March 6, 2011

"It's not your Grandpa Jon's magazine anymore. It's slick, contemporary and feels like something out of the new millennium..."

"... sort of New York mag meets GQ, and pretty distinct from Time, with big photo spreads, graphics that pop and draw you into the page, lots of entry points into a story, infographics, sidebars, etc."

And look:



It's so new new new new that it's letting us know that Hillary Clinton is shattering glass ceilings everywhere! That's what I want to see on the cover of a supposedly brilliant reimagined old news magazine: the oldest feminist cliché in the world.

Plus, "150 Women Who Shake the World" and "Women Make Lousy Men." Well, apparently, it's all about stroking the vanity of women.

IN THE COMMENTS: PatHMV said...
She's the THIRD female Secretary of State. Heck, we haven't had a white male Secretary of State since Warren Christopher stepped down in January 1997, 14 years ago. Not much new ground to break in this area.
BJM said:
Uh-oh...looks like Brown just fired the first volly in the battle for the NYT's female/metrosexual readership.

This could get ugly.

Popcorn anyone?
Ha ha. That's basically what I thought. The inside research must show that it's women reading stuff printed on paper. Especially older women who like reading about the triumphant struggles of older women. It's so dreary! I'm an older woman myself, and I have no interest in being patronized like that. Or in buying magazines or newspapers. I can't think of the last time I bought one. Over a year ago?

Old Dad said:
Tina bought it for a buck. Leveraged it at 100%. She knows it's toilet paper. It's a classic quick flip con. Dress up the corpse and flip it for a $100 bucks to some gullible schmuck.
Speaking of toilet paper, is "feels like something out of the new millennium" definitely a compliment?

58 comments:

kent said...

Hillary Clinton? Cripes, I thought that was maybe the guy they'd signed to play Mighty Thor in the upcoming movie on the cover...

PatHMV said...

She's the THIRD female Secretary of State. Heck, we haven't had a white male Secretary of State since Warren Christopher stepped down in January 1997, 14 years ago. Not much new ground to break in this area.

Now, had she parlayed her second-place finish in the Democratic primary into the Vice Presidency, that would have broken one of the very last remaining glass ceilings.

A Mystic Lady said...

"...with big photo spreads, graphics that pop and draw you into the page, lots of entry points into a story, infographics, sidebars, etc."

This is a description of LIFE Magazine.

kent said...

BROWN: "...with big photo spreads, graphics that pop and draw you into the page, lots of entry points into a story, infographics, sidebars, etc."

TAYLOR: This is a description of LIFE Magazine.

It's an even better description of Highlights Magazine.

Unknown said...

glass ceiling? Presumably being the Secretary of State? Seems there were two women Secretary of State before her, no?

How about Blighty's woman PM, Germany's woman Chancellor, ...? It's easy to get thru the glass ceiling that has holes and cracks whose sharp edges were already smoothed.

chickelit said...

There's hope for that rag yet.

Anonymous said...

Hillary Clinton: "Viewership Of Al Jazeera is going up in the United States because it's real news."

Fox News is faux news to the Democrat Party. The real news? It's on al Jazerra.

This is all you ever need to know about Hillary Clinton: She's on their side.

She is an enemy of everything you've worked your entire life to provide for your family. When those airplanes flew into that building she inwardly smiled.

She watches al Jazeera and wants your children to watch it too.

Hillary Clinton hates everything you stand for.

G Joubert said...

Rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

BJM said...

Uh-oh...looks like Brown just fired the first volly in the battle for the NYT's female/metrosexual readership.

This could get ugly.

Popcorn anyone?

Michael K said...

Newsweek has the market value of one dollar. It shows. If doctors' offices across the country canceled their subscriptions, it would vanish. At least their postage costs must be down as the magazine has about 10 pages.

ricpic said...

Hillary and Al Jazeera, perfect together.

Automatic_Wing said...

Kaus didn't last long there, did he?

I hope he didn't get tossed overboard for Kathleen Parker.

Anonymous said...

You've got to give Hillary this much:

She didn't abandon her children to teach creative writing at Goddard like that other bitch.

Martin L. Shoemaker said...

My mom subscribes to Newsweek, so I see it sometimes when I pick up her mail. It has become extremely thin, and the paper is thinner as well. It reminds me of free magazines we used to get in high school, little things thinner than comic books (and less informative).

Mom has decided not to renew her subscription when it runs out. As thin as it has gotten, she still finds less than half of it worth reading. So they're losing traditional readers. I'll be surprised if the editors can replace those with new readers.

Leaving aside their politics (which I'm sure cost them readers), I think that the concepts of "news" and "week" are incompatible in the age of blogs and all-news cable channels and talk radio. There's nothing Newsweek can offer, even to their most loyal leftist readers, that can't be found faster and better on the internest.

The Crack Emcee said...

Don't Do Drugs Like Charlie - Get The New Newsweek! (Your Brain Will Be Melting Either Way)

Lisa said...

How is that glass ceiling shattered? The DNC resorted to nasty tricks (eliminating Michigan's vote) to keep her from being their nominee.

