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Archive for the 'Book Update' Category

The Oregon Commentator Goes Quarterly

March 5th, 2010 by D

A new issue of the Oregon Quarterly is out, most notably with an article by Managing Editor Ross West about the Oregon Commentator’s By the Barrel: 25 Years of the Oregon Commentator.

There’s some great quotes in there, and overall the article is pretty positive. You can check out the digital issue of the Oregon Quarterly here or pick it up in person at the Duckstore.

I should take this time to remind you that By the Barrel: 25 Years of the Oregon Commentator is still only $10.

Register-Guard covers Commentator, forgets to do any real journalism

January 27th, 2010 by D

I gave a review copy of By the Barrel: 25 Years of the Oregon Commentator to the Register-Guard when it came out a few months ago. I was mailing a package today when Ken, one of the postal clerks, told me that he’d read a blurb about the book in the paper recently. Needless to say, this was news to us here at the Commentator, where no one was contacted or interviewed for the story.

I’ll save you the “pithy” details, but writer Randi Bjornstad ends her review with a comment that, I should clarify, is right on target:

“[Scott] Camp’s pithy bottom line sort of sums it up. Depending on your personal philosophy, “By the Barrel” will put you somewhere on the continuum between outrage and hero worship.

In any case, glad you’re keeping your standards the way you like them, RG.

Maybe pick up the phone next time.

The OC gets a little press

December 24th, 2009 by D

The local paper in Salem, the Statesman Journal, has picked up a little blurb about the Oregon Commentator’s book By the Barrel: 25 Years of the Oregon Commentator.

It’s on their blog for now, and will probably appear in print in the next few weeks.

Journalistic Failure

December 5th, 2009 by Guy

The original publisher of the Oregon Commentator, Dane Claussen, once said that the OC’s purpose was to print the news that, “the other publications are unable to tell you because of inexperience, incompetence or the narrow-mindedness of their staffs.” That was some 26 years ago and it seems the OC still has purpose. Not to continue to toot our own horn or anything but, as any regular reader of the blog knows (because we’ve been pimping it hard), the OC has recently published a 25th anniversary book edited by the current publisher Timothy Dane Carbaugh.

Call me crazy, but it seems to me students creating, printing and selling a 300-page hard bound history book completely on their own volition about a student organization that’s survived significant adversity for more than 25 years would be a newsworthy event. Which is why I am glad to finally announce that, now just about a month after the book was released, the Daily Emerald has gotten around to publishing a story.

You’d think that this would be the sort of thing that would hit the front page of any daily student newspaper, but here at the University of Oregon you’d be wrong. Instead, the story was buried deep in the “scene” insert. I would link to the article, but it is suspiciously absent from their online content. Luckily for them, we’ve published the article here.

I wonder if ol’ Mr. Claussen would chock this up to simple narrow-mindedness or gross incompetence? I can’t say, but you take a look at this editorial cartoon about Sarah Palin’s book recently published by the Emerald and you will probably agree that it is a real chicken shit outfit over there.

Going ROUGE

Do not ridicule someone’s “intellectual substance” if you are going to screw up the spelling of “rogue”.

OC on TV Part 2

December 3rd, 2009 by D

Apparently you can embed this file. Oops.

New Button to Purchase “By the Barrel”

December 2nd, 2009 by D

bythebarrel

We just added a new button (look to your right) underneath the “Current Issue” button that you can click and be able to purchase a copy of our book By the Barrel: 25 Years of the Oregon Commentator.

Clicking the button takes you to another page that has a short description of the book as well as a picture of the cover and a list of chapters. At the beginning and end of the page there is a link that allows you to purchase a copy of the book with your credit/debit card or with PayPal.

You can also click this link and it will take you to the same place.

For just $10 you get a book that’s hardbound, has a dust jacket and has 24-pages of glossy color in the middle. Increase your money’s utility this holiday season by giving it to us.

Oregon Commentator to appear on KVAL morning news

November 29th, 2009 by D

KVAL

Guy Simmons and I will be appearing on the KVAL morning news, specifically an interview with anchor Shelley Kurtz on Monday, November 30th.

It will be my first time on TV since I appeared on Ramblin’ Rod when I was 7. I’m not sure about Simmons though; he’s from Alaska, I’m not sure if that kind of technology has made its way up there yet.

The story will be about the Oregon Commentator’s book, By the Barrel: 25 Years of the Oregon Commentator. Be sure to wake yourself up and watch us or DVR it or something.

By the Barrel now in the UO Bookstore

November 18th, 2009 by D

by the barrel on a tableby the barrel on the shelf

By the Barrel: 25 Years of the Oregon Commentator is now available for $10 in the UO Bookstore on 13th and Kincaid! The book is featured on a table as you walk up the stairs and also in the “University” section (go straight after the stairs, right corner).

The book sells for $10 in the store or you can order it online through the UO Bookstore’s website (www.uoduckstore.com) for $16 shipped to your door. (The book will be added to the site either today or tomorrow).

On a more personal level, the weight of the project hasn’t hit me until today after I saw it on the shelves with a UPC and everything. I’d like to thank everyone again for helping me out with special recognition to Guy, CJ, Owen, Scott, Bill, Fritz, Dane, Richard, Tom, Ossie, Tim, Olly, Drew, Dan, Ed, Mark, Bob, Chuck, Jon, Ian, Tyler, Ted and even the folks at the Emerald.

As always, you are also welcome to come down to room 319 in the EMU and purchase a copy from us as well.

Cheers.

