with tribal ferocity.
--JOHN "OMERTA" CARROLL.
THE NEWS HACK'S CREED, No. 4:
News isn't news when we don't report it.
PERMALINKS:
THE NEWS HACKS' DICTIONARY
THE EUGENE DAVID GLOSSARY
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DEAD HUMOR [John Derbyshire]
I used to think Peter Sellers was the funniest man alive. The other day, however, I watched A Shot in the Dark, the 1964 movie that established the Inspector Clouseau character. It really wasn't very funny at all.
We all know, of course, that humor is perishable, and that what made our parents -- or even our younger selves -- laugh can leave us stone faced. There are degrees of perishability, though, and the very best humor can stay funny for decades. I thought Sellers was in that league. Nope. His repertoire was narrower than I'd remembered -- really just two or three funny voices and a couple of facial expressions. It's sad... Though now I don't feel quite so bad at never having found Charlie Chaplin the least bit funny.
Posted at 10:24 AM
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RE: DEAD HUMOR [Warren Bell]
I often wonder about that, Derb. I think I've written here before about the disaster that is viewing Blazing Saddles at age 42, after having wallowed in its glory at age 13. I think our memories tend to put a rosy glow around things we laugh at, and then in revisiting, the reality destroys the glow. I always cite "Bart the Genius" as one of my favorite Simpsons episodes, primarily because it was the first one I ever saw, and it just blew me away. In watching the DVDs with my kids, I notice that those first few episodes were pretty creaky in places. They didn't really hit their stride for another season or so, but that's not how I remembered it. So how much is the fault of memory, and how much is our own evolution in life? Is Sellers less funny, Derb, or are you?
Posted at 10:46 AM
We won't touch that LAST sentence, WARREN, but we will say this is from the IDIOTS who are always raving YOU-KNOW-WHAT COMEDY SHOWS as THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME.