Taylor-Made: Split Decision on Swift’s New Album

October 22, 2012

Today’s local dailies have polar opposite reviews of Taylor Swift’s new album.

Start with James Reed’s piece in the Boston Globe:

With her new album ‘Red,’ Taylor Swift grows up

Pursues pop hits — and more mature songwriting

For a sense of how much Taylor Swift has matured on her new album, compare the title track with that of her last record.

“Speak Now,” from 2010, cast Swift as a hapless “girl” (in her words) who crashed the wedding of her ex-boyfriend and proceeded to hide behind a curtain and make silly jokes about the bride. The whole scenario was cute, like something a lovable sitcom character would do for a cheap laugh.

Think of “Red” as the next chapter in that young girl’s life. She has become a young woman, and that joke isn’t funny anymore. Now she’s writing about heartache from a decidedly grown-up perspective.

Okay, now say hello to the Boston Herald’s Jed Gottlieb. His piece renders a decidedly different verdict.

It’s time for Swift to grow up

Taylor Swift turns 23 in December.

It’s the age when most teen idols try to transition to the adult market. While in their early 20s, Justin Timberlake matured beyond ’N SYNC, Canadian teen queen Alanis Morissette turned into a superstar hellion, and Janet Jackson became “Miss Jackson, if you’re nasty.”

But Swift isn’t interested in adulthood. She wants to be 16 forever. Not 21 or even 18, but a Sweet 16 spinning diary entries into pop ditties — she’s dating a junior in high school for goodness sake!

And might be playing around on him!

From Examiner.com (but it’s all over the web):

Taylor Swift cheats with Patrick Schwarzenegger

Taylor Swift may be tired of playing the victim and has turned the tables on Conor Kennedy. It has been reported that Taylor Swift cheated on Conor Kennedy with Patrick Schwarzenegger. Conor Kennedy and Patrick Schwarzenegger are cousins

Celeb Dirty Laundry reported on October 10 Taylor Swift was caught “making out” with Patrick Schwarzenegger. This activity went on all night at a Kennedy family event. At the time of publication, the exact Kennedy family event was unknown.

Maybe because it never happened. Then again the hardbrowsing staff did see this on the cover of a checkout tabloid:

Kennedys: Taylor is trash!

Hey, Track Gals (and Megan!): We need you on the case here.

 

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‘Scout’ Brown in the Boston Herald

October 21, 2012

The thoroughly reprehensible Boy Scout scandal got – wait for it – very different coverage in Saturday’s local dailies.

From the Boston Globe:

Boy Scouts files reveal legacy of abuse

Accusations of molestation hidden in confidential records for decades

The alleged abuse happened on camping trips, in tents and trailers, inside sleeping bags. Boys from Cape Cod to the Berkshires, granted the privilege of sleeping beside one of their revered scout leaders, were touched, grabbed, fondled in the night.

Again and again, a top Boy Scouts’ official delivered an identical, two-sentence response to letters from district council leaders outlining the ­offenses: “Thank you for the detailed infor mation concerning the above Scouter. We have reviewed this case with our attorney and have now placed this man on the Confidential File.”

Documents released this week under a court order paint a devastating picture of thousands of episodes of abuse, dozens in Massachusetts, that occurred on Scout-organized outings from about 1965 to 1985.

But the Boston Herald coverage painted a very different picture:

Brown calls on feds to investigate Boy Scouts

U.S. Sen. Scott Brown — a victim of sexual abuse as a child — is calling for a federal investigation into the Boy Scouts’ secret “perversion files” and said he would consider supporting a move to revoke the Scouts’ federal charter if the organization rebuffs attempts to root out predators.

“Anytime you have abuse — as someone who has been abused — it’s personal,” Brown said yesterday during a campaign stop in Quincy. “I think we need to do a more thorough investigation.”

The hardreading staff, on the other hand, would like to see a more thorough investigation of the Boston Herald as house organ for the Scott Brown campaign.

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Brian McGrory: Assignment Desk for the Boston Herald

October 21, 2012

On Friday, Boston Globe columnist Brian McGrory submitted this piece (boink! sorry, paywall):

Ads up; it’s just way too much

I was walking near Copley Square one recent morning when I made a profound mistake. I stopped to appreciate the scenery.

