popular thinking

So how did Keith Richards do in his much-ballyhooed cameo as Johnny Depp's pirate daddy in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End? Read my story in today's New York Daily News and find out.

Labels: celebrities, movies

The Globe misses the story about the new D'Angelo's TV ads with David Ortiz. That's not "a talking sandwich." That steak and cheese is Boston-based comedian Micah Sherman. No wonder Big Papi kept cracking up on camera. Funny stuff, Micah. Funny stuff.



UPDATED: Thanks to Adam, Mr. Universal Hub, for reminding me to include the video!

Labels: advertising, comedy, TV

Wow. I could barely contain my excitement for hours after the two-hour third-season finale of Lost came to a close at 11 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. So, so good. Lindelof and Cuse promised fans they'd be rewarded with a so-called game-changing episode, and they delivered. I wanted to complain about a fake-bearded Jack driving around with a RAZR phone, but then, hold on a second! I wanted to make fun of the fact that it looked as though Ben marked a spot on the map for Rascall Flatts, but then, what's this? Hurley came through in the clutch...who said he was bad luck? Walt comes back, although we all know he's just Mr. Smoke Monster (or Jacob, if they're even different beings), and rallies Locke, who threatens to...well, anyhow. Flash-forward, shall we? Huzzah, we shall! Who do you think the funeral was for? My money is on Ben. But I'll have to wait until 2008 to find out, and I'm OK with that. Charlie also gets bit by the hero's bug. Patchy surprises again and again...what's with this guy?! Desmond comes oh so close to Penny...again. That shot of Jack with the South Pacific poster and all of the push pins? Priceless. Wow. Did I say wow? Wow. Take notes, 24 and Heroes.

Labels: TV

If your show goes long by nine minutes, and you devote 11 minutes to your so-called "Golden Idol" awards that only encourage more freaks to audition next year, then...wait. That may have been a rhetorical question. As everyone knows, Jordin Sparks officially won. Blake Lewis proved he'll be just fine. Bette Midler did not prove likewise. Gwen Stefani probably did not appear live from Boston, because otherwise, you'd think they'd mention that, although really, why was she on the program again so soon? Tony Bennett made up for lost time. Kelly Clarkson can growl. Taylor Hicks isn't selling any more records. Neither is Ruben. Although we remembered why we liked him the first time we saw him. Joe Perry sold out. Sanjaya couldn't even pick his best song for his big return to the big stage. Clive Davis reminded everyone that the real winners sell records. Did I mention the "Golden Idols" were not only a waste of time, but also further damaged whatever credibility American Idol has? At least it clears up Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. And gives us some time away from Ryan Seacrest. We need it.

Labels: American Idol, TV

Blake or Jordin? Jordin or Blake? Let your friends debate that obvious question before Wednesday night's American Idol reveals its finale results. You can counter with an even better question: Who really wins Idol? (Last night, Paula Abdul tried to convince Ryan Seacrest that they're all winners) In the long-run, the champ isn't always the one singing the last song under fireworks and confetti.
To wit...

Season 5
Who won? Taylor Hicks
Runner-up? Katharine McPhee
Who really won? Chris Daughtry. Heck...the show last night even went long by three minutes just to feature Daughtry and his band's live performance. Only Daughtry got the offer to front an existing rock band (Fuel). He also got his hit song ("Home") on every episode of this season's Idol. And after 25 weeks, his debut CD remains near the top of the Billboard charts. Anyone heard from Hicks recently? Anyone want to?

Season 4
Who won? Carrie Underwood
Runner-up? Bo Bice
Who really won? Underwood. "Some Hearts" has sold six million copies. Has an NFL quarterback boyfriend (Tony Romo, Dallas Cowboys). Slew of awards. Simon Cowell said she'd outsell all the previous Idol winners. So far, she's on the right track.

Season 3
Who won? Fantasia Barrino
Runner-up? Diana DeGarmo
Who really won? Jennifer Hudson. Barrino and DeGarmo have both made it to Broadway, but Hudson was this winter's golden girl, winning the Oscar and Golden Globe for her applause-breaking turn in the movie, Dreamgirls. Hudson beat out Barrino for the role. Barrino did win the part of playing herself in a Lifetime TV movie, though.

