BITE ME!
The Orange County Register blatantly steals ideas from other publications!
Not that that's too shocking–the Reggie has been lifting from the Weekly for years without giving us credit, and the rare times they have, it usually takes the form of some vague “other media outlets” brushoff.
But now they’ve gone and ripped off the New York Times, fer chrissakes!
Granted, the thieves aren’t working at the Reggie itself, but instead, the Reggie-owned glossy magazine Coast. Never heard of Coast? Well, unless you live in the perpetually monied communities of Newport Beach, Corona del Mar, Laguna Beach, Coto de
Caza, etc.—‘hoods where the thing primarily circulates—you can be excused. Also: the average yearly income of a typical Coast reader is $233,846, according to their own stats. (And hey, why does OC have so many publications catering to people who can afford to wipe their stinky bits with $100 bills? We’re looking at you, Riviera, Orange Coast, and the worthless-if-you-make-under-$40,000-a-year “business lifestyle” rag OC Metro.)
The product which Coast deemed so valuable? A photograph from the New York Times’ style-centric T Living magazine, which appeared on their Spring 2007 cover. Coast swiped it for the cover of their latest edition. Now, it’s one thing to casually “borrow” an idea from another source, like the way De La Soul “borrowed” from Steely Dan. But it’s quite another thing to flat-out steal, and in so much detail that what results could practically pass for a color Xerox. Just compare those two images: Coast has purloined the same blonde chick, the same red lipstick and nail polish, the same gaudy rings, the same white napkin, the same char marks on the sandwich, and the same tomato/lettuce fixins inside the sandwich—all that’s missing is the bacon.
Oh, and just so you know, we stole the idea for this blurb from LA Observed . . .
MEMO TO: FRANK MICKADEIT, REGISTER COLUMNIST
Heeey Frank! Just wanted to say congrats on being named OC’s Best Columnist in Orange Coast’s Best of OC issue and all. But y’know what? That title would probably hold a lot more water if you didn’t subsequently go and waste a seemingly endless amount of ink scribbling about the fucking Real Desperate Housewives of Orange County just a week later. Because nobody but you cares, Frank. I suggest you roll those sleeves back down . . .
FUN WITH BLIND ITEMS!
What OC journalist has been accepting free clothes from stores she then does stories on?
What OC media org recently made an appearance at a Republican party function, and not because they were covering it, but because they, you know, wanted to party?
What veteran OC reporter recently resigned from his new gig because the news content kept shrinking and shrinking?
What local talking head returned a day early from vacation because he/she was so threatened by the professionalism of his/her fill-ins?
What reporter happened upon an OC police chase when he was working on another story some months back, and, as police officers’ guns were drawn on the suspect, the reporter proceeded to get in the cops’ way, and then, once the suspect was in the back of the squad car, the reporter actually opened the car door to see if the suspect would talk to him?
What OC news anchorman STILL has his name misspelled on his own stations’ web site? (Free answer: Pete Weitzner. Of course.)
