Former subscriber doesn't like 'Psycho' reference

Geez. Lighten up, Francis.

Ms. Hughes sounds like a busybody type who believes the world around her must conform to her every whim and fancy. Typical self-centered political lobbyist.

For the record, I've never seen Ms. Hughes, but the thought of her scares the hell out of me...

/just sayin
//who hasn't seen "Psycho"???

Some people just can't handle the truth...

I agree with Laurie Hughes. Larry Altman is a reporter, not a fiction writer, and I am not sure why he thinks that as journalist reporting on crime, he has artistic license to embellish where he pleases. If anything, this undermines the credibility of his reporting. Larry has a duty to stick to the relevant facts and not feed sensationalism by referencing 1960s Hitchcock in a weak effort to be clever. If the Daily Breeze ever wants to achieve status as a respected and trusted publication, it would do well to get rid of such immature, high school newspaper-level reporting.

PLEASE . . . the crime lends itself to connecting it with the movie in the article; the reference wasn't just pulled out of thin air to freak the scaredy-cats out. It was a legitimate reference and has nothing to do with immature journalism. Besides, I can think of much better examples of immature writing in the DB than this article.

And Ms. Hughes, there really ARE boogie men under your bed even if you've never seen them! BOO!!

MsNomer said: "Besides, I can think of much better examples of immature writing in the DB than this article."

I'd be willing to bet that 99% of those examples would be Altman's articles. He's a horrible reporter and writer.

2 cents said: He's a horrible reporter and writer.

Well, I don't know Altman personally, and I haven't tracked his articles, so I can't comment on your assessment of him. However, we may be able to agree that there is a darn good chance he is probably a very bad boy with a journalism degree.

MsNomer must know me.

...lol...apparently I'm a good guesser.

Life experiences allow one to draw references and provide insight into the issues. Just reporting the facts is easy.

Although, I wonder if Altman does more investigative pieces that shed light on the unknown, uninvestigated dirt in the South Bay?

Canceling the paper is like sticking your head in the sand... people are still going to break into your home while you're in the shower.

I have no problem with the movie reference. Altman's editor had no problem with the movie reference.

Get over yourselves.

Even if some of these nancy-pants commenters were right that Larry Altman's journalism prowess is questionable...

The man once posted a Black Flag video on this blog highlighting drunk driving checkpoints. That is cool and praiseworthy in my book. I'll party with you any day, Larry.

The Psycho shower scene is so popular that it's become embedded in our collective unconscious. It's a rarity that one would ever experience something like this in real life, but if she does, her mind will undoubtedly race back to that hallowed scene.

With this in mind, it is indeed appropriate to make reference to it in said article.

Irony is not without a sense of humor.

The issue is not whether the shower scene from Psycho is in the collective consciousness because clearly it is. The issue is whether such pop culture references belong in crime reporting. It would be one thing if the victim herself described the incident as being out of a scene from Psycho and Altman reported that. It is fully another for Altman, who was not present during the event, to interject his cinematic assessment of the situation. Will Altman reference scenes from Saw the next time a victim is found murdered and mutilated in the South Bay? Journalists, especially those that want to be taken seriously, have a duty to abide by certain ethical considerations. Has Altman considered how his style of reporting may affect victims and their families, or worse yet, influence the perceptions of Daily Breeze readers who may eventually sit on jury pools? Altman needs to decide what end of the journalistic spectrum he wants to be on - is it the Washington Post during the Katherine Graham era or the tabloid In Touch magazine? The fact that the readers who find Altman's style of reporting appropriate can barely formulate sentences and want to party with him shows the mediocre quality of the population he is pandering to.

Regarding SoBayAttorney's last comment:

Wow . . . can we all say "blowhard" in unison?