
Frank Sinatra Has a Cold (1966) - Tomte
http://www.watertownology.com/cold/
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dclowd9901
This article was obviously required reading in our long form journalism course
in college. It's devastating that this is the kind of work that people deride
now for its length and verbose cadence.

A piece like this is incredibly difficult to write. It doesn't just require
embedding yourself in the life of a typically-unwilling subject but also to
take what seems to be a random set of small anecdotes and finding the larger
theme they speak to.

~~~
tunesmith
The problem is that more recently, long-form journalism has become
commoditized. I get the feeling that in the past, you wouldn't see long-form
journalism unless the writer could actually do it well. I love this piece of
writing, but with modern long-form on the web, too often I've had this feeling
that the "long form" is just turgid padding, and there isn't really the
understanding of theme, or how the whole is really supposed to exceed the sum
of its parts.

~~~
dclowd9901
I notice modern long-form means, "Here's what happened to me when I met this
person, in 1,200 words."

Pieces like Frank Sinatra Has a Cold swathe you in the life of the subject,
and the writer takes a back seat. You literally will not find the words "I" or
"me" used in reference to the writer once in this article. Modern day long
form are vanity pieces; little more than well-written diaries or blog posts.
So I definitely know where you're coming from, but I think it's simply a lack
of discipline of the writers to take themselves out of the story. It's part of
the reason I can't stand the Serial series.

~~~
kbenson
Perhaps some stories are actually about the author as well. Serial, since you
brought it up, always seemed to me to _also_ be about Sarah Koenig's
relationship to Adnan, how she feels about him and whether he's telling the
truth, and her journey along the way. I really don't think "it's simply a lack
of discipline of the writers to take themselves out of the story" is a fair
representation of what the story is about. You might think it it would have
been better presented a different way, but I don't think it's the way it is
because they were sloppy, but because that's the type of story they wanted to
tell.

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lukeqsee
I heard an excellent memoir on _This American Life_ [NPR] last night about
Sinatra. They referenced this article.

What particularly stuck out about him was his every-man-ness. He shook hands
of presidents, mobsters (supposedly), and "normal" people. He touched every
strata and maintained a class that let him stand apart from it all.

For those interested: [http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-
archives/episode/574/s...](http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-
archives/episode/574/sinatras-100th-birthday).

~~~
shadeless
Interesting, I also listened to a NPR podcast about Sinatra last night, but it
was on Planet Money:
[http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/12/09/459116467/episo...](http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/12/09/459116467/episode-668-frank-
sinatras-mug)

~~~
yurisagalov
Probably because his birthday is this weekend :)

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kshay
After you've read this, read the annotated version: Elon Green's interview
with Gay Talese about the piece, interspersed into the text.
[http://niemanstoryboard.org/stories/annotation-tuesday-
gay-t...](http://niemanstoryboard.org/stories/annotation-tuesday-gay-talese-
and-frank-sinatra-has-a-cold/)

------
gtufano
Every time I read about Sinatra, I immediately recall the Doonesbury's strips
back from 1985.

From the archives, starting on
[http://doonesbury.washingtonpost.com/strip/archive/1985/6/10](http://doonesbury.washingtonpost.com/strip/archive/1985/6/10)

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Tomte
Frank Sinatra would have been 100 years today.

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nthnclrk
Worth listening to after reading the piece: Gay Talese being interviewed by
Alec Baldwin.

[http://www.wnyc.org/story/gay-talese/](http://www.wnyc.org/story/gay-talese/)

