The Onion

By Tuesday afternoon, The Onion's ‘War For the White House Election Night Spectacular,' at Fontana's on the Lower East Side, was already sold out. Three hundred and fifty people were on the waiting list, and 800 others had been turned down.

As things got underway around 7 p.m. this evening, Onion features editor and party organizer Joe Garden joked that he was still hoping for a win for Bob Barr. He'd voted earlier in the day in Windsor Terrace, where it only took five minutes. (And we think we know who he really voted for.)

So, would it be harder to make jokes about an Obama administration than it has been about Bush?

"No way, that's bullshit.  read more »

As the Associated Press (here via CNN) reported yesterday, The Onion is going into comedic overdrive for Election Day:

To prepare for whatever happens Tuesday, the Onion has—like a real newspaper—organized coverage for either a McCain win or an Obama win. Both video and text stories have been completed for both eventualities.

But who—besides America's preeminent satirical newspaper—could have foreseen this? Voting Machines Elect One Of Their Own As President.

What, too soon?

Related: "The role of a satirist is to point out things that don't make sense, and if there are more things that don't make sense, there's a greater sense of urgency for the satire," Onion writer (and co-founder) Todd Hanson, quoted by Thomas Schaller in The end of the satirical industrial complex?, Salon, November 4, 2008.

Last week, a lot of people in the media were upset about Newsweek's un-retouched cover photograph of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

The cover showed an extreme close up of Governor Palin's face, illustrating a critical appraisal of the candidate by Newsweek editor Jon Meacham in the magazine.

It prompted Portfolio's Mixed Media blogger Jeff Bercovici to aks, "Did 'Newsweek' Have to Show Palin's 'stache?" Fox News devoted a segment to the cover on October 8, 2008, and CBS News' Bonnie Erbe had some thoughts about in her Washington Whispers column last week.

To make the controversy all the weirder, The Weekender is running a shocking cover that touts an "exclusive" view of the "First-Ever Unretouched Photos of the Weird Birthmark on Barack Obama's Face."  read more »

An important social and medical story was the centerpiece of a recent episode of Today Now!, which featured Cosmopolitan Magazine's "Lead Moan Zone Researcher" Dr. Rachel Steinberg announcing that after 120 years of research, the magazine had cataloged every possible way a woman can please her man. Dr. Steinberg claimed that she and her team had "accurately mapped every super-hot sex zone on the male body."

Of course, Today Now! only exists in the distorted world of The Onion News Network and as far as we know, Cosmo doesn't have a "Moan Zone" department, but the video is still worth checking out.

Warning: Some language may not be safe for work.

Is Wired better than The New York Times? According to this year's Webby Awards, when it comes to Best Copy/Writing, it sure is.  read more »

Washington-based thinktank the Brookings Institute released a report Tuesday about the damaging trend of "artistocratization" gaining steam in cities across the country.  read more »

On Friday night, the authors and graphic designers of the latest book from the deadpan satirists at The Onion walked the one whole block from their office to the Apple store in Soho, to promote Our Dumb World: The Onion’s Atlas of the Planet Earth (73rd Edition) -- now with "fewer clouds on maps," "better-veiled xenophobia," and "curvier latitude lines."

In a shameless act of cross-promotion between new and old media, a narrated slideshow was recorded so that iTunes users could download it as a podcast--which, of course, would promote the audiobook version of the atlas (available on iTunes for $15.95, natch).  read more »