Other countries have had women as head of state and/or head of government. Being the third female Secretary of State has shattered nothing.

Unknown said...

Tina bought it for a buck. Leveraged it at 100%. She knows it's toilet paper. It's a classic quick flip con. Dress up the corpse and flip it for a $100 bucks to some gullible schmuck.

Issob Morocco said...

More useless clutter for Medical Office waiting room tables. Yawn.

Anonymous said...

I've noticed that in the last 3 weeks she appears to have had some cosmetic surgery done, it might be the stirring of a primary challenge to the utter failure that resides in the white house now.

Qualifications?...heh, yea.

But it will be her last chance ever.

Unknown said...

Sure looks like the old Newsweek and, from what's on the cover, probably smells like it inside.

WV "imitor" Skeletor's buddy, does impressions at the comedy club.

SteveR said...

Yeah this will work. Getting notable people to pose for pictures and well known people to write articles is easy. Getting people to pay attention, not so easy. To start with, Tina Brown is not the kind of person many people, such as myself, will even bother to give a second thought to.

The Crack Emcee said...

Hey Ann,

I've said it before but this is the latest evidence I'm right:

They've lost the ability to think, imagine, create, out there.

I mean, how long have I been bitching to you about the meaning of American Idol, Lady GaGa, and all the rest?

Creativity is dead in this country, for the time being, with only me and Charlie Sheen representing real life as it should and can be again. We've gone too far down the rabbit hole - only to find there's nothing there. Tina Brown (and Arianna Huffington) represent the end of the line. As Camille Paglia said, if women ran the world, we'd still be living in grass shacks.

You just can't hold men back - especially not artificially as it is now under feminism - and expect prosperity.

Martin L. Shoemaker said...

Lisa, the DNC didn't eliminate Michigan's vote; we did it to ourselves. We violated a dumb rule. It was a really dumb rule, in my opinion, but we violated it with eyes wide open. We were told what the consequences would be. It was plainly laid out before the primary; but then when those consequences actually came to pass, we cried "foul" and "cheat" and "nobody told us". And the Clinton campaign stoked this idiocy to try to change the rules to their advantage after the fact.

I thought it was exceptionally generous of the DNC to grant us half votes in the end. Well, generous for a purpose: they didn't want to piss of Michigan Democrats just in case they needed the electoral votes in a close race. But I'm a strong believer in sticking to the rules that were announced and in place on the day of the election. The time to dispute the rules is before the election. After-the-fact changes are just an attempt to subvert the election.

I'm Full of Soup said...

What should the new magazine be called? An echo chamber?

DADvocate said...

Does Hillary's war have something to do with her waist? Yes, women make lousy men. I don't care about 150 women who shake the world. I just need one good woman who shakes my bed (with a little help from me).

Everything old is new again.

I'm Full of Soup said...

I wonder if that list has any US military women or vets?

Emil Blatz said...

Harman is an old fellow with a shitload of cash. But even he has a burn rate in mind and an ultimate loss limit. The race is on between that limit and Tina Brown's ambition. Dunno which wins, don't care. I think the habit of reading Time, Newsweek, etc. has been broken and will not be reconstructed. But I'm happy to see her burn his cash.

shiloh said...

Time and Newsweek going downhill and becoming totally irrelevant many years in the making notwithstanding ie most magazines are struggling to exist in the internet age of mass media ~ there is a certain irony re: a supposed (((relevant))) political blog talking about said magazine and other minutia including garbage collection lol.

Thank goodness there's no internet blog glass ceiling, eh.

and please, I beseech you, help keep America beautiful ...

Steven said...

44th First Lady. 28th female Senator. 3rd female Secretary of State.

Newsweak.

Fran said...

Actually, PatHMV, Colin Powell was secretary of state during Bush II's first term, following Madeleine Albright and preceding Condoleezza Rice.

Anonymous said...

Don't women usually prefer to make non-lousy men?

Mutaman said...

"When those airplanes flew into that building she inwardly smiled."

I know a few NYC cops, firemen, and other 9/11 rescue workers who would be a little upset with this piece of brilliance.

Most New Yorkers would agree: After 9/11, while Rudy was holding press conferences (and Bernie Kerrick was holding his coat), Hillary was doing the work- resolving problems, expediting benefits, etc, etc.

Martin L. Shoemaker said...

Fran,

Please reread PatHMV's observation:

Heck, we haven't had a white male Secretary of State since Warren Christopher stepped down in January 1997, 14 years ago. Not much new ground to break in this area.

While Colin Powell is male, he's also not white in the colloquial sense. Not being an expert on his genealogy, I can't speculate on how much white ancestry he might have, but he's generally considered to be African-American (in the modern parlance).

deborah said...

@NYTNY: Cosmetic surgery involves a lot of bruising and swelling, and the msm going bonkers reporting it.

Maybe she's doing some of those quick tweaks like the thin plastic moon-shape forms that get tucked in the fold above the eye. Maybe she's lost weight.

Unknown said...

shiloh said...

