... to talk about.
ADDED WARNING: Do not -- do not! -- do not make the joke Time Magazine is trying to get you to make. Do not let them succeed in their attempt to use you -- to use "you" -- to go viral. And since you probably already did, please stop now. You dork!
December 17, 2006
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
24 comments:
Well, if you can't win a blog of the year award despite my multiple, Chicago-style ballot stuffing, you might as well be Time's Person of the Year.
PS: Time Magazine is dorky, and has been for quite some time now. I'm surprised they didn't anoint Grandmama Pelosi...
Seemed sort of a cop-out to me (the choice, not this post). Are we supposed to feel sort of all warm and fuzzy and appreciated as part of a revolution? 'Cause, well--yawn.
I'm still waiting for my framed magazine cover and prize money.
A desperate attempt to boost circulation is my guess: "Who Me? I'm TIME's Person of the Year? Well, of course I am! Who else? And about time, too."
The most loathsome part of it is that millions of people are going around today making the same damned joke. Please, stop, everyone! Don't let Time Magazine bamboozle you into making their joke, for their promotional purposes. They're trying to be viral. Don't let them succeed. In the name of Nancy Pelosi, resist.
I thought the person of the year was Jeffrey Lebowski.
Must have been a previous year.
A desperate attempt to boost circulation is my guess: "Who Me? I'm TIME's Person of the Year? Well, of course I am! Who else? And about time, too."
I caught a bit of the show on CNN that announced this. You're exactly right and they seemed even bold about saying it. They went on and on about the use of mylar on the cover and how it would really get people excited ("oooh, shiny"). Then they talked a long time about how this issue will be seen twenty years from now as a historical moment that people will treasure.
It was like watching an infomercial, so I stopped watching it.
This would have come off better for 2004 when bloggers really started to take off in the national conversation.
Forgive me for pointing out (by linking to myself) that I predicted exactly this in October, on the day Google bought YouTube.
I've put my two-month-old prediction cover side by side with the actual Time cover right here.
Either they're utterly predictable, or I have a bright future ahead of me working for -- or suing -- Time Warner.
Paddy O: I'm with you--talk about unwatchable.
Check out (a little lower on the link) Salon's person of the year: the guy who was the target of the "Macaca" remark by Sen. Allen in VA.
I saw a CNN interview with Time editor, Richard Stengel, talking about the history and previous winners. Soledad O'Brien was such a frigging suck-up to Stengel, the new editor who actually epitomizes dorkdom.
They are the same wheenies who decreed there would be no keeping score in little league so it would not have losers just like this lame selection (everybody is a winner).
No wonder I never read these mags anymore. And no wonder young people don't read anything that is not on-line. Can you blame them? Why would you pay for that crap?
"Don't let Time Magazine bamboozle you into making their joke, for their promotional purposes. They're trying to be viral. Don't let them succeed."
Yes, they try to be viral. So what? What's the reason for your negative stance towards this smart marketing capaign by Time? You don't happen to be anti-business, no?
Well, “You” weren’t the only candidate.
Danny: I'm blogging at one remove, linking only to Memeorandum. It's not perfect, but I felt I had to tell people not to ... make that joke.
"I felt I had to tell people not to ... make that joke."
Sorry, too late. I already published my acceptance speech.
:P
Caffeinesoldier: OK, I'll fess up: I went (but not in response to your latest comment on this thread), I saw, I laughed. Something about the "exeunt" and how I hear your voice in my mind's ear.
But don't let it go to your head.
To paraphrase some pundit, if a secret mole from Newsweek had somehow gotten control of Time and started dictating editorial policy expressly to destroy Time's credibility, they couldn't have done a more damaging hit on Time than the mag has done to itself.
It was interesting that the runner-up was Ahmadinejad. The Time of Henry Luce would have had no problem putting that guy on the cover as Man of the Year. Hitler and Stalin were both Man of the Year in the years they determined the course of history. But today's editors have to pander. Plus, putting Ahmadinejad on the cover would mean a serious discussion of what to do about Iran's nuclear plans, and for the editors of Time, such a discussion can lead nowhere good.
My first thought when I saw this on Drudge was, "That's lame. Does that mean that they couldn't think of someone interesting to pick?"
And why would this make me want to buy the issue? Because they'll tell me how we're all connected and creative and how every one of us is a beautiful, individual spark arcing out into the world of content? Oh gag. Everyone is exceptional; no one is exceptional.
Damn it, I thought it was going to go to the 500th person who took a picture of themselves every day for five years then turned it into a video and thought they were being original.
I can't believe Time magazine is still taken so seriously. Oh, wait a minute, it's not.
They gave the award to you - a law professor!
hamsun56: almost on par with winning the Nobel Peace Prize
I wonder for how long the "person of the year" named by the editorial board of Time Magazine or the most recent knight announced by the Queen of England or the biggest peace promoter named by a handful of Swedes will have any more meaning than the "sexiest person alive" named by People Magazine. The people who decide on all these titles seem to me to be due similar deference, which is not much. At least the Swedes give you phat cash.
I guess they want us to say, "Why, I'm more important than Calvin Coolidge... put together!" What a bone-achingly tedious waste of Time and energy. And bizarre. If we, the collective masses, are the most important this year, when are we not? I mean, were Stalin, or Hitler, or any of the other winners, more significant than everyone else alive, put together? Ugh, losing will to type....
Post a Comment