Loaded Image
If you’ve been following the BAG, you know that I’m not one to follow the internecine struggles of the blogosphere. That said, I sort of got caught up in the initial buzz involving the Huffington Post, and the fact it was positioning itself as the anti-Drudge. Because I keep...
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Queer Eye for the Pregnant Guy
Is this shot from last Friday’s NYT cover just a little too gay? Between the print and on-line version of the Times, I must have looked at this image at least three times before I realized it wasn’t a scene from a stage play. Instead, it shows Anthony Ramos,...
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The Memorial Day File
I’m sure I’m not the only one who does a double take whenever a politician or a broadcaster mentions that we are “at war.” I understand the President is at war. The military is at war. Certain military towns and military families are at war. Defense contractors are at...
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Your Turn: More Strut, Less Tut
Are looks worth more than gold? Is a weak chin a fatal flaw? From the BAG’s standpoint, it’s hard to tell what or where the story is here. Is it the unveiling of a realistic image of King Tut based on the analysis of over 1,700 three-dimensional CT scans...
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We're on the Road to Nowhere
Could you find another image that better expresses that we’re living in two Americas? This photo was on the front page of Wednesday’s NYT. It accompanied an article describing how federal and state governments are converting highways to “pay-as-you-go,” and allowing private companies to build and operate toll roads. ...
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GQ: Iraq Edition
I’m distracted. Looking at this picture, I would typically dig into the contrast between the carriage, and the wall, and the palm trees; ponder the effect of the blue; think about the regal, ornate vehicular details compared to the scruffy plant, the sad barbed wire fence, and the dirt;...
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Your Turn: Mssing Identity
In one of those conflicts that becomes a “last straw,” Ms. Magazine Editor-in-Chief Elaine Lafferty resigned from the publication after a debate over a cover design. Ms. Lafferty was planning on running the version on the left this month. The “powers that be” overruled her,...
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Gilchrist Crossing the Delaware
Have you been following this story about the Minutemen, the border vigilantes who are “voluntarily” helping deter illegal immigration in Southeastern Arizona? Just one day after the LA Times ran this image on it’s front page (with the article: A Roadblock, Not a Barrier for Migrants), it followed up...
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Amplitude Adjustment
I was interested in this photo, from last Tuesday, graphing the devastating 8.7 magnitude earthquake off Sumatra. For a moment, however, I imagined this as a device that could measure the size of a story’s media impact. If such an instrument did exist, I was thinking it would be...
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Timely Look At The Right To Die
One of the unique things about America is that, in it’s self-importance, it always seems to lose it’s memory. On the TIME website, the publishers regularly profile past issues, often re-running editions that have some relevance to current events. I was struck by the TIME cover from March 19,...
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Can't See the Forest for the (Lack of) Trees
Sometimes, one gets so caught up in the content, it’s easy to overlook the context. James Wolcott had a post this weekend that was right up the BAG’s alley. However, it also revealed how narrow that alley can become. Given all the political and media hoo-hah over the Schiavo...
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Air America
I can’t tell you how lost I felt after listening to liberal columnist Robert Sheer on the radio yesterday. Sheer was worked up over how the right wing has appropriated the Terri Shaivo case, and how nobody in authority seems to be countering it. He brought up the hypocrisy...
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Gag Reflex
Back in graduate school, I had a professor who liked to talk about “Bubbe logic.” If your not familiar with the term, it refers to a simple method to tell if something is logical or not. In my instructor’s case, he would take anything he wasn’t sure made sense...
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Pain in Spain
This shot, commemorating the one-year anniversary of the terror attack in Spain, is on the front page of today’s NYT. Here is the caption: A Solemn Anniversary in Spain. Tributes were left yesterday at Madrid’s Atocha rail station on the first anniversary of the March 11 train bombings, which...
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An Outside Look At Neverland
I'm disappointed with myself for having posted a picture of Michael Jackson. I don't know what got into me. The last thing I remember, I was looking for an image to analyze for International Women's Day. I've been tracking back, trying to figure out how I got here. I...
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More Superbowl-Inspired Coverage: Game Faces
I don’t know if you’ve seen any of the new Nike commercials featuring famous sports stars wearing masks. The concept is based on the “game face” athletes put on to psych themselves up for competition. The campaign, titled “Warriors,” is supposed to refer to sport, not battle. ...
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Nature On The Screen
The subject of TV seems to be jumping out at me lately. First, I happened to pick up of a copy of Middle Mind by Curtis Wright White. Wright believes people preoccupy themselves with television, in spite how boring it is, for fear of falling out of sync with...
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California Dreaming (Or: Mary Meets Jane)
A major story this week is the Supreme Court medical marijuana case. The court is set to decide whether two plaintiffs, Angel Raich and Diana Monson, can continue to use marijuana for medical purposes. If you read news accounts (link), a main point that is continually stressed is the...
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