sacred bird » magazines

you really like me (sorta)

180 — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:25:42 +0000

by now you’ve probably heard that fed head ben bernanke has been named time magazine’s person of the year. of course, dude has had a big year and is probably ready for a nap on the federal holiday coming up next week. what you probably haven’t learned about, though, is the list of folks that almost made the list. here are a few that the magazine profiled (you can browse the entire list here):

the chinese worker – for making sure that china continues to be the fastest growing economy (the country sets an annual goal of 8% growth to main social stability)
general stanley mcchrystal – the architect of the end of the war in afghanistan. also, the fall guy if the you-know-what hits the fan.
nancy pelosi – speaker of the house and target for conservatives everywhere.
usain bolt – fastest man in the world and adverstising gold for his home country jamaica.
neda agha-soltan – the woman that was killed in iran’s uprisings. the frightening video of her death captured the world, for a while.
glenn beck – tool (of fox news).
lloyd blankfein – the man atop goldman doing “god’s work”.

photo by dan winters via time

not getting it

630 — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:34:28 +0000

with magazines shutting down left and right, it’s no wonder that esquire is looking for ways to bring new media into the mix. the december issue, which will be in newsstands next week, will include something they’re calling “augmented reality.” “augmented reality” issues will include a few pages/articles with a bar code like image. readers are suppose to hold the image up to the computer to “scan” it and activate the “augmented reality” portion of the magazine. in layman’s speak, this means it pulls up a video that you watch on your computer. the only thing innovative here is that instead of printing a url to a youtube video, you’re computer is reading an image and translating that into a url. but don’t let me convince you. check it out the “augmented reality” content for the december cover yourself.

another list

630 — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 06:24:00 +0000

the world is a much better place now that esquire has published a list of the 75 best people in the world. their selection was very scientific, there were two questions each of the selected individuals had to meet: “Would we like to have a drink with this person? And would we trust this person with our puppy?”

included were:

shepard smith, fox news – “An anchor you want to watch, with a touch of the madness of Rather”

rachel maddow, msnbc – “A whip-smart voice of reason in the racket that is cable news”

lara logan, cbs news – “If only all war correspondents were as enterprising and brave as this one”

lester holt, nbc news – “The one anchor who’s both contemporary and weighty”

others included rahm emanuel, george clooney, and britney spears (although i’m not sure i’d trust her with my puppy)

and you thought you had it bad

630 — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 15:27:47 +0000

forbes magazine has release their annual list of the world’s billionaires and it’s no surprise that with all the economic hurt going on, the weathly are feeling it too. on average, the 793 people listed have lost 23% of their wealth. the richest man, bill gates, lost $18 billion. warren buffet slipped to 2nd place from 1st place last year losing $25 billion. and it’s not just in the us. new york city has replaced moscow as the home for the most billionaires. russia’s numbers drop from 87 to 32 billionaires and turkey dropped from 35 to 13.

said steve forbes, chief executive of forbes magazine, “Billionaires don’t have to worry about their next meal, but if their wealth is declining and you’re not creating numerous new billionaires, it means the rest of the world is not doing very well. The typical billionaire is down at least one third on their net worth.”

so if you’re unemployed and wondering how you’re going to pay next month’s rent or buy your weekly groceries, take comfort in knowing that everyone is feeling the pain.

photo courtsey of olhootenanny

it’s always better when there are pretty pictures

630 — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:06:30 +0000

due to the fact that we’re a nation of lazy readers and because the obama/spidey issue did so well in sales, bluewater productions has started a new comic series based on real women. described by bluewater as a “continuing series designed to examine influential women who are making and shaping modern history”, female force is biographical in nature. both the sarah pallin and the hillary clinton issues are in second printing. michelle obama’s issue will be released in april followed in june by caroline kennedy. princess diana will follow and then a special women in media series which will include oprah and barbara walters. i’m wondering if katie couric, campbell brown and rachel maddow are far behind.

