| Hanging out with Wallpaper’s artist of the year Ed Ruscha  Hanging out with Wallpaper’s artist of the year Ed Ruscha is just about America’s best known living artist and certainly the most influential. Over the last 40 years, Ruscha’s work has explored and played with pop culture and commercial imagery, type and typography. It is easy to call him a kind of West Coast Warhol – laconic and cool to Warhol’s weird and unnerving – but where Warhol was a portraitist, of people, personality, power (and the definitive artist in the age of mechanical reproduction), Ruscha is a landscapist: words in landscape and words as landscape. Wallpaper* contributing photographer Laura Wilson was Richard Avedon’s assistant for five years, and worked alongside Avedon when he put together the ‘In The American West’ series. She has since emerged as one of the country’s leading photographers in her own right. Wilson was given rare access to Ruscha’s large Venice studio, and the cast of characters who surround him: his brother, son, six dogs and Harley the mechanic. Ruscha was always polite and charming but always busy, busier than ever. Here is Laura Wilson’s exclusive private viewing of Ruscha’s LA studio in three parts, plus selected works from three volumes of the artist’s series Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings: 
At work
At play
In the studio
Select works
Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings: Volumes 1, 2 and 3, by Ed Ruscha (Steidl)
www.steidlville.com |
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 | InterviewJanuary 25, 2007 Conscious Consumer
Los Angeles/New York Video still from www.GoVeg.com  Jay McCarroll s/s ’07  Charmoné shoes  Stella McCartney s/s ’07  Stella McCartney s/s ’07  Cirque de Soleil  Polartec Wind Pro jacket from Arc’teryx  Caring Consumer recommended sweater from Delias  Rescued lamb Author and personal-growth and spiritual counselor Kathy Freston is an illuminating proponent of living life to the fullest. While the subject of conscious consumption is not evident under her umbrella of disciplines, her personal lifestyle choices as a conscious consumer have set the bar for responsible purchasing. She has kept us informed about the insensitivities of raw-material gathering, manufacturing, and promotion, and as someone who does her part to live and shop with a conscience, we asked her to weigh in on the movement, the specific practices of her lifestyle, and what we can all do to consume more sensitively. JCR: What triggered the decision to become a conscious consumer? KF: I have always had an affinity for animals. Once I started watching the videos at www.GoVeg.com and www.FurIsDead.com about how animals suffered before they ended up on my dinner plate or on the trim of my winter coat, I decided I didn’t want to support that anymore. I went vegetarian, cleared my closet of all clothes that were made from animal skins, and started to buy only soaps and cosmetics that were not tested on animals. As I became more aware of the issues, it became clear to me that I wanted my money to support only ethical businesses — that if I wasn’t willing to kill an animal myself, I shouldn’t pay someone to do that for me. Anyone can empower themselves by making every dollar they spend a vote for cruelty-free business practices. I can’t tell you how great it feels to know you are making a difference every time you buy yourself a delicious (more so now than ever, by the way) vegetarian dinner or a pair of non-leather shoes! JCR: You’re a vegan — what does that mean? KF: Vegans don’t eat any animal products, including meat, eggs, dairy products, and gelatin. The web site www.GoVeg.com gives a detailed explanation about what is wrong with animal products from an ethical, environmental, and health perspective. JCR: How vigilant are you? KF: I’m very conscientious, and do my best to make the most compassionate choices possible. Fortunately, it’s easy to find great-tasting mock meats, dairy and egg alternatives, and other plant-based options. I always consider how my purchases and actions will impact animals. Although some vegans prefer not to eat food that was cooked on the same grill as meat, I’m not overly concerned about that because it does not cause more animals to suffer. I will support companies that are not normally vegan- or vegetarian-friendly when they offer vegan or vegetarian products. I applaud Burger King for offering a BK veggie burger. As for clothing, like every other vegan I know, I will not wear fur, leather, or down, or use cosmetics that were tested on animals or contain animal ingredients (like lanolin or beeswax). Instead, I choose synthetic materials or buy recycled cashmere. And I LOVE Stella McCartney, because I know she makes sure that the wool she uses is harvested consciously and without cruelty. Vegan products are getting more stylish than ever and it’s actually become fun for me to find the good stuff. It also keeps my shopping streamlined! Because I don’t believe animals should be abused and exploited, I also do not attend zoos, aquariums, or circuses that feature captive/performing animals. The Cirque du Soleil is far more creative and interesting than the shows of yesteryear anyway. JCR: Anti-fur is no longer the only touchpoint in conscious fashion. Synthetic leather substitutes and organic raw materials are other examples. What are some of the trends you’re observing in this sector? KF: The most innovative and conscientious designers today are refusing to work with any animal skins — not just fur — and they’re proving that it’s easy to create a killer look without actually killing animals. Stella McCartney is a great example: She’s quickly becoming the queen of the catwalk, and she doesn’t use a stitch of fur, leather, or merino (Australian) wool in her designs. Her shoes, bags, and accessories are beyond fabulous. The footwear company Charmoné makes eco- and animal-friendly shoes with luxe touches, such as Swarovski crystals and high-end Italian microfibers — but absolutely no leather. Jay McCarroll, the young designer who won the first season of Bravo’s Project Runway, told Salon.com that his ideal line would utilize “organic fibers and no fur and no leather and no slave labor…very cool. And I’ll work with organic cosmetic companies and no companies that do animal testing.” That’s definitely the trend, and it’s something that even people who aren’t all the way there on other animal rights issues are embracing. JCR: How do you suggest that one ease into conscious living without committing hardcore? KF: Just start being aware of the choices that you’re making and how they affect animals. I always say “think it through.” Trust me, my heart used to palpitate when I tried on fur, too. We’ve been trained to think of it as luxurious. But just think before you buy. Seeing the videos of what these animals go through is heartbreaking. Animals are not always able to change their behavior, but adult human beings have the intelligence and ability to choose between behaviors that hurt others and behaviors that do not hurt others. When given the choice, start choosing compassion. In today’s world of virtually unlimited choices, there are plenty of kind, gentle ways for us to feed, clothe, entertain, and educate ourselves that do not involve hurting or killing animals. Whether it’s shunning fur, eating less meat, or making it a point to purchase animal-friendly products, every action, regardless of how little it may seem, makes a difference. JCR: What about the economic factor? How does one shop consciously if he or she cannot afford a lifestyle of $1500, organically grown wool sweaters, a private chef, and easy means to shop at high-end grocers? KF: It doesn’t cost a lot to be compassionate. In fact, it’s usually cheaper — fashionable, non-leather shoes are less expensive than their leather counterparts, and faux-fur trim is inexpensive and better for the Earth (not to mention for the animals!). I actually don’t buy faux fur though, because it just promotes the look. Ultimately, I would like to not buy or wear wool, whether it’s organically grown or not. Shearing is a traumatic process — sheep are often handled roughly and cut in multiple places because shearers are paid by volume, not by the hour. Australian wool, which makes up a large percentage of the market, is particularly cruel. Merino lambs, who are bred to be extra wrinkly, have chunks of skin cut from their backsides to prevent a condition called flystrike, although other alternatives exist, and Australian sheep are exported live to the Middle East, where they’re killed in frightening and painful ways. Videos and more information can be found at www.SavetheSheep.com. I think we are all taking one step at a time, and so my next step would be to get wool out of my shopping. First I gave up fur, then leather, and next will be wool. There are superior alternatives to wool clothing and blankets, including cotton, cotton flannel, polyester fleece, synthetic shearling, and other cruelty-free fibers. Tencel — breathable, durable, and biodegradable — is one of the newest cruelty-free wool substitutes. Polartec Wind Pro — made primarily from recycled plastic soda bottles — is a high-density fleece with four times the wind resistance of wool that also wicks away moisture. There are many fabric and clothing alternatives in the PETA Free Shopping Guide to Compassionate Clothing, which can be ordered at www.CaringConsumer.com. I know PETA is controversial but they come from a good place. If you actually saw what happens to the animals, you would be on board, I’m sure. You don’t need a private chef to enjoy vegan meals. You can find recipes for delicious meals with inexpensive ingredients at www.VegCooking.com. And there are a lot of cookbooks out there, too. Vegan foods are not limited to specialty stores anymore — most (if not all) common grocery stores have easy-to-find vegan substitutes, including soy milk, mock meat, and vegan cheese. JCR: Which brands do you seek out to suit your kind of fashion consciousness? KF: My favorite designer is Stella McCartney; she is brilliant and I totally trust that anything I buy will be “kosher.” Also, Delia in LA is very cool and also doesn’t use fur or leather. JCR: You spread the message to friends; is it not enough simply to do your part? Must you evangelize? KF: Like any social justice movement, educating others plays a key role in implementing positive changes. The very nature of reform movements is to tell others what to do — don’t use humans as slaves, don’t sexually harass women, etc. Most people don’t know which of their habits cause animal suffering — or how easy it is to change them. The more people become aware of cruelty to animals and its prevalence in everyday life, the more serious they will become about putting an end to it, and you can help explain to them the many forms of animal abuse that they may unwittingly be supporting and what they can do to stop them. |
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| FeatureFebruary 1, 2007 Art Beats
