Dec 5, 2012

Huffington Post continues to metastesize ⁰

by MadeMark Media • Cultural Misc., Media

HuffPost

I keep telling people that the Huffington Post is to internet news what Walmart is to retail: a massive, spreading oil stain that suppresses wages (in both cases) and kills the little guy, in exchange for what? Ariana pockets her many millions, pays bloggers next to nothing (unless you consider “pay in prestige” to be a living wage), and cements the public’s expectation of getting something for nothing.

Anyone with a website knows that people expect free content. That’s not the HuffPost’s fault. But by being a relentless aggregator of other people’s news, they not only suck the air out of the room, but they replace it with carbon monoxide – tasteless, odorless and deadly.

I sometimes link to stories found in the HuffPost, but I link to the source material, not to them. Most stories aren’t theirs, in case you didn’t know. They just make it look like they’re the Amazon of news. I say, do the sources a favor and click through to read them there, and especially if you link to them, link to the San Francisco Chronicle, or Boston.com, or the Advocate. Don’t throw more page views to the HuffPost.

They’ve got “bureaus” everywhere. Expect a Huffington Post Belize soon. And while it may seem inconsistent for me to loathe the Post while loving Amazon, Amazon gives me quality and great service. The Huffington Post gives me other people’s news repackaged as an endless stream of crap. And those headlines! Yellow journalism is alive and well at the Huffington Post.

So do yourself a favor, feed your head, but not with the Huffington Post.

Dec 3, 2012

Led Zeppelin gets whole lotta love at Kennedy Center Honors ⁰

by MadeMark Media • Cultural Misc.

Recipient of the 2012 Kennedy Center Honors band Led Zeppelin attend the Kennedy Center Honors gala in Washington

We weren’t all listening to disco in the 1970s.

From Rolling Stone:

A generation of acolytes including Jack Black, the Foo Fighters, Kid Rock, Lenny Kravitz and Heart paid hard-rocking tribute to Led Zeppelin in Washington D.C. Sunday night as the band received the Kennedy Center Honors in the annual gala tribute, to be broadcast on CBS December 26th. Other honorees included blues trailblazer Buddy Guy, ballerina Natalia Makarova, David Letterman and Dustin Hoffman.

Zeppelin’s three surviving members, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page, sat down the row from President and Michelle Obama in the balcony, next to the other honorees, all wearing the rainbow-colored sash and medal that had been given at a White House ceremony hours earlier. The Zeppelin tribute, the night’s longest, was saved for last, though the rock gods’ presence was noted throughout the evening, as when Ray Romano opened his tribute to Letterman by acknowledging his nerves.

Continue at source

Nov 16, 2012

Hostess goes under – young gay men to be re-named ⁰

by MadeMark Media • Across the Country, Cultural Misc.

No more twinkies?!

Nov 10, 2012

Astrophysicist helps Superman find his home planet just in time to watch it explode ⁰

by MadeMark Media • Cultural Misc.

How cool would it be to watch the earth blow up from a safe distance?

From Slate:

Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist extraordinaire, can sometimes seem like a character in a superhero comic. Now he is one.

Tyson, the charismatic director of New York’s Hayden Planetarium, appears in DC Comics’ newest Superman issue, helping the Man of Steel glimpse his home planet, Krypton. The scene is poignant: Superman observes the planet just in time to witness the explosion that devastated it shortly after his birth.

When DC Comics approached Tyson to allow his likeness to appear in the issue, he didn’t just sign off and go on with his day. He worked with the writers on the storyline and ended up identifying a real-life star that could serve as the basis for Krypton’s sun, called Rao in the comic book series.

On Thursday morning, Tyson invited a few reporters to his office at the American Museum of Natural History to explain how he “found” Superman’s home solar system—and why he thought it was worth doing.

Continue at source

Oct 9, 2012

Oh my godless! Twice as many Americans going to hell ⁰

by MadeMark Media • Cultural Misc., Religion

From the Washington Post:

One-fifth of U.S. adults say they are not part of a traditional religious denomination, new data from the Pew Research Center show, evidence of an unprecedented reshuffling of Americans’ spiritual identities that is shaking up fields from charity to politics.

But despite their nickname, the “nones” are far from godless. Many pray, believe in God and have regular spiritual routines.

Their numbers have increased dramatically over the past two decades, according to the study released Tuesday. About 19.6 percent of Americans say they are “nothing in particular,” agnostic or atheist, up from about 8 percent in 1990. One-third of adults under 30 say the same. Pew offered people a list of more than a dozen possible affiliations, including “Protestant,” “Catholic,” “something else” and “nothing in particular.”

Continue at source

Sep 18, 2012

NYC: West Village restaurant cancels gay wedding over bad feng shui ⁰

by MadeMark Media • Cultural Misc., New York City, New York New

Maybe he meant ‘hung shui’ …..

From 4 New York:

A West Village restaurant manager is being sued by a gay couple after he allegedly canceled the couple’s wedding party, claiming same-sex parties were “bad for feng shui,” according to a published report.

The manager of Asian fusion restaurant Amber Village, which shuttered in June, is being sued for unspecified damages after he ordered an employee to cancel a rehearsal dinner and wedding reception catering for Barrett Greene and Thomas Eng, according to the Daily News.

Greene, 50, a plumbing contractor from upstate New York, and Eng, 38, a Manhattan-based computer professional, decided in March to have their wedding rehearsal dinner at Amber Village, the newspaper reports. The couple also wanted to have the eatery cater their wedding.

Continue at source

Aug 21, 2012

Bacon: the new hate crime? ⁰

by MadeMark Media • Cultural Misc.

From the Wall Street Journal:

NEW YORK — Muslims gathering to celebrate the end of Ramadan at a New York City park found uncooked bacon scattered there, and police are investigating it as a possible hate crime.

New York Police Department investigators believe the same person might be behind an anti-Muslim Internet posting, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Monday.

Kelly declined to elaborate on the posting.

In a statement, the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations cited a report that the posting read in part, “I am going to walk my pet pig and i am gonna let him (defecate) ….just in time for morning prayers.”