Slate, the online magazine known for highbrow pondering of lowbrow culture, has finally discovered Crocs. Meghan O’Rourke weighs in on the comfy-ugly clown shoes in this screed, with all the usual tsk-tsking about garish colors, podriatic caveats, soaring stock prices and I-hate-Crocs backlash among the fashionistas. It’s familiar ground to…
Staff for Rep. Ed Perlmutter got a big surprise when they discovered that an old campaign website for the Democrat’s successful bid for the 7th Congressional District suddenly began sprouting images like the one above and peddling adult ads with pitches like “Real Sex Dating” and “Watch Gay Movies Online.”…
Did Denver television stations actually underplay a local story that went national? Based on a cursory sampling of broadcast coverage on July 16, the day gun-wielding Aaron Snyder, 32, was killed in the Colorado State Capitol near the office of Governor Bill Ritter, this seems to be the case. Major…
The awning keeps cops shady while directing traffic at Bandimere Speedway. I live in Morrison, and during big events at Bandimere Speedway — such as this weekend’s Mile High Nationals — the police are out in force to help direct traffic. Their presence is a necessity, but you know it’s…
Will the last person to leave the Denver Post please lock the door behind them? This question is justified by the recent exodus of staffers from the broadsheet — and while many of the exits have been forced by management decisions, quite a few others have been entirely voluntary, including…
When the Denver dailies tackle the same story at just about the same time, readers who still doubt the papers’ editorial independence years after their business operations were linked by a joint operating agreement may suspect that they’ve been in cahoots. Instead, they’re competing as energetically as ever — and…
The farming techniques of Africa are being handed down from one generation to the next on a tiny farm in East Aurora. Each day, Somali Bantu parents are there with their young children, planting seeds, tending crops or harvesting a small bit of produce. Their profits are meager, but the…
At the bottom of a July 12 memo to journos at the Rocky Mountain News, managing editor Deb Goeken slipped in an amusing item about restaurant reviewer John Lehndorff, who’s out of commission right now due to an injury to his elbow — something he needs to lean on while…
Putting a stop in the revolving door at Denver county jail is no easy task. But what better way to begin making this effort than with a block party for those not lucky enough to have a strong family or friend to turn to after being released from jail –…
OK, this ooo-eee-ooo story by Katy Human on the front page of today’s Denver Post, about research at the University of Colorado into suppressing traumatic memories, raises two important questions. First, if Katy Human writes about stuff just because she thinks it’s interesting, does that make it a Human Interest…
Shortly after the Colorado Confidential website launched a year ago, David Bennahum, the author and onetime Wired muckraker who co-founded the project, told Westword that he wanted “to build an infrastructure to support promising individuals who could function as journalists — people who could adhere to the standards of journalism,…
Denver has seen the future of downtown development, and his name is Evan Makovsky. Makovsky, a discreet yet long-standing Denver developer, first made waves last month when he announced plans to buy and revitalize most of a decrepit downtown block bordered by the 16th Street Mall, California, 15th and Welton…
American film stars like to do commercials in Japan. The pay is fantastic and, hey, it’s not like their fans back in the U.S. will ever see the things, right? Wrong, thanks to YouTube. Here’s Nicolas Cage shilling for, as far as I can tell, pachinko, a Japanese arcade game…
Andrew Orvedahl Denver comics are coming out swinging once again on Last Comic Standing. Unless you’ve been getting molested under a rock for the past year you already know about local-boy-done-funny Josh Blue winning that title last year, then relentlessly touring the country playing sold-out shows. But if you watched…
Gaze upon the wonder to the right. It’s a glass bottle of Coca-Cola, imported from Mexico. That’s worth more than novelty points, since glass-bottled drinks taste better. There’s a reason no beer besides shitty mass-market swill is bottled in plastic, after all. Even better for the flavor is the fact…
Finally, a blog that dares to ask the question “How do you tell the difference between hippie dirtbags and terrorist dirtbags?” Take a look at the cut-out images from various photographs and it’s obvious that lacking the context of bongs vs. bombs, it’s pretty damn difficult. That probably explains why…
Errors aren’t exactly alien to Rocky Mountain News columnist Bill Johnson — yet he outdid himself with “Woman’s Flag Upside Down, As Are Neighbors’ Responses,” a piece that ran on July 11. The column revolves around Beth Hammer, a 64-year-old Wheat Ridge resident who’s in dutch with her home-owner’s association…
The Denver Post, whose newsroom reorganization plan is detailed in this More Messages blog, isn’t the only local media outlet giving longtime staffers new responsibilities. KUSA-TV/Channel 9, the Post’s print/synergy partner, has also done some shifting, owing to a new initiative from its parent company, Gannett. Below are two memos…
Most interviews done for the The Message column contain more information than can possibly be squeezed onto any given page, and plenty of what doesn’t make the cut is very interesting indeed. Seldom, though, is it presented in such an easily digestible form as was recently the case with comments…
The driver’s seat in Carmelo Anthony’s 1971 Chevelle is set so far back that Vett Capone can’t reach the gas pedal. The five-foot-six-inch Capone slides the seat forward about a foot and a half, then fires up the classic American engine, which rumbles like a boat’s motor as the smell…
This past Sunday was not a good day for New Life Church. Soulforce was out in force outside the Colorado Springs super-church, protesting its support of reparative therapy for the likes of Ted Haggard, New Life founder and (former?) male escort- and meth-using media sensation. Then Mike Jones, the escort…
I was seventeen years old when I first encountered bum wine. My friend Chris and I were in an alley behind a Capitol Hill liquor store, waiting for a local wino whom we would sometimes enlist to buy us a twelve-pack. I remember it was an unusually hot afternoon, so…