Here’s what I expected: Urban beauty in the form of the grand dame of a hotel, the Fairmont Copley Plaza, and the contrast between Trinity Church and the Hancock Tower, and the sheer dignity of the McKim Building at the Boston Public Library.

Here’s what assaulted me instead: Advertisements. Suddenly, they were everywhere, glowing, sprawling, backlit ads pouring forth from too many places in this once subtle city. Consider a single block of Boylston Street, directly outside the doors of the library.

We begin with a sidewalk restroom that carries a huge ad for, among other things, Maggiano’s Little Italy, which I’m not sure is a selling match.

And there were multiple other ads within a small radius of Copley Square, leading McGrory to this conclusion:

If we had this many ads in this newspaper every week, I’d be a better-dressed man.

McGrory’s column also led to this conclusion in the next day’s Boston Herald:

Signs ad(d) to Bostonians’ discontent

Back Bay and Beacon Hill brownstone dwellers are up in arms over plans to plant nearly 50 17-foot illuminated billboards in Hub neighborhoods — the latest skirmish in a controversial decade-long ad campaign.

“We’re talking about maintaining the quality of life in Boston, which is pretty good, and I don’t think this helps anybody other than the advertising companies,” said Howard Kassler, chairman of the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay.

There’s no question the Herald report went beyond McGrory’s column in terms of covering neighborhood reaction and detailing the city’s deal with the billboard company.

But there’s also little doubt (at least among the hardreading staff) that the coverage was spurred by McGrory’s column.

That’s what a two-daily town is all about.

 

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Who Hates the Yankees More: The Globe or The Herald?

October 19, 2012

As a Made Yankee Fan in Boston, the hardreading staff is entirely gobsmacked by the Chernobylesque meltdown of the Bronx Bummers in the ALCS.

The locals here in Boston – and the local dailies – are lovin’ it, of course. As well they should.

But which paper loves it more?

The Boston Globe throws this high hard one on page 3 of the Sports section:

Tigers complete sweep of Yankees

DETROIT — The Detroit Tigers didn’t simply sweep the New York Yankees out of baseball’s postseason on Thursday; they embarrassed them in every way one team can another.

An 8-1 victory in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series gave the Tigers their first pennant since 2006 and completed a most thorough rout of the Yankees.

The Tigers never trailed in the series, outscoring the Yankees, 19-6. They were the fifth team in history to sweep a best-of-seven series without trailing in any game. The Red Sox were the last team to do it, crushing the Cardinals in the 2004 World Series.

“If someone told me we would sweep the Yankees in this series, I would have told them they were crazy,” Tigers manager Jim Leyland said.

Us too. But the Tigers did, much to the delight of the Boston Herald, which devotes its back page to the the Pinstrikes’ plunge.

 

 

To elaborate:

Yankees crash

NY faces many questions in offseason

DETROIT — In the span of one month, the 2011 Red Sox [team stats] mutated from World Series contenders into a team that choked on everything except its fried chicken.

The fall of the 2012 Yankees took only five days.

And what happens next figures to be fascinating.

The Red Sox learned the hard way that their rapid demise was rooted in more than merely one horrendous month. After taking over for Theo Epstein, general manager Ben Cherington only minimally tweaked the roster, and 93 losses later, the Sox suffered their worst season in 47 years.

So, although the Yankees won 95 games and the AL East title, the events of the past week have made it abundantly clear that GM Brian Cashman has nearly as much work to do this offseason as Cherington. The Yanks may have finished 26 games better than the Red Sox, but it somehow feels like they’re almost as far from winning another World Series.

And just for good measure, the Herald threw this into the mix:

Yankees lose their identity, lose their way

DETROIT — The growing chants of ‘sweep, sweep, sweep,’ cascaded from the rafters, an upper deck-to-dugout reminder of just how stunningly far and fast this Yankee season crashed to its end. This team didn’t just get swept out of the American League Championship Series by the 8-1 beating the Tigers put on them Thursday in Detroit; they were stripped bare of their pride, outclassed to the point that they couldn’t even take a lead for one of the 39 innings they played.

