OMBUDSMAN'S CORNER |
It's been a while since I've appeared in this space, there having been so many newsworthy photos of naked relationships columnists to get in. Why don't we just rename the paper Sonja's Breasts and count the money? (If there's such a thing as karma, the editor of this paper will have to do hard time at the Stanford Social Innovation Review; we'll see how his theories about cover models fly there!) Never mind all that. What's important are the big mistakes, obvious typos and examples of waning attention to detail that I'm here to critique. For instance: In the March 4 Readers' Choice Awards write-up, the winner for Best Service was listed in the headline as "Rth's Chris." Come on, guys; it's a headline! In the same issue, in an essay on same-sex marriage, the staff let the name of composer Pachelbel appear as "Pachbel." That's what downloading rap-metal all day will do to you. And finally, I'm not the first to suggest that DVD columnist Gary Dretzka conflated the plots of two Charlie Chaplin films in a recent piece. Maybe the editors will shape up if I threaten to pose topless! |
Last week's cover package about the recent NASCAR event prompted this response:
The car you feature on your cover is out of date. Number 18 Bobby Labonte no longer drives a Pontiac Grand Prix. He drives a Chevy Monte Carlo. After a little research, I found that you created the cover with a picture from the Nascar Cafe, but to anyone just picking up your rag it looks like a glaring error. To a NASCAR fan it just looks ridiculous. I am sure the Chevy people wouldn't be happy, either.
Nice article, too. I am sure it made the 150,000 tourists who came in town for the race feel welcome. Maybe if we make fun of them enough they'll stop pouring into town and boosting our economy. "Arts, entertainment and culture?" Have you ever read anything you print?
Ask [writer Kate Silver] if she is against hate groups who stereotype and disparage different groups of people. Then ask her why she would write that article. How can you hire "writers" like that? What is the purpose if not to promote prejudice and negativity?
A Reader
Come On, Vegas; Is This the Best We Can Muster in the Debate Over Gay Marriage? This?
The following arrived in response to Stacy Willis' March 4 essay on same-sex marriage:
These are questions we should ask the supporters of same-sex marriage.
1. Would a male, gay, married Democratic presidential nominee give a big, wet, open-mouth kiss to his husband on stage at the Democratic Convention when accepting the nomination, like Al gave Tipper?
2. Would CBS broadcast the kiss live?
3. Would our male, gay, married president's husband be called the first man or the first gentleman?
4. Would the male, gay, married president's former boyfriend do a pictorial in Playboy or Playgirl magazine?
5. Would liberals think it was no big deal if our male, gay, married president was engaging in oral sex with a male intern in the oval office?
6. Would the evidence of the affair be discovered on one or two pair of men's pants?
7. Would the male, gay, married president and the first gentleman go on 60 Minutes so the first gentleman could tell America that he was going to stand by his man?
8. Would the testimony to a grand jury of the illicit intern affair detail the use of a cigar?
9. Would the intern in question come out with his own line of designer purses?
10. Would the Rev. Jackson bring both his wife and his mistress to the White House prayer breakfast or would just a select group of Catholic priests be invited?
11. Would CBS turn the whole affair into a movie of the week?
David Baker
Comedy Is Easy, Letters to the Editor Are Hard
Last week, we ran a feature on oddities in the judging for the Vegas-taped Last Comic Standing 2. It prompted local character Rade Q. Zone to look up from his paper and declare, I can make this about ME:
I could have told you that the comedy biz is EXTREMELY f--ked up without reading your article last week about how Last Comic Standing has got ethical problems. But, anyway, FYI: ALL comedy contests are way too subjective. For example: As a contestant in last year's StarSeach/LasVegas contest, I was appalled at how badly the judging was. One of the judges was a radio deejay who just HAPPENED to work for a station that was affiliated with a co-sponsor of the event. And to make for that monstrous error, they decided to have another judge who knew ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about comedy—a guy who was an opera singer here in town. I felt very much like the new contestants do now—ripped off.
The performers were supposed to be "clean," yet the woman who won did her entire set about toilet humor—literally talking about going to the bathroom for her whole set. Yet my set was stopped in the middle, just because I did a Great White "club fire" joke. Of all the 50 comics or so who auditioned, I was the only one they actually cut off from completing their set. Then the photographer who was doing shots for "free" did not ever give me the photo that was supposed to be mine for entering the contest.
Rade Q. Zone
What Happened to Mr. Sonja?
After reading Sonya's article thanking the readers for voting her Sexiest Las Vegan [March 4], I'm curious as to why she and her husband, whom she states basically pulled her out of her suicide/depression, got divorced. From the way she talks, he was truly a kind, caring person.
Just Curious