Joel Stein Reads his Email After All!

Much to my surprise I got an email back from Joel Stein this afternoon. After, of course, trashing him and his newspaper.

See if I blog about someone or something I generally do the sporting thing; I drop them an email and tell them they've been blogged. Not for everything, not all the time. Jesus, I'm not going to send every Studio's Marketing Department an email every time I rant about a crappy TV show or movie. In general though I prefer stabbing my enemies from the front...

Surprisingly Joel Stein was a decent sport about it. Much more so than I would've been more than likely. Maybe I got retract that snark about, "can't take The Heat but happens to Love His Kitchen..."

He must have some balls and a method to his angst-y madness. Don't know quite what that is though... Oh, lord, does that mean I have to read his column now? Has this all been a ruse Joel? To get me to read your column?

FOOL THAT I'VE BEEN!

Keep it Sexy, America.

Joel Stein: Angry Elitist Nerd

I got to admit that I don't spend much of my day with my nose in the L.A. Times. I read a few articles on the web, occasionally one of there better investigation pieces, and the Calender section. That's about it.

I never go near the "real" newspaper at the store. I never touch the sports section; I have ESPN for that. I never read the Opinion Section; I find more agreeable commentary elsewhere that hasn't been spewed from the crusty, corporate anus of the Tribune Editorial Board.

Today something did catch my eye on the L.A. Times Homepage today. Joel Stein's psuedo-blog blared the headline, "Have something to say? I don't care" and further blaring, "Don't bother sending anything to that e-mail address below -- because I don't care."

The vast majority are probably going, Who? And why should I care about this arrogant cocksucker trying desperately to be Harlan Ellison?

Joel Stein. You know the name and probably know the face. One of those glib, Cooler than Thou, Nerd Taste-Makers that pop up on VH1 making equally glib comments about This Person's Coke Habit or That Person's Vagina when in reality they are just savaging (with degrees of humor) what they can't be.

That's Joel Stein. Or at least it was. I haven't seen him on VH1 lately. Lately he's been writing editorials I don't read for the L.A. Times.

I had no idea why Stein would engage in in a polemic against anyone who would dare email him personally. After reading his little screed I still am at a loss as to why he takes personal umbrage to anyone who emails him with an opinion other than I get the impression that Stein can't take The Heat but happens to Love His Kitchen...

And (you KNEW there was an AND in there somewhere) that boiling Joel Stein down and stripping away his would-be "blogger" credentials he's an old-school, newspaper Elitist who CANNOT understand why you, the Reading Public, just cannot blindly accept whatever Cultural Taste he decides to brew up and spoon feed to you.

Stein obviously grew up and was miseducated in the days of when the news gathering Media was held aloft as the Fourth Wheel of Government and whatever the newspaper industry felt was worthy of print people would take as secular Gospel. Only the Powerful had voices because only the Powerful had the magic keys that unlocked the Media to them. The Powerful told everyone what to believe, and what to think, and what to watch on one of the four channels of TV.

But all that has changed... Blogs are supplanting newspapers in their ability to cover and uncover Real News. YouTube is providing access to a wealth of news and pure crap. Bit Torrents and ITUNES provide legal and semi-legal methods of circumventing the otherwise carefully scripted way you would normally receive your entertainment. And, yeah, email provides a nearly instant method of expressing one's outrage or personal agreement with someone's opinion.

Those in the old, established sections of the media are confused, befuddled, and a might pissed off by it. What once was the province of only a few now has the possibility of being the province of everyone.

Studio Executives can't understand why THE HULK flops after a hundred million in marketing because a friend of a friend of a friend got a text message saying that it 'SUX'ED BALLS!' Newspaper Editors can't fathom why you'd rather read a penny-sheet blog like this one instead of the measured reporting of some... Snore... Sorry almost put myself to sleep there. Joel Stein can't understand why you feel the need to tell him personally that his opinions are on par with those of a crackhead.

Give Joel Stein a bit of credit. Unlike everyone else in the Mainstream Media he at least has the (small) balls and the thin skinned brio to fess up to it, "And maybe on this site, one brave person will write about how I'm right to stand up against this world of false, easy community, where columnists pretend they think their essays are no more valuable than yours, and friendship is a stranger who thanks you for the MySpace add," he wrote.

All that Ivy Over-grown education and all that perceived Power and still Joel Stein -- THE Joel Stein has to contend with the opinion of lowly YOU! Don't you know who He IS!? POOR FOOL!

Don't blame Joel Stein. He was raised ignorant. Blame the Old Media Whores that still cling to the idea that you Listen, They Decide. Or you can simply ignore them. A quick look at newspaper sales reveals that everyone else is.

Keep it Sexy, America.