Everyone is always talking! Or, typing! Comments and questions and jokes and things! And some of it is really great. So this is where greatness is recognized. Join me as I bestow honors upon a lucky few.
As we pointed out yesterday, Lindsay Lohan's nude body [pic via New York] is only interesting insofar as it generates lofty intellectual analysis. What underlying effect might the photo shoot have on Lindsay, her career, and American culture as a whole? Radar rounded up reaction to these questions from several esteemed media observers (including Ronn Torossian), but we decided to turn to the world's foremost experts in these matters: the Gawker commenters. After the jump, five incisive observations from two commenters that summarize—in verse, no less!— this sordid moment in our history.
We did things a little differently this week. Your nominations were all deserving, but sadly I had to winnow it down to six. I hope you'll enjoy them and know, if you didn't win, that you're still wonderful and valid. Just not quite as wonderful and valid as the winners. Once you're done reading these, please go back and click on that Tokio Hotel picture. I'm trying to get them household name status here in the States.
Hi! Commies are going to work a bit differently this week, for reasons I will forever keep vague and mysterious (it may or may not have something to do with the Chinatown bus.) So, I'm asking you for your nominations, kind of like we do for Party Picks, but this time for all six! Leave as many nominations as you like in the comment field below, and I'll announce the winners tomorrow. (Don't worry Mathnet, your previously existing nominees will be counted.) So sift through, let me know your favorites, and we'll go from there.
On Saturday we posted about gay Britney Spears supporter Chris Crocker, who in his latest video angrily laments about the "homophobosphere", i.e. gay bashing on the internet. And some of the comments! They got nasty! So nasty, in fact, that The Gay Recluse posted the most objectionable ones and wrote responses to them. Thing is, we don't really disagree with him. So, we're gonna go ahead and say goodbye to a few of you "more stupid than funny" commenters who wished disease and/or death upon this troubled young lad or made the same tired old tranny joke. See you next time: PartyVan, DiabetesExplosion, TheSuper'sSon, and AceInTheHole.
Welcome to the Gawker Locker Room: where maturity goes to die! Here your host and toastmaster Furious George will present a topic of discussion for open commentary, vigorous debate, and potential masturbatory purposes. Our topics will be diverse, random, juvenile, and vitally important. Today's topic: Who to screw? You see, as something of a traditionalist, I like WASPy blondes with big babylons. At the same time, I have been known to enjoy the company of snotty, spoiled, shark-toothed brunettes with daddy issues. Not surprisingly, watching a show like Gossip Girl is, for me, an exercise in existential quandary. Which to choose? Which to taste? Which to plow, gently, while Simon Le Bon asks us both to "Come Undone" in the candle-lit glow of my boudoir? And so I turn to you, gentle readers, and I ask thee: Who would you rather fuck, why, and how: Serena van der Woodsen or Blair Waldorf? Please elaborate in no fewer than 100 words, single-spaced. Cite relevant examples from the show Gossip Girl whenever possible.
Every so often one commenter serves the public body in singularly superb fashion. These comrades deserve recognition individually so they may come forward and take a bow. Today we honor commenter TedSez who, in admirably modest fashion, manages to steal the rug out from under so many of us, nearly everyday. One of his (many) specialties seems to be in the Open Captions, so I've selected five for you to enjoy, after the jump.
Those wacky shoe-screening cards at the TSA started a blog! It's got a catchy name ("Evolution of Security"), a thriller trailer tagline ("Terrorist Evolve. Threats Evolve. Security Must Stay Ahead. You Play a Part." COMING THIS FALL.), and incredibly bitchy comments. Like "DHS and TSA are fundamentally broken. Disband both immediately and return our civil liberties." That's one of the mild ones! They deleted most of the not mild ones. Also it's hosted on Blogger. Some more entertaining of the remaining comments, below. [ThinkProgress, WP]
Another week, another onslaught of hundreds and hundreds of computer blog comments I have to sift through. I don't mind though, it's my job. Plus I'd like us all to be happy. Happy happy happy. After the jump you'll find my five favorite of the week (and one of yours, too.) If they don't make you happy, then you're just CRAZY.
