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WEEKEND MEDIA NOTES (3#) -

# BACKSTAGE TV BLOG: I just discovered that Fred Armisen, who is a member of the ensemble cast of the Saturday Night Live TV show, is writing a blog. Prominently featured at the top of his entries this weekend is his portrayal of I'm-a-dinner-jacket, and he looks almost like his twin brother!

# Topical: PBS Radio's On The Media show this weekend includes segments on Jeff Jarvis' Networked Journalism Summit Meeting; a segment on the changing image of Arab actors and characters in the American Entertainment Landscape; and how Brian DePalma's movie had to be "trimmed," ostensibly, for legal purposes. Oh, I thought it had something to do with the Geneva Conventions. And more. It was a pretty good show.

# Bookish: A generous section at The Times of London website devoted to the Cheltenham Literature Festival. Lots to see over there. Definitely, worth a browse!

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IN GRAPHIC NEWS (2#) -

# Feature on the London Comics Festival
due to run Oct 19 to Nov 6. [tfp]

# Feature on surrealistic photo-montage
by Maggie Taylor; 11 plates shown;

California exhibit and book published. [tfp]

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MAKING BOOK -

The Frankfurt Book Fair opens.

"A well-regarded novel that struggles to sell a few thousand copies here [UK] may, as they say, "wash its face" abroad... this very global reach can also leave writers feeling orphaned on home turf, exiled from bestseller-led chain bookshops and shut out from promotions that stick to the level of the Richard & Judy brow."

:: Boyd Tonkin ::

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LOOSE ENDS -

An English judge who was unfaithful to his wife died in a mysterious explosion in his garden shed and, not surprisingly, left some messy questions behind.

Upon second inquest, the coroner has ruled
the cause of his death to be "unascertained."

:: BBC: Somerset ::

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BLONDE REVERB (2#)-

# California Department of Justice investigators began serving search warrants Friday in connection with the death of Anna Nicole Smith, according to a noontime AP report.

Among other things, "more than 600 pills... were missing from prescriptions that were no more than five weeks old."

The AG is expected to make an announcement later today.

# TMZ is already following the issue.

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HACKED: Toes Up in LaLaLand (2#) -

A California Government Website Network
succumbed to a nasty hack attack.

"The site is down until it is restructured with
additional security, can be sponsored by a more
reliable ISP, and perhaps secured from this occurring."

:: Infotech.India ::

:: InfoWorld ::

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INCENDIARY POSTER HOAX (2#) -

# A group of radical (leftist) student activists at George Washington University in Washington DC have admitted that it was they who circulated satirical posters on their college campus to discredit "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week," which is being sponsored by a conservative student group.

On Monday, university officials condemned the posters.

"We are making progress in the investigation and will have an updated press statement when the investigation is concluded," said spokeswoman Tracy Schario.

# Law Prof Blog with reproduction of poster.

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Bookish: SPOOKY TIME (2#) -

This is around the time of year when
Spooky Themes are often featured in the Media.

# Will the Vampire People Please Leave the Lobby?
True Adventures in Cult Fandom by Allyson Beatrice.

^ Julet Farmer, a confessed TV junkie and
Buffy fan, reviews the book, which she enjoyed.

# An excerpt from The Gold Leaf Lady and
Other Parapsychological Investigations
by Stephen E Braude with a blurb from Chris Carter.

^ A Florida housewife exhibits some intriguing
paranormal symptoms. And other stories.

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SCOOTING ACROSS THE POND (2#)

# Some postal workers strike
and disrupt UK mail. [bbc]

# A man allegedly linked to a plot
to establish terrorist training camps in the UK
has admitted soliciting murder. Quite a story.

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NEW MEDIA NOTES (2#) -

# The DailyMe launches:
a personal aggregation of the news.

# Some debate about The Puffington Toast
not paying writers who post there. [romenesko]

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FOLLOW THE HAGGIS - (2#) -

BlogFather Neil McIntosh
suddenly drops into New York City...

as if out of nowhere, for Jeff Jarvis' Journalism
Summit at CUNY. The game's afoot, Watson! [tosh]

Lots of planets have a North...
Well, he writes fluent English :-)

# British Bloggers, both Left and Right, recently
united against an attempt to gag them. [index]

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FILLING THE
CELEBRITY NEWS HOLE -

... one meadow muffin at a time ...

Has Osama bin Laden become another Paris Hilton - mostly famous for being famous and a complicit product of the Celebrity Media Machinery?

Well, another day, another bodice-ripper,
but we ain't talkin' Fabio here...

Following the fizzy "revelation" that Osama had the hots for Whitney Houston, comes the disillusionment of disclosures that O.J. Simpson's watch is purportedly a pseudo-Rolex and Osama thinks your taxes are insanely high.

What next? Will Osama endorse a line of athletic shoes named after Mohammed's horse? He can't believe that his margarine isn't butter...

Is Osama the pirate who stole your heart or the brigand who robbed your maidenhood? Is he correctly positioned to make you weak in the knees?

Did O.J. do it? Did Osama do it? Is there really still a debate? And, if so, do you at all care? But aren't you getting even a tiny bit bored with them already?

Faisal Devji, a history professor at the New School in NYC, reviews Osama's latest video address. And this is not the Roger Ebert approach. Prof Devji is obviously a trained thinker who subjects it to a rigorous analysis and
a scathing critique.

Naturally, it's posted at Spiked!

:: The Ventriloquist ::

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AGHASI MEETS HIS END -

"Unknown gunmen murdered
Muhammad Gul Aghasi - one of the key
'theologians' of al Qaeda - at a mosque
in northern Syria last month."

And this is his story.

:: By Amir Taheri ::

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ARE WE TURNING INTO WEENIES? (2#) -

# Kurt Anderson writes about recent incidents
involving the suppression of disagreeable speech.
in The Age of Apoplexy [nymag] .

# POV - Omar Fadhil, who blogs at ITM, writes
an op ed at Opinion Journal asserting that there
are "signs that the terrorists are losing in Iraq."

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Burma: UNDERCOVER TOURIST -

The BBC's Kate McGeown has just returned
from visiting Rangoon, Burma's main city,
and describes what she saw there.

A form at the end of her article enables you
to send her your question(s). [bbc]

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