A Farking great book

If you're anything like me, you've probably given up on the mainstream news nowadays. And who can blame you? Between the demands of a 24-hour news cycle, the blatant bias, the time-wasting celebutard updates, and the death of fact-checking, the only way to stay informed nowadays is to follow the blogs and the comedians for news, and relegate the mainstream media for sports scores and weather reports.

If that describes you to a T, then I recommend that you go pick up a copy of It's Not News, It's Fark: How Mass Media Tries to Pass Off Crap as News. Written by Drew Curtis of Fark.com, the book uses examples from Fark's daily aggregation of news to demonstrate just how mainstream news outlets are passing off nonsense as "news" on a daily -- if not hourly -- basis.

What makes the book truly recommendation-worthy is that it's not just a quick cash-in collection of news and comments from Fark.com, as I had originally expected. Instead, Curtis provides insightful analysis of how the mainstream media peddles its time-wasting fark, with detailed explanations of the different methods and patterns used. From sensationalist scare-mongering and disguised product placements to "fair and balanced" nutjobs and time-wasting lists, it's all here, stripped naked and thoroughly vivisected for your study.

This is all served with heaping spoonfuls of no-holds-barred snark, both from Curtis himself and the Fark commentators; you'll laugh out loud on every page -- repeatedly -- at the razor-sharp wit delivered with pinpoint-accurate aim. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll end up a better-educated viewer as a result.

While the networks won't stop peddling their nonsense any time soon, It's Not News, It's Fark will give you the knowledge you need to spot the dreck -- and get some amusement as you laugh at their daily parade of fark.