The home crowd bubbled with excitement as the Yankees took their final, feeble ninth-inning swings, and unleashed its full euphoria when Jayson Nix’s pop-up landed with the final out in Prince Fielder’s glove. But while Detroit’s door to delirium opened, a different one slammed shut on the Yankees. Devastated and disappointed, distracted and defeated, they walked off Comerica Park’s field as a hollowed out shell of the group that barely a week before, had willed its gritty, gutty self to a decisive Game 5 ALDS win over Baltimore.

Hard to argue with that. And hard to deny that the New York Post just might hate the Yankees even more than the Boston dailies do.

Page One (via the Newseum’s Today’s Front Pages):

 

 

As for the hardcringing staff, we believe the only clutch performance by a Yankee was Joe Girardi’s benching of Alex “No Connection” Rodriguez. If there’s one good thing that comes out of this dismal postseason, it might be that Mr. September comes off the Yankee roster.

See you around the Hot Stove.

 

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‘Binder’ Blinders at the Boston Herald?

October 18, 2012

The Binders Full of Women rumpus,the latest screaming meme in the flogosphere, has turned the spotlight on Mitt Romney’s hiring record as Massachusetts governor from 2003-2007. The local dailies both take a look at that record today, with differing results (stop the presses, eh?).

From the Boston Herald:

Mitt Romney’s ‘binders of women’ comment is going full clip

The frenzy whipped up by Mitt Romney’s claims of poring over “binders full of woman” to ensure his cabinet wasn’t male-dominated drew a sharp response from both sides of the aisle yesterday — Democrats disputing the notion he actively sought out female candidates and Republicans rushing to defend his Bay State record.

Romney, in Tuesday’s debate, said his administration “took a concerted effort to go out and find women” for his cabinet, adding he turned to women’s groups, who provided “binders full of women” . . .

Kerry Healey, Romney’s former lieutenant governor, noted women in top positions included Chief of Staff Beth Myers and policy adviser Cindy Gillespie.

“He has surrounded himself with talented women’s voices,” Healey said last night. The Herald reported during Romney’s administration that the percentage of women in top jobs rose only slightly, from 30 percent to 31 percent, but MassGAP did not fault him, telling the Herald in 2006 three-fourths of top jobs had holdovers.

The Boston Globe, however, tells a different – and less flattering – tale:

The story behind Mitt Romney’s ‘binders full of women’

WASHINGTON — In the debate on Tuesday night, Mitt Romney said that he made every effort to find qualified women for Cabinet positions when he was governor of Massachusetts.

“Well, gosh,” he said he told his staff who had an abundance of male applicants, “can’t we find some — some women that are also qualified?”

“I went to a number of women’s groups and said, ‘Can you help us find folks?’ ” Romney added. “And they brought us whole binders full of women.”

The awkward turn of phrase — “binders full of women” — immediately took off online and triggered a day of back and forth between Democrats and Republicans over who can best represent concerns of women. A Facebook page, called “Binders Full of Women,” was created and by midday had nearly 300,000 likes. Dan Lacey, an artist known for political parodies, was selling a painting on eBay of Romney holding two binders with female legs coming out of them. A Tumblr page, with spoof images, was created, and President Obama resurrected the line during a campaign stop in Iowa.

That’s not the less flattering part, though. This is:

About midway through Romney’s four-year term, 42 percent of his 33 new appointments were women, according to a study done by the UMass Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy using some of the data collected by MassGAP.

But over the next two years, women made up only 25 percent of the 64 new appointments Romney made. By the end of his term, women made up 27.6 percent of those in high-ranking positions overall, which was slightly lower than it was before Romney took office.

As always in this post-truth presidential election, pick the numbers that suit you best.

 

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Boston Herald: Too Much Candy!

October 17, 2012

No sweet tooth at the Boston Herald today.

Page One (via the Newseum’s Today’s Front Pages):

And that’s just for starters. Next up, Joe Battenfeld’s column:

Romney sours after Candy butts in

Mitt Romney got lost in Candy-land and ended up losing a chance to put away President Obama.

Moderator Candy Crowley’s unusual backing up of Obama’s claim that he called the attacks in Libya an “act of terror” effectively stopped Mitt’s momentum and allowed the president to turn what should have been a bad moment into a victory.

And Crowley’s admonishment of Romney to “go to the transcript” of Obama’s Rose Garden remarks on Libya didn’t help.

