nick sylvester = maker upper

the method:

Criz recently designed a deck of playing cards that, instead of diamonds, spades, clubs, and hearts as suits, has A, B, C, D—all possible answer choices for a test.

"When the teacher comes up to me during a test and says, 'Hey, you're playing cards when you should be taking the test," I tell him to pick a card. Then he picks a card. A quarter of the time that card's got the right answer on it."

AP in non-possession of basic math skills shocker?

Lie defector: Voice blogger accused of telling the truth

(This story was removed from online editions of the Boston Phoenix.)

Lie defector: Voice blogger accused of telling the truth

By Carly Carioli and Matt Ashare

The Village Voice yesterday suspended serial fabriactor Nick "Riff Raff" Sylvester, after it was revealed that elements of a cover story he wrote this week were actually true.

Allegations of truth in Sylvester's writing sent shockwaves through the blogosphere, where Sylvester, a former Harvard Lampoon staffer and Pitchforkmedia.com editor, was widely loved and loathed for his humorous "fictional" interviews with semi-famous musicians on his blog, "Riff Central." On the basis of these so-called "fake" interviews — and perhaps on the basis of an article or two in the pages of the Boston Phoenix — Sylvester was hired last year as the Voice’s chief music blogger, reprising his schtick under the heading "Riff Raff."

"I wish to apologize to the Voice's readers," Sylvester wrote in a tersely-worded statement published Wednesday on the newspaper's web site. "I invented only about one-third of this week's cover story — which was about how girls won't date some dudes I know because they've already heard all the pickup lines we stole from Neil Strauss's book The Game, which we all bought because we thought it was actually about G-Unit. The other two-thirds of the story were the product of factual reporting. I deeply regret this information."

In what might have been the day's most shocking revelation, Sylvester also admitted that all his past "fake" interviews had in fact been real. It turns out that the Hair Police song "Not Raft But Cage" really is the sound of "two gorillas . . . shitting into their own microphone." The Ying Yang twins really did almost change the words to "Wait (The Whisper Song)" from "Ay bitch, wait’ll you see my dick" to "Hey, where’d my dick go?" And both of Ariel Pink’s parents write for Desperate Housewives.

Several Voice colleagues who wished to remain anonymous hinted that there have been newsroom complaints in recent months that Sylvester was "coasting" — going to actual concerts, conducting verifiable interviews, and writing diligent criticism instead of making funny shit up like he was supposed to.

Indeed, it appears that Sylvester's slide down the slippery slope toward the truth in print began even before he arrived at the Voice. It was assumed by Phoenix editors that the "cult folk singer Vashti Bunyan" was a figment of Sylvester’s fertile satiric imagination. But this week the Phoenix's research department turned up disturbing evidence that not only is Bunyan a real person, but she actually came out of retirement to record with Animal Collective.

Sylvester's editors at the Voice were dumbfounded. "We thought we had a really talented liar on our hands," said Voice music editor Chuck Eddy, "but it turns out the kid just lucked out and had a funny chat with the Game."

"We used to say to ourselves, 'You just can't make stuff like this up,' " said Pazz and Jop grand poobah Robert Christgau. "Turns out we were right."

DOWNLOAD: AC/DC's "Riff Raff" at Buddyhead.

http://thephoenix.com/article_ektid4211.aspx

http://www.villagevoice.com/blogs/riffraff/archives/2006/02/dem_franchize_b.php
the topper is the comments from folks like "I hate rap" egging him on.

Well, some gangstas don't. They just lean wit it, rock wit it. They might just set in one place, moving back and forth or moving side to side--or leaning and rocking.

It just seems like gangsters would want to dance. Like, you're a gangster--dance.

I hate that we live in the shadow of "Lean Back." It's OK to dance guys: it's supposed to indicate how well you fuck. Why are you afraid of showing that?

Select: What about the whole murder/gang/violence allegations surrounding you?

Snoop: That don't matter. Like if I pulled a gun on you right now, you'd be scared, right?

Select: Possibly.

Snoop: But if I dropped a rhyme right now, you'd love me?

Select: Perhaps.

Snoop: Do you wanna hear me bust a rhyme right now?

Select: No.

But really, that's the subtext that upsetting people.

now i get it.

that interview was bad.

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

1) Nick is now the effigy of the Village Voice for everyone who wants to take a shot at them. This has been picked up for national dailies via the AP.

2) In more Shattered Glass parallels, everyone wants to play the cool snoop role and dig up the huge conspiracy a la Caruso's AP story, which ends with:

In an August story about cheating on college campuses, Sylvester described interviewing a student who spent $500,000 to have a multiplication table tattooed over his entire body; a Harvard Medical School graduate who cheated with Morse code; a Boston College junior named Simeon Criz who cheated using a specially designed deck of playing cards; and a Manhattan doctor named Noam Feldstein who delivers "a hundred newborn babies each day."

Boston College said it had no record of a student named Simeon Criz. The board that licenses doctors in New York said it had no record of a physician named Noam Feldstein.

They're playing themselves in the movie of this in their minds.

xpost: But who WOULDN'T want to be Peter Sarsgaard in that movie?? Even if he does look exactly like Chloe Sevigny.

One your 1), Chris, yes, that's what happens when you create situations out of whole cloth and run them as fact. Your publication's reputation takes a big fucking hit. This is about much more than NS now.

Well Nick's brand reveals that you can get all the way to senior associate editor being pretty much full of shit at all times.

i mean, i wonder how journalists who did actual research for their stories feel about having their bylines held in the same esteem as the "obviously" fake stories. no matter how outre or unbelievable they seemed, those faux-satirical pieces have now cast a shadow on their reputations as well.

that said, my stomach did turn a bit when the e & p story showed up on drudge.

If you can't tell this is satire, you probably shouldn't be, like, reading.

-- Thomas Tallis

was this on a thread here, or what? i'd love to read it. i've got an interview coming up (first non-review work! pat on the back) with a guy who i may disagree with on a lot of issues surrounding his work. i'm sure all the hardened pros can give a cub a tip or two (to make a thread worth a good goddam for once)

Musicians, usually supplying entertainment instead of information, aren't held to a code of ethics and standards.

If they were then we would never have David Allen Coe.

MARISSA MARCHANT SIGHTED ON PROGRESSIVEHOUSE.COM!!!

Good: "You know, some people might consider a song like that a little mysoginistic"

Bad: "Quite frankly, I think you're a fucking woman-hater and an total douchenozzle, Mr. Mayer!"