Weekly Dig

Give Media Farm props for going to the Save the Globe rally at Faneuil Hall last week and interviewing Rami Salami on what he thought about all those people at the microphone behind him as he tried to make an honest living selling balloon hats.

But, sheesh, only a crew of childless 20somethings could complain about the presence of "children who probably should have been in school at noon on a Friday (so they can learn how to read)," because the rest of us know that last week was school-vacation week in Massachusetts, so there wasn't any school for those kids to go to.

Mike Mennonno reports watching in bemusement today as a distinguished-looking older gentleman opened a Weekly Dig box down by Emerson, took out all the copies of this week's issue, tossed them into a nearby trash can, then crossed the street and repeated the process with the Dig box on the other side.

Above: Channel 4 attempts to educate its audience about our latest crisis without giving them the vapors.

Oh, the horror! The Dig runs a cover showing crudely drawn cartoons of naked people and our little provincial backwater goes all to hell. As Channel 4 reports:

"It's totally irresponsible to have a photo like this in a paper that's widely distributed around our city," Menino said. "Young children can see it. It's not what we should be showing our young people."

Right. So keep them out of the MFA. Because you sure wouldn't want them to see this or this or this or this (and could somebody tell the mayor that a cartoon is not a photo?).

And we don't even need to bring up this scandalous statue - just a short walk from the children's room at the Copley Square BPL!

But Hizzona also wants to try to get Dig honor boxes uprooted from locations near city buildings - because you know how productivity must be suffering, what with frenzied hordes of Assessing and DPW workers racing out of their offices in a mad dash to Dig boxes.

Below: The shocking cover. If you're under 18, or are prone to inexplicable bouts of screaming hysteria, or are the mayor, stop looking now! Read more

Sam Baltrusis has the scoop.

Boston Magazine interviews Weekly Dig Publisher Jeff Lawrence on why he canned Dig Editor Michael Brodeur (since then, the paper's managing editor and one of its reporters have also quit).

Jeff Lawrence fires Michael Brodeur; doesn't plan to replace him. Or so we hear.

The Weekly Dig's Boston Slice is allegedly "a comprehensive list of slices available around the city" yet doesn't list a single place south of the Fenway - although Cambridge does merit several mentions. Even the Upper Crust in Brookline fails to rate a listing. Oh, well, I guess the secret is out: Down here in the boonies, a fun night out consists of going over to the nearest crick and wrasslin' up some gators and squirrels. Them's good eatin'.

Yes, you can. Woot! weeklydig.com is back to being an actual site again. And they're using Drupal, which is what Universal Hub uses, so they obviously have considerable taste and discernment.

Now to actually see what they did on their month+ off ...

You might want to change that "Coming in July" graphic on your un-Web site (or, even better, just re-direct the whole thing to zombocom).

Speaking of Web things that have disappeared into the ether, looks like the Guardian Angels haven't updated their blog since June. 'Sup, guys?

We know the new (old) owner doesn't have much money left after buying the paper back from the adults, but, really: Entire civilizations have fallen in less time than it's taken the Dig to not finish its online redesign (but classy move leaving an ad up on your "Can we finish this in less time than it took the Big Dig?" page).

weeklydig.com is incognito these days as those rapscallions overhaul their Web site. Dudes: Might be time to invest in one of those staging server things that are all the rage in Web circles these days. You can get one for, oh, the cost of three or four iPhones.

Dig staffers cower under their desks today as a strange electronic device in their lobby just sits there, ominously.

Adam Reilly at the Phoenix isn't gloating one bit as he wraps up all the changes at the Weekly Dig.

Could the following, asked to two woman at a memorial show for that bicyclist killed by a truck, be the dumbest Dig Exit Poll question ever? Fortunately, matched by the dumbest answer ever:

So getting hit by a truck must suck, huh?

D: Hell, yeah.

A: I've actually always wanted to get hit by a truck, just to see what it would feel like. I really have. ...

These folks think it's pretty high on the stoopid meter.

Adam Reilly proves he reads both the Dig and the Herald: He notices the Dig ran the same Ray Flynn column on St. Patrick's Day as the Herald. Wonder if he got paid by both papers?

The Herald's Messenger reports Weekly Dig editor Joe Keohane is leaving next month.

Mike Mennonno's put back up an edited version of his deconstruction of a Weekly Dig feature on good places at which to get smashed, the post in which he concludes Dig Editor Joe Keohane is getting too old for that sort of thing:

... As for The Dig's reports from local pubs. Most caught the flavor. Lissa Harris's report from my local dive, the Banshee, was perfectly delightful. But then you get to Editor-in-Chief Joe Keohane's--now there's a good old Irish name for you there--and it's just oozing and dripping with pretentiousness. And it's not like I've got anything against Joe, God knows. But come on, with the Dig's "Media Farm" column, he takes on the local press for their pretentiousness every week. Could he finally have become what he despises, and not even know it? Or does he know it full well, and he's finally ready to come out? Obviously, an intervention's in order. ...

OK, probably the only man-bulge analysis of the week: Mike Mennonno takes a look (a pretty close look) at the Weekly Dig's recent man-in-tighty-pinkies cover.

Is it odd that the same day the Phoenix slammed Oliver Stone as a Republican sellout for failing to bash Bush in his new movie, it got the U.S. Marines to co-sponsor a free concert? Or that the Phoenix would get pissed when one of the bands objected?

... And then TV on the Radio had to go and ruin the good vibes by ending their set with a salvo against the Marines, who had signed on as one of the event's sponsors. Now this is no place for a political rant, but it's worth noting - no, it's crucial to understand, lest we fully repeat the mistakes of Viet Nam - that the Marines, Army reserves, and Navy and Air Force pilots currently fighting George Bush's wars in the Middle East are doing just that, carrying out plans handed down by their commander in chief and doing their best not to get the asses blown to hell in the process. Soldiers take orders: they don't make policy. To blame them for the mess in Iraq is to tacitly let the bureaucrats and politicians really responsible for the debacle off the hook. ...

Via Joe Keohane, who, granted, has his own axe to grind, being editor of the Weekly Dig and all, but still:

... OK, deep breath. This is idiotic cant, and does nothing to change the fact that last night you guys basically acted as a recruiting tool for the war machine you decry in the editorial hole every week. I have no problem with the actual soldiers, but, man, seems like you wouldn’t want to help facilitate the swelling of the ranks of cannon fodder. ...

My disclosure and I both stayed home last night.

The Dig reports that Steve Mindich will be handing over his Phoenix empire to son Brad in early 2007 - and that editorial changes might be coming as well.

Speaking of the Dig, its long anemic Web presence looks to be getting a blogified makeover. The home page is pretty good looking; story pages get squashed by the all important Big Ass Square Ad without which no online media site is complete these days. One suggestion: Ditch the "send-to-a-friend" form with a link to a send-to-a-friend form. Not that I know what I'm talking about ...

Just when I learn what all the acronyms in the Weekly Dig escort ads mean, the Dig up and ditches the ads:

... We have a young, vibrant readership that has shown itself to be perfectly capable of procuring its own tail. If they want a fully operational post-op who speaks Greek, I'm pretty sure they'll find one on their own. ...

A friend of Jason's decodes the weird lingo in the escort ads at the back of the Weekly Dig.

Chris compare's this week's Weekly Dig cover with your basic generic Maxim cover and wonders:

What's worse? Laddie culture ... or hipster laddie culture?