Season 2
Who won? Ruben Studdard
Runner-up? Clay Aiken
Who really won? Um...TBD? Studdard and Aiken both had hit debuts after the show, but since then, Studdard's popularity has waned, and no amount of "Claymates" could stop Aiken from one controversy after another (and let's not get started on last year's surprise Idol duet with his auditioning doppleganger, Michael Sandecki).

Season 1
Who won? Kelly Clarkson
Runner-up? Justin Guarini
Who really won? Clarkson. Hard to believe it now, but back then, just as many people thought that either Guarini would win, or that ousted contestant Tamyra Gray should have won. No one is saying that now.

Labels: American Idol, TV

Seems as though you're hearing/reading about at least one story a day in the media that references MySpace.com. Yet just about every story goes ahead and says how many members MySpace has...these days, the stat cited is 180 million. But, um, really? 180 million members? I wouldn't be surprised if at least 80 million of those so-called MySpace accounts are fakers, spammers or duplicate MySpace pages. It'd be nice, though probably unrealistic (and possibly Big Brotherish), to get an accurate count of how many MySpacers there really are.

Labels: media, online

Charo certainly got the attention of the media when she came to Boston this weekend to perform at Scullers Jazz Club (see coverage in the Herald, BostonNOW). She already had my attention 19 years ago. Spring break, 1988. My parents broke free from timeshare purgatory and traded up for a vacation to Kauai, Hawaii. A week in Princeville on the rainy north shore of the island, but still plenty of warm sunshine and time for golf, snorkeling, helicopter tours, and a cute girl from Oregon whose family seemed to be following our itinerary. Good times. Love, exciting and new. No wonder Puff the Magic Dragon lived in Hanalei. Toward the end, we trekked over to Charo's restaurant for dinner, and wouldn't you know it, Charo herself worked the room. When she got over to our table, she, yes indeedy, greeted me with her signature "cuchi-cuchi" as she grabbed my cheeks, and then posed for a picture. See how she draped her arm on my shoulder? My parents must have been so proud.

Labels: music, pop culture

Once upon a time, fairy-tale men and fairy-tale women lived in their own little, magical mystery worlds. They remained far, far away in our imaginations even in 1990, when William Steig’s “Shrek!” made his debut as an ogre who wouldn’t belong until he found an even uglier ogre to marry.
And so it went, until DreamWorks came along and refashioned Shrek in 2001 as an even broader satire of the old fairy tales. By 2004’s Shrek 2, the big green guy had married royalty. And in this summer’s Shrek the Third, he has a chance to rule them all.

Who would bow to Shrek? Among the many peasants, these notable fantasy creations (and their former creators) inhabit the film's version of Far Far Away:
* Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, The Pied Piper, Prince Charming, Rapunzel, Rumplestiltskin, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Tom Thumb (The Brothers Grimm, Germany, 1785-1863 and 1786-1859)
* Puss in Boots, Sleeping Beauty (Charles Perrault’s Mother Goose Tales, France, 1628-1703) (Perrault also wrote versions of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood)
* The Gingerbread Man, Three Little Pigs and Big Bad Wolf (Joseph Jacobs, Australia/England, 1854-1916)
* The Little Mermaid, Thumbelina, The Ugly Duckling (Hans Christian Andersen, Denmark, 1805-1875)
* Capt. Hook, Peter Pan, Tinkerbell (J.M. Barrie, England, 1860-1937)
* King Arthur, Lancelot, Merlin, Robin Hood (English legends)
* The Three Bears (Robert Southey, England, 1774-1843)
* Three Blind Mice (Thomas Ravenscroft, England, early 17th century)
* Pinocchio (Carlo Collodi, Italy, 1826-1890)
* Cyclops (Homer, Greece, seventh century B.C.)
* The Wicked Witch and talking trees from Oz (L. Frank Baum, U.S., 1856-1919)
* The Headless Horseman (Washington Irving, U.S., 1783-1859)

Labels: books, movies

I live on Boston's best street. Didn't need Boston magazine to tell me this, but thanks, anyhow. Tis true, though. Within a few paces of my doorstop, the best late-night dining and carousing options in the city (Franklin Cafe, Stella), a nice, well-stocked grocery store (Foodie's), the holiest of Catholic churches (for those of you who like seeing the Pope in person), other great restaurants where A-listers, social people and everyone else intersect (Pho Republique, Union, Oishii), popular dog parks, a new Boston Sports Clubs with swimming pool, the South End Little League, and that's not even mentioning the Boston Center for the Arts, the Boston Ballet and everything else along that section of Tremont Street (or Shawmut or Harrison, for that matter). The SOWA Art Walk is my neighbor, and joined in the summer (starting Sunday, weather permitting) by the South End Open Market. My other neighbor used to be the Waltham Tavern, and even that was fun while it lasted. And it's only a 10-minute walk to the theater district and the Boston Common movies (and my former employer). So yes, a great place to live.