Battenfeld goes on to say that “Obama actually did not call the Benghazi attacks ‘an act of terror’ but made a general statement about ‘no acts of terror’ shaking the nation’s resolve.”

Not to get technical about it.

Then there’s Howie Carr’s drive-by:

Obama running on fumes

They don’t like each other. They really don’t like each other, do they? No knockout blows. Barack Obama was better than in Denver, but he’s still got this very big problem, namely, his record.

It doesn’t matter how many extra minutes moderator Candy Crowley gave Obama (somewhere between three and five, depending on which network you were listening to), he’s still stuck with his dismal economy.

“Does that mean you’re not hurting?” Obama told one New Yorker after rattling off a few bogus sunshine-y stats. “Absolutely not. A lot of us are.”

It was Obama who was hurting, though, when the topic of Libya came up, at least until Crowley rescued him, Carr says:

Obama had no answers, because there aren’t many. But then Romney, with a chance for a walk-off home run, got tripped up on what Obama said in the Rose Garden on Sept. 12. OK, Obama didn’t precisely say Benghazi was a terrorist attack, but he had thrown in a CYA reference to “no act of terror.”

Then Candy couldn’t help herself and jumped in on the president’s side by misrepresenting what he’d said, in a positive way.

Two-on-one is moonbat fun.

If you say so, Howie.

Then, just for the heck of it, the Herald assigned a reporter to blow the lid off Candyscam.

Candy Crowley edges into fact-checker role

CNN’s Candy Crowley ventured into dangerous territory last night, briefly playing the role of live fact-checker while moderating the feisty presidential title card.

“Unless a moderator is going to offer live fact-checking of both candidates, she should steer clear of that,” said Peter Ubertaccio of Stonehill College. “Moderating a debate shouldn’t be confused with analyzing what the candidate is saying.”

Okay, then.

And how did crosstown rival Boston Globe match all the Herald’s Candy dish.

It didn’t. Here’s the only mention of Crowley (and not even by name) the hardreading staff could find:

Romney’s supporters were happy . . . though they criticized the debate moderator for not giving their candidate as much time to respond to questions as Obama got.

“I thought the moderator was a little biased, but what are you going to do,” said Sarah Jasper, 18, a political science major wearing a Romney sticker who said she was “definitely happy with what I heard from Romney” at the debate.

Clearly, Sarah will never work at the Boston Herald. Way too reasonable.

 

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Yesterday’s News Tomorrow, Globe Division

October 16, 2012

The hardreading staff is taking a break from the Globe/Herald bakeoff for the gala opening of up our Credit-Where-Credit’s-Due bureau.

Today’s Boston Globe features this story in the Metro section:

Harvard’s student Voice apologizes for remarks

Magazine posting stereotyped Asians

A magazine published by students at Harvard College has issued an apology for controversial remarks about students of Asian descent that appeared on the publication’s website over the weekend.

The material first appeared on the blog of the Harvard Voice in a posting entitled, “5 People You’ll See at Pre-Interview Receptions,” which poked fun at the “well-suited career men and women” seeking to land jobs at prestigious firms.

The author at one point described “the Asian contingent at every pre-interview reception.”

“They dress in the same way (satin blouse with high waisted pencil skirt for girls, suits with skinny ties for boys), talk in the same sort-of gushy, sort-of whiny manner, and have the same concentrations and sky-high GPAs,” the author wrote. “They’re practically indistinguishable from one another, but it’s OK.”

The posting, on the other hand, was not OK.

The magazine later deleted the passage from the anonymous posting and added an apology for the “inappropriate content,” but the excerpt was reposted in a story about the incident on the website of The Harvard Crimson, the student news paper.

The Crimson had the story Sunday and BostInno had it yesterday, complete with a recap of the past year’s College Newspaper Follies – from the Suffolk Journal forgetting to delete an expletive in a headline to the BU Daily Free Press’s deeply unfunny April Fool’s edition to the UMass-Lowell Connector’s profanity-laced end-of-the-year spoof.

So here’s what hardwondering staff wants to know: Since BostInno beat the Globe to the story (yes, the Crimson beat both), should the Globe have credited BostInno as well? Or is citing the original source enough?

In a rare moment of sincerity, we’d really like to know what you think.

 

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Where in the Political World Is Barney Keller?

