Saturday, September 12, 2009

Rogue critic turns newspaper into social media

Marshall McLuhan, eat you heart out (click to enlarge).

A rogue writer at the Starbucks on Academy has single-handedly turned the Globe & Mail into Facebook.

What I expected to be a perfunctory trudge through old news at Starbucks this morning turned into one of the most entertaining reads I've had in a long time, thanks to a mystery media critic who had handwritten pointed responses to articles in last Thursday's edition of the Globe.

Pictured above is just one of his insights, in which he calls film producer and columnist Robert Lantos a "liar & asshole."

Ironically, Lantos' article is headlined "There's justice, and then there's propaganda," in which he accuses writer Naomi Klein and filmmaker John Greyson of propaganda and censorship.
"Their brand of censorship is at odds with our society's fundamental values: freedom of expression and freedom of individual choice."
Included in these fundamental values, presumably: the hard-fought right for all of us to refer to each other as "liars & assholes."

6 comments:

  1. Just wondering what some of the other wonderful insights were? Did you snag the paper or leave it to brighten the day of another Starbuckian?

    Your post output seems to have slowed as of late. Is this a sign of how the school year might affect your blog or merely a slow couple of days for you? You set a prolific pace this summer, so I just need to know if I need to adjust my expectations.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I imagine this is the same person that does this exact same thing to Free Press articles and sends the clippings, with his comments, back to the writers. Comments are more about the people in the story, not the reporter, though.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Some quotes were underlined for emphasis, some question marks added, the occasional typo highlighted, and fact disputed; nothing as inflammatory as this one.

    One thing for sure, though: that's a very accomplished ampersand.

    I did leave the paper behind - I never take a paper with me when I leave Starbucks; it feels like stealing!

    Hmmmm....slowed output, eh? I still aim for at least one post a day, but I don't think I can post as much as I did, say, in July.

    I've got all of these Good ad/bad ads I've gotta mark! Unless, of course, someone would like to do them for me. Ha, ha!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love when people do stuff like that...

    I used to write quotes on stones and leave them in various places throughout the city for people to find (I created a blog for this little "project", and I put the address on the back of the stones, but I think only like two people ever replied...)

    I ended up becoming too busy to continue with my stones...But I thought it was kinda neat.

    On another note, "Blog-Mania" sure has taken off!! I love that we are all blogging...HOORAY!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I always find the way people treat those complimentary papers interesting. The people that work on the crossword but inevitably don't finish it always surprise me. Or the ones who rip coupons out. Sure, it's a complimentary paper for your reading pleasure, but it's not your paper.

    Looking back at your posts, your output has slowed a little bit, but you still post almost daily. I think it's just the fact that you were posting multiple times a day over the summer that makes it seem like you've slowed down a lot.

    I'd take a crack at your good ad/bad ad assignments if you want Kenton. I'm sure the students would appreciate being marked by someone with legible penmanship. Zing!
    (Yours is actually one of the best in CreComm... I'll just leave it at that.)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ha, ha! Maybe I could write you a prescription in return for your generous offer!

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.