Time and Newsweek going downhill and becoming totally irrelevant many years in the making notwithstanding ie most magazines are struggling to exist in the internet age of mass media ~ there is a certain irony re: a supposed (((relevant))) political blog talking about said magazine and other minutia including garbage collection lol.

As usual, shiloh/PB&J thinks the world spins his way. Ann's always described the blog as her view of the world from Madison.

He must look in a mirror when he thinks irrelevant.

LOL

catondan said...

Aren't we talking about a "volley"? What is a "volly"?

zbogwan99 said...

Old crone Hillary is shattering glass ceiling, mirrors and the USA's Foreign Policy on/in a wholesale fashion? Obama and Hillary seem to compliment each other: Dumb and Dumber?

Charlie Martin said...

Hillary Clinton is shattering glass ceilings everywhere! ....

Like the one about getting nominated for the Presidency?

Unknown said...

I'm dying to know who the other bitch who taught at Goddard is.
If only because my cousin was a dean there a while back.

Synova said...

In reference to women reading paper magazines... Has anyone tried magazines on color e-readers? I don't know if Newsweek is available that way and I don't get any magazines for my Nook myself, but I've seen them demonstrated and it is *really cool*.

Synova said...

What I've seen of Al Jazzera is interesting and somewhat varied. I mean, sure there's the complete bat-shit alternate reality stuff, but there is also sometimes some interesting counter-views or "internal" debate such as between Sufi and other religious leaders.

In a sense it's "news" simply because it's interesting (and sometimes infuriating) to see what sort of "news" other people in other nations consume.

Sometimes I'm surprised by the attitudes portrayed in articles and comment lists on web-based "news" from places like India. I'm far far from being an international news junkie but I know how easily I could become one.

Beau said...

Especially older women who like reading about the triumphant struggles of older women. It's so dreary! I'm an older woman myself, and I have no interest in being patronized like that.

To say nothing of the fact that the glass ceiling is all too infrequently broken, particularly in North America. There's nothing to get excited about here.

ampersand said...

Maybe she's shattering glass ceilings with those piercing shrieks she occasionally lets loose.

Peter V. Bella said...

Slick and contemporary with Grannie (Hey Bill get outta the cement pond...) on the cover.

deborah said...

Synova, here's an interesting Blogging Heads with Bob Wright interviewing a teacher from Georgetown University Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, who has written a book about Al-Jazeera:

http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/34454

coketown said...

Miss Brown has confused producing a magazine with producing a Japanese cartoon. We don't want "slick, contemporary" stylistics with popping graphics and big photo spreads. We want content. Interesting, novel, well-articulated content. I don't remember giant photo spreads in "Household Words," but then again what would Dickens know about being popular?

Steven said...

Actually, are we sure it's a glass ceiling she's shattering, and not just another one of Bill's mirrors?

Harry said...

From that photo, it looks like Hillary might shatter a glass floor pretty soon.

Revenant said...

Hillary was doing the work- resolving problems, expediting benefits, etc, etc.

How does a Senator "do the work-resolving problems" -- whatever that means? She had no authority of any kind in NYC.

Martin L. Shoemaker said...

Revenant, there's legal authority, and then there's influence and throwing your weight around. Often a call from a Senator or Representative can shake people out of their routine and get them to look for a faster or more acceptable solution -- especially if the Senator or Representative has power over their budget.

I don't know that Senator Clinton did any such thing at the time, or whether that's simply a New York Democrat myth. I suspect the latter.

I do know that the very first person I saw politicize the attacks was Senator Clinton. I was watching an early morning CBS news broadcast on 9/13; and in an interview there, she blamed the Bush administration policies for angering the terrorists and thus causing the attack. I've never found that clip online. I suspect it is deeply buried. But it truly disgusted me.

Palladian said...

"Sometimes I'm surprised by the attitudes portrayed in articles and comment lists on web-based "news" from places like India."

Foreign news often reads like news in America once did, before reporters became "journalists" and before they started pretending to be neutral.

Paco Wové said...

Clinton is correct -- Al Jazeera (or Telemundo or Univision) is a better source of news*, generally, than CNN or Fox.

(News: current information on world events, not Charlie Sheen, celebrities, or sports.)

The Crack Emcee said...

Feminism is bullshit:

The 'glass ceiling' is all in the mind: Women lack confidence and ambition at work says new survey.

Say it with me:

Men's fault.

Methadras said...

it's letting us know that Hillary Clinton is shattering glass ceilings everywhere!

With what? Her giant hair on her giant head? Or her giant ass because that's literally what the rest of the world sees when they reject her summarily as an incompetent boob and wave goodbye as she gets on 'airship pants-suit one' to god knows where?

Anonymous said...

""It's not your Grandpa Jon's magazine anymore. It's slick, contemporary and feels like something out of the new millennium..."" good discussion is going over here.
it news

Clyde said...

You can't put lipstick on a dead tree.

Known Unknown said...

From that photo, it looks like Hillary might shatter a glass floor pretty soon.

BANG.

Also, is she one of the 150 women who shake the world ... when they walk?

Unknown said...

A fantastic read….very literate and informative. Many thanks

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