“haute news”

630 — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 03:53:07 +0000

apparently haute living didn’t get the memo that demand for luxury goods is expected to drop for the first time in twenty years. the fourth regional edition of the magazine, haute living san francisco, was just released yesterday. intended for “high net-worth individuals who are not simply interested in learning about the finest offerings in private jets, yachts, watches, jewelry, real estate, and travel but actually purchase the most coveted luxury items” sample articles that have appeared in the other regional issues have included “a billionaire’s guide to house hunting” and “luxury toys: top of the world”.

good thing, i was beginning to worry that people wouldn’t have any magazines to read while flying on their private jets, what with all the recent magazines that have stopped print and all.

hot or not? anchor edition

630 — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 01:52:56 +0000

HOT

nbc’s amy robach was named maxim’s hottest news anchor.
dan abrams, probably still a little pissed about the cancellation of his show, starts a new media consultant company.
for the first time ever, joe scarborough of msnbc’s morning joe beat cnn’s american morning in ratings (fox & friends, however, remains #1).
a little more than a year after leaving cnn, paula zahn joins wnet sunday arts, a weekly arts and culture program as cohost.
cnn’s sanjay gupta will host a new monthly program on health to be aired on cnn international.

NOT

chris matthews – last week when anderson cooper was on jay leno, andy noticed when he took a sip of his water that his mug had ”guest 1″ printed on the cup. leno told andy that you know you’re doing bad when you’re guest 3. chris matthews wasn’t guest three on leno last night but he did come on after larry the cable guy and leno forgot the name of matthews’ show.
msnbc’s mika brzezinski – was originally placed 4th on maxim’s hottest anchor list but was dropped to 11.

both HOT and NOT

with contributions from greta van susteren , bill o’reilly, sean hannity, alan colmes and shepherd smith, fox news launched their new facebook fan page after 4 months of development, unfortunately, it’s not any more interesting than the existing fox fan page on the fox news website.
megyn kelly didn’t win maxim’s hottest anchor (she was #2) but she is the latest john mayer crush.

photo courtsey of megan fisher.

the love fest with andy continues…

630 — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 20:58:22 +0000

for all of us except for greta van susteren that is. in a recent anderson cooper profile in elle magazine, the author speculates that the reason why greta van susteren has referred to anderson as a “marketing experiment” and has accused him of exploiting katrina by writing a book is because he has the #1 news program at 10pm (greta’s show is also on at 10pm). turns out greta doesn’t appreciate being called out and responds via her blog saying there is “no feud between us”. commenting on the author’s comparsion of andy to edward murrow in the article, greta says, “can we give it a rest” and in response to andy using his personal vacation for work, she points out that when she went on her vacation to korea, that too was all work.

also included in the profile was andy’s food of the moment (sushi), how he fakes a vacation to get a good assignment in some remote (and dangerous) part of the world and his start as a ford model. as i’ve said before, there sure are a lot of write ups of andy so if you’re only going to read one a year, i’d recommend this one.

smarter than a 5th grader?

630 — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 01:31:33 +0000

i have three questions for you:

which party currently controls the house of representatives?
who is the secretary of state?
who is the the british prime minister?

according to a pew research center study based on the three questions, where you get your news can determine how well you know your politics.

readers of the the new yorker and the atlantic have the highest percentage of college graduates at 54% and got the highest percentage (48%) of all the questions right yet viewers of hannity & colmes, comprised of 31% college graduates, scored highest when you average the correct responses to the three individual questions. overall, only 18% of the 3,612 US adults answered all three questions correctly (which is sad in itself).

here’s the breakdown based on where participants get their news and how well they fared in the quiz:

btw, the answer is democrats (in the house), condoleezza rice (secy of state) and gordon brown (british pm). but since you are a sacredbird reader, i’m sure you already knew the answers.

story round up

630 — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 01:59:00 +0000

lots of stories on media folks last week:

nascar loving funny man, brian williams, is featured in this month’s AARP
everyone is writing about how rachel maddow, beating even oblermann’s ratings, starts off her new show at msnbc with a bang. ok, maybe not everybody. just the la times, the philadephia inquirer, the american prospect and the ny times.
msnbc’s david gregory admitting he has a temper in a tvnewser’s 5 questions/answer piece.
fox news’s shepard smith talks about going home to mississippi for the debate with tvnewser, broadcasting & cable and the hollywood reporter.
and last but not least, money honey (maria bartiromo) and street sweetie (erin burnett) deny their much hyped rivalry in this month’s vanity fair even sharing thoughts on who might be planting those nasty rumors.

photo by joe rollerfan