Heartthrob brings new blood to minimal technoHeartthrob, aka Jesse Siminski, has been a key artist on Richie Hawtin’s Minus label since first appearing on Minimize to Maximize. In 2006, he relocated from New York to Paris to focus on music full time. From the city of love, Heartthrob caught up with Earplug’s Kendra Borowski to talk about his move across the Atlantic, and the good times (and great tracks) that ensued. Earplug: On New Year’s Eve, you and others from the Minus stable played in Rome. What was the event like? How exactly did your live set with Marc Houle work? Heartthrob: Our Roman New Year’s Eve party at Fiere di Roma was incredible! Minus was given its own stage. DJs included Richie Hawtin, Magda, and Troy Pierce. JPLS, Gaiser, Marc Houle, and myself made up the live acts. Our room was completely packed with perhaps 10,000 people. Marc Houle and I have played together a few times as MarcThrob, our mutant hybrid. We do a freestyle tag-team situation where we bounce and layer the elements of our tunes together. It is loose and fun, for sure — not always perfect, but always different and surprising. EP: What are you working on lately in terms of your solo productions? H: Recently, I have been wrapped up with a remix for Matt Star on Weave Music. And I’m beginning to work on tracks, possibly for another Minus EP. I am always working on new drum, melody, bass, and sound loops to play live. They are often tested this way and become new tunes. EP: How did your remix of Troy Pierce’s “Horse Nation” (out in January on Minus) come about? H: I was compelled to rework Troy’s “Horse Nation” because I loved the track so much and thought it would be a great surprise for his birthday. He had given me a folder with random production bits to do a remix on Underline. In the folder, I also found the parts to “Horse Nation.” I used my favorite elements and my own perverse additions. I am most proud of the children’s “Oh yeah yeah” vocal mixed with Gibby Miller’s. I really enjoy collaborating, and I’m excited about the surprises ahead. EP: How do you feel about full-length albums when dance music is so focused on singles? Will we see a Heartthrob full length? H: I think some of the brightest moments in dance music have come in the form of full-length albums. Obviously, Plastikman‘s Consumed and Louderbach’s Enemy Love are great examples of conceptually coherent works with tracks that function beautifully alone and as a group. I would love to attempt this approach, so we will see. EP: Describe your relationship with Richie Hawtin and the Minus label. H: As well as being a terrific friend, Rich has been a major supporter and enabler — of both my musical career and my alcoholism! His ideas about and his approach to music always amaze me. To be included in the Minus roster has been a terrific compliment and motivator. I deeply enjoy my relationships with the other artists and individuals associated with the label and booking agency and thank them for forgiving me when I cross the line, grope them, try to make out with them, force them to wear wigs, and expose myself to them. It’s a fantasy I hope doesn’t end soon. EP: Whose music do you enjoy and listen to on your own time? H: Chaka Khan and Prince take me back and always put me in the mood! When I am at home in Paris, I listen to Rufus Wainwright, the Beatles, and Jonathan Schwartz’ NPR podcast for a completely different feeling. I guess it makes me feel like an adult. But when I want to lose it, I enjoy hearing my friend Daren from the T Bar in London play bitchy, classic ’80s tunes. EP: What was your highlight of 2006? H: Being able to move to Paris and focus solely on music production and performance has made the year amazing. Being invited to do remix work for Depeche Mode is also way up there! |
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| Art Review | Jasper Johns February 2, 2007 Art Review | Jasper Johns Bull’s-Eyes and Body Parts: It’s Theater, From Jasper Johns By HOLLAND COTTER WASHINGTON — Art and crass are all but inseparable. So it’s no surprise to find an exhibition that brings together a record number of Jasper Johns’s famous target paintings being bankrolled by Target. You pass the corporate bull’s-eye logo, small but vivid, on a wall on your way into “Jasper Johns: An Allegory of Painting, 1955-1965″ here at the National Gallery of Art. Mr. Johns’s targets, endlessly reproduced in the half century since he painted the earliest of them, have themselves become a form of advertising, a logo for American postwar art. Through sheer omnipresence they’ve become nearly invisible. What could change that now? The answer: Seeing them live. The 15 “Target” paintings installed in the show’s first gallery look every bit as radical and mysterious as they surely did in New York in the 1950s, when, simply by existing, they closed the door on one kind of art, Abstract Expressionism, and opened a door on many, many others. The National Gallery show, organized by the museum’s curator of modern and contemporary art, Jeffrey Weiss, has mysteries of its own. It isn’t a survey of the decade 1955-65, but a selection of 90 Johns works from that time organized by visual theme: targets, “devices,” words and the human body. Other motifs at least as important to that phase of his career, like flags, numbers and maps, are nowhere in evidence. Nor can the connective “allegory” proposed by the exhibition title be readily discerned. No matter. Walk in the door, and you’re hooked. Try to move through the show in a hurry, and you can’t. The work is too strong, too unusual. It keeps stopping you, here, then here, then here. Mr. Johns, you suddenly remember, doesn’t just create visual objects, he creates situations, events. Each painting is a mini-theater, with farce and tragedy silently acted out and the audience invited to participate. Initially Mr. Johns wanted the participation to be physical. “Target With Plaster Casts” (1955) is a painting surmounted by a row of wooden niches holding casts of body parts: a hand, a foot, a penis, a breast. And each niche has a little flip-up door, designed to be opened and closed by viewers, to give them a different, more intimate art experience than usual. Of course, if you reach for them now, in a museum, you risk arrest. So the real message, which Mr. Johns must have anticipated, is: Touch, but don’t touch. His art is built on such ambiguities. Most of his very early paintings, done in a thick encaustic medium that makes them look molded instead of brushed, feel like sculptures. Many of those done a bit later in oils have three-dimensional objects attached to their surfaces so that, like furniture, they carve out sculptural space. Dada, cerebral and vacant, was a big influence on Mr. Johns. His group of paintings made up of the stenciled names of colors — red, yellow, blue — was inspired in part by Marcel Duchamp’s use of language as art. Duchampian too are the so-called “devices” paintings, which have rotatable wooden discs, with squeegeelike arms for smoothing arcs of paint, affixed to their surfaces. One assumes that Mr. Johns was declaring his complete dissociation from gestural abstraction, with its fetishized brushstroke, its existentialist soul, its emotional acting out. But then you arrive at a word-painting like “False Start” (1959), which explodes with hysterical brushwork. Or “Device Circle” (1959), on which the attached wheel looks gloomily derelict, like a one-handed clock. Or “Painting Bitten by a Man” (1961), which has a mouthful of wax encaustic gnawed out of its center, leaving a mark like a frozen scream or guffaw. What’s the story? Is he mocking expressive painting or declaring it compatible with Dada’s cerebral conceits? Is he exposing a reserve of hidden passion beneath Duchamp’s dandyish, bone-dry wit? In 1962 Mr. Johns made a group of prints by pressing his face and hands, covered with baby oil, onto large sheets of paper. The resulting images suggest a person swimming up from beneath an opaque surface that he is unable to push through. Over the next two years he finished two paintings and a drawing that referred to Hart Crane, the American poet who jumped off a ship in midsea and drowned. The larger of the paintings, “Diver,” is very large and holds a compendium of motifs from earlier work: stenciled words, turbulent brushwork and a rainbow-colored target. At the center, two long wooden arms, ending in palms-open hands, reach upward. If the painting theatrically approximates the psychic splintering that drove Crane to suicide, the related charcoal drawing, also called “Diver,” suggests the aftermath of his leap. Here the arms have hands at both ends. They point both downward and upward, with the descending hands meeting to form the shape of a skull in a subaqueous twilight. It is in these theme-gathering works that a narrative, or “allegory,” comes together, though how to interpret it is hard to say. Countless glosses have been applied to Mr. Johns’s art, which is always assumed to be thick with coded meanings. Critics and scholars have scrutinized the art he has looked at, the writers he has read, the thinkers he has thought about. Others have parsed his life. The artist Robert Morris, in a powerful catalog essay, links the themes of targets, flags and maps to Mr. Johns’s stint in the Army from 1951 to 1953. The art historians Kenneth E. Silver and Jonathan Katz have noted the dark, personal turn in his art after he and his lover, Robert Rauschenberg, split up in 1961. Their relationship seems to have shaped the careers of both men. It lives on in an art-world game that pits them against each other in a who’s-greater competition, though they are very different kinds of artists. And what kind of artist is Mr. Johns? Various labels have been advanced: post-Dada, proto-Pop. I would call him a metaphysical artist, in the way that the 17th-century English poet John Donne is a metaphysical poet. Like Donne’s poetry, Mr. Johns’s art is equally about body and mind, sensuality and reflection. It is unmystical, unromantic, unnostalgic but obsessed with transcendence and the reality of loss. Despite the difference in medium, the languages of Donne and Mr. Johns share many features: deliberate awkwardness, ungraceful beauty, a virtuosity so extreme that it turns weird. Their work can be startlingly, even embarrassingly candid, but is more often self-protectively opaque. Metaphor, rather than statement or confession, is their method. Some people find Donne manipulatively difficult and withholding. They might feel the same about Mr. Johns. Finally, both metaphysicians appeared when a culture was on the cusp of change. And they were prepared to engage with that change, boldly, anxiously, in long careers that were electrifying early but are of profound interest all the way through. Mr. Johns’s career is of course still very much in progress, and I look forward to each future phase. I know of no major postwar American male artist whose work more completely approaches the condition of poetry, that reads as richly as it looks. To me it always feels new. “Jasper Johns: An Allegory of Painting, 1955-1965″ continues through April 29 at the National Gallery of Art, East Building, Constitution Avenue between Third and Ninth Streets, Washington; (202) 737-4215, nga.gov.