Great timing for my landlord, who just put my humble abode back on the market.

Labels: media

I had a chance to chat earlier this week with 79-year-old Dorchester native Norm Crosby, aka the master of the malaprop. He's in town tonight performing at the Cutler Majestic Theatre.

Crosby told me: "When I started, I was doing it for fun. I was working in the advertising business. I was the ad manager for a big shoe company in Boston. I did it for fun. I got kicks out of it…I think every comedian starts out as being the funny guy in their family, in their office, in their school…I just did it as an avocation really until I got to a point where I had to make a choice. They were booking me on dates out of town...I decided to do the comedy figuring I could always go back and do the other stuff." Turns out he didn't have to go back.

Read the rest of my interview with Crosby in today's Boston Globe.

Labels: comedy, newspapers

Checking in with 7 News in Boston, infamous for its flagrant use of alliterative headline graphics. On last night's 11 p.m. broadcast, they opened with breaking news, followed by:

Weather Worries
Drenched by Downpours
Horror & Heartache
Fatal Fire
Avoidable Anguish?
Beer on the Bus?
Library Lewdness
Immigration Nation
Hank Reveals...Where to Watch Out
"Braking" & Entering
Caught on Camera
Plot Thickens
(weather)
(return to breaking news)
(sports: Let's Play Two, Rotating the Rotation)

So the May sweeps philosophy at WHDH-TV seems to suggest viewers need extra help at the top of the news with over-the-top headlines, but after the A Block, you can shift gears to plays on words, and then tone it down. Interestingly enough, once the 7 News writer completely broke from alliteration and wordplay -- "Plot Thickens" -- can you even guess what that story was about? JFK. Obviously. No wonder the suits insist on alliteration.

Labels: media, TV

At least for the next 24 hours, starting at noon today, as the guys from Human Giant take over the MTV and MTV2 airwaves. Yes, that's right.

From their announcement:

"Literally a week ago MTV came to us and asked us if we would be interested in doing a 24 hour event…in a week. We said, “Yes!”" and since then we have been working our asses off to figure out how exactly to fill the time. We have full access to the MTV vaults, we can play pretty much anything we want, with the exception of anything Nirvana related (Damn you, Courtney Love). So that means Old Remote Control, Singled Out, Beavis and Butthead, Sifle and Ollie and tons more. Plus we’ll be airing a Human Giant Marathon. Every episode from our entire 1st season and we have a ton of amazing guests like….

Will Arnett, Chris Anderson, Fred Armisen, Matt Besser, Andy Blitz, Michael Cera, Cracked Out, Curtis and John, Jon Daly, Zach Galifianakis, Brett Gelman, Jon Glaser, Bill Hader, Kane Brothers (Wrote the Theme to Illusionators and Spacelords), Nick Kroll, Adam McKay, Eugene Mirman, Morningwood, John Mullaney, The National, Bob Odenkirk, Rob Riggle, Andy Sandberg, Slovin and Allen, Michael Showalter, Jorma Taccone, Tapes ‘n Tapes, Ted Leo, Tegan and Sara, The Walkmen, Andrew WK…..and many more"

So check it out! MTV, finally safe for human viewing again, at least between now and noon Saturday. They opened up with a brief sketch followed by a live performance by Mastodon.

And hit up the Human Giant site online, because apparently, they need one milllllion hits to get renewed by the network.

Here's a video to keep you company while you're turning on your TV:

Labels: comedy, TV

What Dan Kennedy wants, Dan Kennedy gets: BostonNOW seeks a meticulous copy editor. Bonus points for BostonNOW correctly spelling all of the words in the job posting, including "meticulous." Although. Really. The job poster needs to know that copy editor is two words, three years may or may not need an apostrophe depending upon how you view such things, full-time should be hyphenated and that last sentence could've used a period. Not that I'm applying for the job.

