As Jack Shafer observes in yesterday’s column, the Annie Le murder has received the sort of national coverage usually reserved for celebrity deaths and award-show gaffes. To wit, Shafer’s incomplete but telling catalog:

The New York Times…has already published five articles about Le’s disappearance and murder and the apprehension of suspect Raymond Clark III. The Boston Globe has published at least six stories about the case, and the Washington Post has run at least three briefs from the Associated Press. The Times of London, published five time zones away, can’t seem to sate its appetite for Annie Le news. Even the proletarian New York tabloids—the Post and the Daily News—have gone ape for the story.

…besides which, a slew of well-sourced and quick-response articles in the university’s paper of record, and, by my count, two cover spots in the Washington Post Express.

My problem with Shafer’s piece isn’t his gripe that crimes at Yale and Harvard receive undue attention. (They do; always have.) I went to Yale—graduated, even—and Shafer’s points are well taken. But what the media critic misses is that, when it comes to murder, the Ivy League’s disproportionate share of media attention is part of a larger, and more regrettable, trend.

Read More “The Annie Le Media Fest: It’s Not Just About the Ivies” »

“Sir, you do read and write English?”

“Yes, officer.”

“So you are aware that this is a no-standing zone?”

“Yes, officer.”

“And you are aware that it’s five days after 9/11?”

“Um…yes, officer.”*

“And that our country is at war right now?”

Read More “Never a Dulles Moment With the TSA” »

*Remember the huff over Monica Hesse’s piece on Brian Brown? The one from August 28, in which she describes the NOM executive director as “pleasantly, ruthlessly sane”? Nearly two weeks later, this thing still has legs. About this time last week, Rebecca Armendariz of the Washington Blade denounced Hesse’s story as a dangerous “puff piece.” Now, on WorldMagBlog—the online arm of (yes) the evangelical rag World—Les Sillars claims the controversy as evidence of liberal bias. Media Matters, on the other hand, says the Post’s ombud response “illustrates fundamental flaw in ‘liberal bias’ claims.” (Hey, guys, it’s like a goddamn Rorschach test up in here!) The Awl weighed in from 20,000 feet with a post on Hesse’s status as a “failed lesbian.” And the better angels of our nature wept. [Seriously, though, I'll leave the final word here to Wemple—or to our very own Hess!—but having read the piece, I'd call it a.) misplaced aggression and b.) self-defeating to accuse the woman of "journalistic vandalism," or what have you. Hesse tried for a human(e) feature on an easy-to-revile fellow (with whom many of us disagree), and her conceit backfired. Doesn't make her a monster.]

Read More “Our Morning Roundup: “Twestivus for the Rest of Us” Edition” »

*UNWANTED SLUMBER PARTY: WTOP reports that a Georgetown student discovered a strange man in her bed yesterday morning. The G’town Cuddler strikes again? Police aren’t sure:

“She screamed, he fled, and detectives responded,” says D.C. Police Commander Matt Klein, “and subsequently took a report for a second degree sexual abuse.”

The only description detectives have is the man had a scruffy beard.

*ALONG THE SAME LINES: WUSA9 has the story of Richard Abner Simon, who is being charged with “Felony Indecent Liberties” after being accused of exposing himself to a 10-year-old girl in Arlington.

Read More “Our Morning Roundup: “Unwanted Slumber Party” Edition” »

*Checked out NBC Washington’s new “Moods”/Washington Is… section? I hadn’t! (Sorry, vacay.) Definitely interactive. Also, leads to hilarious/tacky catchphrases at the top of the homepage (see above). My problem with this is the same problem I have with “viewers’ choice awards” on reality TV shows. (Full disclosure: don’t watch many reality TV shows.) The whole “America has spoken” thing smacks of a.) Regis Philbin and b.) hypergeneralization. Still, Washington has spoken…and NBC’s new site, moodswings and all? Pretty baller! Or maybe not.

*WUSA-9 reports that four teenagers are being charged by Prince William County police for white supremacist-style vandalism:

Read More “Our Morning Roundup: “NBC Moodswing” Edition” »

*WMATA begins installing wireless service in “20 of Metro’s busiest underground stations.” Project slated for completion by October 16. All the better to tweet when you see a Metro employee asleep at the wheel, dear! Meanwhile, as the Baltimore Sun observes, Metro’s “summer of horrors” continues.

