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L.A. Times columnist Patrick Goldstein has launched a daily blog to complement his once-weekly "Big Picture" column. Welcome to the club. The more the merrier. To put it kindly or generously, it only took Patrick's bosses five or six years to decipher the writing on the wall and respond accordingly.
Patrick Goldstein
Goldstein assures he'll be writing "with much the same style and sensibility that you've grown accustomed to in the column" although the blog "will be broader in scope...where the worlds of entertainment, media and pop culture collide." Why not drop the "pop" and just say culture, Patrick? Then you do like me and write about anything and everything when you're in the mood or feeling dried up on movie stuff.
Goldstein also says the blog will be a group effort with other Times journos jumping in from time to time. Translation: he's a little bit freaked by the idea of round-the-clock postings and doesn't want to kill himself.
Taking Goldstein at his word that this new enterprise is a "work in progress," I have a modest suggestion for the Times' notoriously sluggish online designers. They need to give the blog (a) a name of its own and (b) a vibe and a logo of its own. Right now the Big Picture blog simply says, in large upper and lower-case black letters, "The Big Picture -- Patrick Goldstein on the collision of entertainment, media and pop culture." The regular weekly column of old says, in small caps, THE BIG PICTURE/PATRICK GOLDSTEIN. The pulse quickens! A person unaware of the new blog might easily mistake it for the regular weekly column and vice versa.
The design guys, in short, need to go outside and get high**, and then come back in and make the design of the Big Picture blog an attitude and an atmosphere unto itself. Make the reader feel as if they're diving into some cool inner-sanctum environment that's only tangentially related to the dull, holding-down-the-fort but at the same time going-down-the-tubes L.A. Times mainstream journo culture. Make it feel like a place where the thinkers, dreamers and schemers go to kick back after the sluggish senior editors have put on their madras sports jackets and left the newsroom. As Sam Fuller would say, make it emotional.
** As someone who hasn't toked up in over 30 years, I'm of course being figurative.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on June 24, 2008 at 8:33 AM
comment #1
Edward
says ...
I used to be a serious recreational drug user and have to agree that some people do need to go and get a good buzz on and change their perception of life and the world.
Posted by Edward
at June 24, 2008 10:08 AM
comment #2
EDouglas
says ...
It's pretty strange how every major newspaper/magazine is suddenly going "blog-crazy'...lots of long-time print-only writers are literally being forced to start writing for the internet age and doing a blog is not for everyone. Heck, I've been writing for the internet for over 13 years and I would never want to do a blog... and heck, even my ATTEMPT to do a blog was met with such little interest from our readers that it was bagged after a year.
Posted by EDouglas
at June 24, 2008 10:13 AM
comment #3
Balthazar
says ...
So, what's the verdict on Megan of American Teen? I'm thinking she's pretty hot.
Posted by Balthazar
at June 24, 2008 10:13 AM
comment #4
Cinexcellence
says ...
A unique look is definitely the way to go.
Posted by Cinexcellence
at June 24, 2008 10:19 AM
comment #5
EDouglas
says ...
I feel the American Teen marketing trying to make the characters seem like sex symbols is kind of bizarre.
BTW, here's kind of what I was talking about... a friend of mine writes about movies for the Staten Island Register and in the last month, they've created a network of blogs... this is a fairly small local newspaper with a relatively small circulation but look at all those blogs!
http://www.silive.com/blogs/
Posted by EDouglas
at June 24, 2008 10:33 AM
comment #6
Edward
says ...
I vote for Hannah, but Mitch is cute too. Seriously though; when are they going to make a film about real teens, not the Hollywood fantasy version? Thirteen was one of the last I can recall. Juno, dealt with real issues, but I'm not sure I'd call the characters completely "real" teens.
Posted by Edward
at June 24, 2008 10:43 AM
comment #7
jesse
says ...
I'll take "fake" teens over the histrionics of Thirteen any day.
Posted by jesse
at June 24, 2008 10:47 AM
comment #8
gruver1
says ...
That's the spirit, guys -- degenerate a story about a new movie and culture blog by a respected journalist into a discussion of which teenaged actress in a new film is cuter and hotter. Very shrewd and sophisticated....thanks!
Posted by gruver1
at June 24, 2008 11:04 AM
comment #9
Geoff
says ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8G9jA-FGGd8
Saw this on the Huffington Post. Part of Colbert's make Make McCain Exciting campaign. I thought it was hilarious
Posted by Geoff
at June 24, 2008 11:16 AM
comment #10
Balthazar
says ...
You're welcome, sir. We're here to serve.
When's your next Obama post?
Posted by Balthazar
at June 24, 2008 11:16 AM
comment #11
gruver1
says ...
Wells to Balthazar: My next political post, you mean? Eat my ass.
Posted by gruver1
at June 24, 2008 11:36 AM
comment #12
Balthazar
says ...
Hey, if you can tease us for a harmless and fun hijacking of a thread to talk about your site's current primary advertiser, then we can tease you about your swarm of political posts
Posted by Balthazar
at June 24, 2008 11:44 AM
comment #13
LexG
says ...
A few things, hopefully close enough to topic as to not incur Jeff's wrath:
1) I like this idea, like Goldstein, and only wish Manohla was still at the LAT now so she could do something like this. Toward the end of her reign as the only competent critic at the Times, she did a delightful readers' questions section online that I enjoyed greatly.
2) I wish the comments section weren't destined to be so generic. Keeping the comments hidden, and the fact that it's a major metropolitan newspaper instead of a niche corner of the blogosphere means the comments will either be super-genetic, too few, or Yahoo/IMDB level stupid.
3) I wish TURAN would do this so I could have a forum to vent about that cranky old man, or at least inform him that MOVIES DO NOT WANT TO BE ONE WAY OR THE OTHER, they're movies not people. (Reference to his seemingly every review ever where he claims THE MOVIE isn't as smart/funny/profound/exciting AS IT THINKS IT IS.)
4) Unrelated mostly, but did NEWSWEEK bounce David Ansen down to online-only? Long as I can remember, NEWSWEEK had print reviews of the new movies almost every single week in its pages. The last few months, there's been nary a single legit review in there, just some culture pieces on, say, Karen Allen or SATC. I just went to their Web site and found that indeed, Ansen's still employed and reviewing away, but almost none of these reviews have seen the light of print copy. Was this a publicized decision?
Posted by LexG
at June 24, 2008 12:12 PM
comment #14
Aladdin Sane
says ...
That eat my ass comment was awesome. Tossed salads all around boys and girls!
Posted by Aladdin Sane
at June 24, 2008 12:13 PM
comment #15
Studly Semite
says ...
Love Goldstein's column. But its not promising that here he is trying to be "hip with the kids on this internet thing" and he references an Allman Brothers concert... :(
Posted by Studly Semite
at June 24, 2008 1:14 PM
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