Uncategorized

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The Man Who Writes Your Students’ Papers

The Chronicle has a riveting story of a man who students hire to write their papers for them. As one might expect, it’s an extremely well-written account of the dark side of academia:

In the past year, I’ve written roughly 5,000 pages of scholarly literature, most on very tight deadlines. But you won’t find my name on a single paper. I’ve written toward a master’s degree in cognitive psychology, a Ph.D. in sociology, and a handful of postgraduate credits in international diplomacy. I’ve worked on bachelor’s degrees in hospitality, business administration, and accounting. I’ve written for courses in history, cinema, labor relations, pharmacology, theology, sports management, maritime security, airline services, sustainability, municipal budgeting, marketing, philosophy, ethics, Eastern religion, postmodern architecture, anthropology, literature, and public administration. I’ve attended three dozen online universities. I’ve completed 12 graduate theses of 50 pages or more. All for someone else.

The Avatar Blu-Ray Is Excellent

Scott Mendelson has written up the new special edition Blu-Ray for James Cameron’s Avatar (not the bare bones one released months ago) and while I don’t share his enthusiasm for the film, this disc sounds loaded!

Aside from the lack of 3D options (and the lack of subtitles on any of the bonus material – boo!), this is as comprehensive a Blu Ray set as any Avatar fan could hope for. In fact, the only thing I wish was included (aside from a theoretical commentary) was the dynamite interview that James Cameron gave with Charlie Rose back in February. In it, Cameron takes on many of the sillier criticisms of Avatar point by point and renders them more or less impotent. The film remains a terrific adventure, and this disc is a genuine labor of love from all involved. Fox is nice enough to house the set in a sturdy book-like box, which is only slightly taller than a normal Blu Ray box. This is no monstrous pizza box or giant collector’s case that won’t fit on any bookshelf here. The film is presented in three different variations, there are nearly an hour of deleted scenes, plus about eight hours of documentary material and about an hour of other goodies, plus scripts and copious still galleries. If you liked Avatar last year, there’s no reason not to pick this Blu Ray set up.

Olbermann’s Takedown of Koppel’s Cranky Washington Post Op-Ed

The other day, I read with great interest Ted Koppel’s screed against the opinion-focused nature of modern-day cable news, in which he specifically named Keith Olbermann and Bill O’Reilly as individuals that aren’t helping. And while Koppel is undeniably intelligent and accomplished, the piece was a tinged of a “Get off my lawn!” attitude that seemed rooted in a refusal to accept or adapt to the economic realities of modern journalism. I’m not saying we should surrender to Nick Denton’s mantra of “the most hits wins,” but certainly there has to be a happy medium out there somewhere.

Tonight, Keith Olbermann responded not merely with a rebuttal, but with a complete subversion of Koppel’s entire premise. Compelling stuff:

Newsweek and The Daily Beast: Two Great Tastes That Probably Won’t Go Great Together

David Carr, on the imminent merger between The Daily Beast and Newsweek:

Putting together The Daily Beast and Newsweek makes little financial sense, includes not much in the way of editorial synergies — is it The News Beast or The Daily Week? — and marries two properties that have almost nothing in common other than the fact that they both lose lots of money. Other than that? A great idea. Brilliant, really. And it will be fun to watch…

“When you step back, this is not a marriage made in heaven,” said Mark Edmiston, a former media investment banker who was the president of Newsweek in the 1980s. “You have two very different owners with very different motivations…And if you leave Tina out of it for a moment, what is the model?” he added. “I don’t see how you can take two money-losing businesses and put them together and come up with a single entity that makes money.” 

According to Carr’s statistics, Newsweek is still losing $500,000 per week while The Daily Beast will lose $10 million this year.

Harman (who acquired Newsweek for $1 and $40 million in liabilities) has been looking for someone to lead the magazine for quite awhile, and The Daily Beast’s Tina Brown was originally in the running. But after reading New York magazine’s feature on the first, failed attempt at a merger between these two entities, I find it hard to believe that the most serious leadership issues have already been resolved (Brown will not report to Harman under the new arrangement).

The most baffling element of the merger? Brown will be shuttering Newsweek.com and directing all traffic to The Daily Beast. This will undoubtedly confuse the hell out of a bunch of Newsweek visitors. In addition, she’ll be surrendering a brand/URL that has a lot of goodwill, not to mention a lot of inbound organic traffic (Newsweek gets more than 2x the traffic of The Daily Beast).

Some Newsweek.com employees have already launched a Tumblr to plead for the preservation of their jobs and of the respected news weekly’s website. Their poignant manifesto is worth your time:

In the face of indifference, condescension and even outright hostility from its print counterpart; with little to no resources; with more high-level hires and fires over the past couple of years than anybody could possibly count—and a revolving door of editors—the small but tireless staff at Newsweek.com consistently created editorial work that made waves: via a Website, on video platforms, through multimedia, photo and social media. Whatever happens to Newsweek, we are all proud to have played a part in that.

Mind = Blown

The past week the Xbox Kinect went on sale and while some reviews haven’t been overly kind, it shows a lot of promise. Certainly the fact that this technology is available at the consumer level is impressive and encouraging. But the fact that the Kinect has already been hacked opens it up to some interesting applications:

I recently purchased my own Kinect and I’ve been having lots of fun with it, although I’ll be curious to see if more games come out that take full advantage of it. One thing’s for sure, though: whenever I’m using my Kinect, I feel like I’m living in the future.

Group of Friends Wins $129 Million After Buying Lottery Ticket at Porn Shop

CNN reports that a group of friends got lucky when they purchased a winning lottery ticket worth $129 million at a Detroit porn store. A man named Mike Greer claimed the ticket for a group of friends:

At a press conference in Lansing, Michigan, Greer wouldn’t answer questions as to who purchased the ticket at Uptown Book Store in Highland Park, or why they were at the store in the first place. “Nobody cares,” said Greer.

Good to know that Greer is already making the most of his “fuck you” money in his answers to reporters. Then again, winning $129 million means never having to say “I’m sorry (that I was visiting a porn shop with some work buddies and exchanging cash for goods/services).”

[Side note: I’m really curious about the circumstances behind the purchase of this lottery ticket. Who goes to a porn shop to engage in lottery ticket group-buying? They had to know that it would be one awkward prize to claim.]