I generally don't look to print publications for revelations on how we consume information today, but I was intrigued by the article that the New York Times ran today about MySpace, especially the last quote from one of the company's founders:
[Tom Anderson] said that as he meets with bands to sign up for the new label, he keeps hearing the same question: "How are you going to get me on MTV?"
"They don't quite get it, and I'm only starting to get it myself," Mr. Anderson said. "We've got our 26 million, with a lot more people logging in each day."
He added, with a shrug, "It's kind of like, who cares about MTV anymore?"
Why is such a brilliant example of the way that the media landscape is being transformed tacked on in the last graf of the article?
Not only does the Times usually report on trends years after they've made a cultural impact, but, as is the case with this piece, the reporter misses the actual "news" entirely and adds it in almost as a footnote.
I originally saw that article in my rss reader, because I subscribe to some of the feeds that the Times distributes, and then logged on to NYTimes.com today because I noticed on fashion personality Diane Pernet's blog that she was featured in the Times' "T" Style Magazine.
The current issue of T is pretty good, although I am already feeling fatigued by the all-black trend for Fall that people have been so breathless about for the last six months. At least the reporting is relatively timely and the editing seems culturally on-point.
Stefano Tonchi has set a new standard for what the paper's style coverage should encompass, chronicling both straightforward trends in fashion as well as "forces that are mingling and mixing with contemporary culture."
The Tilda Swinton cover is sublime and perfectly of-the-moment, although it just reminded me what a depressing, irrelevant mess the paper's Book Review would be by comparison.
And, of course, it was: the tagline on the main page is "Books: The Post-Ironic Novel." God, how pathetic.
How long do we have to wait for the post-ironic book review?
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