*This week in Cal Thomas: The over-syndicated enfant vieillard terrible compares Britain’s coverage of the health care debate to the War of 1812.

*The Washington Independent’s Dave Weigel files one of the more readable eulogies for Robert Novak, in which he recalls the columnist’s abundant disdain for blogs:
Read More “Our Morning Roundup: Metro Goes Wireless Edition” »

A Friday extravaganza, in which we present our top blog posts from the past week.

1. Gay T-Shirts In Windows A Problem For American Apparel
2. Real World D.C. House [Possibly] Identified
3. Doggie Style: A Sex Toy for Dogs
4. “He Could Have Sex With Anybody He Wanted.”
5. Library Conference Secret Twitter Proves Librarians Sexy, Stern
6. Could Condom Shame Be Good for Pharmacies?
7. Banita Jacks Case: Breakdowns, Lies, And Laziness
8. Dick Sucking Economics 101 @ 6th and K Streets NW
9. Chris Brown Wedding Video: Unbearable Cuteness With a Side of Domestic Abuse
10. Real World D.C. Cast Arriving Now! Really?

Photograph above: “Living Room, 1990″ by Darrow Montgomery

A Friday extravaganza, in which we present our top blog posts from the past week.

1. Gay T-Shirts In Windows A Problem For American Apparel
2. Real World D.C. House [Possibly] Identified
3. American Apparel Windows Will Stay Gay
4. Playing the Feud™ — Celebrity Edition!
5. Library Conference Secret Twitter Proves Librarians Sexy, Stern
6. Can’t Feminists and Anti-Misandrists Just Get Along?
7. Capital Fringe Fest 2009: Our Comprehensive Rundown
8. Sexy Secrets From Librarians: The Lost Tweets
9. Real World D.C. Cast Arriving Now! Really?
10. Fenty Takes Ax to Earmarks: Loose Lips Daily

Photograph above: “Man and Superman” by Darrow Montgomery, 2001

Mmm…South Australian salt flats….

As ever, be sure to refer to our comprehensive, super-sweet, blah blah &c. guide to Silverdocs for all your documentary needs!

Opening tonight:

Act of God, in which people who’ve been struck by lightning proffer “anecdotes [that] may have you zoning out between crashes of thunder,” Tricia Olszewski reports.

Intangible Asset No. 82, about a quest to find South Korea’s greatest drummer. Justin Moyer calls it “a testament to the power of music and mysticism.” Harrumph!

Ella Es El Matador, a film about female matadors that centers on the charsimatic Maripaz Vega. Sarah Godfrey says: “It’s impossible not to immerse yourself in the action.”

Ma Bar, about 73-year-old Scottish power-lifter Bill McFayden. According to Justin Moyer, it “packs the primal emotional punch of a feature film.”

Read More “Tonight at Silverdocs: Ella Es El Matador, Winnebago Man, Voices from El-Sayed, and More” »

*IT AIN’T ALL ABOUT SOTOMAYOR: The Post fronts the news from California: a 6-1 ruling by the State Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8, citing widespread support among voters.

…the California court said voters spoke clearly, through last fall’s ballot initiative known as Proposition 8, in wanting to limit marriage to a man and a woman. At the same time, the court said that the marriages of the approximately 18,000 couples who wed before the ban was passed remain valid and that same-sex partners can still enjoy equal legal benefits through recognized civil unions.

NBC Washington has stuff on the Dupont Circle protest. I found the Sexist’s coverage less depressing.

*OH, YEAH, ABOUT SOTOMAYOR: Slate’s Andy Bowers teaches you how to pronounce the SupCo nominee’s surname. Spoiler: It’s “”so-toe-my-YORE.” (Bowers has the audio, though.)

*WJLA has coverage—and, naturally, video—of yesterday’s flooding.