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| Jasper Johns 
“Target on an Orange Field” (1957) from “Jasper Johns: An Allegory of Painting” at the National Gallery of Art The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Bequest of Marcia Simon Weisman Art © Jasper Johns/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY 
“Target with Plaster Casts” (1955) © Jasper Johns/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company 
“Target Sketch” (1959) © Jasper Johns/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY
A sketch for “Good Time Charley” (1961).
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
 | “From False Start” (1960) © Jasper Johns/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY 
| “Souvenir” (1964) © Jasper Johns/Licensed by VAGA, New York
 | “Do It Yourself (Target)” (1960) © Jasper Johns/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY 
| “Watchman” (1964) © Jasper Johns/Licensed by VAGA, New York 
“Untitled” (1964-1965) © Jasper Johns/Licensed by VAGA, New York
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| Music Review | Miranda Lambert 
Rahav Segev for The New York Times Miranda Lambert during her show on Tuesday at the Mercury Lounge Readers’ OpinionsFebruary 1, 2007 Music Review | Miranda Lambert A Nashville Near-Star, Downsizing for a Night Has Miranda Lambert’s career developed in reverse? First came national television exposure: she finished third on the first season of “Nashville Star,” the country music version of “American Idol.” Then came the arena tours, as the opening act for Keith Urban, George Strait and, as of last week, Toby Keith. And then, on Tuesday night, came a low-key show at Mercury Lounge, the cozy downtown rock club. At this rate, she’ll be busking in the subway by 2008. She probably would busk if she had to, which is one reason she probably won’t have to. She grew up in Lindale, Tex., and she is only 23, but she was already a singing-contest veteran by the time she made her not-quite-triumphant run on “Nashville Star” in 2003, at 19. And while reality-TV contestants often seem to release albums mere hours after the show is done, Ms. Lambert didn’t release her debut album, “Kerosene” (Epic/Sony BMG), until two years later. The album was great: from feisty Southern rock to old-fashioned country balladry, she made every song sound like a pop song. (And no, that’s not faint praise.) None of the album’s four singles reached the country Top 10. But she kept touring and making videos and showing up on television until people paid attention. The album has sold nearly a million copies. She played some of the old songs on Tuesday night, including the album’s hard-charging title track, which she cheerfully called her “big Top-13 single.” But much of her short set was given over to songs from her second album, which is scheduled to be released in May. If you saw the Country Music Association Awards last fall, then you have already heard the title track; her romp through it, “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” was one of that show’s highlights, even though the single never caught on at country radio stations. She performed it on Tuesday night, along with others from the album, which were mostly about either getting over someone or getting even (for instance, “Desperation” and “Gunpowder and Lead”; you can probably guess which is which). As the “Nashville Star” judges surely would have pointed out, she had some problems with pitch; as a singer, she has more power than control. (Her voice echoes the characters she sings about, or vice versa.) That was a problem during slow songs like “More Like Her,” which she sang alone. She sounded much better with the band behind her, belting out “Famous in a Small Town,” which she said was her next single. It’s not exactly a tribute: “Everybody dies famous in a small town,” she sang, as if she couldn’t imagine anything worse. By the show’s end, she was already thinking about the next one. “Hopefully, next time we see y’all in New York City, we’re headlining some big arena somewhere,” she said. Luckily, impatient New York listeners don’t have to wait until next time. Tomorrow night she is scheduled to play the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, N.J., opening for Toby Keith. The place might not be full when she hits the stage, but don’t be surprised if she doesn’t seem to care. |
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| January 28, 2007 Keeping Score Between A.F.C. and N.F.C., Parity Is Only a Six-Letter Word By AARON SCHATZ The Chicago Bears won one more game than the Indianapolis Colts in the 2006 regular season. The Bears outscored their opponents by 172 points, and the Colts outscored theirs by 67. The Bears won the National Football Conference championship in a blowout, while the Colts needed a late comeback to beat New England in the American Football Conference title game. Yet most football fans believe the Colts will win the Super Bowl, thanks to the A.F.C.’s well-deserved reputation as the N.F.L.’s superior conference. This season, A.F.C. teams went 40-24 during interconference play. The Bears (13-3) were no exception; until the final week of the season, their only losses had come against A.F.C. opponents. The four N.F.C. division champions went a combined 6-10 against the A.F.C., and Dallas was the only N.F.C. team with a winning interconference record. This imbalance of power is not limited to 2006. Except for 2000, when the series was tied at 30-30, the A.F.C. has had a winning record against the N.F.C. every season since 1996. A.F.C. teams have also won seven of the past nine Super Bowls, beginning with Denver’s upset of Green Bay in Super Bowl XXXII. Most observers believe the dominance of one conference over the other is cyclical. After Green Bay won the first two Super Bowls, the American Football League/A.F.C. won 11 of the next 13. During the ’80s, the balance of power shifted, and the N.F.C. won 13 straight Super Bowls, from 1985 through 1997. Look past the Super Bowl, however, and the shift of power from one conference to the other is not quite so cyclical. When the N.F.C. was winning those 13 straight titles, its dominance was generally limited to a few successful franchises, not the conference as a whole. The N.F.C. had the better interconference record in only 6 of those 13 seasons. Buffalo’s streak of four Super Bowl losses from 1991 through 1994 is often brought up as evidence of the N.F.C.’s superiority at that time. The Bills won most of their A.F.C. playoff games by large margins, only to lose to the N.F.C.’s best season after season. But 1991 and 1992 were the only two seasons since 1972 when the N.F.C. won at least 55 percent of the interconference games. By comparison, the A.F.C. has won more than 60 percent of interconference games twice in the past three seasons. The highest point of A.F.C. dominance came between 1974 and 1980. The A.F.C. won at least 57 percent of the interconference games those seasons, peaking in 1979 when the A.F.C. was 36-16 against football’s senior circuit. An 8-8 team stumbling into the N.F.C. playoffs, like this season’s Giants, is nothing new. Nine teams have made the playoffs despite only eight wins in a 16-game season, and seven were N.F.C. squads. It is one thing to show that the A.F.C. has been the better conference, of course, and another to explain why. Common theories about the A.F.C.’s current superiority may not apply to its overall dominance since 1972. Many experts believe today’s A.F.C. simply has better talent, especially at one position. “I think you can tie the success or failure to who has the best quarterbacks,” said Gil Brandt, the longtime Dallas personnel director who now works as an analyst for the NFL Network. “That doesn’t always hold true, but this year, Tom Brady is not going to the Pro Bowl, while for the N.F.C., Tony Romo is going to the Pro Bowl,” Brandt said. “Not taking anything away from Tony Romo, but which one would you rather have as your quarterback?” The quarterback theory is commonly tied to the N.F.C.’s 13-year Super Bowl streak, when Troy Aikman, Joe Montana and Steve Young were all championship quarterbacks. It would also explain why the Super Bowl streak was not matched by similar N.F.C. dominance in interconference play. If one conference has most of the star quarterbacks, it does not necessarily mean that it has the best quarterbacks from top to bottom. But the quarterback theory does not quite stand up. Many of those A.F.C. championship teams were also led by great quarterbacks: Dan Marino, John Elway and Jim Kelly. Hall of Fame quarterbacks started for 8 of the 13 champions during that N.F.C. streak — but also for 8 of the 13 A.F.C. teams that lost to them. Another explanation for the A.F.C.’s recent dominance may be coaching continuity. Five A.F.C. coaches in 2006 had been with their teams for more than five seasons, including three who were with the same team for 12 seasons or more: Mike Shanahan of Denver, Jeff Fisher of Tennessee and Bill Cowher of Pittsburgh (who resigned after the end of this season). Contrast that with the N.F.C., where only two coaches were with the same team for more than five seasons: Andy Reid of Philadelphia and Mike Holmgren of Seattle, eight seasons each. On average, the 16 A.F.C. coaches last season were with their teams two years longer than their N.F.C. counterparts. The N.F.C. did not have a similar advantage during its Super Bowl streak, however. From 1984 to 1996, the average A.F.C. coach had roughly one season more experience than those in the N.F.C. When the A.F.C. was dominant in the ’70s, the N.F.C. coaches actually had a slight lead in average experience. No matter which N.F.C. team won last week, the A.F.C. was bound to be the favorite in Super Bowl XLI. And even if the Bears win next Sunday, the N.F.C. will probably be the inferior conference next season — as it will be in the season after that, and as it has been for most of the past 35 years. E-mail: keepingscore@nytimes.com
