For those who require only one side of the story—the positive side—Sears and AOL have launched Good News Now at GNN.com. The lead story when I looked: "Senior Couple Ties Knot." There was also an ironically unironic video of a skateboarding bulldog that "rolls through Japan." And who picks the "Good News Weather"? For me, they chose Seattle, where it rains a lot. Why not hard-code Honolulu, where it's sunny and 89 all the time? The smilin' home handymen and backyard barbecuers in the Sears banners, gleefully gripping power drills and spatulas with the expressions of maniacs toting handguns, elevate the forced sense of (awkward, marketing-driven) goodwill into the realm of parody. There's a weekend countdown clock that ticks away the days, hours, minutes and seconds. Sigh ... such a long way to go. Despite the venue's copius good intentions, that makes me sad.

—Posted by David Gianatasio