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Showing posts from April, 2012

The Business April 25th 2012, "THREE YEAR BIRTHDAY!" Edition

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GO BUSINESS!  IT’S YOUR BIRTHDAY!  WE’RE GONNA PARTY!  LIKE IT’S THE BUSINESS’ BIRTHDAY! Hey Party People: While you were all busy filing your taxes at the last possible second, The Business, San Francisco’s longest running alternative comedy show and foam party, turned a distinguished THREE YEARS OLD on April 15th.  We’ve survived our terrible two’s (which were not terrible at all).  We’ve made it past the Sophomore Slump (which wasn’t very slumpy at all).  And as you know, three is a very lucky number that is very important to comedy.  So far this year has been the most fun and full collection of shows we’ve ever put on.  THE MAGIC IS WORKING ALREADY!  Please come out this Wednesday night and help celebrate with us and our party pals: Nato Green will be on hand and ready to party like it’s 2012.  Known as “The Fifth Businessman” (even though we now are six members strong, so technically he’d be “The Seventh Businessman”) Nato is back at The Biz to help prep for his upcoming FULL LENG

The thorny problem of media pluralism

The term pluralism is regularly used in critiques of media and in arguments for public intervention. It is employed so loosely, however, that it allows varied interpretations to be attached and this makes it highly challenging to turn general support for the concept into specific policy. Much of the lack of clarity is the consequence of indefiniteness of the term and because it is used as a proxy for more involved concepts. The term is derived from “plural”, an indistinct quantitative concept indicating the existence of more than a single thing and plurality itself merely indicates a state of being numerous. This alone allows the term plurality to be used in various ways when applied to media. For some it means a plurality of media outlets. This is indicated by having multiple types of media and multiple units of each media and the existence of a range of print, broadcast, satellite, and Internet content providers can represent pluralism. For other observers pluralism means plurality i

The Business April 18th 2012, "The Maximilian Affair" Edition

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This week, The Business regulars are stuffing your enchiladas with baguettes as we welcome a bill of guests that would have Napoleon III plieing in his grave hard enough to knock off the sugar skulls. Clara Bijl is visiting us from The City of Angels, but was born in T he City of Light. PARIS, FRANCE. She was raised in the Alps, attended schools in Germany, Switzerland, and South Carolina; then one day, she moved to The City that Never Sleeps to begin a career in stand-up comedy. Performing all around the Big Apple and the rest of the country, she became a prolific writer of cutting, witty, internationally flavored comedy. She will truffle your butter. Frankie Quinones is a rising star to search for and catch. He is a founding member of For The People Comedy, is a collective of artists who share a common goal of producing colorful events fueled by positivity and laughter. Always maintaining a diverse lineup to represent San Francisco culture through high energy sh

Racing Fatalities: Not So Simple After All

In the wake of an unprecedented number of fatalities during Aqueduct's inner-track winter meeting, both NYRA and the New York State Racing and Wagering Board (NYSRWB) have been very busy indeed. At NYRA, racing was moved to the main track a week or two earlier than usual, the NYRA vets who conduct pre-race inspections at the barns have been busily scratching horses at a far greater rate than is normal, and the casino-inflated purses have been cut back for low-level claiming races. The result so far: smaller fields, lower handle, and only a small drop in the fatality rate. In the 11 racing days since the changes went into effect, two more horses died on the track. Meanwhile, the state racing board has also taken three steps seemingly reacting to the fatalities. The board appointed a four-member task force to investigate the deaths, changed the claiming rules to void an claim where a horse dies on the track, and made public its online database of equine fatalities and other "inc

The Business April 4th 2012, "Where Eagles Dare to Fly through the American Dream" Edition

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This week our guests help us soar like we’ve never soared before. Business regulars Sean Kean, Alex Koll, Chris Garcia, Caitlin Gill and Chris Thayer (Bucky Sinister can’t be with us, though he’s still a proud eagle dreamer) welcome two of the finest comedians to come out of America since the birth of our Nation (by caesarean). Matt Leib’s parents named him after the famous beef of Mattlieb, Japan, which they saw on a restaurant menu. He and former-teammate Shaquille O'Neal (actually, just him) led the Lakers to three consecutive NBA championships from 2000 to 2002. In 2003, he made headlines when he was accused of sexual assault at a ski resort in Eagle, Colorado by hotel employee Katelyn Faber. He admitted an adulterous sexual encounter with the accuser, but denies the sexual assault allegation. In September 2004, prosecutors dropped the case after Faber informed them that she was unwilling to testify. (I asked Matt if Shaq is as friendly in real life as he s