29 posts tagged “newspaper”

Remember last year when I took the mickey out of these in the City Life newspaper?

   The first one is obvious: Melbourne is misspelt. The second one is also obvious: Circle is misspelt, there’s a missing apostrophe for the possessive, and capitalizing a definite article is technically incorrect. I remember we had a bit of fun with this as they were in huge letters, the former across the top of a tabloid-sized page.
   The question one has to pose is: did they get it right in 2009? Let’s see: Well, that’s a good start. Someone hired a proofreader at long last. Or turned the spellcheck on.
   Let’s see how the second one went: One fewer error, but still two to go. Note the prize money has reduced to a recessionary $150 this time around. The text, which also has a few issues (based around consistency of English usage), remains the same as last year.
   Any bets on the 2010 edition? Will the apostrophe for Winners’ be there? Or is there only one winner, in which case it’s Winner’s? I remain none the wiser.

Linda-Joy pointed me to this article about John Simm in The Independent:

Who on earth is John Simms? A bit embarrassing to have a typo in the headline.
   I assume he is also known to the fictional New Zealand locksmith–prime minister, ‘John Keys’, whom Dr Pita Sharples of the Māori Party has referred to from time to time.

The writer of this review of District 9, Andrew Ricks Jr, has good phrasing, and seems to know his stuff. However, it reveals that someone did not do any checking at the Examiner, whether it’s the writer (I am the first to admit it is difficult to proof your own stuff on-screen), the proofreader (who should be skilled enough to do this) or an editor (who really should be). And this paragraph is where I stopped reading because I was way too put off by the errors:

With my tongue firmly in my cheek, I must make these nine points.
   1. What are gansters?
   2. Which single African nation is the writer referring to?
   3. Is a prolifigate where pro-lifers gather?
   4. Must be the French spelling of activities.
   5. It is shakiest ground?
   6. What is permissiable?
   7. I haven’t seen the film, but I am pretty sure director Neill Blomkamp will be delighted to know this is how his name is spelt.
   8. I know, sometimes I am insenstive about these things.
   9. Which other is he referring to?
   10. A demonstate must be a pretty evil place to live.
   My worry behind this is that kids will grow up thinking having a dozen errors in a paragraph is OK for communication, when the reality is that it is distracting and does not serve the purpose of communicating.
   Our publications are not perfect but I don’t think we mess up this much.
   I have even been nice here because in print, we would have to mark all the “dumb” apostrophes.

Here was Saturday’s newspaper:

with Farrah Fawcett relegated to a tiny box and an inside page:    On the day she died, Farrah Fawcett, once the Charlie’s Angel who wanted the most attention, did not grab the day’s headlines. But given the privacy her family wants, I have a feeling she does not mind.

With your Murdoch Press paper—well, News of the World for the next few weeks (started last Sunday)—episodes of Life on Mars on DVD. The TVC is quite humorous:

That Independent newspaper in the UK sure has a lot of sections.

I know it’s most likely a glitch, but The Independent isn’t exactly famous for having user-friendly web design (anyone remember its multiple-column look that was totally impractical?). And I did reload repeatedly to get a fresh page, but still wound up with this rather odd look.
   Remember in the pre-CSS days when web menus usually worked?

Normally I can work out what’s being said but since I don’t know the first thing about Devangari, anyone like to enlighten me?

Jeremy Blomstedt rates his American TV favourites in his newspaper column. An excerpt, as these are two shows I follow:

Best new TV series: ABC’s “Life on Mars,” hands down. The admittedly-goofball premise of a modern-day New York police detective finding himself on the same beat in the 1970s either intrigued you or sent you for the hills. For me, though, this show has been one of the most enjoyable rides of the year, and it was gaining storytelling steam week by week. New episodes will air after “Lost,” starting Jan. 28.

Worst TV series of the year: NBC’s “Knight Rider” do-over was a bad idea as a two-hour TV movie, what with its color-by-numbers script and even lazier performances. That the series was worse – and not just a little worse, but truly plumbing the depths – didn’t come as a shock, I suppose, but who could have guessed that it made just about every single aspect of the original series look like “Citizen Kane” in comparison?