October 15, 2012

Kevin Cullen has a smart column (boink! Sorry, paywall) in yesterday’s Boston Globe about the current grassy knoll mishegoss over debate moderators.

Nut graf:

In this election cycle, more than any in memory, the role and performance of the debate moderator has been as widely discussed as anything the candidates say. Which is not good.

Cullen then helpfully provides an example:

I thought Jon Keller, the WBZ political analyst, did a good job moderating the first Scott Brown-Elizabeth Warren Senate debate. But when I mentioned that to a Democratic political operative, he leaned in conspiratorially and said, “You know, Keller’s son works for the Massachusetts Republican Party.”

Actually, I do know that. But what has that got to do with Jon Keller or the price of a cup of coffee?

Not to get technical about it, but Barney Keller left his job at the Mass. GOP three years ago, as the Boston Herald reported at the time:

State GOP spokesman Barney Keller is stepping down from his post to go work for New York gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio.

Keller, son of WBZ TV political reporter Jon Keller, has been the face of the Massachusetts Republican party since March 2008. Next week he starts his new job with Lazio, a former congressman who lost a U.S. Senate race to Hillary Clinton in 2000.

Since then, Keller fils has moved on to a bigger job at Grover Norquist’s the Club for Growth:

Barney Keller

Communications Director

Barney joined the Club for Growth in April 2011. He previously worked as Deputy Communications Director on Pat Toomey’s campaign for US Senate. Prior to that Barney was Press Secretary for Rick Lazio’s campaign for Governor of New York. Barney has also worked at the Massachusetts Republican Party, the New Hampshire Republican Party, and got his start in politics working on the special election Congressional race of Jim Ogonowski in MA-05.

A native of Belmont, Massachusetts, Barney graduated from the University of Chicago with a B.A. in Economics and Sociology in 2007. He currently lives in Washington.

So, really, he’s got nothing to do with a WBZ debate between Scott Brown and Elizabeth Warren moderated by his old man.

Not to get technical about it.

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Kennebunker Mentality

October 13, 2012

The Maine event in today’s local dailies is the client list of one very busy Zumba dance instructor in Kennebunk.

Boston Herald Page One (via the Newseum’s Today’s Front Pages):

The inside story:

Maine town awaits list of clients eyed in hooker scandal

KENNEBUNK, Maine — With equal parts dread, gallows humor and gawking curiosity, residents of this bucolic seaside burg are sitting on the edge of their seats waiting to see if any of their neighbors are among the more than 150 men accused of paying a Zumba dance instructor for sex.

“You’re familiar with ‘The Scarlet Letter’? This is the same thing, only now it’s the letter Z for Zumba,” said Gisele Nedeau, who runs Ashby’s Deli with her husband, Mark.

Police yesterday had planned to publish the names of some of those summoned to court in connection with the alleged prostitution racket that authorities said was run by 29-year old Alexis Wright of nearby Wells, and her business partner, Mark Strong Sr., 57, of Thomaston.

But some desperate last-minute maneuvering by a lawyer for two of the men has delayed the release until at least Monday — the earliest the state’s highest court could hear the case.

The Boston Globe also features the story Page One – Metro – but with a much more subdued headline:

Zumba instructor prostitution story grips Maine town

KENNEBUNK, Maine — Most years at this time, when the tourists have left and the snowbirds are not far behind, this quaint coastal town begins to wind down for the winter.

But this fall, the pleasant, proper village down the road from the Bush family compound in neighboring Kennebunkport has been gripped in scandal. A scandal, shall we say, of prurient interest.

A scandal, if you must, involving a fitness instructor who is charged with running a prostitution operation from her studio. And a list, which in recent gossip-fueled days has taken on near-mythic status as “the list” of the Zumba teacher’s exten sive clientele.

“This is a very small town after the season,” said Elaine Nicholson, 54. “Except this year. This year, every body’s buzzing.”

The instructor, Alexis Wright, 29, pleaded not guilty this week to more than 100 counts of prostitution, while an accused associate, Mark Strong, pleaded not guilty to helping to run the business.

The Globe piece is more substantial than the Herald’s, but each has its unique attractions.

Such as the Globe’s inclusion of  Kennebunk’s town slogan:

In town, where a sign at the bridge hails the town as “the only village in the world so named,” the list of names and their uncertain fate was front and center.

