BuzzMachine

The media pundit's pundit. Written by NYC insider Jeff Jarvis, BuzzMachine covers news, media, journalism, and politics.

Month: January 2006

  • Let freedom fizzle

    36 comments on Let freedom fizzle

    Howard 100 News reported tonight that a priest and a state legislator fought to get two Howard Stern billboards taken down in Chicago because they dared to make a joke: “Let Freedom Ring. And let it be run by a stripper.” The state legislator is quoted on Howard 100 saying that as a woman and as an African American — etcetera, etcetera — she is offended and so she and the priest pressured the owners of the billboards — none other than First Amendment woosies Clear Channel and Viacom — to take them down.

    Well, Ms. State Legislator, as an American, I am offended by your disrespect for freedom of speech and your utter lack of a damned sense of humor.

    Prigs, prudes, and pols will be our downfall.

  • Verboten

    10 comments on Verboten

    Marc Babej gives us a glimpse into a fun kerfuffle in Germany between someone who appears to be Heidi Klum’s father and an ad blogger who dared use his Liebchen’s name. Herr Klum is trying to argue that her name is registered and trademarked and shouldn’t be used without payment. The story is bubbling up to the German press already.

    : And here is a translation of the ad blogger Patrick Breitenbach’s report [via Thomas Kneuwer of Handelsblatt]. The original letter from Herr Klum:

    Hello,
    The name “Heidi Klum” is protected by law ® and TM. I’m asking you to delete the name from your URL and desist from using the name “Heidi Klum” for advertising purposes. I have set January 2nd 2006 as a deadline for compliance.
    Thank you for understanding my point of view.
    Sincerely
    Guenther Klum
    http://www.heidiklum.com

  • Death pool: David Lee Roth and Joel Hollander

    120 comments on Death pool: David Lee Roth and Joel Hollander

    David Lee Roth’s show the second day was just as simultaneously mind-boggling and mind-numbing as the first.

    Time for the death pool: How long will this thing last? I say three months, only because it will take that long for Infinity to figure out how to save face. I say he’s already doomed.

    And I’d say it won’t stop there. Who thought this turkey could fly? Infinity head Joel Hollander.

    They shouldn’t have renamed the stations Free FM. They should have renamed them WKRP.