BobHarris.com - Los Angeles Times declares its own complete lack of irony

Books! Actual books!

"A rollicking ride of intellectual discovery and emotional growth... his comic timing never fails"

-- The Wall Street Journal

"Pulls you in like a good sports story"

-- The New York Times Book Review

"Endearingly frank... jubilant... lighthearted and fast-paced"

-- New York Newsday

"A surprisingly touching memoir"

-- Entertainment Weekly

"Snappy and informative"

-- Associated Press

"Effortlessly funny and informative... tender, human, and very wise... A must for anyone who loves Jeopardy!, or has ever seen it, or is breathing."

-- Joss Whedon, creator, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

"I haven't seen Jeopardy! since I was a kid, and yet I was charmed and amused by Bob Harris's fascinating and surprisingly suspenseful book. Through sheer force of personality, he takes this brainy TV show and makes it funny and easy to relate to."

-- Ira Glass, creator and host, This American Life

"A surprisingly intimate, entertaining book."

-- Orson Scott Card, 4-time Hugo Award winner, author of Ender's Game

"Funny, enlightening -- and just might help you win a million bucks on Jeopardy!"

-- A. J. Jacobs, author of The Know-It-All

"A masterful job of describing the feel of Jeopardy! in the heat of battle... I knew Bob was a great guy and a fantastic Jeopardy! player. Now I've found that he's also a wonderful writer. I think I'm starting to hate him."

-- Brad Rutter, top money-winner in Jeopardy! history

Books I'm Getting

Who Hates Whom:
Well-Armed Fanatics, Intractable Conflicts,
and Various Things Blowing Up —
A Woefully Incomplete Guide™

“Revelatory... Harris's sly wit and infectious curiosity make understanding world chaos fascinating... witty, horrific, and necessary.”

— Boston Globe

"Brave... irreverent... charges into the thick of the globe's myriad simmering wars... hilariously relaxed."

— New York Observer

"Only Bob could make a user’s guide to our increasingly hostile world this absorbing, this breezy, and—ultimately—this hopeful.”

— Ken Jennings, author of Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs

“Fascinating, enlightening, and surprisingly: NOT TOTALLY DEPRESSING. A gimlet-eyed look at the world we endure that’s also suitable for enjoying with a gimlet.”

— John Hodgman, author of The Areas of My Expertise
and correspondent for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

"All three [presidential] candidates should read all three of these [recommended] books, but McCain gets first crack at Bob Harris's "Who Hates Whom“... a lighthearted overview of the insurrections and civil wars in the world today."

— Steven Pinker, author of The Stuff of Thought, in the New York Times Book Review

Main

Los Angeles Times declares its own complete lack of irony

Tag it now -

Tuesday, 17 October 2006

Totally genius front page of the L.A. Times today. Click over and look. It's fantastic.

Above the fold, half of the page is devoted to a color photo of the Gropenator as he strides through Times Square like a commander in a posed photo op.

Below the fold, a teeny picture of his opponent, face partly obscured, his head down on his hand with a look of amused resignation on his face.

The story, believe it or not: an allegedly objective look at -- wait for it, this is fabulous -- how the media is getting used by Schwarzenegger, and how his opponent just can't get a fair break.

Accompanied by a photo of Arnold that is more than eleven times larger by area. And Angelides isn't mentioned by name -- in fact, there's no mention that Arnold even has any political opposition whatsoever -- until the fourth paragraph.

The story continues on page A17. With only one picture -- of Arnold, of course -- and the new headline:

Arnold Staying Front and Center

Well bloody hell yes he is.

I am starting to think that irony got killed by a drunken mob in a bar fight sometime around 2002. Would explain a lot.

UPDATE: And Arnold is crossing diagonally, a form of jaywalking which is a $50 fine for us ordinary civilians. Of course, Der Ubermensch is above such mundane considerations.