Well, another week, another set of crazy stories. The New York Times endorsed Clinton and McCain! Jeffrey Epstein's first sex suit was filed! And that Fox show Moment of Truth premiered. Think that was about it. As always you all were type-type-typing away, making me laugh and cry (more than you'd know) and most things in between. So after the jump find my five favorite interweblog reader commentary comments.
I think it's reasonable to say that we owe Tom Cruise a debt of gratitude for this week. His pleasant brand of batshit insanity has garnered many a pageview for this here site, and I think that should somehow be recognized. So, I'm doing it the best way I know how. After the jump you'll find my picks for the best Cruise-related comments of the week. Enjoy, you miserable bastard SPs.
For those of you who are informed on a topic and have been dying to say something, but didn't have the ability to do so, we're inviting you to become a commenter. If you have some truly juicy insider info to share or some insight to bring to bear, please email me and I'll give you access to a commenter account. They're somewhat limited, so email quickly if you're interested. Commenting is fun! I do it all the time! You'll probably become obsessive and crazy like me, but that's okay. It's fun, I promise.
So maybe you think you're sure, positive even, about who's going to get a Commie this week. All the trends seem to be going their way, they're polling well (@'s reaching all time highs). Suddenly things seem new and exciting again, corrections are being made, balanced restored! Are you right? Do you live in Nashua? After the jump you'll find out. Hint: These commenters have been crying all week.
Is prolific New York Times golden boy Sewell Chan hiding something in his trash? Like maybe comments critical to his CityRoom blog posts? According to one of his readers, who blogs over at Young Manhattanite, Chan "pretty much cribbed entirely" his post today about MetroCard makeovers from design blog A Brief Message. The blog just happens to be run by Times' design director Khoi Vihn, not that you'd know from reading his post, since Chan credited the site's operation to someone else. Whoops! When his reader aimed to correct Chan in an online comment, the Times superstar allegedly hastily updated the post and squelched the critical comment without publishing it. Maybe he thought no one would notice he'd ever been wrong in the first place?
Everyone is always talking! Or, typing! Comments and questions and jokes and things! And some of it is really great. So this is where greatness is recognized. Join me, LolCait/Richard Lawson, as I bestow honors upon a lucky few.
Most of you have spent this week out every night, drunk off your ass at various holiday functions, doing things you probably regret. Way to almost hook up with that sexually-ambiguous, dark-eyed freelance photographer! (We think he really is gay, by the way, or he would have been all up in that shared cab ride to Brooklyn.) Luckily, some of you have still found time to comment, and our comment arbiter Lolcait thanks you for that. This season, remember—it's all about giving.
Every once in a while, a Communications Ensign from the bridge of the Gawker Media mothership requests that we briefly pause to explain some new and exciting features they've added to this Web Log for your enjoyment, and because we've learned that disobedience of these directives invariably leads to the sting of the lash or the burn of the cupful of acid tossed faceward, we are more than happy to comply. Starting immediately, there are some new whizbang-y doodads available that will help our cherished, tight-knit community of commenters (more on how to become a commenter here) further enmesh themselves in each other's online lives by tracking the activity of their "friends" and "followers." Sound neat-o? It is! Let's learn more:
How should one behave in the comments section of the New York Times? The way you did in kindergarten, mostly. "No name-calling and no personal abuse," heads up a list of commenting no-no's penned for your edification by Times metro deputy editor, Patrick LaForge. Absolutely positively no swearing: "If you wouldn't say it in front of your mother, a minister or a 5-year-old, think twice about saying it here." LaForge overestimates his readers; we have no compunction about swearing in front of, or about, our mothers. Also, because "this is not a blog about The Times," there is to be no criticizing the Times itself. You will also be stripped of your commenting rights if you "pretended to be someone you aren't and used a fake email." Did somebody find out the hard way that Craigslist hookups aren't all they're cracked up to be?
