Is this funny?

[pyesetz]

(About comments at newspaper websites): "It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

— Gene Weingarten (who has won two Pulitzer prizes but I had never heard of him before this mention).  RSS added, but I'm not sure whether I'll keep it.

Comments

[jordan179.livejournal.com]

Well yes, but without the maggoty MSM article, there wouldn't be all those delicious wonderful comments.

Oh, did he mean it the other way round ...?

[pyesetz]

Gene has devoted his career to the Washington Post, so his tribal loyalty is to the article-writers rather than the commenters.

[cassander42.livejournal.com]

I've been following Weingarten for a long time... about 7 years or so.

He used to write fantastic longform articles in The Washington Post about many subjects, mostly centering of humor and death. He just published an anthology of his articles called The Fiddler In The Subway. I'm reading it now and rereading a lot of his articles, though some are new to me. I like some of his articles, like the one about a remote town in Alaska and the one about The Great Zuccini (a troubled but talented preschool entertainer), better than the two he won pulitzers for (one about a virtuoso violinist who gets ignored when he plays in a subway and one about people who accidentally leave their babies in cars where they die horrific deaths). All are in there. Anyway, here's the Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Fiddler-Subway-World-Class-Violinist-Performances/dp/1439181594/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279432458&sr=8-1

Also, he used to host a weekly online chat that discussed a range of topics... kind of hard to explain. But I've been reading it for years. It's now monthly, alas. Basically, he discussed comics, gender issues, issues that are too hard to discuss non-anonymously , especially involving pooping and the like. Also poetry, which he has misguided notions about and of course vpl (visible panty line). Eh, it's complicated.

He also writes a weekly humor article, but it's not very good.

He just recently started writing a comic, Barney and Clyde, with his son and an artist. So far, it's not great.

I'm already familiar with his thoughts on internet comments, of course. ;-)

Mostly, I'd recommend the book I linked to above. He really is a great writer, even if he's an arrogant, stupid jackass.

[pyesetz]

he's an arrogant, stupid jackass
That's why I like him!  He's managed to make a career out of not pretending to be someone else.

He just published an anthology of his articles called The Fiddler In The Subway. I'm reading it now
What a great example of synchronicity!  Thanks for letting me know.

Mostly, I'd recommend the book I linked to above.
Wifey will now add it to my Hanukkah wishlist, I expect.

[stuffedwithfluf.livejournal.com]

Done