reviving that which should be revived (and that which shouldn't)
So we subscribed to The Atlantic because TNC told us to, and TNC is a wise man. And also because I was feeling passive-aggressive about the piles of The Economist accumulating in our house with their doomsday front pages and their well-intentioned misogyny. The first issue we got had Michael Bloomberg on the front cover and we worried it might not actually be an improvement. But the second issue was gold. Here were my two favorite articles (which I've been waiting to be able to link).
This one seemed surreal in a somewhat "do people want fire that can be fitted nasally" way1. The obsession with disasters, Biblical realism, and market research, all within
ccommack's least favorite hometown.
Ann Patchett works on the rebirth of the independent bookstore, with help from the Colbert Report, the internet, and extremely cheap liquidation-sale bookshelves from around the country. The ashes of Borders almost-literally feed the new movement, which Patchett has been working to create out of whole cloth. (She is somewhat surprised that it is working, but just because Amazon killed Borders which killed the independents doesn't necessarily mean the internet is fundamentally opposed to the independent bookstore.)
Also some lovely optimistic stuff about the rebirth of American manufacturing, which was the cover articles. And no flaming Euros for months on end. We win, I think.
(While we're praising all things Atlantic, TNC writes probably-awesomely about manhood and vulnerability here.)
1Possibly obscure reference to Hitchhiker's Guide, Fit the Sixth, by Douglas Adams, wherein B Ark telephone sanitizers try to invent civilization: MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT: …you will see that we are about to have a report from the hairdressers fire development subcommittee today.
HAIRDRESSER: That’s me.
FORD: Yeah well you know what they’ve done don’t you? You gave them a couple of sticks and they’ve gone and developed them into a pair of bloody scissors!
MARKETING GIRL: When you have been in marketing as long as I have, you’ll know that before any new product can be developed, it has to be properly researched. I mean yes, yes we’ve got to find out what people want from fire, I mean how do they relate to it, the image -
FORD: Oh, stick it up your nose.
MARKETING GIRL: Yes which is precisely the sort of thing we need to know, I mean do people want fire that can be fitted nasally.
CHAIRMAN: Yes, and, and, and the wheel. What about this wheel thingy? Sounds a terribly interesting project to me.
MARKETING GIRL: Er, yeah, well we’re having a little, er, difficulty here…
FORD: Difficulty?! It’s the single simplest machine in the entire universe!
MARKETING GIRL: Well alright mister wise guy, if you’re so clever you tell us what colour it should be!
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This one seemed surreal in a somewhat "do people want fire that can be fitted nasally" way1. The obsession with disasters, Biblical realism, and market research, all within
ccommack's least favorite hometown.
Ann Patchett works on the rebirth of the independent bookstore, with help from the Colbert Report, the internet, and extremely cheap liquidation-sale bookshelves from around the country. The ashes of Borders almost-literally feed the new movement, which Patchett has been working to create out of whole cloth. (She is somewhat surprised that it is working, but just because Amazon killed Borders which killed the independents doesn't necessarily mean the internet is fundamentally opposed to the independent bookstore.)
Also some lovely optimistic stuff about the rebirth of American manufacturing, which was the cover articles. And no flaming Euros for months on end. We win, I think.
(While we're praising all things Atlantic, TNC writes probably-awesomely about manhood and vulnerability here.)
1Possibly obscure reference to Hitchhiker's Guide, Fit the Sixth, by Douglas Adams, wherein B Ark telephone sanitizers try to invent civilization: MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT: …you will see that we are about to have a report from the hairdressers fire development subcommittee today.
HAIRDRESSER: That’s me.
FORD: Yeah well you know what they’ve done don’t you? You gave them a couple of sticks and they’ve gone and developed them into a pair of bloody scissors!
MARKETING GIRL: When you have been in marketing as long as I have, you’ll know that before any new product can be developed, it has to be properly researched. I mean yes, yes we’ve got to find out what people want from fire, I mean how do they relate to it, the image -
FORD: Oh, stick it up your nose.
MARKETING GIRL: Yes which is precisely the sort of thing we need to know, I mean do people want fire that can be fitted nasally.
CHAIRMAN: Yes, and, and, and the wheel. What about this wheel thingy? Sounds a terribly interesting project to me.
MARKETING GIRL: Er, yeah, well we’re having a little, er, difficulty here…
FORD: Difficulty?! It’s the single simplest machine in the entire universe!
MARKETING GIRL: Well alright mister wise guy, if you’re so clever you tell us what colour it should be!
This entry has
comments. Leave a comment? (Click "Log in with OpenID?", top right corner.)