And such as this photo in the Herald:

Oh, yes – and the comments in the Herald are more numerous – and more nasty – than those in the Globe.

 

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Today’s the Day the Chinstrokers Have Their Picnic

October 12, 2012

Two local dailies, two different worlds of vice presidential debate post mortems. At the Boston Herald, it was joltin’ Joe time.

First up, Howie Carr:

Joe Biden makes case for . . . term limits

Hey Joe Biden, what’s so funny?

The only real takeaway from this debate is we really need term limits for politicians. Joe Biden was first elected to the Senate in 1972 at age 30. Somewhere around 1992, he should have had to go out and get a real job.

Nothing like having to answer to a boss to make you a little more humble. What’s up with the smirking? It seemed like Clint Eastwood was back up on stage, this time in character from “Gran Torino.”

“Get off my lawn!”

Not to mention don’t sit in my chair.

Next, Holly Robichaud:

Off-the-rails VP a boost for Paul Ryan

OMG. Vice President Joe Biden was an embarrassment not only to the Democrat ticket, but also for the country.

Clearly he was attempting to make up for the inadequate performance of President Obama by attacking Paul Ryan’s every syllable.

He overcompensated with the phony laugh and the constant interruption. It was hard to get over Biden’s wild-eyed look to hear what he was saying. The best word to describe his performance is: unhinged.

Wow. Not sure Holly’s all that hinged herself.

Even though it was two-on-one, Margery Eagan managed to hold her own with this minority report:

Goofy Joe Biden gets the job done

Joe Biden, the 69-year-old granddad best known for his gaffes and goofs, committed conduct unbecoming a vice president last night. He mocked Paul Ryan. He grinned and laughed too much. It was dismissive and annoying. It reminded me of Al Gore’s exasperated, exaggerated sighs at George W. Bush . . .

But good ol’ Joe did what Obama needed him to do. He attacked Ryan’s facts repeatedly (“With all due respect, you’re full of malarkey”). And he had a far better abortion answer for pro-choice women. (“I refuse to impose (my pro-life personal views) on others, unlike my friend here, the congressman,” who would criminalize abortion.)

Biden bought his boss some time. Panicked, demoralized Democrats can only hope Obama shows a quarter of Biden’s fight at his next debate.

Panicked, demoralized Democrats can also check out the Boston Globe, where Biden got a more modulated (read: less rapid) welcome from the chinstrokers.

Start with Derrick Jackson:

Is Biden’s performance enough to stop the slide?

HAMPTON, Va.

With so much of Thursday night’s vice presidential debate centered on foreign policy, incumbent Joe Biden had a clear path to victory. His depth of knowledge separated him from Republican challenger Paul Ryan. The cheers at a Hampton Democratic Committee viewing party were ample evidence that Biden said much of what these Democrats had wanted to hear from President Obama last week.

So we’ll take that as a yes.

Tom Keane issued a split decision:

Biden on policy, Ryan on style

In theory, vice presidential debates shouldn’t matter that much — only 18 percent in a recent Rasmussen Poll said it would be “very important” to their vote — and that’s the way it should be. Neither guy, one hopes, will be president and the basic task of each is to demonstrate, if disaster strikes, that he would be up to the job. Biden has proven before that he would be, and Thursday night Ryan seemed competent on a national stage.

Yet this particular debate did matter and especially for Biden. He had to stem the Mitt Romney surge that over the last week has remade this race. He may have helped slow it, but probably it hasn’t been reversed.

So we’ll take that as a draw.

And just for fun, we’ll throw in this Glen Johnson analysis:

Paul Ryan shows he is no pushover in debate

Presidential campaigns are akin to gestational periods, with months of campaigning giving voters time to slowly form their impressions of a candidate.

Against that backdrop, Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin stepped onto likely his biggest stage yet on Thursday night and showed an American electorate still getting to know the Republican vice presidential nominee that he is no pushover.

In a contentious 90-minute debate with Vice President Joe Biden, Ryan engaged in a frontal assault on a politician nearly three decades his elder. And he didn’t cower even when the discussion started with and kept coming back to foreign affairs – a supposed weakness for an economic policy wonk like him and strength for a former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee like his opponent.

So we’ll take that as an okay, and leave it at that.

 

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