brain static

	Brain static is the random electrical activity that happens in my head when the rest of me is at rest, the sputterings of a loose connection. I am pleased to share these neuronal discharges with you; why should I suffer alone? If you wish to retaliate--I mean respond--feel free to do so. I've taken out the response buttons due to overwhelming public apathy, but you can send me a note from the home page.

March 5

A moment of silence for our long-beleaguered newspaper. It has come to this:

Newspaper

Today’s paper has sold out the entire front page for a movie ad. This is actually an outsert, or whatever is the opposite of an insert: a four-page ad with the whole paper, including another front page with what they call news on it, folded inside. The “real” front page also features a banner ad for the same movie, and the Calendar section has banners at top and bottom. There’s a four column above-the-fold “news” article in the Business section about how this same movie, which hasn’t even come out yet, appears “headed for one of the biggest winter debuts ever.” Yesterday Kenneth Turan’s review, including another huge picture, took up two-thirds of the Calendar’s front page and another half-page inside. He panned it.

Alice is not advertised in the sports section, or in the classifieds, though admittedly I didn’t look carefully through the automobile ads. Word is the production cost $200 million, but clearly the marketing costs will double that figure.

I don’t know if this will rescue the L.A.Times print edition. I don’t even know if it matters.

March 4

A scandal erupted at the National Spelling Bee this year when one of the finalists tried to buy a vowel….

Myself, I am a man of few words. They are verbose, prolix, and loquacious.

Why doesn’t “morose” mean it doesn’t have enough sugar?

The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect--well, yes, come to think of it, I guess they do.