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Barton Silverman/The New York Times Prince, left, who will perform at halftime of the Super Bowl on Sunday, gave a 15-minute preview of his set during a news conference Thursday February 2, 2007 The Game, the Artist, the Halftime Show: It’s Prince MIAMI, Feb. 1 — Prince, the reclusive pop icon, stepped to the microphone at the Miami Convention Center on Thursday afternoon, apologized in advance for the aural overload he was about to cause, and said, “Contrary to rumor, I’d like to take a few questions right now.” Well, it was a news conference. But at the first shout of a question, Prince turned his back to the audience of a few hundred reporters and burst into a hard-driving guitar riff that resonated like the first rumblings of thunder in an electrical storm. Prince and his band squeezed more juice out of their 15-minute preview of their Super Bowl XLI halftime show than could be strained from a grove of Florida orange trees. He wore a suit, a shirt unbuttoned to his navel and boots, all of which were as orange as the “C” on the Chicago Bears’ helmets. In his dress and in his performance, Prince was as vibrant as Billy Joel, the musician who preceded him on the stage, was dreary. Clad in khaki and black, Joel, who will sing the national anthem, answered questions as if he were channeling New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick. “I’m just here to do a press conference,” Joel said. “I’m not here to entertain anybody.” That job fell to Prince, who was more than up to the task. He sang “Johnny B. Goode,” “Anotherloverholenyohead” and “Get on the Boat.” If his three-song set was any indication, the Bears and the Indianapolis Colts will be hard pressed to outperform him Sunday at Dolphin Stadium. The 48-year-old Prince has an avid following among the Bears. Asked about him on Thursday, cornerback Charles Tillman smiled and cooed the refrain from “Kiss,” which Prince recorded in 1986 when Tillman was 5 years old. “He’s very unique and I respect him because he doesn’t care what anybody else says,” Tillman said. “He has his own style, his own uniqueness about himself.” On Wednesday, as the Bears were returning from practice, the radio on the team bus was tuned to a station that was running a Prince marathon. Led by Tillman, cornerback Nathan Vasher and safety Chris Harris, the Bears on the bus sang along to such classics as “1999″ and “Purple Rain.” “It was very, very funny,” Harris said. “A bunch of high-pitched voices on a football bus. If anybody else had been on there, they would have thought we were crazy.” Harris said his sisters seem more excited about getting to see Prince perform at the Super Bowl than he is. “I wish I could see the performance,” he said. “It will be good.” The players, of course, will not be able to watch Prince’s show Sunday. They will be in their locker rooms, plotting their second-half strategies. “We’re not here to see the halftime show, and I understand and I know why,” Tillman said. “But, you know, who wouldn’t like to see Prince?”
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Charlie Neibergall/Associated Press Bears Coach Lovie Smith, named for a great aunt named Lavana, spent his childhood summers hauling watermelons and bales of hay. January 28, 2007 Super Bowl XLI From the Flats to the Pinnacle, Smith Savoring the Ride By JOHN BRANCH BIG SANDY, Tex., Jan. 23 — Lovie Smith was a million miles from here when he realized just how far he had come. Smith had coached the Bears to a berth in the Super Bowl a couple of hours earlier Sunday, at Soldier Field in Chicago. Confetti had flown, cameras had flashed and tears had fallen. But it was not until Smith was insulated from the significance of the moment, surrounded by his wife, MaryAnne, and their three sons, that the events of his life had caught up and gang-tackled him. Driving toward home in the well-groomed Chicago suburbs, Smith reflected on how broad the distance was from there to here, his hometown in the hilly woods of East Texas. To him, the distance was not filled with hurdles. Only life. “You start reminiscing a lot about where you’ve come from,” Smith said Monday night, sitting in a leather chair in his office at Halas Hall, the Bears’ headquarters in Lake Forest, Ill. The next day, Lovie Smith Drive in Big Sandy (population 1,288) was silent. The three-bedroom house where Smith was reared burned down years ago, after the family had moved on. There is little left but pieces of a chain-link fence and concrete, a water heater split open like a clam and some charred wood. The thick tree that stood sentinel in the front yard now blends with the overgrown brush. The driveway is a narrow rut covered in bushes. What used to be called Church Street is a short, skinny lane lined by a swampy thicket. There are churches at both ends, but a street sign on only one. There is no evidence that anyone lives on Lovie Smith Drive anymore. It is in the heart of the Flats, a hollow on the poor side of the railroad tracks where the black children went to a tiny school until the late 1960s, when Smith was in the fourth grade. The white children went to a big school at the top of a hill, under the town’s water tower. Smith, named for a great aunt named Lavana, spent his childhood summers hauling watermelons and bales of hay. He was the third of Thurman and Mae Smith’s five children. His father, an alcoholic, supervised the laundry operation at a hospital. His mother worked as a hospital cook, then in a chair factory and at the Levi Strauss plant. She has diabetes and lost her sight years ago. “If I don’t make it,” Lovie Smith said in his office, “it’s going to be on me. It’s not going to be about color or where I came from, how much money we had growing up. It’s about what I wanted to do. There are no limits to what I can do. “My mother constantly preaching, my family constantly preaching: ‘You can do it, Lovie. You’re special. Whatever you want to accomplish, you can.’ When you hear that over and over, there’s no hurdle that’s going to make you say, ‘Hey, I can’t do that.’ ” When town officials approached Smith about naming a street after him, they offered more regal drives. “But I didn’t live on those streets,” Smith said. He and MaryAnne attended the dedication last June. In the one-block downtown, a window was covered with painted messages: Big Sandy ?’s Lovie and Lovie is #1. Inside the door to Texas Checks, an employee-screening business, the owner, Susan Hubbard, helped plan a Super Bowl pep rally and party. A street will be blocked off, although it probably does not need to be. The Big Sandy School band and cheerleaders will perform. A church is setting up a big-screen television for the game. There will be a potluck supper, with deer chili as the main course. “The only thing I can think of that was bigger than this was when the oil truck flipped over and nearly burned the town down,” said Hubbard, Big Sandy class of 1972, four years ahead of Smith. The accident was about 30 years ago. “It burned the drugstore down, and nearly the bank, too.” That corner now has a stoplight, the only one in town. A blond-brick City Hall was built where the drugstore used to be. The Interstate System bypassed Big Sandy decades ago — I-20, linking Dallas and Shreveport, La., runs about 10 miles south — and left the town in perpetual sleepiness, a middle-class bedroom community. Socially, the town revolves around high school football. Smith, a tight end and middle linebacker, helped the Wildcats to three consecutive state championships from 1973 to 1975. Big Sandy football has not won a state title since. “I’m so happy to see him make it,” said Smith’s former teammate Bobby Mitchell, now a technician at a collision-repair shop in nearby Longview. He wore coveralls and a high-watt smile. “It’s the biggest thing to happen in Big Sandy since the championships.” Others consider Smith’s success a sort of karmic bookend to the death of David Overstreet in 1984. He played with Smith in Big Sandy, starred as a running back at Oklahoma and was a first-round draft choice of the Miami Dolphins. At 25, he was killed in a car accident outside town. A glass case in the main hallway of the sprawling Big Sandy School honors him. That hallway is lined with photographs of each graduating class. There are 34 members of the class of 1976. Smith is the one with a white suit and a two-inch Afro. Children unfamiliar with Smith are learning about him now. In a character-development class, students recently wrote a three-page paper on Smith. Last Tuesday, a boy told the teacher’s assistant Wanda Harper that he was going to quit basketball. “I told him, ‘What if Lovie had quit?’ ” she said. Smith’s success — he and the Colts‘ Tony Dungy are the first black coaches in the Super Bowl — fosters a colorblind mix of pride and reverence. Smith was always well liked, a modest and hard-working child from a nice family. His sisters were cheerleaders and played in the school band. “All of our little boys want to be football players or coach,” said Patti Rozell, a schoolmate of Smith’s who teaches elementary school students. “And Lovie has taken it to the top. And he’s still Lovie.” Jim Norman played tackle in the 1970s, and his father was the coach. Now a machinist, Jim is a bear of a man whose jolly eyes grew glassy as he recalled his teammates and how well they got along, regardless of skin color. “What we accomplished in the ’70s, as far as bringing the town together, Lovie is doing all over again,” said Norman, who is white. Smith, 48, tries to get to Big Sandy twice a year. His mother lives in nearby Tyler. In 1983, when Smith took a job coaching linebackers at Tulsa, his alma mater, she had a dream that he would coach the Dallas Cowboys. ["That was the only team I knew then," she said during a telephone interview Thursday.] In 2004, Smith was on the side of the road in St. Louis, waiting for a tow truck. His son had wrecked a car. The Bears called his cellphone and offered him a job as the coach. Smith’s first call was to his mother. “She has a direct line to God,” Smith said with sincerity. Thurman Smith died about 10 years ago. He had been sober for years, but alcohol never seemed to strain his relationship with Lovie. “When everybody else was mad at him, Lovie was still with him,” Mae Smith said. She punctuated her sentences with a laugh. “He was crazy about his father.” Smith does not curse — Jiminy Christmas is as blue as his language gets — because he never heard his father do so. “Everything I ever did was perfect,” Smith said. “I may do a few things wrong, but my dad only talked about the things I did right. The glass was always half-full. Always positive — you can do it, you can do it, you can do it. After I got older, I’d say, ‘Dad, I’m thinking about changing jobs.’ The advice my dad always gave me, ‘Lovie Lee, do what you know is right.’ “ It is the core philosophy Smith uses in coaching, and it has led him to Super Bowl XLI on Feb. 4. All of that rushed through him Sunday night — but not when the confetti fell, or cameras flashed, or the tears fell. In the car sat his middle son, Matthew. When he was 2, and Lovie Smith was coaching at Arizona State, Matthew slipped through a back door of their house. Smith did not realize that he had left the door open until he saw Matthew’s limp body facedown in the swimming pool. MaryAnne Smith performed CPR. Lovie Smith called 911 and prayed. Now Matthew is a sophomore at Northwestern, “the brains of the family,” Lovie Smith said. “There are days when it just hits me,” he said. “You go through it again. Some days, Matthew, I just look at him. I just look at him and say: ‘Hey, man, I’m sorry. I let you down.’ “ On Sunday night, the car headed north, into the Chicago suburbs. A big city reveled around them. A tiny town celebrated a million miles south. “Most of the time when major things happen, we think back to that, and just different times when things can easily go one way or the other,” Smith said. “That’s why we live in the moment, knowing that God has a plan for our lives. We’re just going along for the ride. Once you get to that point in your life, it’s easier. You’re calmer. You know that everything eventually is going to be O.K.”
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Steve C. Mitchell/European Pressphoto Agency In 1996, as Tampa Bay’s coach, Tony Dungy gave Lovie Smith his first job in the N.F.L., as an assistant in charge of the Buccaneers’ linebackers. January 28, 2007 Super Bowl XLI A Gentle Touch Develops Into a Winning One Correction Appended INDIANAPOLIS, Jan. 26 — Engulfed by grief thicker than any fog, Colts Coach Tony Dungy did not lose sight of his purpose. Within hours of learning of the suicide of his 18-year-old son, James, in December 2005, Dungy and his wife, Lauren, consented to have their son’s eyes harvested for donation in Tampa, Fla. The cornea-transplant recipients — a man in his 50s whose body had rejected a previous transplant and a man in his 30s who had a thinning cornea — are unaware of their donor’s identity, and their names remain unknown to the Dungys. Anonymity is the hallmark of the Lions Eye Institute for Transplant and Research in Tampa, Fla., a nonprofit organization that coordinated the transplants. Jason Woody, the institute’s executive director and chief executive, said both recipients live in the Tampa area, which is roughly a four-hour drive from Dolphin Stadium near Miami, where Dungy and the Indianapolis Colts will meet the Chicago Bears on Feb. 4 in Super Bowl XLI. “I’m looking at the recipients’ reports right now, and they both are doing fine,” Woody said in a telephone interview. He added: “If they end up watching the game, guess what. They’re watching the individual who made the difference in their lives.” That is what Dungy does. Quietly, courteously, he makes a difference. In 1996, after securing his first N.F.L. head-coaching job, with Tampa Bay, Dungy gave Lovie Smith his first job in the N.F.L., as an assistant in charge of the Buccaneers’ linebackers. A decade later, Dungy, 51, and the Bears’ Smith, 48, are the first African-American head coaches in the Super Bowl. Three other assistants from Dungy’s Tampa Bay staff are head coaches: Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh, Rod Marinelli in Detroit and Herman Edwards in Kansas City. With little fanfare, Dungy has joined the pantheon of top coaches. The spotlight that he never sought is now his shadow. He may not invite the attention, but it is hard to imagine Dungy not being able to handle it considering what he has been through. His grace in the face of his son’s death earned him legions of admirers. He continues to receive bags of mail at the Colts’ training facility from strangers who relate to his loss. The correspondence means a lot to Dungy. And yet nobody wants to be defined by a loss, especially one as personal as the death of a child. Dungy’s discomfort this week in addressing off-the-field questions was evident in his carefully worded answers and, while delivering them, the way he crossed and uncrossed his arms in front of him. “I think God gives you tests to see if you’re going to stay true to what you believe and stay faithful,” Dungy said, “and for me that’s what it was. I think it was really a test.” He was asked when he knew he would be all right after James’s death. “I still don’t know that I’m going to be O.K.,” Dungy replied. “At some point, it was just time to move forward.” A man who puts his faith ahead of football, Dungy is as sincere and unpretentious as a handwritten thank-you note. In the national sports conversation, he stands out like a pause. “He’s very prayerful and meditative in the way he carries himself,” the Colts’ owner, Jim Irsay, said, adding: “He doesn’t get overwhelmed with micromanaging. He doesn’t get overwhelmed with things he can’t control.” Dungy learned early that he could control only so much. He chose the University of Minnesota because it was one of the few universities that would allow for the possibility of a black quarterback. After going undrafted, Dungy signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers and was converted into a defensive player. He won a ring as a backup safety with the Steelers in Super Bowl XIII. Once he turned his energies to coaching, he toiled as an assistant in the N.F.L. for 15 seasons before getting his big break. He guided the Buccaneers to four postseason appearances in six seasons, but was fired in January 2002 after they lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in the playoffs for the second consecutive season. The Colts were in the market for a head coach to replace the elder Jim Mora in the wake of a 6-10 season. Irsay liked Dungy’s defensive background and looked at his low-key personality as a huge plus. He saw Dungy as the perfect counterbalance to quarterback Peyton Manning, who can be excitable to the point of implosion. “It’s about matching energies when you choose a head coach,” Irsay said. He added, “I felt Tony’s energy would have a calming effect on Peyton, and, no question, I think it has.” The first time Irsay and Dungy spoke, their conversation lasted two hours. Dungy recalled that Irsay had said, “I don’t care what it costs; you’re going to be the coach of this team.” To which Dungy replied, “It’s not going to be about money.” Within days the Colts and Dungy agreed to a five-year, $13 million deal. The Colts finished 10-6 in 2002 and were shut out in the first round of the playoffs against the Jets. Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay team that had been groomed by Dungy won the Super Bowl under its new coach, Jon Gruden. Ronde Barber, a defensive back with the Buccaneers since 1997, said in a telephone interview: “Some people will say Tony didn’t have that ‘it’ thing to get us over the top. I don’t think any of us bought into that.” Barber added: “I believe it’s not because he left that we won the championship the next year. It just happened that that’s when we hit our stride.” Dungy needed five seasons to mold the Colts into American Football Conference champions. To be sure, visions of the Super Bowl danced through their heads in 2005 when they started 13-0. But four days after their first defeat, at home against San Diego, James Dungy was found dead in his apartment in Tampa. The Colts traveled to Seattle without Dungy, their spiritual leader, and lost, 28-13. Three days later, the players listened to Dungy during a church service in Tampa. That day he addressed, not for the first or last time, the importance of expressing love for your children without reservation or delay. “When you give the eulogy at your son’s funeral,” Colts defensive end Dwight Freeney said, “and you stand up there and still try to teach people life lessons when your heart is breaking, that’s the sign of an amazing man.” A year later, Dungy addressed an audience under dramatically different circumstances. On Sunday at the RCA Dome, after the Colts’ 38-34 come-from-behind victory against the New England Patriots, Dungy hugged his wife and thanked his players, the organization and the fans as if his fingerprints weren’t all over the championship trophy in his hands. “Just to see him out there, with all the things that man has gone through in the last year, it was really special,” said Rocky Boiman, a fifth-year linebacker who is in his first season with the Colts. He added, “That was one of the best things I got out of it, being able to contribute to a win for a guy like that.” In a private moment in the locker room after the trophy presentation, Irsay said he had told Dungy that James and some deceased members of the Irsay clan were looking down on them; Dungy said he felt the same way. Dungy is a civilized man in a coarse profession. He doesn’t berate his players or stalk the sideline. He doesn’t spew profanity or chew tobacco. In his own understated way, Dungy uses football to show his players how to manage the game of life. “He has stuck to his cause and taught his ethics the way he feels and it’s gotten him to the Super Bowl,” Colts tight end Dallas Clark said. “It’s great. He hasn’t had to change. He’s done it his way.” It would be just like Dungy to leave Dolphin Stadium after the Super Bowl and keep on walking. There was speculation that he would retire at the end of last season to spend more time with Lauren and their four surviving children. He was noncommittal this week when asked if he was considering calling it quits. “It’s something I haven’t thought a whole lot about,” Dungy said. He added, “We’ll see what happens.” Dungy has the most victories of any N.F.L. coach since 1999, with a record of 90-38, but the bottom line is not what defines him. His life has been about opening people’s eyes so they may see talent and not skin color; spirituality and not celebrity; integrity and not self-interest. He has helped a lot of people see more clearly. Correction: January 31, 2007 A sports article on Sunday about Indianapolis Colts Coach Tony Dungy gave the incorrect name in some copies of the city where one of his former assistants now coaches in the National Football League. Rod Marinelli is the head coach in Detroit, not Green Bay.
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| January 29, 2007 Drilling Down Blog Traffic Grows, and It’s Mostly Male By ALEX MINDLIN Over the last few years, as newspaper Web sites have started to maintain blogs, there have been plenty of setbacks. A Washington Post blog was shut down last January after commenters flooded it with vitriol, and the author of a Los Angeles Times blog was caught commenting on his own posts under a pseudonym. But there is no sign that newspapers are turning back: just last Wednesday, The Washington Post announced that it would be adding three new blogs. Numbers recently released by Nielsen/NetRatings, the Internet traffic measurement firm, suggest that such blogs are picking up readers. NetRatings said that traffic to newspaper blogs had more than tripled over the last year, reaching 3.8 million in December. (The total unique visitors to newspaper Web sites in December was 29.9 million.) Slightly more men than women read online newspapers, and that trend is more pronounced on newspaper blogs, 66 percent of whose readers are male. “News and information is generally a male-skewing appetite,” said Carolyn Creekmore, senior director of media analytics for NetRatings, “and blogs are really getting a lot of the most engaged consumers.” ALEX MINDLIN |
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| January 29, 2007 Google Halts ‘Miserable Failure’ Link to President Bush By NOAM COHEN It has been a bad month for anti-Bush snarkiness. First, the anodyne impressionist Rich Little was selected to address the White House correspondents’ dinner as a follow-up to the scathing routine last year by Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert. Now a favored online tactic to mock the president — altering the Google search engine so the words “miserable failure” lead to President Bush’s home page at the White House — has been neutralized. Google announced on Thursday on its official blog that “by improving our analysis of the link structure of the Web” such mischief would instead “typically return commentary, discussions, and articles” about the tactic itself. Indeed, a search on Saturday of “miserable failure” on Google leads to a now-outdated BBC News article from 2003 about the “miserable failure” search, rather than the previous first result, President Bush’s portal at whitehouse.gov/president. Such gamesmanship has been termed “Google bombing,” and is not unique to President Bush, or even politics. John F. Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate in 2004, was linked to the search “waffles,” while other Google bombs have been elaborate jokes or personal vendettas. Writing on the Google blog, Matt Cutts, the head of the Google’s Webspam team, said that Google bombs had not “been a very high priority for us.” But he added: “Over time, we’ve seen more people assume that they are Google’s opinion, or that Google has hand-coded the results for these Google-bombed queries. That’s not true, and it seemed like it was worth trying to correct that misperception.” Mr. Cutts was not available on Friday to expand on his blog, a Google spokeswoman said. A White House spokesman had no comment on the issue. Despite the changes by Google, some other Google bombs are still operative. A search for “French military victories” still produces a first result that says, “Your search — French military victories — did not match any documents.” Click there and your find a mockup of a Google search page asking the question “Did you mean: French military defeats.” The organizer of the “miserable failure” Google bomb was George Johnston, a political activist and software programmer in Bellevue, Wash. What began as a prank become something more after Hurricane Katrina, Mr. Johnston said. In September 2005, he said he noticed a renewed interest in the “miserable failure” prank; he believes “people were in shock over New Orleans” and began typing “failure” into their searches. Mr. Johnston said he considered Google’s decision politically motivated, even if was not done by hand, and noted that the company had agreed to censor results in China. “I believe them that they tweaked the algorithm, but it is such weasel words,” he said. “The fact that some Google bombs still work makes me think they have a blacklist essentially of ways of tweaking results.” He hasn’t given up the fight, he said, and remains unhappy with Google’s tweak. “They say they fixed it. I think they broke it,” he said. NOAM COHEN
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Wikipedia entries are being cited by judges in their legal rulings January 29, 2007 Courts Turn to Wikipedia, but Selectively By NOAM COHEN When a court-appointed special master last year rejected the claim of an Alabama couple that their daughter had suffered seizures after a vaccination, she explained her decision in part by referring to material from articles in Wikipedia, the collaborative online encyclopedia. The reaction from the court above her, the United States Court of Federal Claims, was direct: the materials “culled from the Internet do not — at least on their face — meet” standards of reliability. The court reversed her decision. Oddly, to cite the “pervasive, and for our purposes, disturbing series of disclaimers” concerning the site’s accuracy, the same Court of Federal Claims relied on an article called “Researching With Wikipedia” found — where else? — on Wikipedia. (The family has reached a settlement, their lawyer said.) A simple search of published court decisions shows that Wikipedia is frequently cited by judges around the country, involving serious issues and the bizarre — such as a 2005 tax case before the Tennessee Court of Appeals concerning the definition of “beverage” that involved hundreds of thousands of dollars, and, just this week, a case in Federal District Court in Florida that involved the term “booty music” as played during a wet T-shirt contest. More than 100 judicial rulings have relied on Wikipedia, beginning in 2004, including 13 from circuit courts of appeal, one step below the Supreme Court. (The Supreme Court thus far has never cited Wikipedia.) “Wikipedia is a terrific resource,” said Judge Richard A. Posner of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, in Chicago. “Partly because it so convenient, it often has been updated recently and is very accurate.” But, he added: “It wouldn’t be right to use it in a critical issue. If the safety of a product is at issue, you wouldn’t look it up in Wikipedia.” Judge Posner recently cited a Wikipedia article on Andrew Golota, whom he called the “world’s most colorful boxer,” about a drug case involving the fighter’s former trainer, a tangent with no connection to the issues before his court. He did so despite his own experience with Wikipedia, which