David Frohnmayer Loves the Oregon Commentator

November 17th, 2009 by D

Since we’re on the subject of Das Frohn, I thought I’d share a little something we received from the former University of Oregon President after asking him to contribute to By the Barrel: 25 Years of the Oregon Commentator. The following appears on the back cover of the book and as a memo in the first few pages. As always, Frohn held up his end of the bargain in true polecat form.

Picking up a new issue of the Commentator is like acknowledging an unwelcome addictive behavior: It is done furtively, and with a self-loathing shudder. Once more, one can read the juvenile potty mouthed-rants of frustrated student politicos. You gape at the beery indifference to the law of defamation. You read character assassinations that overpower any minimal standard of editorial good taste.

The Commentator is useful every several years to test UO administrators’ resolve to defend the First Amendment in the face of outrageous journalistic excess. It has an alumni roster that shows surprising cases of postgraduate distinction (one wonders that they survived the celebrated lifestyle to graduate at all).

But for the most part, the Commentator should be handled like any other potential toxic: plucked up carefully between thumb and forefinger of a latex-gloved hand, and deposited gently with the recycling, where, by decomposing, it finally can begin to perform a minimally useful social function.

Dave “Das Frohn” Frohnmayer

University of Oregon President Emeritus and Professor of Law

Sent from my iPhone

As usual, please contact us at ocomment@uoregon.edu if you’d like to purchase a copy of the book for $10. We are now available to accept paypal as well as check or money order.

OC Book Excerpt: Are You Planning On Pounding Nails With That, Jesus, Or Are You Just Happy to See Me?

November 13th, 2009 by D

insurgent

Below is an exerpt from Tyler Graf’s portion of By the Barrel: 25 Years of the Oregon Commentator. On the edge about buying a copy? You could do worse for $10.

I was told to maintain wall-eyed concentration on the video camera in front of me while my interrogator spoke loudly in my ear. His deep voice, bluntly condescending, was another distracting touch to an already surreal scene. The hot studio lights. The crummy backdrop of Mt. Hood behind me. And now, that disembodied voice I’d heard so many times before on the TV, railing in my ear. “Okay, well,” he was speaking, “what if there were a publication at the University of Oregon that published cartoons of Martin Luther King Jr. on a cross with an erection?”

I furrowed my brow and gave some response about the ridiculousness of the question. The interviewer –big-daddy Bill O’Reilly himself—was not having it. He sounded as if he wanted to see these images and was disappointed I couldn’t supply him with them.

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Oregon Commentator Book Finally Here! Only $10

November 12th, 2009 by D

By the Barrel fresh

250 copies of “By the Barrel: 25 Years of the Oregon Commentator” fresh off the press.

Well, my friends the day has finally come. 12 boxes of our book, By the Barrel: 25 years of the Oregon Commentator arrived this morning and god they look sweet (and heavy!).

They’re hardback, gold foil embossed, with a dust jacket and 24 full glossy pages of color smack dab in the middle. The book is 300 pages of fun and for only $10 it’s an absolute steal (seriously, can you go to Borders and get a book like this for $10?)

Once again– $10… e-mail us, go to the bookstore or mosey on down to EMU room 319 if you actually want to see us face to face. Get an autograph, why not? (Not from me. I’ll make someone else sign it so it makes no sense)

If you’d like to send a check, please make it out to:

Oregon Commentator

1228 University of Oregon

EMU Suite 4

Eugene, Oregon 97401

Last time: You can purchase them from us by e-mailing us at ocomment@uoregon.edu or look for them in the UO Bookstore very soon!

Coming to Soon to Your Coffee Table…

November 4th, 2009 by D

by the barrel

I drove up to Salem today and got my first five advance copies of the Oregon Commentator book By the Barrel: 25 Years of the Oregon Commentator.

I have to say, it looks absolutely gorgeous. Josh McCormick did an amazing job with the cover, David Frohnmayer’s quote is still hilarious and the 24 glossy pages of color in the middle really showcase the artwork/debauchery we’ve been privy to during the last 25 years.

Look for it to be widely available through this website, our office and the University of Oregon Bookstore sometime next week when I receive the full batch.

The book will be priced at only $10 – Not bad seeing as how it’s hardbound, has a dust jacket and contains 25 years of the juciest campus goodies available.

Taking it to the CN conference this weekend to rub it in the noses of the Ivy League kids.

See you on the other side.

P.S. By the way, I have to send out my thanks to Mrs. Delgado’s 5th grade class at Robert Frost Elementary School in Silverton, Oregon. They were so excited about the book one kid wanted me to autograph his face. Little kids are funny.

Huh? What’s That? Oh, It’s Just My Package…

September 30th, 2009 by D

IMG00022

That’s right. The first working rough draft of the book is ready to go, all laid out.

Time to get antsy in your pantsies.

“By the Barrel” getting closer to hitting the shelves

September 29th, 2009 by D

Well it’s 12am and I’m still here at the EMU. Luckily for you, it’s all for your benefit. The book is coming along nicely, and looks to be coming in at a fat 340 pages. It will include a hardback binding, dust jacket and 12-page glossy insert of selected art from over the years.

The layout process is tedious to be sure, but I look to be finishing it up by the end of this week and sending it off to the printer.

Look for it on shelves in about 3 weeks.

Don’t quote me on that.

Always Good for a Few Laughs

September 2nd, 2009 by D

In case some of you don’t remember, in March of 2006 the Student Insurgent put out cartoons of Jesus with an erection. The publication was a direct response to the Commentator‘s own publication earlier that month of the famous Danish Muhammad cartoons.

Through our vast array of connections, our very own Tyler Graf ended up on the “O’Reilly Factor” defending the Insurgent‘s decision to publish the cartoons.

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