*Over at Young & Hungry, Tim Carman previews the H Street Country Club, admonishing, “you’ll never get a tee time.” He’s referring to that 9-hole indoor putt putt course, of course, and he’s got awesome photos to prove it. Prince of Petworth’s take on the situation:

Read More “Our Morning Roundup: Protest & Putt-Putt Edition” »

*VA GOVERNOR WATCH: The editorial board of the Washington Times chastises the Democratic Governors Association for taking premature swings at Bob McDonnell, former Attorney General of Virginia and the GOP candidate for Virginia’s upcoming gubernatorial race. Among the Times’ charges: the DGA has created a shadow org., Common Sense Virginia, from which to “spew poppycock” about McDonnell; accepting money from union bosses; and DGA’s harping on McDonnell’s stance that Virginia not accept a large influx of federal stimulus money. The DGA notes that though Republicans are throwing a ton of energy into upcoming gubernatorial elections, McDonnell raised only $2.2 mill in the first quarter of 2009. (Common Sense Virginia will not be endorsing any of the Democratic candidates.) The Post, meanwhile, reports on the Democratic side of things—where McAuliffe, predictably, is on the defensive.

*D.C. Police report that they’ve made an arrest in Sunday’s fatal stabbing of 34-year-old Tyrone Wheaten in the 2400 block of Elvans Rd. SE. 38-year-old Troy Richardson is being held for Murder One:

Read More “Our Morning Roundup: Baby Turtles for Sale(?)” »

Colleague Mike Riggs has already noted a few wrinkles in the Maureen Dowd-Josh Marshall plagiarism incident.

Putting it bluntly, Riggs says: “Dowd stole some shit and admitted it.” Fair enough.

In Slate, Jack Shafer has an uncharacteristically mellow view of the proceedings. After chiding, “Bad, Dowd, bad—deserving of hard time in a pillory!,” Shafer proceeds to exonerate the columnist—Dowd “almost sets things right,” he says, a conclusion the media critic arrives at through six-point reasoning:

1. She responded promptly to the charge of plagiarism when confronted by the Huffington Post and Politico. (Many plagiarists go into hiding or deny getting material from other sources.)
2. She and her paper quickly amended her column and published a correction (although the correction is a little soft for my taste).
3. Her explanation of how the plagiarism happened seems plausible—if a tad incomplete.
4. She’s not yet used the explanation as an excuse, nor has she said it’s “time to move on.”
5. She’s not yet protested that her lifting wasn’t plagiarism.
6. She’s taking her lumps and not whining about it.

Taking these points one by one:

Read More “Jack Shafer Throws Maureen Dowd a Bone on Plagiarism” »

Note to photo editors/Web producers/guardians of good taste: Please don’t run a gratuitous photo of Sasha and Malia Obama next to a piece announcing that Chicago “has become the nation’s most violent city for youths.”

The piece itself is pretty harrowing, describing monstrosities straight out of the biography of Rasputin:

Read More “WaTimes Implicates Sasha & Malia in Chicago Youth Violence” »

*SNIPER APPEALS: The Post reports that lawyers for John Allen Muhammad, the Beltway Sniper, are appealing Muhammad’s 2003 sentence. Muhammad, they say, was not mentally competent to represent himself over a two-day period during the fall of 2003, and his trial lawyers should have argued as much to the judge. This is Muhammad’s last opportunity to avoid the death penalty without intervention from the Supreme Court or the Gov. Kaine.

*The Washington Times condemns Rep. Jim Moran for “champion[ing] the idea of bringing terrorists like 9-11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and other al Qaeda detainees to historic Alexandria.” Back in March, our own Amanda Hess noted the furor over a sex shop that threatened to undermine the dignity—nay, the decency—of Old Town Alexandria. First a naughty boutique, then political detainees—what’s next? According to the Times: “the nuclear waste that Nevada won’t take.”

*D.C. Police report that 82-year-old James Booker went missing from his home in the 1700 block of Irving Street NE:

Read More “Our Morning Roundup: WaTimes Goes NIMBY” »

From a sign posted on the wall of Mixtec:

TO OUR WONDERFUL CUSTOMERS:

DURING THE LAST WEEKS WE HAVE EXPERIENCED TROUBLES WITH OUR CREDIT CARD TERMINAL. WE WILL TRY TO RUN YOUR CARD, BUT ARE ALSO ACCEPTING CASH & CHECKS (WEDDING & ENGAGEMENT RINGS—AND SEXY UNDERWEAR).

—PANCHO VILLA, MEXICAN BANDOLERO

Photo by avlxyz