Author: jbenton

Here’s my story from today’s front page, on the increasing perils of being a Texas fifth-grader.
(In the print edition, this story accompanies a full-page chart with the TAKS test results for 54 of our area districts. This chart has been the bane of my existence for some time. It is complete. Hosanna, hosanna!)

This post will be funny to any Boing Boing readers. (The comments are funny, too, ‘tho in a different way.)

Last month, when I was in San Francisco for work, I borrowed friend Lisa’s car for a day and drove up to Santa Rosa, home of the Charles M. Schulz Museum. (I am not ashamed to admit I kept tearing up as I walked the halls. I mean, seriously, dude died hours before his last strip ran! I’m such a softie.)
Anyway, in the gift shop, I picked up a copy of Peanuts: The Art of Charles M. Schulz, Chip Kidd’s gorgeous collection of strips. It made for great reading on the flight back to Dallas — it’s one of those books you want to treat as a work of art in itself.
I didn’t know at the time who Chip Kidd was, but he’s probably the top book-cover designer in the world, along with being perhaps the world’s top patron of the graphic novel. (He edited Chris Ware’s Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth and Daniel Clowes’ David Boring.)
Here’s an interview with Kidd in this week’s Onion AV Club.
Here’s a book about Kidd, by Veronique Vienne.
Here’s a blog devoted to the art of book-cover design.

Scary McBarnspook is a dead-on good name for Chris Robinson.

It must be tough being Perry A. Farrell, Detroit Free Press sports writer. Your Pistons are going to the NBA finals, but everybody still thinks you’re the nutcase ex-Jane’s Addiction singer.
Plus, the Freep’s P.F. should, by all rights, have dibs to the name — the singer was born Peretz Bernstein. (Which would explain why he DJs under the moniker DJ Peretz.)
Which reminds me of my all-time favorite Explainer on Slate: Is there any relation between Marty Peretz and the Meretz Party?
Which reminds me to congratulate Friend of Crabwalk.com Jeremy Kahn, who was recently named managing editor of Peretz’s The New Republic.

News alert: American Music Club’s new album is done. (This according to an email update from the band — I can’t find any other mention of the momentous event online.) Sez the band:
Mark [Eitzel] and Tim [Mooney] spent the past couple of weeks in Denton, TX mixing with Matt Pence (Centro-matic, South San Gabriel) at his Echo Lab studio. Final mixes are in and ready for mastering…Still don’t know the title of the record.
Eitzel’s been in Denton and he didn’t even look me up? Me, who named his damned web site for an AMC song? Harrumph.
Anyway, the album is due out on Merge October 12.

I’m off to Rayne for the holiday weekend. I’ll say hello to Mazie for you, don’t worry.

In slightly happier news, the Chromeo album kicks 19 flavors of ass. Imagine the robot from Short Circuit had come alive and become 1986’s top NYC DJ, crafting electro-funk paeans to rusty robot love.
Those of you with a fat connection can listen to a streaming version of the album here. I’ve got a special place in my heart for “You’re So Gangsta” and “Rage!” Two MP3s available for download, too. Perhaps best of all, you can hear a few tracks here in what could be termed their natural environment: as the background to video of people rollerskating in too-tight shorts.

How to be a Crappy Public Relations Person, Lesson No. 3,462:
Let’s say you’re the P.R. person for a public school district. And let’s say an education reporter — oh, we won’t name any names — calls you up and says he wants to visit one of your schools. He’s writing a story on a new wrinkle in the state’s testing system, and he wants to talk to teachers and students about it. It’s a story that will probably put your school in a positive light and get cute pictures of your school’s kids on the front page of a major daily newspaper.
You say yes, and he drives the 30 miles to visit your campus. You’re there to meet him. He does a quick interview with the principal, and then says, “Great! Now I’ll just go interview some of your teachers and students.”
What do you say?
A. “What a great idea! Here’s my card, with my cell number on it. I’ll go back to my office now, but if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to call!”
B. “What a great idea! I think Ms. Smith and Ms. Johnson would be particularly good interviews, but feel free to talk to whomever you’d like! This is a free country, after all!”
C. “Oh, heavens no! You can’t talk to any teachers or students! I had no idea a reporter coming to a school and writing a story about teacher and student reactions to an educational issue might want to interview teachers and students!”
If you want to be a Crappy Public Relations Person, the correct answer is C. Today, someone passed this test with flying colors!

There is no Easter bunny! There is no Easter bunny! “Melissa Salzmann, who brought her 4-year-old son J.T., said the program was inappropriate for young children. ‘He was crying and asking me why the bunny was being whipped,’ Salzmann said.”
In unrelated news, Ed Heeny, GOP candidate for the Florida state house, says he has found a new reason to dislike gays and lesbians: “He’s even found it difficult to shoot pool because ‘you have a situation where the lesbian community’ is buying restaurants and bars. ‘It’s really impossible to be a straight white man in this society,’ he said.”