Friday Night Open Thread

By Jeralyn, Section Blog Related
Posted on Fri Nov 12, 2010 at 08:48:00 PM EST
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The expected merger of Newsweek and The Daily Beast was confirmed today. Newsweek online will no longer exist, but be folded into the Daily Beast. Here's how it will work. Tina Brown will be Editor in Chief of both, and the new name is the Newsweek Daily Beast Co. Tina has more here. Howard Kurtz adds this comment from Tina in his column, which I think is absolutely right. Reading a weekly magazine for news is obsolete:

The effort to keep on persisting with something called a newsmagazine is probably outdated at this point,” Brown says. “Magazines are great venues for predictive and reconstructive journalism, for cultural journalism, for narrative journalism, for profile journalism. All these things can be done online, but do work better with the rhythms of print.”

With Newsweek's print edition to morph into something other than news, it leaves Time Magazine as the sole survivor in the newsweekly print market, since U.S. News & World Report also announced recently it would cease print publication and just publish digitally.

Why do weekly magazines like People still thrive? Is it the photos? Is it that readers don't follow celebrities on a daily basis the way they follow the news, so enough of the material is still news to them a week later? And does anyone subscribe to either, or just pick them up in airports and at the hair salon or doctor's office?

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

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Friday Night Open Thread | 13 comments (13 topical)

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There is also the Economist (none / 0) (#1)
by andgarden on Fri Nov 12, 2010 at 08:59:55 PM EST

although it has a slightly foreign flair that gives a special cachet. That said, even they may be struggling: I had a phantom free subscription last year (i.e., apparently not paid for by anyone) that continued to be delivered for a month after it supposedly "expired."

Whip Yo Hair Girl! (none / 0) (#2)
by nycstray on Fri Nov 12, 2010 at 09:14:24 PM EST

I say it's high time we all enjoy a cockatoo dance :)

Would need several cocktails (none / 0) (#7)
by MO Blue on Fri Nov 12, 2010 at 10:57:46 PM EST

before I tried the cockatoo dance. Then I would spend several weeks with my neck in a brace. ;-)

That is one funny video.


A friend showed me that a few days ago (none / 0) (#8)
by andgarden on Fri Nov 12, 2010 at 10:59:52 PM EST

Irritating!


Apparently... (none / 0) (#9)
by lentinel on Fri Nov 12, 2010 at 11:42:23 PM EST

the bird danced to another tune. "Whip Yo Hair" was added by someone else to the original video of the bird dancing.

Here is a link to the bird dancing to the original music.
I think it goes even better with the dancing.

Dancing Bird


: Thank You! (5.00 / 1) (#13)
by nycstray on Sat Nov 13, 2010 at 12:52:54 PM EST

I like that one much better. And it links to more vids of the bird. I like to play videos for my bird, so now she has more :)

Hey, guys I made sure we wasted (none / 0) (#3)
by MO Blue on Fri Nov 12, 2010 at 10:14:13 PM EST

18 months on this but tell me what you want to change now and let's do it.

The high-ranking Democrat, who has in the past drawn the ire of party faithful for seeking middle ground with Republicans, can't escape his prediction last summer that the health care bill needed GOP votes if it was going to last the years. At the time, liberals hammered him for trying to get Republicans on board.
"And I was right," Baucus said.
Baucus told The Associated Press in an interview Friday that unpopular provisions could be on the chopping block or subject to more negotiation due to the new Congress -- perhaps even the personal mandate that Baucus still believes is needed to ensure charitable care isn't shifted onto others. On Friday, he unveiled legislation to strip a tax provision in the bill small businesses complained was burdensome. AP

I do have an adult female friend who (none / 0) (#4)
by oculus on Fri Nov 12, 2010 at 10:32:56 PM EST

subscribes to "People" magazine. She used to buy it each month but her family sd., just subscribe already!

strange sentencing request withdrawn in Des Moines (none / 0) (#5)
by desmoinesdem on Fri Nov 12, 2010 at 10:34:10 PM EST

According to anti-war activist Elton Davis, Polk County prosecutors are no longer seeking to have him and another non-violent protester permanently banned from the Federal Building in Des Moines. (background here)

I still am curious to know whether there's any precedent for banning a peaceful protester from a government building.

: Doesn't sound like the prosecutor could (none / 0) (#6)
by oculus on Fri Nov 12, 2010 at 10:45:29 PM EST

find any authority to support the request.

Does "NewsWeek-Daily Beast" matter? (none / 0) (#10)
by Gerald USN Ret on Sat Nov 13, 2010 at 01:19:34 AM EST

How long do you think that this gesture by a very rich man will last?

I think not more than 2 years, 3 at the most.

Still maybe there is a lot of ego involved here, Like paying a 100 million or more to run for office, so the next question is how long will Dr Harman's fortune last?

Call it Newsbeast and I may subscribe (none / 0) (#11)
by ruffian on Sat Nov 13, 2010 at 06:08:54 AM EST

Otherwise, no.

Put me in the category of reading no celebrity news except People at the hair salon. This afternoon, as a matter of fact. Looking forward to it!

For your Netflix Q or Christmas list (none / 0) (#12)
by ruffian on Sat Nov 13, 2010 at 06:25:33 AM EST

'Slings and Arrows' was a Canadian tv comedy-drmatic series that ran from 2003-2006, about a theater companying a medium sized town that puts on an annual Shakespeare festival. Premise is that the artistic director dies suddenly and is replaced by a former actor from the company with a complicated history. I'll leave it at that.

It is written by some Canadian comedy stalwarts like Mark McKinney who also plays the business manager.

Can't tell you how wonderful it is. There are 3 seasons, 6 episodes each, and in each they mount a production, with all the attending personal and professional obstacles. very funny and original. It was so refreshing to see something I had never seen before. I watched 2 seasons last weekend and the last one this last week. It is so good it was hard to watch anything else afterwards, even my favorites like Dexter.

The productions they mount are Hamlet, MacBeth, and King Lear, and you get new insights into those plays even if you have seen them numerous times. And each season has a new opening funny dance hall tune about that seasons play.

I'm not doing it justice. It is availablemon Netflix Instant Q. watch it NOW!