Wednesday, July 09, 2003

How would you break the news that Britney Spears has experienced sexual intercourse?   If you were a cheeky British headline writer, you might come up with something pithy: Britney: ‘I Bonked Justin’   Closer to (my) home, it’s a judgment call: Britney acknowledges a broken vow   All of the 140 or so articles linked to Google News rely on the same W magazine story and most are mostly wire copy, but the headlines are much more varied.   There are plays on words taken from the Spears oeuvre. Oops...They did it   In those places where sexual intercourse is not something to be admitted to, it is sometimes viewed as liberating. This Indian paper sounds as jubilant as Justin must have been after wating two years: Britney buries the virgin myth!   Sometimes Britney is treated as a grownup: Spears Says She, Timberlake Were Lovers   And sometimes as a robbery victim: BRITNEY: JUSTIN TOOK MY VIRGINITY    But few headline writers approached the snickery tone of MTV’s news article: “Spears' admission to sleeping with ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake isn't all that surprising, except for the fact that after years of prodding she's finally come clean.” 2:36:12 PM    comment []

Slate’s William Saletan thinks John Edwards could take Howard Dean and give George Bush a challenge: “A year ago, Edwards batted his eyelashes and talked down to audiences like an oily courtroom lawyer. He hedged his statements in a way that suggested ignorance or cowardice. No more. If Dean's strength is speaking bluntly to the right, Edwards, like Joe Lieberman, has shown a facility for speaking bluntly to the left.”   More blogger burnout. 12:48:16 PM    comment []