Tag Archives: the stranger

A year of The Stranger’s regrets

strangerSeattle weekly The Stranger makes an annual, hilarious  accounting of its mistakes. Some entries are corrections for factual errors; others are regrets of an entirely different nature. Some samples:

The February 14 issue of The Stranger referred to Seattle resident Tae Rhee as a “woman.” In fact, Tae Rhee is a man. We regret the error.

On a related note, Tae Rhee was mentioned in the February 14 issue because he had nominated Jarred Grimes to be Seattle’s Sexiest Drummer for our annual Valentine’s Day cavalcade of sexiness. Unfortunately, the printed text read “Seattle’s Sexist Drummer.” We regret the error.

Dominic Holden, news reporter at The Stranger, regrets that in an attempt to spell out the word “brassiere” in a Slog post, he mistakenly spelled it “brazier,” which actually means “barbecue.” He further regrets that upon trying to amend his error, he spelled it “brassier,” which, if anything, means “more brassy.” Holden recognizes that, as a homosexual, he should avoid subjects related to women’s undergarments.

Charles Mudede, associate editor of The Stranger, regrets that his pretty daughter did not get a chance to be a gore-and-blood-splattered Michelle Obama in The Stranger’s Halloween issue because the idea was scrapped at the last minute due to the strenuous objections of just about everyone on the third floor.

The Stranger news staff regrets that neighborhood meetings do not have open bars.

Managing editor Bethany Jean Clement regrets saying “The copy editors have been doing a really good job lately” last Wednesday, an instant jinx that caused last Thursday’s cover to read “P. 65″ under “MERYL STREEP’S FACE/AN APPRECIATION/BY CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE” when that piece was on page 67.

The Stranger regrets hipsters’ tight, tight pants and hopes enough blood is making it to their feet.

Stranger staffer Lindy West regrets that after her review of the lunch buffet at Lake City’s Déjà Vu Showgirls, they shut down the lunch buffet forever, causing angry strip-club lunch enthusiasts on the 206proof.com message board to declare Lindy West to be “toast” and then to post a picture of toast. However, Lindy West does not regret writing the phrase “thousands of beautiful tater tots and three ugly ones.”

Dan Savage, author of the internationally syndicated sex-advice column Savage Love and host of the Savage Lovecast, regrets using the phrase “that’s retarded” in his column and on his podcast when what he meant was “that’s stupid.” Using “retard” in that manner is, like, so totally gay.

The writers and editors of The Stranger regret that the only pens available in the office are shitty ballpoint ones. It is a further affront to have to ask the office manager for each and every one of those shitty pens.

Read them all here.

Seattle art critic plagiarized in work for Seattle P-I and The Stranger

Nate Lippens, a freelance art critic whose work has appeared in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and The Stranger, has been exposed as a plagiarist.* Editor & Publisher has a story about his thefts, which were exposed by the Post-Intelligencer in a May 15 story and Note to Readers on the 14:

Work in the Seattle P-I by Nate Lippens, a freelance critic, is being examined after one of his art reviews was discovered to have striking similarities to criticism published two years earlier in Art in America magazine.
The P-I is looking at dozens of pieces written by Lippens for the newspaper between July 2006 and April 2008. All links to his articles through the P-I’s Web site have been withdrawn until they have been thoroughly examined and cleared to return to the site.
David McCumber, P-I managing editor, was disturbed by the similarities.
“Obviously,” he said, “content that co-opts others’ material without credit does not meet our standards, and it’s distressing under any circumstances. It’s a sharp reminder to our editors — really, to everyone in the profession — just how vulnerable we are, and how vigilant we must be.”
The alternative weekly The Stranger also has found similarities between work by Lippens and criticism in Art Forum magazine. Lippens freelanced for The Stranger starting in 2000, and was on the staff from 2004 to 2005. The Stranger is examining all of Lippens’ pieces published in its pages and has withdrawn links to them on its Web site, editor Christopher Frizzelle announced on thestranger.com Wednesday.
In an e-mail to the P-I on Wednesday, Lippens said: “I never knowingly plagiarized material. … I’m completely mortified and ashamed for betraying the implicit trust of my colleagues, friends and readers. I know that I can’t undo it or regain that trust but I do offer my sincerest apologies to everyone involved.”

*Correction May 26: the first sentence of this post called Lippens a “freelance at critic” instead of a “freelance art critic.” It has been corrected. Thanks, Charlene!

Oh how we love the Stranger

We previously directed you to the strange and hilarious corrections of the Stranger, Seattle’s wonderful alt-weekly. While definitely over the top, at least they give you the impression that the paper puts some thought into its corrections.
Recently, however, the Stranger took things to a whole new level. Its theater editor recently confused two well known playwrights and the paper decided to make him pay for his mistake. It produced a quiz and made him complete it as penance. We spend a lot of time harping about how the media handles mistakes so it’s a pleasure to find something to praise. This is fun, interactive, and it demonstrates that the paper takes accuracy seriously enough to do something innovative.
Here’s how the Stranger explained its rationale:

Last week, Stranger theater editor Brendan Kiley made a mistake worthy of lifelong shame, somehow confusing Neil Simon with Eugene O’Neill. Brendan made a prompt apology, but can a mere apology suffice?
Of course not, hence this quiz, through which Brendan will confirm his new and thorough understanding of these two ridiculously distinctive playwrights. Feel free to join in the fun!

The quiz is here. Enjoy. And props to Romenesko for spotting it.