Up to a point, Lord Copper

October 13, 2008 7:54 AM

The Daily Beastis the latest venture from Tina Brown. (mis)Named after the newspaper in Evelyn Waugh's (awesome) novel Scoop, the site is a mixture of original journalism and curated links from around the web, and of middle and low brow. Already it's attracted attention for both a (previously spiked) feature on Jennifer Lopez and for its logo, which some allege is remarkably familar. Reviews have been so so, but its stated aim to "sift, sort, and curate" finally allows us to get the best of the web...
posted by Hartster (47 comments total)

Anxiously awaiting the "After months of missteps in an already-saturated market, the Daily Beast is shutting down" FPP in roughly March 2009.
posted by Damn That Television at 8:01 AM on October 13, 2008

finally allows us to get the best of the web...

Do I have to pay $5 to join that site too?

And as to the logo thing, meh. They are both so boringly obvious I don't see how/why anyone would have to motivation to rip off something that's uncreative in the first place.
posted by cjorgensen at 8:05 AM on October 13, 2008 [2 favorites]

Featuring a blog by Tucker Carlson? Talking about how McCain should be pushing Rev. Wright more? No thanks.
posted by octothorpe at 8:08 AM on October 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

Ahahah. Someone actually resurrected that garbage where the headline of a story follows you down the page as you scroll? What a hoot. I'm trying hard to imagine the conversation that resulted in that.
posted by mediareport at 8:10 AM on October 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

It's been linked all over last weekend for Chris Buckley's Obama endorsement.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:12 AM on October 13, 2008

I also find the site annoying. I don't need the headline of the article to follow me as I scroll through the article. I know what I am reading. I clicked the link damn it.

At first I thought, "Cool effect." But it lags behind the scrolling. At least it's not doing that with ads, but still annoying.

And I read the Tucker piece. The rebuttals are obvious. McCain can't go after Obama, since he has spiritual advisor skeletons as well (as does Palin). And neither Palin or McCain will be as articulate at defending their associations as Obama was.

Is kinda funny that Tucker missed the whole race speech that Obama gave. Oh well, I too put blinders on an ignore stuff I don't care to know about, but you don't see me spouting off about crap I didn't bother to read!

Oh, wait. Never mind.
posted by cjorgensen at 8:14 AM on October 13, 2008

A blog by Tucker Carlson ..... barf.

Well, at least it's not a blog by Tucker Bounds.
posted by blucevalo at 8:40 AM on October 13, 2008

Well, at least it's not a blog by Tucker Bounds.

How would Campbell Brown spank him there? In comments?
posted by bitter-girl.com at 8:41 AM on October 13, 2008

Tucker Carlson AND Lynn Forester de Rothschild?

Thanks, I've been looking for something new to wipe my ass with!
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 8:46 AM on October 13, 2008 [2 favorites]

I also only know about this site after reading the Buckley Jr. Obama endorsement.

Honest question: Who the fuck reads Tucker Carlson? Or watches him in the first place? I mean, even wing-nuts can read "intellectual" Conservative water carriers like Krauthammer or Will or Jonah Goldberg (I'll admit, I actually enjoy reading Will). But Tucker? Huh?
posted by bardic at 8:48 AM on October 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

(And on further exploration, I'm thinkin' that Chris Buckley's Obama endorsement was probably the high water mark of this stinking pile.)
posted by bardic at 8:52 AM on October 13, 2008

That Guardian review is kind of funny and gets that the draw is mainly Tina Brown's rolodex (not a quarter as interesting as she thinks it is, given her choices for the launch) but ends on a stupid note:

My favourite innovation – and for all I know they pinched it from somewhere – is the floating byline on each blog

That "floating byline" thing has been around forever; it practically screams 1996. Which, come to think of it, is what I think of Tina Brown, too.
posted by mediareport at 9:01 AM on October 13, 2008

Tina is cool
posted by matteo at 9:07 AM on October 13, 2008

I think that the last word on Tina Brown comes from Garrison Keillor's evaluation of the Brown-era New Yorker: "One's interest in inferior work is limited, really."
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:17 AM on October 13, 2008 [4 favorites]

But Tucker? Huh?

Dude.

Bow tie.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 9:20 AM on October 13, 2008

If only any of the lines would equal those of Waugh.
posted by adamvasco at 9:20 AM on October 13, 2008

Best feature? No dead tree version.
posted by Ron Thanagar at 9:26 AM on October 13, 2008

But Tucker? Huh?

Dude.

Bow tie.

Looks like that pompous d-bag finally decided to lose the bow tie. I can't stand the whole Alex P. Keaton young, hip conservative act.
posted by HotPatatta at 9:29 AM on October 13, 2008

Bullshit, how do you say that in Jolly Ole England?
posted by pianomover at 9:36 AM on October 13, 2008

I like Tina Brown.
She rocked the print world at least twice, and with courage, class and gusto.
So she knows quite a bit about content and readership.
But it looks like she thinks that the Web is just another platform for content.
Obviously, she has observed a lot but she has not really been there, as we are, inside the beast: she has not participated in any forum or community. She is outside and it shows:

Read it? Seen it? Watched it? Ate it? Or just want to tell us about something great? Send us your own picks, and we'll consider the best Feed The Beast submissions for publication.

