Saturday, March 29, 2008

Sarah Marshall brings down the Times

Damn you, LA Times. The Sarah Marshall ads have infected your story like a virus, and even you don't know what to do. Quote the ads as they are, or insert the vacant comma? How about both? Oh, LA Times, you cut me to the quick.

They proclaimed, in black letters scrawled against a white background: "I'm So Over You, Sarah Marshall," "You Suck Sarah Marshall," "My Mother Always Hated You, Sarah Marshall," and "You Do Look Fat in Those Jeans, Sarah Marshall."


Why does "You Suck Sarah Marshall" get no added comma? Did the writer assume that Sarah Marshall and "you" are not the same person... and then decide to miscopy all the other ads? I'm not gonna bug the author, Alana Semuels, about it, nor am I gonna take to task the copy editor who mangled that paragraph. But seriously. What the hell?

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In summing up, I wish I had some kind of affirmative message to leave you with. I don't. Would you take two negative messages?
-- Woody Allen