Labels: newspapers

To what to my wandering eyes see before me this morning on my HDTV? That's right! New HD stations on the menu...

832 HGTVD
837 A&EHD
854 FOODD

In the lunch hour, the Food Network's high-definition really makes me hungry.

Thank you, Comcast!?

Labels: TV

Sure, Melinda Doolittle was the best singer week-in, week-out throughout this season's American Idol. You'd think she was a lock to win. But that in itself guaranteed she wouldn't win. So please, please don't be surprised by last night's results show -- which sent Blake Lewis and Jordin Sparks into the finale. Don't be shocked. Because this happens seemingly every other season.

Season 5: Chris Daughtry, fourth place (but best on the charts, and singer of this season's closing theme song)
Season 3: Jennifer Hudson, seventh place (but Oscar and Golden Globes winner, beating out that season's winner, Fantasia, for the award-winning role in Dreamgirls)
Season 1: Tamyra Gray, fourth place (no disrespect to Kelly Clarkson, who has gone on to have a great career, but at the time, everyone -- and I mean everyone -- thought Tamyra Gray was going to win, and so did FOX, which started plugging her in as a singing student on Boston Public, then brought her back on Season 3 to sing several times)

That said, expect to see Melinda, Blake and Jordin all release their own CDs by the time next year's Idol rolls around.

Labels: American Idol, TV

Are you having a laugh? You havin' a laugh? Yes indeedy. Especially after hearing new drop-in Lost cast member Naomi ask Charlie that question early in tonight's third-season penultimate episode. Because this provides almost irrefutable proof of the show's Mittleos/Lost Time theory.

Think about it. Naomi is dropping a very 2007 catchphrase from Ricky Gervais and Extras: "You havin' a laugh?"



OK. So what does this mean? Eggsactly. It means that while the Oceanic Airlines Flight 815 survivors are still living like it's 2004, the outside world has moved on to 2007. Heck, Naomi even said that Charlie's "death" allowed for a big dead rock-star mourning and a "Greatest Hits" CD in his memory, which couldn't have happened in the 90-plus days the Losties have experienced. Even in a most cynical world. And the "Others" have been compelled to learn about "lost time." So maybe, just maybe, Naomi is from 2007.

This makes sense for two other reasons.

#1. Some claim that Lost already is working on bringing Michael and Walt back into the picture next year for season four when it resumes in 2008. Thing is, Walt would've aged much more than the Losties. Problem? Not necessarily.

#2. We've already seen from last week's episode that "Other" Richard Alpert has barely aged since Ben was an adolescent. There must be some reason for this, right? Right???

Labels: TV

Sorry for the blogging delay. While pop culture and the media continue to churn out post-worthy events and topics, I've been dealing with lots of personal and personnel issues in the past week. Hope to get back on track Tuesday. Thanks for your patience, dear readers. See you Tuesday...

After you've watched Spider-Man 3, come back and take a look at my special movie quiz in today's New York Daily News. What's that? You didn't know there'd be a quiz? OK. Think of it as a talking-points memo. A conversation starter. And if you haven't seen the movie yet, that's OK, too. Use my Daily News story as a superviewer's guide.

EXTRA! EXTRA! CREDIT: One other question I didn't include because it's a bit too inside-the-media (although if you've been on the subway recently, you've seen newspaper ads that might have some relevance here)...At one point in the film, newspaper editor J. Jonah Jameson sits through a marketing pitch for a new Daily Bugle motto, and really, would any newspaper ever want to sell itself with: “It’s Hip. It’s Now. It’s Wow. And How!” And would you ever buy such a paper?

Labels: movies, newspapers, pop culture

I first met Nick Swardson earlier this year at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colo. We were hanging out in the “Sierra Mist Lounge,” a popular free food-and-grub afterparty area in the hotel, and Swardson and I quickly got into a prolonged chat about comedy and the backlash within the stand-up community against its biggest stars of today (that’d be Dane Cook, Carlos Mencia, and Larry the Cable Guy, all provoking scorn and jealousy for different reasons). And then we got down to fun.






See. Here is a photo of him with a Sierra Mist girl at the foosball table.


















