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Culture Focus Photo May 31, 2005

Queer Eye for the Pregnant Guy

Is this shot from last Friday’s NYT cover just a little too gay? Between the print and on-line version of the Times, I must have looked at this image at least three times before I realized it wasn’t a scene from a stage play.  Instead, it shows Anthony Ramos,...

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Culture Focus Photo May 30, 2005

The Memorial Day File

I’m sure I’m not the only one who does a double take whenever a politician or a broadcaster mentions that we are “at war.” I understand the President is at war.  The military is at war.  Certain military towns and military families are at war.  Defense contractors are at...

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Photo May 29, 2005

L.A.'s New Wave

From time to time, friends will ask why the BAG hasn’t keep a closer watch on the local picture.  I guess I haven’t had a good answer, except to say that L.A. is not the easiest city to keep just one eye on.  This past week, Newsweek featured new...

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Photo May 27, 2005

Help from the Intern

It was interesting this week to observe the reaction to both the truce on the nuclear option, and George Voinovich’s emotional speech on the Senate floor opposing John Bolton. Both the hard core left and the radical right went ballistic over the idea of a compromise.  At the same...

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Iraq and Afghanistan War Photo May 26, 2005

Marked Men

I don’t even know where to start with this image.  Should we begin with the military signaling that the U.S has a two-dimensional view of the Arab world by turning detainees into human writing surfaces? Could we talk about how shockingly primitive and ill equipped our troops look for...

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Bush Focus Photo May 24, 2005

Twice to the Pyramids

Laura Bush takes a major trip to the Mid East, visits every holy site she can get photographed inside or in front of, sits down with a who’s who of Jewish and Arab females in the region, and the most interesting image I can come up with is this...

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Your Turn: Exhibit Q

Over the past week, the media has been full of reports of prisoner abuse at Bagram prison in Afghanistan.  In an article and an accompanying multimedia report, NYT writer Tim Golden chronicles the plight of a frail 22 year old taxi driver named Dilawar.  With the recent release of...

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Campaign '08 Photo May 23, 2005

Prayer for the Kangaroos

This is a “class A” example of how the media is getting steamrollered by the right. Yesterday, the NYT Magazine did a cover story on Rick Santorum, the third-ranking Republican in the Senate and the institution’s resident wild-eyed evangelical.  So how did the Times approach the task of profiling...

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Media Focus Photo May 21, 2005

Bottom Drawer Journalism

     Enough of you have written for my opinion about the Saddam photos that I felt I shouldn’t disappoint.  My main reaction is the same one I had regarding Prince Harry in the Nazi costume:  The more excited we get about these images, the more profit (and encouragement)...

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Photo May 19, 2005

Man on the Beam

Here’s the shot the NYT ran of Bill Frist on the opening day of the filibuster showdown.  As usual, I have questions: Is this an image of biblical proportions?  Has the religious right acquired so much influence that it’s impossible to view a photo like this without drawing a...

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Spin Focus Photo May 18, 2005

Uniform Response

This was a photo from Monday — right before the Administration turned a magazine blurb into an opportunity to reset the news cycle.  Given the magnitude of the bleeding in Iraq, the problem can’t help but find its way back into the headlines.  In the meantime, the White House’s...

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Spin Focus Photo

Killer Issue

Now that we know Newsweek Magazine is the source of anti-American feeling in the Arab world, the visual evidence is starting to come in.  Here, courtesy of AFP, we see how the trouble got started.  Obviously, upon hearing that Newsweek documented U.S. desecration of the Quran, Pakastani men rushed...

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Media Focus Photo May 17, 2005

Reduced to "Newswee"

So, you’re a major news organization and your assignment is to get on with the flogging of Newsweek for claiming a Quran was unceremoniously flushed down the toilet at Guantanamo Bay.  It’s a big story because the now discredited report led to rioting in any number of cities in...

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Faith Focus Photo May 15, 2005

Like Mother, Like Daughter

I’ve been waiting for months to do a New Yorker cover.  Unfortunately, the magazine hasn’t been that political on its face this year.  (I’ll tell you just how eager I’ve been, though.  If you recall, the Terri Schiavo drama came to a head right around Easter.  That week, The...

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Photo May 13, 2005

(A Quasi-Satirical) Filibuster Update: Brother Frist and Guru Reid

After a disastrous start to the week, the party of Roosevelt picked up some visual ground on the party of God with this split NYT coverage on Wednesday.  Shot from below, typically charismatic-as-mud party boss, Harry Reid looks, well… dramatic.  Gesturally, Reid also scores points with the left handed...

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Iraq and Afghanistan War Photo May 12, 2005

Palms Away!

Of course, the latest Economist cover couldn’t be more loaded — starting with the incendiary headline.  (As usual, I invite you to help diffuse it.)  If you scan the editorial, it sounds like what really might be returning is the post 9/11 U.S. – European split.  Wasn’t it just...

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Photo

How Things Look Now

I’m sitting in white L.A., reading about one of those crazy dramas that happen in black L.A. where the cops can’t take a joke from a neighborhood joker who is a little high, riding around the neighborhood in his big Chevy Tahoe, playing amplified music for the neighbors who...

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Culture Focus Photo May 11, 2005

Your Turn: More Strut, Less Tut

Are looks worth more than gold?  Is a weak chin a fatal flaw?  From the BAG’s standpoint, it’s hard to tell what or where the story is here.  Is it the unveiling of a realistic image of King Tut based on the analysis of over 1,700 three-dimensional CT scans...

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