I Don't Get it 4

What do Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, Charles Barkley, Ted Nugent and Hannah Montana have in common? All have done time in the "I Don't Get It" spotlight. And who is targeted this week -- in our last installment of 2007? Well, read on and see. And, as always, let me know your thoughts.

1. Blog Readability Test. I get a few e-mails off-line from readers who ask me questions like: "Dr. Distraction, is your blog affiliated with Yale, Harvard or Princeton?" "Sir, you are a wonderful man of arts and letters, I wanted to let you know that I've nominated you for the Nobel." "Sir, I have but three doctorates and have a hard time keeping up with the knowledge you disseminate." So, when I found the Blog Readability Test , I clicked on, expecting Distractions to be off the charts. What I found was this: Distractions has a readability level of (gasp!) Junior High School.

Junior High School?

This treasure trove of intelligentsia -- a junior high level? I checked my wife's wonderful blog Wild About Words. A great blog, but not a giant of academia like Distractions.

And she scored ....

College Level Undergrad.

Come on, have any of her posts sparked anyone to comment on Yeats? Just to feel better about myself, I decided to test it on my son's My Space Page -- the one that has a video of a monkey pooping. And he notched a rating of ...

High School.

I pledge from here on out to continue to cover the fine arts with the wit and creativity you've come to expect. And if I have to throw in some videos of monkeys pooping to improve my score, well I'm willing to do that.

Have a blog? A Web site? Try out the Readability Test and let me know how you scored -- especially if you scored lower than me. Thanks (I think) to The Long Cut (only Elementary Level) for the heads-up on the Blog Readability Test.

2. Wing Bowl on philly.com. I remember the Philadelphia Inquirer for its great writing, editorials and its once Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting. But its Web site has sunk to a new low with its coverage of the inane WIP Wing Bowl, including the video auditions for the Wingettes, which rivals for Howard Stern for low-brow entertainment. What an embarassment.



3. Peter King's Monday Morning Quarterback. Near the end of his usually excellent column on CNN/SI.com, King lists his five MVP candidates (actually six, since the fifth spot was a tie). And guess who's not on the list? Brian Westbrook. Unthinkable, Mr. King. I'll give you Tom Brady and Randy Moss, but that you couldn't find room for this incredible talent who is having a season for the ages is just wrong. Maybe Mr. Coffee Nerd had to deal with a bad barista that day. But this snub shows the media's continued contempt for Philadelphia sports teams and their fans. (That's a long rant for another day).

Well, enough of my yakking. Am I off base? Should I have blasted Ted Nugent again this week? What's bugging you? Let me know your thoughts.