Later that night, things got sloppy at the after-after-afterparty – the grand finale bash at the Goldberg mansion up high on the opposite mountain. People hunted and fought over cars to make the trek, and at one point, a woman yelled at Swardson: “I’m not f---ing driving him anywhere!” Owen Benjamin and others tried to defend Swardson, to no avail. Eventually, though, everyone made it to the mansion. And back again. And before we parted ways, Swardson said I needed to remember to talk to him before his tour showed up in Boston (May 5, Berklee Performance Center, $27.50 via Ticketmaster).

Fast-forward to this week.

Swardson already could laugh at himself about Aspen. He said his manager, Bernie Brillstein, worriedly chewed him out about his post-show partying. “The guy who managed Chris Farley and John Belushi is telling me I’m a train wreck!” Swardson said.

It’s not going to stop him from looking for a party in Boston on Cinco de Mayo.

Any chance of you doing anything worthy of being called a train wreck?
“Ah, possibly. But I really only drink. I don’t do any drugs anymore.”

Swardson, 30, won’t have to look far to find someone to party with – his friend and sometime collaborator, Jamie Kennedy, rescheduled his own comedy show at the Paradise to the same time as Swardson’s gig. Swardson appeared in many episodes of TV’s The Jamie Kennedy Experiment, and together, they co-wrote the 2003 film, Malibu’s Most Wanted. I jokingly informed him of this booking situation.

Really, though, doesn’t this just mean there are two Nick Swardson shows on Saturday, since you’ve written most of Jamie Kennedy’s funnier stand-up bits?
(laughing and catching his breath) “No f---ing way! Oh, that’s wild. Holy s---! I don’t even think he knows I’m there. If he did, he didn’t tell me. That’s really wild. What an idiot.”

“That’s funny. When I first moved to Hollywood …they said, ‘Yeah, we want you to be our next Jamie Kennedy.’ I said, ‘F--- that, I’m going to be better than Jamie Kennedy. I told him that and now we laugh about it. He’s always been one of my best friends.”

Swardson explained that Kennedy tried stand-up first at open mikes before getting his big break as an actor in the films, first Romeo + Juliet, then memorably in the Scream franchise. By the time their careers crossed paths, Swardson had the comedy credentials as a national headliner with a half-hour Comedy Central special, but Kennedy had the name draw. So when the pair traveled to the Tempe Improv a few years ago, Swardson found himself opening for Kennedy.

“When he did that club, he was already famous. I wasn’t a normal MC. I was just doing the Improv a favor. It was one of those situations where he could’ve been threatened by me, but he was really nice and cool to me.”

No one can question who the star of this comedy tour is, with MySpace as its sponsor. Swardson said he has put “a lot of original content, like videos” on the site. A lot of the photos and videos feature the comedian without his shirt.

So if you and Matthew McConaughey ended up at the same party, who’d go topless first?
“Wow. Tough question. I would say I would be topless first. But my being topless would probably bum more people out. Whereas his would start the party. Matthew took his shirt off. Hooray!”

Your tour alternates between theaters and clubs. Was that a conscious decision? Or logistics?
“I wanted to do theaters and my agent was like, I don’t know why, but he’s married to comedy clubs. The only clubs I’m doing are Chicago and New York. Whatever. I shouldn’t say anything. I prefer doing theaters just because it’s less draining for me, to do 1,500 people in one night than to perform to 400 people in a club several times in a weekend. Especially since I still go out and party after the shows.”

You began in improv, right? How’d you make the transition to stand-up?
“This is kind of funny, too. I did theater in high school but I joined an improv group. We did a ton of improv, long-from improv. I always looked down on stand-up. Thought it was kind of corny. Remember this was the mid-90s and the end of the boom. I thought stand-up was Seinfeld and Paul Reiser, guys talking about their wives. There was nothing really hip about it. There was a small alternative scene starting up with people like Janeane Garofalo and David Cross…But in 1996, when I graduated from high school, I wanted to take a year off…My improv group folded, though, so I was stuck without a format to perform. I was in Minneapolis. So I went down to an open mike and was going to perform with a bunch of my friends, but my buddies never showed up. So I just went up and performed.”

