When the Toronto Star announced that they were outsourcing in-house editing jobs, the union wasn't too happy. Neither was this disgruntled editor.
posted by Saxon Kane on Nov 10, 2009 - 81 comments

Snark.
posted by Olli on Aug 29, 2009 - 54 comments

The research, literary, and copy editors of Vanity Fair go to town on Sarah Palin's resignation speech.
seeing as nearly everyone I talked to at the 10th meetup was an editor of some kind, you'll all get a kick out of this
posted by Jon_Evil on Jul 20, 2009 - 79 comments

"Science Fiction Fandom: your shortlists aren’t very good." Writer, critic and literary academic Adam Roberts has a problem with the shortlists for the 2009 Hugo Awards: in his view, they're unimaginative, conservative and profoundly lazy. Are his concerns valid? And even if they are, should anyone expect more from a popular nominated award voted on by people eligible only through having joined the current or previous World Science Fiction Convention? Given the existence of jury-selected awards such as the Nebula and Clarke, what's wrong with the Hugo letting ordinary readers and fans having the chance to vote for what they liked?
posted by Major Clanger on Jul 18, 2009 - 157 comments

Why chicks cry. Images of women and girls crying, taken from DC romance comics 1957 to 1968. [more inside]
posted by paduasoy on Jul 5, 2009 - 43 comments

Twenty years old this year, fifteen-minute long Australian television programme Media Watch criticises television and print journalism. (Previously).
posted by Fiasco da Gama on May 7, 2009 - 17 comments

A Psychologist Analyzes the Increasing Pervasiveness of Snark. From the Psychology Today blog site comes this article about snark, Gawker, and David Denby's definitions of "snark" versus "Satire." [more inside]
posted by crazyray on Apr 12, 2009 - 49 comments

"The blood slowly drained from his head. Soon, everything would go dark for Curtis." Clip Art + Snark = Funny
posted by Cool Papa Bell on Mar 5, 2009 - 41 comments

Snark - A Polemic in Seven Fits
posted by nevercalm on Feb 22, 2009 - 17 comments

There are times when you are asked startlingly obvious questions - here is the all-purpose response.
posted by Happy Dave on Nov 19, 2008 - 38 comments

Trolling the Head of the TSA: Bruce Schneier [previously], consummate voice of sanity on all issues of security, co-authors an article in The Atlantic [previously] demonstrating how weak and ultimately pointless most of the new security practices put in place at airports since 9/11 are by, among other things, boarding airplanes with large amounts of liquid, using fake boarding passes he printed off his computer, and wearing an "I <3 Hezbollah" t-shirt. TSA head Kip Hawley then responds on the TSA's blog. Schneier then responds to the response on his blog. Hawley then leaves a comment to that post. Schneier fires back again in his monthly newsletter. Quite an interesting and intelligent debate, despite both men humorously falling victim to the idioms of the medium and getting increasingly snarky with each passing post. [via this month's crypto-gram, a good read all the way around.]
posted by ChasFile on Nov 17, 2008 - 30 comments

Snark Kills.
posted by mosch on Mar 3, 2008 - 61 comments

...people whose brains are best equipped to understand sarcasm tend to have aggressive personalities.
Also: "those who can hang with sarcasm are always the most interesting conversation partners at a party"
posted by mecran01 on Feb 16, 2008 - 72 comments

Since when did we get cat 5 levees? Or a working flood plan? Behold the New Orleans Levee, where 'We don't hold anything back.'
posted by localroger on Aug 30, 2007 - 21 comments

Blog gives healthy Fisking to the worst sportswriting around, with a focus on Joe Morgan, perhaps the dumbest baseball analyst ever. (previous oblique MeFi reference.)
posted by klangklangston on Jul 27, 2007 - 26 comments

Books judged by covers. Via.
posted by klangklangston on May 1, 2007 - 12 comments

Bradshaw v. Unity Marine Corp., Inc. (147 F.Supp.2d 668) "Both attorneys have obviously entered into a secret pact--complete with hats, handshakes and cryptic words--to draft their pleadings entirely in crayon on the back sides of gravy-stained paper place mats, in the hope that the Court would be so charmed by their child-like efforts that their utter dearth of legal authorities in their briefing would go unnoticed. Whatever actually occurred, the Court is now faced with the daunting task of deciphering their submissions. With Big Chief tablet readied, thick black pencil in hand, and a devil-may-care laugh in the face of death, life on the razor's edge sense of exhilaration, the Court begins."
posted by Kat Allison on Jul 14, 2006 - 28 comments

In early 1777 Gen Burgoyne assumes command of the northern Redcoat column marching from Canada. On June 20, 1777 he issues his infamous Proclamation of how & why he's coming down to kick Rebel behind. History records one unknown patriot's snark-filled reply that July. By October, Burgoyne's flying column is bottled up and defeated at Saratoga. Here ends the history lesson. Have a great 4th, peeps.
posted by Heywood Mogroot on Jul 4, 2006 - 17 comments

brickwallers and douchebags. It's incredibly cruel but oh so clever. Exposing the band promo photo. You might think you look good but this guy will identify your weak point and skewer you with a bon mot - which is a hell of a lot more painful than anything else you can be skewered with. Even sharp things. A couple of favourites are this one and this one, which almost killed me. If you get it you'll know what I mean.
posted by milkwood on Feb 13, 2005 - 43 comments

''My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today I've just signed legislation which outlaws [the Blue States] forever. The bombing begins in five minutes.''
posted by monju_bosatsu on Nov 4, 2004 - 39 comments

Snark. In the newest issue of Bookforum, critic Sven Birkerts ruminates on what he considers to be the regrettable rise of the snarky book review, taking as his starting example Dale Peck's hatchet job on Rick Moody, written in 2002. "Psychologically [the literary] landscape [is one that is] subtly demoralized by the slash-and-burn of bottom-line economics; the modernist/humanist assumption of art and social criticism marching forward, leading the way, has not recovered from the wholesale flight of academia into theory; the publishing world remains tyrannized in acquisition, marketing, and sales by the mentality of the blockbuster; the confident authority of print journalism has been challenged by the proliferation of online alternatives. [...] All of this leads, and not all that circuitously, to the question of snark, the spirit of negativity, the personal animus pushing ahead of the intellectual or critical agenda. Snark is, I believe, prompted by the terrible vacuum feeling of not mattering, not connecting, not being heard; it is fueled by rage at the same."
posted by Prospero on Apr 4, 2004 - 27 comments

Love the shows, beware the fans. That seems to be the gist of fandom_wank. And because God knows lunacy isn't limited to fandom, on the seventh day, God created spinoffs. Mock. Mockmockmock. Mockity-mock-mock.
posted by FunkyHelix on Oct 19, 2003 - 12 comments

Irony is out; sincerity is in. Is it true? Is irony dead? Is sarcasm passé? Have we finally snarked out once and for all? If so, what place will our beloved ironists (and sarcastinators) have in this new Age of Earnestness?
posted by Byun-o-matic on Nov 17, 2000 - 31 comments

I don't know how many MetaFilter readers are epinions members (my guess is that a lot are), but if you've surfed around anyone's circle of trust before, I'm sure you've found conglomerate_mosthated, a popular reviewer with an equally sharp tongue and wit. Some of my favorites of his include the Xterra review, the Britney Spears review, and the Jetta review. He's sometimes offending, oftentimes catty, and always amusing.
posted by mathowie on Jan 13, 2000 - 0 comments