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ulken.com · Eric Ulken’s adventures in online journalism

Say it ain’t so, Dave!

Humorist Dave Barry is apparently giving up his column, though he leaves open the possibility of returning to it in the future. "I want to stop before I join the horde of people who think I used to be funnier," he writes in his farewell column.

Dean sells out

Howard Dean, the media-darling-turned-loose-cannon poster child for grassroots civic involvement, is now shilling -- and yelling -- for Yahoo! Local (hear the radio ad). While it's not as lame as Bob Dole pitching Pfizer's little blue pill, I think it still hurts his image. If Dean had ...

Louisiana: A model of civic virtue?

(I swore I wouldn't talk politics on this blog, and this is the only time I'm going to break my self-imposed restriction! Really.) Irritating Republicans and Democrats alike, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has thrown his weight behind a proposal for an open primary system similar to that used in elections ...

Florida: More to come?

Battered by four hurricanes this year, Florida -- home to much of my extended family -- now gives new meaning to the term "disaster area." FEMA has already called this the most costly clean-up in its history. But consider that hurricane season runs through Nov. 30. That means we're ...

The RNC in NYC: Problems afoot?

A group announces its intention of "shutting down" New York City on Sept. 1, in the middle of the Republican National Convention. This particular plot seems a little far-fetched, but I have a feeling we can expect more unrest in New York than we've seen in Boston.

Bush vs. the umbrella

The latest hot photos making the rounds of the Net are not of Britney's new boy toy or Kobe Bryant's accuser. No, they are far more entertaining: Watch and be amused as our commander-in-chief struggles to tame an umbrella in a rainstorm. Thanks to the Yahoo! Buzz ...

End-of-semester frenzy

Well, I'm closing in fast on the end of my first semester at USC. I can tell you that it's been (and continues to be) a lot of work, but I'm really happy with how things are going here. I am looking forward, though, to a little more ...

Beware the dreaded moir

The reaction to President Bush's first prime-time press conference in more than a year? Muted. What people really felt strongly about? His tie. Yes, as E! Online reports, the president's dressers apparently failed to heed the advice I was given in my first broadcast news class: Avoid ...

Why I’ll never be famous

Watching Ben Affleck painfully mug his way through Jersey Girl (Kevin Smith fans, save your money), I figured out why I'll never be a celebrity: I don't want to work that hard. Seriously, you've got to work hard to be famous — because generally you have to earn the spotlight by ...

The non-entry

See? I knew this blogging thing would never work out. I'm just too busy (or lazy, or easily distracted) to post regularly. I would be asleep now, but they're filming this elaborate car chase sequence across the street (no kidding), and the squealing tires and gunfire sounds ...

January 25th 2011
Category: News No Comments

Back to the newsroom, off to Seattle

When I left the Los Angeles Times in the depths of the 2008 financial crisis -- a time when the newspaper industry's future looked particularly bleak -- I wondered wistfully if I was walking away from my last newspaper job. I'd worked for newspaper companies my entire career, and despite ...
January 23rd 2011
Category: Views One Comment

Libraries: An appreciation

If I couldn't be a journalist, I think I'd be a librarian. I decided this after spending a lot of time in libraries in the last couple of years and interacting with some very smart (and completely unstuffy) librarians. Maybe it's because, as it turns out, journalists and librarians have a ...
August 20th 2010
Category: Idea file 3 Comments

Flash in the pan?

I am an ex-Flash user. I uninstalled the Flash plug-in on my primary browser about a month ago, and I haven't looked back. Here's how it happened: Back when Apple announced that its forthcoming iPad would lack Flash support, it sounded to me like a boneheaded move. If a device built ...
March 21st 2010
Category: Events No Comments

Continue the discussion here

Thanks to all who turned out today at UBC Robson Square for my workshop on online tools and techniques for journalists. I'm creating this post as a way to continue the discussion online. If you have questions or comments on the topics we discussed, please share them in the comments, ...
March 6th 2010
Category: News No Comments

Checking in from Canada

In the four months since my last post — yes, I'm a terrible blogger — I've moved to Vancouver and started teaching at the University of British Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism. Among other things, I'm coordinating the school's Integrated Journalism course, required of all first-year students, and advising some ...