Monday, December 12, 2005
More kultscha
The spelling is particularly appropriate today, because I just read an awesome book which some would say is a tad trashy: The Insider by Piers Morgan.
Morgan edietd News of the World (at age 28!) and The Mirror. He was fired for printing fake pictures of British soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners, though it seems he has since been vindicated. I always thought him a detestable man, and I guess I still do, but he actually comes across quite well in the book. There's lots of fascinating stuff about the press and its relations both with people in power and the world of celebrity. Many great stories, though I think my favourite was where he sent one of his reporters (actually Rebekah Wade, who later became editor of The Sun), dressed up as a janitor, into the presses of the Sunday Times to steal their first edition as it came off the presses and print their big story as one of his own. What makes this even funnier, if you don't know, is that they're part of the same company - Murdoch's News International. You have to love the brass.
Also, fans of the Thugs will love the book as Morgan is a dedicated and biased Gunner (who touchingly has let that bias affect his news sense on the paper); there is an argument to be made that he sent the League from United to Arsenal in 2002.
Anyway, even for those who know and care nothing about England, a fascinating, totally compulsive book.
In movies, just saw Broken Flowers, Jim Jarmusch's most recent movie. I've always liked Jarmusch, though I tend to think his earlier movies, particularly Down by Law and Mystery Train, were his best. This one is very good - quiet, subtle, so simply and plainly done, with some wonderful work by Bill Murray and Jeffrey Wright. It's really about the weirdness of human connections, and defs worth seeing.
Morgan edietd News of the World (at age 28!) and The Mirror. He was fired for printing fake pictures of British soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners, though it seems he has since been vindicated. I always thought him a detestable man, and I guess I still do, but he actually comes across quite well in the book. There's lots of fascinating stuff about the press and its relations both with people in power and the world of celebrity. Many great stories, though I think my favourite was where he sent one of his reporters (actually Rebekah Wade, who later became editor of The Sun), dressed up as a janitor, into the presses of the Sunday Times to steal their first edition as it came off the presses and print their big story as one of his own. What makes this even funnier, if you don't know, is that they're part of the same company - Murdoch's News International. You have to love the brass.
Also, fans of the Thugs will love the book as Morgan is a dedicated and biased Gunner (who touchingly has let that bias affect his news sense on the paper); there is an argument to be made that he sent the League from United to Arsenal in 2002.
Anyway, even for those who know and care nothing about England, a fascinating, totally compulsive book.
In movies, just saw Broken Flowers, Jim Jarmusch's most recent movie. I've always liked Jarmusch, though I tend to think his earlier movies, particularly Down by Law and Mystery Train, were his best. This one is very good - quiet, subtle, so simply and plainly done, with some wonderful work by Bill Murray and Jeffrey Wright. It's really about the weirdness of human connections, and defs worth seeing.
