Blogger finds Brand X an entertaining read

In interest of fair play, I turn Huckleberries Online over to my blog buddy Patrick Jacobs (aka OrangeTV) … to praise the Coeur d’Alene Press. I’ll try to hold my breakfast down while OTV holds sway:

“I know it sounds totally bananas, but I just decided I love the CDA Press. As much as I tend to pick on it, I couldn’t let a morning slip by without it. It’s a guilty pleasure like Star or the National Enquirer, except instead of gossip and innuendo about Brad Pitt and Britney Spears, it’s gossip and innuendo about Bill Douglas and Dixie Reid.

“The paper has no scruples whatsoever, which can make it quite a fun read. The columnists struggle for material so they fill column inches with delightful pointlessness. I love reading the records section and finding out that Miss Popularity from high school is now a meth-addicted mother of five (awaiting) sentencing for probation violation and getting sued by a debt collector for $20,000 in unpaid hospital bills.

“I love the hokey check- passing photos and stomach- turning cute kid (pictures). I love the typos and the photo- caption mix-ups and the utter lack of editorial control. I love Lynn Berk’s traffic cone hair. I love the Business Journal for Women. The comics section is actually good these days, and the crossword puzzle makes me feel smart because I can always finish it. I love reading the obituaries – other paper’s obits can be so dry, but with the Press, they let the obit writers inject some personality into their loved one’s life story. I love the classifieds, too: ‘Free: 3 goats, must have own pick-up.’

“All in all, I say it’s now totally uncool to dis the CDA Press, and the new hip thing is to admit how much you can’t live without its loveable tackiness.”

Yeah, it’s damning with faint praise. Still …