You'll "consider"? How kind of you. How people can still sink $millions in content ventures on the Web without knowing the basics?
Tina, I am very disappointed in you.
You can do better.
You can think better.
If you don't welcome in your midst the 10% of your readers who can add to your content, you are toast.
You have the ability to find backers who are not afraid to burn money with you: it's one of your qualities. But at least do it right.
posted by bru at 9:48 AM on October 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

the whole Alex P. Keaton young, hip conservative act.

Yeah, that worked for Alex P. Keaton because he was a teenager. Also, a character on a long-running TV comedy.

Tucker Carlson, while admittedly also a character on a long-running TV comedy, is pushing 40, and about asfar from hip as is possible to be.
posted by dersins at 9:48 AM on October 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

> ...and for its logo, which some allege is remarkably familar.

Frankie say, "RELAX."
posted by ardgedee at 9:49 AM on October 13, 2008

mediareport : What a hoot. I'm trying hard to imagine the conversation that resulted in that.

"Let's irritate our readers, and ensure that they aren't actually looking at the article because they are too busy scrolling and trying to outrun the stalker title."

That would be my guess.
posted by quin at 10:00 AM on October 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

The Week in Apologies is feature stolen from Harry Shearer's LeShow
posted by hortense at 10:09 AM on October 13, 2008

Feather-footed through the plashy fen passes the questing vole. I don't know about the Tina Brown thing, but that Evelyn Waugh site seems neat.
posted by chinston at 10:41 AM on October 13, 2008

The section The Big Fat Story is supposed to be "a daily chart that outlines different viewpoints on a contentious topic in the news", which sounds like a pretty cool idea...until you take a look at it and realize it basically outlines Republican talking points on that topic.

This tells me all I need to know about the usefulness of The Daily Beast as yet another news aggregator. Thanks but no thanks.
posted by Robin Kestrel at 10:42 AM on October 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

A copyrighted feature, no less!
posted by RakDaddy at 10:44 AM on October 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

Beta-MetaFilter
posted by Cranberry at 10:45 AM on October 13, 2008

It should always be written (and pronounced) Evelyn WAUGH!, the way Charlie Brown says it whenever he misses the football.
posted by Eideteker at 10:54 AM on October 13, 2008 [2 favorites]

Tucker Bounds is cute. All he needs is a brain insertion, preferably one with a conscience.
posted by digaman at 11:00 AM on October 13, 2008

The red and blackness reminds me of Sploid, which changed into something as much cap-locks.
posted by milkrate at 11:02 AM on October 13, 2008

Tina Brown. always wrong. always there.
posted by Postroad at 11:20 AM on October 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

Talk about something so easily dismissed as garbage. Tucker Carlson is such a frigg'n wanna-be lightweight. I can almost picture him in front of the mirror every morning, choking back insecure tears, chanting his daily affirmations like a prep-school Travis Bickel.

"I'm AM the inheritor. I AM the NEW Bill Buckley. My name is Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson. I own a mansion and a Yacht! And as I'll show those boys at St. George's to take my Latte Money! I'll show them! One day a new rain is going to fall on this town and wash the low end trust-fundies from these mean streets. And only I and my personal tailor will remain!"
posted by tkchrist at 11:25 AM on October 13, 2008 [2 favorites]

The logo? Isn't there a rather more obvious infringement they should be concerned about?

True, it (permanently?) shuttered this summer, but thanks to Taibbi it had a fairly high profile.
posted by dhartung at 11:36 AM on October 13, 2008

The Lynn Forester de Rothschild is sophomoric, but I don't know her and had no expectations. But sweet Jesus, that Carlson piece is bad. I used to hold the guy in some regard, but here we are. The TED spread is still over 4.50, even after rising 600 points the Dow is still down 4000 points, this is going to be a disastrous Christmas for retailers, we're bogged down in two wars, and this silly trivial man wants to natter on about Jeremiah Wright? Well, goodbye to you, Sir, and goodbye to anyone who thought you worth publishing.
posted by mojohand at 12:09 PM on October 13, 2008

The Daily Beast is the latest venture from Tina Brown.

I am so not clicking on that link.

Now, years past her tenure at the New Yorker, Harold Ross is still rolling in his grave. Props to Garrison Keillor.
posted by neuron at 12:35 PM on October 13, 2008

I learned of the Beast when I followed a link to this piece: Why My Former Hero Shouldn’t Be President
posted by homunculus at 1:05 PM on October 13, 2008

I already visit a site that has more than this. It has an "r" in there.
posted by srboisvert at 1:06 PM on October 13, 2008

The Daily Bears?
posted by graventy at 1:47 PM on October 13, 2008

I don't give a shit about anything a Rothschild cares to write unless it has routing numbers on it.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 2:07 PM on October 13, 2008 [2 favorites]

The Daily Breast?

I heartily approve.
posted by emelenjr at 2:54 PM on October 13, 2008

I like the Buffalo Beast site better, even if it is half a year outdated.
posted by mrgrimm at 3:14 PM on October 13, 2008

I am william_boot and I do not approve.
posted by william_boot at 3:36 PM on October 13, 2008

Don't need another news aggregator - especially one that steals the branding from the Philadelphia Daily News so blatantly. I mean - damn man.
posted by kmartino at 6:38 PM on October 13, 2008

so-so reviews?

uhm, not exactly.

that girl is hated.
posted by krautland at 8:14 PM on October 13, 2008

Christopher Buckley, in an exclusive for The Daily Beast, explains why he left The National Review, the magazine his father founded.
posted by homunculus at 1:08 PM on October 14, 2008

I'm with bru. WTF, Tina?

Counted at least 15 typos in four pages.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 5:30 PM on October 14, 2008