The Los Angeles Times today announced plans to cut 250 positions across the company, including 150 positions in editorial, in a new effort to bring expenses into line with declining revenue. In a further cost-cutting step, the paper will reduce the number of pages it publishes each week by 15%.

More here. 

Great story in The Forward about Sasha Baron Cohen’s new project. Dressed in leather and studs, his arms and chest shaven, Cohen spoke in a heavy German accent, with “ultra-gay” movements and mannerisms as he interviewed a Jew and a Palestinian:

“Vait, vait. Vat’s zee connection between a political movement and food. Vy hummus?”

We exchanged astonished glances. “Hamas,” we explained, “is a Palestinian Islamist political movement. Hummus is a food.”

“Ya, but vy hummus? Yesterday I had to throw away my pita bread because it vas dripping hummus. Unt it’s too high in carbohydrates.”

The Hamas-hummus confusion went on for several minutes. Then, the interviewer declared: “Your conflict is not so bad. Jennifer-Angelina is worse.” 

Newsweek finds out Cindy McCain is behind on the property tax bills on her La Jolla, Calif. condo.

 Shortly after NEWSWEEK inquired about the matter, the McCain aide e-mailed a receipt dated Friday, June 27, confirming payment by the trust to San Diego County in the amount of $6,744.42. 

 

I live in San Diego City Council District 7 and I just got a mailer from the GOP candidate April Boling. Or as she calls herself, “April Boling, CPA.”

I like the quote on the back of the mailer so much that I clipped it out and pinned it on my wall:

 “Some people think I’m a little boring, and maybe I am. After all the fiscal and ethical problems at City Hall, maybe a little boring wouldn’t be so bad.”    

Can you imagine her victory speech? “Did you know that the Aleutian word for thank you is “qagaasakuq.” But enough frivolity. Now, because it is past my bedtime. I must retire.”

But things are in such a state in San Diego, this approach might work in a race for an open council seat.

Boling’s opponent is former TV reporter Marti Emerald. I interviewed Emerald, a Democrat, for a column I wrote a while back.

The mailer from the Boling campaign has this quote about Marti:

 “Where was Marti when City Hall was falling apart? Investigating how to get the best deals at local garage sales or where to get the best cup of joe in San Diego.”    

That, my friends, is media criticism.     

I admit it. I’ve been watching American Idol this season.  I tried to fight it off. Really, I did. No self-respecting 38-year-old man should be watching American Idol, I told myself. For six seasons, I held out.

But the show was too relentless, too determined. It pounded away at my consciousness, demanding to be let in. Finally, I gave in.

American Idol embraced me — and my contempt.  I rooted for a white, dreadlocked reggae fan from Texas when he forgot the lyrics to “Mr. Tambourine Man.” I  counted the number of times Randy Jackson said “Check it out, dog.” I looked for signs of alcoholism in Paula Abdul.

Of course I cheered when Simon Cowell heaped scorn on the hapless contestants, before a live audience of 27 million. It’s the thinking man’s cumshot. 

And the product placement! Oh, the product placement! The Ford commercial sung by the Top 5! The Coca-Cola cups in front of the judges!  The wardrobe placements, the background placements, the call to action placements — I salute you all! 

Some lowly intern at Nielsen Media Research got the job of counting the number of product placements on American Idol. The number of placements in Season 7 is surging, Nielsen says. There have been 3,291 placements so far this year. And we’re only halfway through the year.

In Season 12, the contestants will be singing commercial jingles right into their cell phones, while the backing band does a pan-flute solo with Coca-Cola bottles! We’ll have a contestant named Apple or Cingular! Oh, the possibilities.

Yes, I’m pathetic. But it turns out, I’m just as pathetic as the rest of the American Idol viewing audience. My age group, the 35 to 49 year-olds, accounted for nearly 30 percent of the American Idol audience, according to Nielsen Media Research. See for yourself here. 

The next biggest age group? The 50 to 64-year-olds.

I shouldn’t be surprised by this. The clues were there all along. The reason why the songs this season were by Dolly Parton, the Beatles, Neil Diamond, Roberta Flack, and Bob Dylan is because half the audience is over the age of 35. 

Ah, the Baby Boom generation. What institution haven’t you ruined yet?