Capital New York

drobertsmidd commented on Kurson's 'Observer' meant to appeal to 'Staten Island first responders, second-generation NYers in Forest Hills'

"Who WAS that man?!"

Posted on January 5th, 2013 1:36pm

drobertsmidd commented on Jodi Kantor gets a grilling from Upper West Side Barnes & Noble patrons about her book, 'The Obamas'

Fred, Let's refrain from bringing Kantor's parents into this and stick to a discussion of the book and its fallout, shall we?

Posted on January 12th, 2012 8:15pm

drobertsmidd commented on Jodi Kantor gets a grilling from Upper West Side Barnes & Noble patrons about her book, 'The Obamas'

Of course the Hillary Clinton-type second act isn't going to happen. All we keep hearing, not just from this book but other sources, for years, is that Michelle feels frustrated by politics and was resistant to all the stresses of campaigning etc. By the way, does anyone really believe M.O. is NOT going to read this book? Just like it's a stretch to think that Laura Bush never picked up "American Wife."

Posted on January 12th, 2012 10:46am

drobertsmidd commented on Turning tricks, shooting champagne, stuffing cannoli

The version I got of the Post today has different text on the bottom left with the champagne shot. It says "Yanks berth right" which I thought was a clever pun on the Birthright Trip that so many New York Jews go on. "Yanks finally clinch" is far more boring, wonder which is the newer edition.

Posted on September 29th, 2010 3:30pm

drobertsmidd commented on Koran-burning, tree-chopping, betting and vamping

Post does win, but FIRE TRAP is a bizarre headline, not sure if that's meant to be funny or what. Even worse, if the tabs would just stop referring to it as the Ground Zero mosque (we see it's now become so regular for them that they abbreviate it GZ; they may as well start calling it the GZM like it's Wu Tang's GZA) then maybe people would be more understanding of it, and also realize it's hardly at ground zero. Nor is it really a mosque. Wonder what the numbers are of times they've called it the GZ Mosque vs. calling it by its proper name, Park51...

Posted on September 10th, 2010 12:29pm

drobertsmidd commented on Who is this Mosque man? Tab grabs narrative and runs

And just like that, by 1 p.m. on the same day, the News cover is worthless. ha... http://www.deadline.com/2010/08/rooney-mara-gets-lisbeth-salander-role-in-dragon-tattoo/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+deadline%2FLUiP+(Deadline.comWholeShebang)

Posted on August 16th, 2010 1:42pm

drobertsmidd commented on Who started K-Rod brawl? NYPD, witnesses tell two tales

Good take today. but Post wins it and here's why-- neither cover, as you say yourself, is grabbing any eyes with the photo (in fact most people who look quickly will think the photos are identical, which they aren't; they're from the same moment, but look at K-Rod's face). so. photo is a throwaway, no better than the generic Steven Slater shots from a few days ago. all we have to go on is the wood plus the general layout. And for precisely the reason you think the News handled it well (by including a bit of other filler on top just so the whole front isn't all K-Rod) I'd say the Post did it better just by dint of going balls to the wall. Yeah, photo sucks, hed is nothing special, but at least the arrest dramatically grabs the entire front, nice and clean, nothing else previewed except whatever that tiny type along the bottom is. Plus, even if "Man Up" is more rooted in the actual story i.e. it's a direct quote, "Cuff Love" is punnier, possibly more grin-inducing, so it's a better hed whether or not the Post's version of the events proves to be wrong (which is totally plausible, maybe probable, ha).

Posted on August 13th, 2010 5:23pm

drobertsmidd commented on Diamond girls and boys, cops and guns

Granted, it's not an actual fire story. But I meant that in terms of grabbing attention, "wild fire" does more for me than "gun nuts."

Posted on August 9th, 2010 11:27am

drobertsmidd commented on Diamond girls and boys, cops and guns

fire stories are more enticing than gun stories, usually, but I'd say Naomi Campbell and her blood diamond saga trumps both. as South African Leo would tell us, "T.I.A., man." crown to the Post...

Posted on August 9th, 2010 11:26am

drobertsmidd commented on The way of all flesh: A-Rod in a 'copter, Pitino in a booth

jrb has it-- Kagan's just not sexy (I mean both as a news story and as a front cover photo, sorry, but come on). If she had celebrated by donning a bikini and hopping onto a boat with Pedro Espada, the tabs wouldave been falling all over themselves. I also think this was about timing-- sure, if a story breaks during the day on a Tues and it's big enough it'll make the cover Weds morning, but not always, and in this case the news she was officially confirmed came out at like 5pm yesterday, not really late enough to still be fresh the next morning. By 8 or so everyone knew it had happened, so it was stale quickly. Note the Post pushed Kagan all the way to page 12. Anyway in terms of the actual covers, I'd crown the News, just because whether it's paraphrased or not, that big text-- WISH I HAD SHOT MORE-- damn, that's eye-catching.

Posted on August 6th, 2010 11:14am