included an erroneous mention of Ann Coulter, a conservative lightning rod, as being a former clerk of his. “I have never met Ann Coulter,” he said, but added that he was heartened that the friend who spotted the error could fix it then and there. That friend was Cass R. Sunstein, currently a visiting professor at Harvard Law School. “I love Wikipedia, but I don’t think it is yet time to cite it in judicial decisions,” he said, adding that “it doesn’t have quality control” He said he feared that “if judges use Wikipedia you might introduce opportunistic editing” to create articles that could influence the outcome of cases. He added, however, that he could not fault a use like Judge Posner’s, which “seems too innocuous for a basis of criticism.” Many citations by judges, often in footnotes, are like Judge Posner’s, beside the main judicial point, appear intended to show how hip and contemporary the judge is, reflecting Professor Sunstein’s suspicion, “that law clerks are using Wikipedia a great deal.” The Supreme Court of Iowa cites Wikipedia to explain that “jungle juice” is “the name given to a mix of liquor that is usually served for the sole purpose of becoming intoxicated.” In the Florida case, the court noted that booty music has “a slightly higher dance tempo and occasional sexually explicit lyrical content.” As opposed to these tangential references, Wikipedia has also been used for more significant facts. Such cases include a Brooklyn surrogate court’s definition of the Jewish marriage ceremony and the Iowa Court of Appeals’ declaration that French is the official language of the Republic of Guinea. In 2004, the Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, in Georgia, referred to a Wikipedia entry of the Department of Homeland Security‘s threat levels in a ruling concerning magnetometer searches of antiwar protesters. In a recent letter to The New York Law Journal, Kenneth H. Ryesky, a tax lawyer who teaches at Queens College and Yeshiva University, took exception to the practice, writing that “citation of an inherently unstable source such as Wikipedia can undermine the foundation not only of the judicial opinion in which Wikipedia is cited, but of the future briefs and judicial opinions which in turn use that judicial opinion as authority.” Recognizing that concern, Lawrence Lessig, a professor at Stanford Law School who frequently writes about technology, said that he favored a system that captures in time online sources like Wikipedia, so that a reader sees the same material that the writer saw. He said he used www.webcitation.org for the online citations in his amicus brief to the Supreme Court in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios v. Grokster Ltd., which “makes the particular reference a stable reference, and something someone can evaluate.” Wikipedia is increasingly becoming the default reference for the curious. According to comScore Media Metrix, there were more than 38 million unique visitors to Wikipedia sites in December in the United States, making it the 13th most popular destination. Stephen Gillers, a professor at New York University Law School, saw this as crucial: “The most critical fact is public acceptance, including the litigants,” he said. “A judge should not use Wikipedia when the public is not prepared to accept it as authority.” For now, Professor Gillers said, Wikipedia is best used for “soft facts” that are not central to the reasoning of a decision. All of which leads to the question, if a fact isn’t central to a judge’s ruling, why include it? “Because you want your opinion to be readable,” said Professor Gillers. “You want to apply context. Judges will try to set the stage. There are background facts. You don’t have to include them. They are not determinitive. But they help the reader appreciate the context.” He added, “The higher the court the more you want to do it. Why do judges cite Shakespeare or Kafka?”
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Mike Mergen for The New York Times Aviva Halperin, foreground, Elana Hoffman, center, and Molly Ainsman, housemates at the University of Pennsylvania  Illustration by The New York Times At Last, Television Ratings Go to College By LOUISE STORY For decades, Nielsen Media Research has affixed the same value to every college student watching television while away at school: zero. As a result, industry executives have complained for years that shows appealing to a younger audience have been underrated. But, starting today, college students count. Shows like “America’s Next Top Model” and “Family Guy” are expected to see their ratings surge this week as Nielsen Media Research, a unit of the Nielsen Company, includes the viewing of students living away from home in its count for the first time. In the TV world, a boost in Nielsen ratings often means a boost in advertiser dollars, so the adjusted ratings are good news for networks with high college viewership, like ESPN, Fox and CW. Adult Swim, a block of adult programming on the Cartoon Network that expects its 18- to 24-year-old audience to jump by 35 percent with the new ratings, is so excited about the change that it ran an ad telling viewers about it in mid-October. “It’s going to validate what advertisers have always assumed, which is that college students are watching our programming,” said Jeff Lucas, a senior vice president at Comedy Central. Mr. Lucas said that the network’s own research shows that “South Park,” “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,” and “The Colbert Report” have a large college audience. It’s too early to know how much more advertisers will pay for shows with larger audiences because of the college ratings. Network executives, of course, said they expect to be paid for the higher ratings. If advertisers decide to spend more on shows that demonstrate high college viewership, TV networks may decide to dedicate more of their schedule programming to college tastes. The college ratings are the first of two major changes in the way viewing habits are rated. In May, Nielsen will start releasing figures on the number of people who actually watch commercials, separating them from viewers who walk away or switch channels when the ads come on. The potential impact of ad ratings on network revenue has not been calculated. Nielsen’s move into colleges is its first step in an ambitious plan to track TV viewing wherever and whenever it takes place. Long focused only on viewing of home television sets, Nielsen is building portable meters to track when people see TV in bars, restaurants, gyms, stores and other places outside the home. And, within two to three years, Nielsen plans to merge data from its online unit with its TV unit to calculate total viewing on all media. “The holy grail here is how to measure consumers as they go from TV to iPod to cellphone and back,” said Alan Wurtzel, president of research for NBC Universal. But the first step — measuring students’ viewing of television — comes with its own pitfalls. College students still watch a significant amount of television, spending three and a half hours a day tuned in on average, about an hour less than all people on average, according to Nielsen. But college students are not watching only TV. They are also among the most likely consumers to be browsing the Internet, watching streaming video, text messaging on their cellphones and playing video games — sometimes all at once. “College students have the television on in the background at the same time they undoubtedly have their computers on,” said Matt Britton, chief of brand development for Mr. Youth, a marketing firm based in New York. “They’re online — searching Facebook, doing research, shopping.” Their media habits make them targets of marketers, but just how attentive college students are while they are watching TV may give advertisers pause about how much they can trust their viewing. “The people meter just measures if the set is on and what they’re watching. But are they doing their homework, are they talking to friends; what else are they doing while the ad is showing?” said Brad Adgate, senior vice president of research at Horizon Media, an ad-buying agency. Still, Mr. Adgate said, advertisers may increase their payments to networks with large college audiences because of the perceived lifetime value of the college market. “If you can get them using your product at age 20, they could be using it for the next 60 years,” he said. Until now, the 18- to 24-year-olds counted by Nielsen were mainly those who did not attend college, attended part-time or still lived at home. During holiday and summer breaks, of course, many college students are home and were counted by Nielsen at those times on their parents’ set-top boxes. (There are 10,000 households with Nielsen boxes tracking their viewing, and from those households, Nielsen extrapolates national viewing estimates.) Over the last decade, several TV networks with shows aimed at young people grew increasingly frustrated that college students were not counted. About five years ago, Turner Broadcasting, which owns Cartoon Network and TBS, approached Nielsen about the issue. Over the next year, Nielsen held discussions with its clients who pay for the ratings — the networks and the advertising agencies. As with most tests of new offerings, Nielsen wanted a group of clients to pay the costs of evaluating the college market. By 2003, Turner, WB, CBS, MTV Networks, Fox and ESPN agreed to pay, and Nielsen started pilot tests. To