   I just hope the holiday hiatus hasn’t slowed Life on Mars down in the US. As to Knight Rider, I like the cheesefest. It is far lighter than the original, but Justin Breuning is a better actor than the Hoff was at this age, and Deanna Russo is very easy on the eyes. However, the changes to the pilot concept to make it more ensemble, with a Las Vegas-style mentality (no surprise, considering Gary Scott Thompson is show-runner) does spoil things a little. While I liked the idea that the hero and his ex-girlfriend are on missions together with a bit of sexual tension, it has become a little too far removed from the original series’ idea of ‘a car, a stud and an old man’—a formula which serves television well (an excerpt from an earlier blog entry of mine is below). Maybe we just aren’t as fascinated by a talking car now?
   I haven’t seen it, but I am sure there were worse things than Knight Rider in the US. American Kath & Kim, maybe?

The TV formula
• Knight Rider: a car, a stud, and an old man
• Hardcastle & McCormick: a car, a stud, and an old man
• The Sweeney: a car, a stud, and an old man
• The Streets of San Francisco: a car, an old man, and a stud
• The Equalizer: a car, an old man, and an even older man
• Street Hawk: a bike, a stud, and a bald man
• Solo One: a bike, a middle-aged man, and an old man
• B. J. and the Bear: a truck, a stud, and a chimp
• The Dukes of Hazzard: a car, two studs, and an old man
• Starsky & Hutch: a car, two studs, and an old man
• Miami Vice: a car, two studs, and a not-so-old man
• Minder: two cars, a stud, and an old man
• The Professionals: two cars, two studs, and an old man
• The Persuaders: two cars, two middle-aged men, and an old man
• CHiPs: two bikes, two studs, and an old man
• Special Squad: three cars, one stud, and two old men

PS.: Given Harvey Keitel is older than Philip Glenister, would American Life on Mars qualify as ‘two cars, one stud, and an old man’?

I think we’ve all been behind cars at intersections where the first two cars, side by side, are at a red light. The drivers zone out. The light turns green. Both drivers do not realize. The cars behind start tooting.
   This is forgiveable, though I can say in 20-plus years of driving, I have never been the dozy driver. If I am first, I have a responsibility to see when the lights turn green.
   Today, I saw the opposite. Two cars, lined up at Taranaki Street, waiting to turn into Vivian Street. A red filter light is on. Car to the left, a Holden Astra (CZM 871) ignores the red light and drives very slowly, unsure of whether it applies. Duh. But they could have been out-of-towners unfamiliar with red lights or something. At a stretch I’ll overlook this one. They did the manœuvre as safely as they could.
   The sin is the car to the next lane, a BMW 318i. The number plate: THEDOM. Which suggested to me that it was a Fairfax Press car (man, those guys must still be rolling in it with BMW staff cars). It was sold by Shelly BMW, but the S and y had come off, so there was a nice ad for the dealer, Hell BMW. Seeing the other driver go, THEDOM’s driver decides that maybe they should go, too. On a red. Also very slowly.
   Are we such goddamn sheep behind the wheel that if one driver goes illegally, we are compelled to?
   Naturally, I stop and refuse to go on a red. The driver next to me, another Chinese, stopped as well. He didn’t look over but if he did, I can bet our reactions would have been similar: why do ‘Asian’ (as the media say) drivers get all the flak in this country for being bad drivers, when 99 times out of 100 it’s the other races, usually Caucasians, doing the crazy stuff like running red lights?
   I was surprised that at subsequent red lights, THEDOM actually stopped.
   I don’t think the BMW driver has much of an excuse, and if your number plate is THEDOM, you’re probably a Wellingtonian or your surname is Blundell.
   And therein lies a problem with personalized plates—they are too recognizable, and could give the companies they possibly represent a bad name. I wouldn’t have been the only person during a busy time in Wellington who would have seen this.
   Let me repeat to drivers out there: a red light means stop. And if another driver ignores it, it doesn’t give you permission to.