This week: Someone else sees the humor in the pope’s upcoming visit; Mugger gets dissed; a few Kelly Kreth fans unite; our “Overrated Albums of 2007” list gets a question; and, of course, Armond White gets a few (mean) words to ring in the new year.
Order Me Another Pope-a-Cino
It was nice to see the New York Press find a way to ridicule our current, ridiculous pope without stooping to the depths of previous Press cover stories—namely, that idiotic piece a few years ago about funny ways for the last Pope to die. Maybe your idea to hire a writer who actually knows how to write a joke had something to do with it. I’m a huge fan of the “Daily Show” (aren’t we all?), and it was great to get a taste of that Jon Stewart humor in the middle of this horrible strike. I laughed out loud on the subway, and that’s not something I do very often, at the “Pope-a-cino” reference. Funny stuff!
—Lauren Matteo, Brooklyn
Is Mugger Missing Something?
Is it my imagination, or has Russ Smith’s Mugger column been taken over by the love-child of Santa Claus and Snow White? Also, has he started getting his daily paper delivered a month late? I remember the days when his endless screeds would actually amuse me with their vitriol and venom, and timeliness. He seemed to be angry at everyone and everything in the news (and sometimes I even agreed with his reactionary point of view). But recently he seems to be ridiculously late and hopelessly out of touch. He wrote about the Dylan movie months after it came out, and now this week he finally gets around to the steroids scandal. I’m looking forward to his piece next week about Halloween.
—Rance Diamond, Hell’s Kitchen
Hottie’s Digits
Is that a drawing of Kelly Kreth next to her column last week on Paul Janka? If so, please give her my phone number. If not, please give the illustrator my phone number.
—Louie, Brooklyn
Seeking Versatile, Honest, Emotional
When I read the first story by Kelly Kreth about Mr. Shaffer on your cover (“Sorry, Girls… He’s Single,” Sept. 19-25), I was thinking that while it was good writing, it was just another ploy at shocking readers using sex. What else should I expect from a paper that has ads featuring half naked women on its cover? However, I have been so very pleasantly surprised by Kreth’s subsequent columns. Finally a sex columnist that doesn’t bore me and insult our intelligence. Hurrah for a woman who doesn’t gloss over how hard it is to date and be single in this city and who offers realistic social commentary about it without that Girls Gone Wild airhead mentality. Yet she does it with humor and a wink and a nod. This last column in particular, the one about the challenges of splitting up and moving out (“Sex and the Single Bed,” Dec. 5-11), absolutely hit home. Who else in NY can go from obsessive compulsive disorder to booty calls to sexy writers and be consistently endearing? Good job, New York Press, now if only you can keep up this type of quality and get rid of the gratuitous flesh on your cover.
Pat Liebman, age 31, NYC
No Love for Lucinda
J. R. Taylor’s otherwise excellent list of overrated acts should not have included Lucinda Williams. No way is she overrated. If anything, it’s the opposite. Why don’t more critics write about her? She’s still one of the best singer-songwriters out there, and there aren’t nearly enough of those. Go Lucinda!!
—Janeen Drake, NYC
Sci-Fi Set to Rights
In his review of The Golden Compass (“Trans-Dimensional Dustup,” Dec. 5-11), Armond White writes: “Its ‘beauty’ is artificial and superficial-proof that Peter Jackson’s influence over the fantasy-adventure film has ruined it.”
Cough-cough, “Fuck you,” Cough.
—Chris Mankey
Order Me Another Pope-a-Cino
It was nice to see the New York Press find a way to ridicule our current, ridiculous pope without stooping to the depths of previous Press cover stories—namely, that idiotic piece a few years ago about funny ways for the last Pope to die. Maybe your idea to hire a writer who actually knows how to write a joke had something to do with it. I’m a huge fan of the “Daily Show” (aren’t we all?), and it was great to get a taste of that Jon Stewart humor in the middle of this horrible strike. I laughed out loud on the subway, and that’s not something I do very often, at the “Pope-a-cino” reference. Funny stuff!
—Lauren Matteo, Brooklyn
Is Mugger Missing Something?
Is it my imagination, or has Russ Smith’s Mugger column been taken over by the love-child of Santa Claus and Snow White? Also, has he started getting his daily paper delivered a month late? I remember the days when his endless screeds would actually amuse me with their vitriol and venom, and timeliness. He seemed to be angry at everyone and everything in the news (and sometimes I even agreed with his reactionary point of view). But recently he seems to be ridiculously late and hopelessly out of touch. He wrote about the Dylan movie months after it came out, and now this week he finally gets around to the steroids scandal. I’m looking forward to his piece next week about Halloween.
—Rance Diamond, Hell’s Kitchen
Hottie’s Digits
Is that a drawing of Kelly Kreth next to her column last week on Paul Janka? If so, please give her my phone number. If not, please give the illustrator my phone number.
—Louie, Brooklyn
Seeking Versatile, Honest, Emotional
When I read the first story by Kelly Kreth about Mr. Shaffer on your cover (“Sorry, Girls… He’s Single,” Sept. 19-25), I was thinking that while it was good writing, it was just another ploy at shocking readers using sex. What else should I expect from a paper that has ads featuring half naked women on its cover? However, I have been so very pleasantly surprised by Kreth’s subsequent columns. Finally a sex columnist that doesn’t bore me and insult our intelligence. Hurrah for a woman who doesn’t gloss over how hard it is to date and be single in this city and who offers realistic social commentary about it without that Girls Gone Wild airhead mentality. Yet she does it with humor and a wink and a nod. This last column in particular, the one about the challenges of splitting up and moving out (“Sex and the Single Bed,” Dec. 5-11), absolutely hit home. Who else in NY can go from obsessive compulsive disorder to booty calls to sexy writers and be consistently endearing? Good job, New York Press, now if only you can keep up this type of quality and get rid of the gratuitous flesh on your cover.
Pat Liebman, age 31, NYC
No Love for Lucinda
J. R. Taylor’s otherwise excellent list of overrated acts should not have included Lucinda Williams. No way is she overrated. If anything, it’s the opposite. Why don’t more critics write about her? She’s still one of the best singer-songwriters out there, and there aren’t nearly enough of those. Go Lucinda!!
—Janeen Drake, NYC
Sci-Fi Set to Rights
In his review of The Golden Compass (“Trans-Dimensional Dustup,” Dec. 5-11), Armond White writes: “Its ‘beauty’ is artificial and superficial-proof that Peter Jackson’s influence over the fantasy-adventure film has ruined it.”
Cough-cough, “Fuck you,” Cough.
—Chris Mankey