add college students to the ratings, Nielsen contacted the roughly 450 families in its sample who had children in college. About 30 percent of those families agreed to let Nielsen put a meter in the college student’s dorm room or off-campus apartment. Some families did not agree simply because their child did not have a TV set at school. The change will affect the perception of viewing behavior, particularly for viewers 18 to 24. College students, for example, watch more television during the day, when young people not in college are more likely to be at work. The prime-time shows the college and noncollege population picks to watch are also not always the same. While “Grey’s Anatomy” and “The Simpsons” were popular in November on and off campus among 18- to 24-year-olds, shows like “Ugly Betty” and “America’s Next Top Model” were far more popular among college students than among other people that age. In fact, the No. 1 one show for college males in November was Comedy Central’s cartoon show, “Drawn Together.” According to a Nielsen analysis, “Drawn Together” would have had an average audience of about 435,000 18-to 24-year-olds in November. But, since college students were not counted, the Nielsen rating in that age group totaled only 272,000 people that month. Some TV networks are planning to spend more money marketing their shows on college campuses this spring since they will now see results in the ratings. Mr. Britton of Mr. Youth said two broadcast networks had contacted his firm about increased marketing on college campuses. MTV already operates a network, called mtvU, that is seen exclusively on college campuses. MTV has found advertisers like Ford interested in specifically focusing on college students on the 750 campuses where mtvU is seen in places like dormitories, fitness centers and dining halls. Now that Nielsen is tracking college viewing, more college-focused networks or programming could be developed and sold to advertisers.Amy Adams, a freshman at Muskingum College in Ohio, said she and her roommate watch movies together on ABC Family and TNT on weekends. Other people in her dorm watch far more TV than she does, Ms. Adams said. “As I walk down the halls, I always hear the TV on in someone’s bedroom,” she said. “Even in the mornings, too.” Aviva Halperin, a senior at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, said watching TV is a social event for her and her housemates. They watch “24″ every week, and they like to watch it when broadcast, using commercial breaks as a time to chat. “I know this sound really silly, but ’24′ feels real because it’s close to our own fears, and it feels more real when I watch it in real time,” Ms. Halperin said. “When I watch it on TiVo, it’s not as gripping.” The lack of TiVo and other digital video recorders is another advantage of student viewers. Young people are more likely to channel surf and fast-forward to skip commercials, Nielsen’s research shows. But perhaps because of their cost, DVRs are owned by only about 3 to 4 percent of college students, according to Student Monitor, a college student research firm based in Ridgewood, N.J. (About 13 percent of American households have DVRs.) On the downside for broadcasters, college students, like many people their age, also spend a fair share of their day playing video games — nearly two hours a day, not including online games, according to Nielsen. Still, college students last week said they thought it was about time they were counted by Nielsen. “It’s kind of silly that we weren’t,” said Beth Lovisa, a senior at the University of Pennsylvania. “It’s so not true that we don’t watch any.” |
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Fabrice Coffrini/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Nicholas Negroponte of M.I.T. shows off his $100 laptop. At Davos, the Squabble Resumes on How to Wire the Third World DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 28 — Here in the Swiss mountains at the World Economic Forum, the annual conclave of world leaders, concerns over a growing digital divide this year have taken a back seat to the challenge of climate change. Being out of the limelight, however, has not dimmed passions over what the best way is to deploy computers in the developing world. The controversy boiled over on Saturday at a breakfast meeting here where Craig R. Barrett, the chairman of Intel, squared off with Nicholas P. Negroponte, the former director of the M.I.T. Media Laboratory, whose nonprofit organization One Laptop Per Child is trying to develop a low-cost computer for the 1.2 billion children in the developing world. His prototype XO computer is designed to sell for $100 by the end of 2008. Intel has also contributed significant resources to the cause, including its own design for an inexpensive laptop computer, albeit one that is currently more expensive than Mr. Negroponte’s. On Saturday, Mr. Barrett, speaking about Intel’s efforts to train teachers to use personal computers, said that it is impressive to see what students “are able to accomplish with some help from a teacher,” adding, “You can literally change people’s lives.” But Mr. Negroponte suggested that Intel executives had engaged in a campaign to discourage world leaders from committing to purchasing his laptop systems. Mr. Negroponte also accused Intel of marketing its strategy to the developing world. “Craig and I sometimes argue, and he called our thing a ‘gadget,’ ” Mr. Negroponte said, referring to the XO. “I’m glad to see he’s got his own gadget now. Craig has to look at this as a market, and I look at this as a mission.” Other executives suggested the dispute was doing little to forge a common strategy to use computing to advance economic and educational development. “I do hear marketing going back and forth between you,” said Michael J. Long, a senior vice president at Arrow Electronics, an industry components supplier. “We ought to concentrate on how we can help. The question is what can I do when I leave this room.” The dispute between Mr. Negroponte and Mr. Barrett, who was formerly Intel’s chief executive and who is now chairman of the United Nations Global Alliance for Information and Communications Technologies and Development, covered both substance and philosophy at the annual digital divide meeting, which has been presented for three years by David Kirkpatrick, a columnist for Fortune magazine. Also present at the meeting was Michael S. Dell, chairman of Dell Inc., as well as top executives from Sun Microsystems and Advanced Micro Devices. Mr. Negroponte, who has quarreled publicly with both Microsoft and Intel executives in his quest to give simple portable machines to hundreds of millions of children, has long been known for his iconoclastic positions on economic development and education. Recently at the Digital, Life, Design conference in Munich, he introduced himself as the “good bin Laden” — a reference to the notion that his low-cost laptop is terrorizing some companies in the computer industry because of the possibility that it will transform markets for personal computers in the developing world. At the Davos session, Mr. Barrett sketched out a four-point program for getting involvement from emerging economies including affordable hardware, low-cost data communications, local curriculum and educators. In contrast, Mr. Negroponte offered a vision based on working through children. He attacked projects that instruct teachers and students how to use programs like Microsoft Office. “I think they should be making music and playing and communicating,” he said. “It has to be a seamless part of their lives.” Despite initially trying to persuade Intel to back his project, Mr. Negroponte has chosen to use a low-power processor from Advanced Micro in his laptop, which was being exhibited here at a hotel near the conference center where the annual World Economic Forum is held. It is still not certain whether Mr. Negroponte will succeed in his crusade. At the meeting, he said he now has eight handshake agreements with heads of state, including the recent additions of Rwanda and Uruguay. However, he has also said that he will not begin manufacturing the laptop in volume unless he has firm commitments from one country each in Asia, South America and Africa. Other countries that have expressed interest include Brazil, Argentina, Libya, Nigeria, Thailand, Ethiopia, Pakistan and Mexico. During an interview here, he said he now expects firm commitments by March and for manufacturing to begin in April. Despite his publicly combative stance with respect to Intel, Mr. Negroponte has apparently moved to patch up his disagreements with Microsoft, and a version of Windows may be available from governments that chose that software instead of the Linux that the One Laptop Per Child organization is developing. One Laptop officials said that the computer might cost $10 to $20 more to run Windows, because of hardware support. Separately at the meeting on Saturday, John Gage, the chief researcher at Sun Microsystems, proposed an industry plan to deploy advanced data networks in developing economies with contributions of engineering staff time of 1 percent. Mr. Gage, who headed the NetDay project for connecting American schools to the Internet, said that rural areas in the developing world would cost as little as a $1,000 a kilometer, compared with $1 million to deploy a network over the same distance in New York City.
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