Tablet magazine reveals that those pitch-perfect call-ins for talk radio shows might be a little bit TOO perfect…
The job, the email indicated, paid $40 an hour, with one hour guaranteed per day. But what exactly was the work? The question popped up during the audition and was explained, the actor said, clearly and simply: If he passed the audition, he would be invited periodically to call in to various talk shows and recite various scenarios that made for interesting radio. He would never be identified as an actor, and his scenarios would never be identified as fabricated—which they always were.
“I was surprised that it seemed so open,” the actor told me in an interview. “There was really no pretense of covering it up.”
…[A] great radio show depends as much on great callers as it does on great hosts: Enter Premiere On Call. “Premiere On Call is our new custom caller service,” read the service’s website, which disappeared as this story was being reported (for a cached version of the site click here). “We supply voice talent to take/make your on-air calls, improvise your scenes or deliver your scripts. Using our simple online booking tool, specify the kind of voice you need, and we’ll get your the right person fast. Unless you request it, you won’t hear that same voice again for at least two months, ensuring the authenticity of your programming for avid listeners.”
Jezebel founder Anna Holmes has written a NYTimes op-ed detailing Charlie Sheen’s violent run against his fairer halves. It’s not only a smart piece about Sheen, it’s also an incisive look at how society devalues certain types of women, and the implications that that devaluation has:
The privilege afforded wealthy white men like Charlie Sheen may not be a particularly new point, but it’s an important one nonetheless. Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears are endlessly derided for their extracurricular meltdowns and lack of professionalism on set; the R&B star Chris Brown was made a veritable pariah after beating up his equally, if not more, famous girlfriend, the singer Rihanna. Their careers have all suffered, and understandably so.
This hasn’t been the case with Mr. Sheen, whose behavior has been repeatedly and affectionately dismissed as the antics of a “bad boy” (see: any news article in the past 20 years), a “rock star” (see: Piers Morgan, again) and a “rebel” (see: Andrea Canning’s “20/20” interview on Tuesday). He has in essence, achieved a sort of folk-hero status; on Wednesday, his just-created Twitter account hit a million followers, setting a Guinness World Record.
But there’s something else at work here: the seeming imperfection of Mr. Sheen’s numerous accusers. The women are of a type, which is to say, highly unsympathetic. Some are sex workers — pornographic film stars and escorts — whose compliance with churlish conduct is assumed to be part of the deal. (For the record: It is not.)
I had the privilege to speak with Holmes today by phone. While I haven’t always agreed with all of her viewpoints, I’ve constantly looked up to her and respected her as a writer and thinker, so it was a thrill to chat with her regarding her thoughts on the whole Sheen situation. We also discussed my (extremely negative) thoughts on Piers Morgan, as well as the fact that Jezebel was recently parodied by 30 Rock. I’ve released the conversation as this week’s Chencast.
On The Media [transcript] has a fascinating exploration of what makes a story on a news website climb up the “most e-mailed articles” list. The most common factor among them? Awe:
We had a number of research assistants read stories and we described to them what the concept of awe is; it’s something that opens the mind and is inspiring. And we made sure that they had a good understanding of this concept. We had them read some articles with us and come to a conclusion about what an awe-inspiring piece would be. And then they rated about 3,000 stories each on how much awe they inspired…
One is “Rare Treatment is Reported to Cure AIDS Patient.” Another story was called “The Promise and Power of RNA.” A final example would be “Found: An Ancient Monument to the Soul,” a story about the archeological discovery of an inscription on a Turkish monument from the eighth century, indicating a belief that the body and the soul were separate. What we find interesting is the connectivity issue. People tend to proselytize about awe-inspiring experiences. This is one of the main ways that religion has been thought to spread. When I have an amazing experience, I tell others about it.
Sure, Charlie Sheen has been making the rounds non-stop on the talkshow circuit, but for my money, his Today Show interview is still absolutely astonishing. It was one of the first ones he did and not only does Sheen look like complete and utter crap, but the interview also shows him spouting off his incoherent babble before it became extremely rehearsed:
Here are some of my favorite takes on the topic of Charlie Sheen and the media frenzy he’s stirred up. First up, James Poniewozik:
Sheen’s problems may be psychological, pharmaceutical, moral—but above all, he’s a poster boy for that most dangerous and common of celebrity intoxicants, entitlement. He was “tired of pretending I’m not special,” he said. He had decided to embrace his “rock star life,” and while he claimed to be clean now, he was proud of his epic run of partying: “I exposed people to magic.” Was that drug lifestyle dangerous? Oh sure—for “normal” people. For losers. Overdosing, he said, “is for amateurs.”
Where could he have gotten that sense of entitlement from? Oh, maybe from being essentially celebrated for the same lifestyle that brought him down. From being a notorious playboy paid a couple million an episode to play a notorious playboy, named Charlie, on TV. For continuing to stay thus employed even after abuse complaints, rampages and an assault plea—things that might get you fired if you were a normal person, a loser, an amateur.
Jeff Jarvis writes on how the media is doing a disservice to mental illness:
So why are they interviewing him? Not because they expect him to say smart things that give insight. Neither are they trying to give a picture of mental illness, for they give no context. On Piers Morgan’s nightly exhibition of ratings neediness, the star dismissed doctors’ mentions of bipolar disease and then Morgan stepped up to give him a clean bill of mental health, telling Sheen he is “alarmingly normal.” I think in the field they call that enabling.
But my favorite take comes from Linda Holmes over at Monkey See:
There could hardly be a starker contrast than the one between Ferguson’s treatment of Sheen and the treatment Sheen got from Piers Morgan last night on CNN, where Morgan poked him and enraged him, coddled him and encouraged him. It’s exactly like paying your penny at Bedlam, only Morgan gets the penny.
The people who watch his show are, in effect, paying Piers Morgan to provoke Charlie Sheen for them. To push his buttons, ask him about the women he prefers, coyly compliment him on his benders, all because it’s so easy to get him to brag about all of that. Sheen wants to say “epic” and “winning” and “the scoreboard doesn’t lie.” He’s got a pocket full of speed-related metaphors — he returns over and over to rocket fuel, jets, bombs, the let’s go of it all — and he wants to share all of them.
Launched by Amazon just a month or two ago, Kindle Singles offers “compelling ideas, expressed at their natural length.” It’s a new, curated program that emphasizes long-form reading, with works lengthier than a magazine article but shorter than a full-on e-book (and priced accordingly). As a huge fan of services like Instapaper, I’ve grown to love the long-form reading I can do with my Kindle, and I’ve found that Kindle Singles are an awesome way to consume these bite-sized nuggets of high-quality writing.
The easiest way to get the new story is just to head on over to Amazon and buy it right now. It’ll be automatically delivered to your Kindle, wirelessly. But what if you don’t have a Kindle? No problem. Amazon has released Kindle apps for every conceivable OS, including iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Android, or even for your Mac or PC. Basically, if you’re reading this blog post right now, you can also buy and read Stephen’s new story (which, by the way, has a super cool cover created by artist Mark Crilley).
Working on the Tobolowsky Files has been a joy, but it’s also been an intensive process that has consumed hundreds of hours of my life over the past year. During that time, we’ve put out about 30-40 hours worth of content and done so completely for free. Buying this Kindle Single not only gives you a great new piece of content from Stephen, which you won’t be able to find the podcast (I’ve read the story and, as usual, it’s hilarious and profound), it also helps support all the work that Stephen and I do together. If enough people chip in the $1.99 it takes to buy this Kindle Single, it will ensure we can keep hearing Stephen’s stories continue for many months to come, both in podcast form and in Kindle form.