They really are hard, you know October 9, 2007
Posted by argotnavis in Language, News.Tags: annoyances, science, writing
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Having pretended to be a journalist for a year, I know that headlines are hard to write. I don't, however, think this is an excuse for writing bad headlines. The most enjoyable of the bad headlines are, of course, the ones which (sometimes) unintentionally contain a bad pun. I'd add to this category the perfectly good BBC news stories which use actual quotes in their headlines. I'm pretty sure these are generally not meant as scare quotes, but the effect really becomes more hilarious when someone sneaks a pun in there.
The really bad headlines, though, aren't the unintentionally hilarious ones, but the ones which are just misleading. Generally, it is considered good form in any discipline to have a title which accurately reflects the content of the work. For instance, it would probably be bad form to call your paper on particle physics, “Disillusionment in American Modernist Literature.” Of course, titles clearly unrelated to the work they're supposed to describe would be caught and changed. Unless, of course, it was intentional. The ones that actually do slip by, then, are usually pretty much right, but a little fuzzy on the details.
One in particular caught my eye tonight. The headline, in itself, isn't bad, except for the fact that there's nothing in the article to suggest that the assertion made in the headline is correct. Really, the scientists they quote (including one who is apparently a generic “scientist” at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee) seem to be doing an adequate job of explaining that the algae outbreak is a result of phosphorus and invasive mussels — although, of course, more research is needed to determine the amount of influence each factor has. They don't have a solution yet, but I'd hardly equate that to an inability to explain the outbreak. I have a sneaking suspicion that whoever wrote this headline read the first two or three paragraphs, skipped over some of the rest and then figured that nobody would read an article about algae and wrote that headline just to add some drama to it. Or maybe I'm wrong and, despite the explanations they give in the article, scientists are simply unable to explain this.
Don't judge me October 9, 2007
Posted by argotnavis in Humor, Life, TV/Movies.Tags: Golden Girls, Mario Lopez, Saved By the Bell, writing
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As anyone who knows me is, I am sure, painfully aware, I enjoy The Golden Girls. Tonight, I was watching an episode I've seen at least a few times before, “Dorothy's Prized Pupil,” in which said pupil wins an essay contest, which tips off the INS to the fact that he's an illegal alien. I'm really not sure how I missed it before, but that illegal alien was none other than Mario Lopez. You know, from that one show. What makes it worse is that his name on the show was freaking Mario. With such a clever disguise, it's no wonder I missed it before.
Adventures in continuity October 5, 2007
Posted by argotnavis in Cars, Humor, TV/Movies.Tags: continuity, Dan, dogs, Scooby-Doo
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First, a short history lesson. The original Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? series aired from about 1969 until 1972. In 2002, a new series with roughly the same premise, What's New, Scooby-Doo?, began its run. This leaves about 30 years between the end of the first series and the beginning of this one, which takes place in the present day (see Velma's “wireless internet connection”). I'm not totally sure whether the gang has actually aged 30 years, as they seem to have in many of the movies, but here's my complaint:
In an episode of the show that I saw today, Fred takes the Mystery Machine in for a tune-up, and it starts acting weird. During their attempt to figure out why their van is driving itself around town without them, the gang learns that the Mystery Machine was originally the tour bus for a vaguely Partridge Family-style band called the Mystery Kids. The Kids aren't very popular these days, but their mother is pushing for a comeback. Now, the Mystery Kids are all roughly around high school age (one is trying out for the tennis team). This means they probably used the Mystery Machine 10 years ago, at most. And yet, the gang have had the Mystery Machine for over 30 years.
I actually have my own theory about this, though. The writers of this new Scooby-Doo series remember the mind-numbingly awful Scooby-Doo series involving Scooby's nephew Scrappy-Doo (e.g. Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo and The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo — which was somewhat redeemed by the Vincent Price appearances — among others). I think this may be an attempt by the writers to retcon Scrappy out of the Scooby-Doo universe. Rather than admitting to the existence of those series, the writers simply insist that the years 1973-2001 simply do not exist in the Scooby-Doo universe. Simple. This even lets them keep a lot of the newer movies, since those take place at some indeterminate point in the future where the gang has purchased a change of clothes and some of them even hold steady jobs (I think Daphne is a reporter, the most common profession of red-headed cartoon women). If I'm right, then this episode really does make sense after all.
(Also, dig my not-at-all-ripped-off-from-Dan links.)
