I subscribed to that Mine magazine thing, a project of Time Inc. which unfortunately is not a trade publication about ore extraction. It is instead a magazine that assembles bits of other magazines to make a magazine that speaks to you, about your needs! I tried it out because Farhad Manjoo earnestly liked it. And here is what I got.
1. An article about red wine that is basically a FAQ that is like (literally) "What Makes Red Wine Red?" What magazine is this from, Beverages for Tweens? Oh it is from Food and Wine. Also? I don't drink. Also I am not STUPID. Are the readers of Food and Wine this stupid?
2. An article about how TV is changing in the iPod age. LOL. OMG LOL.
3. A story about kids with attention problems! Ha, is it from New York magazine circa 2002?
4. Some Lev Grossman thing about how FACEBOOK IS GREAT FOR OLD PEOPLE. I think this is a "humor piece."
5. An article that counsels you how to better network in this modern age!
6. Some advice on how to help your kids get through college without debt.
7. A travel piece about Mustique. That is like the last place in the world I would want to go, right after Michigan and Calcutta. As if my lifestyle were organized around places Mariah Carey liked to go three years ago?
8. Some pages from Real Simple that are inexplicable in their intent! Something about how I should buy a $300 outdoor "entertaining console" (ew!) from Pier One (EW!) and how planting vegetables should relieve stress, not cause it, which is pretty hilarious, because it is nearly JULY, PEOPLE, I PUT ALL MY VEGETABLES IN A MONTH AGO PRETTY MUCH. Also Pier One SUCKS.
9. NOTHING from In Style. So Time Inc. did not figure out that I am a homo.
Also? Farhad wrote his piece in late May, and he got at least THREE of the same pieces I did, in late June! One of which was published in FEBRUARY. This magazine of mine is the worst thing I have ever caused to be made. I am very angry with me.
I recently saw a men's fashion magazine that culled from other mags, one of which was VMan. I was paging through it, looking at a shoot that I had already seen two months previous. The "Consolidation" style of mags that pull out "the best" and present it to you two months later? I don't get it.
They should have called it "Reader's MY-gest."
Or "ME-der's Digest." Something like that.
I'll bet if I sign up for this, I'll get the exact same articles.
I could see the concept working if they limited the content to porn.
YES!
For a delicious assortment of cookies I recommend the Pepperidge Farm Distinctive Entertaining Collection. They aggregated my tastes perfectly without a questionnaire.
Oh. It just occurred to me. All of Time's content sucks.
Unfortunately they forgot one simple rule of computing: GIGO.
Wait. You don't drink?
That was my reaction, too. How do Choire and Balk ever manage to communicate?
http://www.lyricsdomain.com/13/minor_threat/straight_edge.html
No.
Didn't Gawker do something like this with a craptastic advertising gimmick? At least they had the integrity to label it as advertising. That time.
The personalized ads that say "THE ALL-NEW 2010 RX. NOW WITH MORE [YOUR NAME]" are creepy as fuck