With two Comedy Centrals under his belt and writing credits on three films (Grandma’s Boy and The Benchwarmers are the others), Swardson’s fan base knows him just as well from his stand-up as they do from his memorable characters – most of them outrageous, like gay roller-skating prostitute Terry in Reno: 911 and the figure-skating stalker in Blades of Glory. He also created a show called Gay Robot.

Most reports say Gay Robot is going to get a second chance as a cartoon. True?
“Yeah, Gay Robot is still alive. Comedy Central had always wanted it animated. So I think this time will be more successful. But I really love that pilot. I really do.”

Have you ever caught any flack from the gay community over all of your flamboyantly funny characters?
“No. It’s usually the opposite. I don’t think you can be more outlandish than Terry in Reno: 911. That would be ridiculous. I was talking to a friend to think if it was the gayest character ever on TV. There’s no gray area to the character. We just did season five and the character has a girlfriend. It’s great. There’s some really funny s--- that we did.”

Anything special about your Boston show people should know about?
“This show I’m really really excited for. I grew up a big Celtics fan. I love the Red Sox. I’ve always had a blast there. The last time I did stand-up in Boston was like, seven years ago. I opened up for Anthony Clark on New Year’s Eve. It was freezing! All I remember is being black-out drunk, eating a sausage I had bought from a cart, watching three or four guys beat each other up. I can’t wait for the same situation to play itself out. Just warmer.”

NOTE: An abridged version of this interview appears in today's edition of BostonNOW.

Labels: celebrities, comedy

Labels: newspapers

Media reports today about Sanjaya Malakar and his non-homecoming to Federal Way, Wash., prompted more than a couple of chuckles out of me (read the NY Post's take here, or a more local version out of the Tacoma News-Tribune here) because I worked in Federal Way for the Federal Way News from 1996-1998 (shut down by the Seattle Times Co. in 1998, and later revived by its original owners), covering City Hall, cops and the utility district, among other things. So I know the political players involved, as well as the quirky place this suburb holds (or doesn't) in the Seattle-Tacoma metro area. Somehow, this kind of minor melodrama makes perfect sense there.

By the way, Olympic speedskater and darling Dancing With The Stars hoofer Apollo Anton Ohno also spent his teen years in Federal Way.

Labels: American Idol, media, newspapers, TV

So I'm watching NBC's 7 News at 5 p.m. today and could not help but notice they devoted a significant amount of airtime to a robbery in south Florida. Why? Perhaps because the reporter said she was from 7 News and you saw the familiar logo on the 7 News microphone during the segment's interviews. But wait a second. You mean to tell me that a Boston TV station sent a reporter down to Florida for a bank robbery? No. You don't mean that. Because it's the top local story from FOX's 7 News in Miami. Same circle 7 logo because they're owned by the same company, Sunbeam Television. I suppose it makes sense to combine your company's news forces, even if one is an NBC affiliate and one is a FOX affiliate, to make it seem as though you're on top of the story. It certainly gave Boston's Ch. 7 an intangible advantage during the Anna Nicole post-mortem saga. But for a local robbery in Miami? It just gives the appearance of time-filler.

Then again, is this any worse than the longstanding practice among local TV news teams across the nation of slapping their own voiceovers on another station's enterprise report?

Actually, that's a worse offense in my book.

But still. The whole Boston-Miami dual Ch. 7 connection just seemed odder than usual to me today. I wonder, though, if Miami's Ch. 7 News has the same mandate to go with alliteration on every single news story.

Labels: media, TV

Bittersweet news to report, as the first newspaper circulation stats since my unfortunate departure from the Boston Herald shows the paper continuing to lose readers. As my former colleague Jesse Noyes pointed out to me, the numbers aren't quite as bad if you compare them from the previous six-month period (as opposed to the same six months a year ago, the way the stats get reported). But still. Here are the numbers...

Herald average daily circulation
March 2005-Sept 2005: 230,000
Oct 2005-April 2006: 227,600
March 2006-Sept 2006: 203,000
Oct 2006-April 2007: 201,500

The Herald's Sunday average circulation is only 110,800. Ack.

By comparison, the Globe's daily/Sunday numbers over the same time frame...
414,000/652,000
397,300/604,100
386,000/587,000
382,500/562,300

Also not so pretty.

The Globe tried to make sense of it all today. So did Dan Kennedy.

Labels: newspapers