Jonathan V. Last's Blog, page 36
February 20, 2014
Secrets of the Writing Trade
New York has an interesting piece on Mike Jeffries, the CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch (which might be the only mainstream clothing retailer from whom I’ve never purchased anything). Here’s how the piece starts. Stay with me, because I’m doing a long quote with all the atmospherics for a reason:
The corporate headquarters of Abercrombie & Fitch, one of the largest apparel retailers in the world, spills across 500 acres of dense Ohio woodland, about fifteen miles from downtown Columbus. From the outside, the central office cluster resembles an Adirondack lodge as envisioned by a Brutalist—all hard lines and weather-beaten wood. Meals are served in a barn finished in rusted steel, and in the summer, companywide meetings are held in an exposed-concrete courtyard in front of a large fireplace.
Officially, the complex is the work of Ross Anderson of the New York firm Anderson Architects, but it clearly bears the fingerprints of Mike Jeffries, Abercrombie’s famously autocratic CEO. Jeffries, Anderson has said, “wanted to make sure the architecture and the brand both spoke in the same voice. They share the same DNA. Each reinforces the other.” To enter Abercrombie headquarters is to travel back in time to the world portrayed in the iconic catalogues of the late nineties—everyone is young, good-looking, and, despite the harsh Ohio winters, exceptionally tan. A miasma of Fierce cologne hangs in the air, and pulsating pop echoes through the corridors.
Jeffries, who at 69 years old still has the blond hair of an Abercrombie model—“Dude, I’m not an old fart,” he has said of the dye job—works on the second floor in an airy, sun-splashed conference room. He typically receives guests in his standard uniform: an Abercrombie polo shirt, artfully distressed jeans, and a pair of old flip-flops.
That’s a great lede, yes? Fine work. Though I was then surprised to read (much) further down:
(Abercrombie representatives declined to make Jeffries available for interviews.)
This isn’t wholly incompatible with the lede. When you go back to it, the “has” and the “typically” in the third graph do stick out.
Also, Guardians of the Galaxy
While we’re on the subject, the first Guardians of the Galaxy trailer is out. (i09 has a frame-by-frame breakdown of it here.) As previously noted, I am not down with the cross-polination of sci-fi and superheroes. In the same way that I don’t cotton on to mysticism and superheroes–no Dr. Strange or Dr. Fate; no Specter or Zatana–I like sci-fi, or superheroes, but I prefer my genres silo-ed. If there must be aliens, then plop them on earth and leave them there, Kal-El style. Send a great superhero team like the X-Men or the Teen Titans into space, and I tuned out. In particular, the Guardians of the Galaxy comics did nothing for me as a kid. Zero. Left me totally cold.
And yet . . .
This Guardians of the Galaxy project like it has such a perfectly-pitched tone. Something like Raiders meets Star Wars. And it strikes me that what the world needs right now is a great comic space-opera. I am in.
As the kids say, I suspect it will make all of the money.
Worst Fantastic Four Movie Ever?
Three movies have been made about the Fantastic Four and all of them vie for the title of Worst FF Movie Ever. But now we have a fourth entrant!
Fox has cast its latest Fantastic Four reboot. Have a look. How about that Reid Richards–looks an awful lot like a young Screech, doesn’t he? And then there’s the diversity stunt casting of Johnny Storm, who’s clearly an adoptive brother now. Gotta make it relevant to today’s kids!
But the worst piece of casting? Jamie Bell as Ben Grimm. Because nothing says Giant palooka turned football star turned big-hearted rock monster like the waifish, grown-up child star from Billie Elliot. It’s like the Elton Bane in reverse.
I know what you’re thinking, because I’m thinking it too: Please make The Thing gay . . . Please make The Thing gay—the movie can’t be truly relevant without it. Think of all the fawning coverage in the NYT for the first gay superhero in a mainstream movie!
February 18, 2014
If Money Were No Object . . .
I got two of my most precious comics from of a vending machine at the Maryland House, a rest stop midway down I-95 in Maryland. When I was a kid, they had, just inside the doorway, next to Coke machines and the like, a vending machine which spit out comic books. You put in two quarters and you got a comic at random. One lucky afternoon on the way south from NJ, I got the first two books of “The Judas Contract,” which remains one of my favorite comic book arcs of all time.
And now the original George Perez cover art for Book One is for sale. Steady . . . steady . . .
I don’t pine for stuff very often [That's a filthy lie. -ed] but boy, howdy, do I wish I could buy this thing. Have a look:
The Judas Contract, Book One
February 17, 2014
Great Moments in Law Enforcement
Out in San Francisco. The biggest part of the scandal might well be the extent which which the more professional cops seem to have no inclination to change the behavior of the ones breaking the law.
February 12, 2014
Annals of Mommy Blogging
Over at the Federalist, Rachel Lu has one of the best pieces I’ve seen on the parent/child-free divide. Some highlights:
Parenting (as you’ve surmised) is hard. People used to get some preparation for it, through babysitting and younger-sibling care, and just by living in places where kids were a regular part of life. Nowadays many people spend their early adulthood in childless university campuses or urban “kiddie deserts,” and any children are seen, if at all, only on flickering screens. It is no longer strange to make it to age 30 without ever changing a diaper. Should we be surprised if adjustment to family life is often a bit rocky?
When and if people do take the plunge, they’re expected to soldier on side by side with still-childless people who, instead of running to support and congratulate new parents, often look from the sidelines with a skeptical detachment, or even a challenging “prove to me that this hare-brained childbearing scheme won’t sweep you away into irrelevance” glare. Obviously, this does not help. When parenthood was a natural, expected step along the path to established adulthood, it probably seemed easier, but also was easier. By recasting parenthood as a choice, we’ve increased the challenges for those who do choose it, while diminishing the available support.
Having spent several years of my own pre-maternal life among childless adults (often graduate students or young professionals), I could fill a book with all the complaints I used to hear from people who seemed to regard child-rearing as a kind of elaborate hobby. Among other things, that meant parents were obliged to prevent their offspring from causing any inconvenience whatsoever to the blissfully childless. A crying baby or underfoot toddler in a public place was seen by many as a heinous, inexcusable imposition, and I wish I had a nickel for every time a childless friend griped about the same True Parenting discourses that Graham discusses, remarking that “if you didn’t want to do this, why did you have kids?”
Right, great question. Why have kids if it’s not all going to be one non-stop Norman Rockwell dream? Why have kids if they aren’t going to please and fulfill you at every turn? People’s willingness even to ask these questions reveals how shallow their view of parenthood really is. They’re the kinds of questions that we really might ask a friend who was overwrought over an actual hobby (say, wind-surfing or knitting): why do it?
Son of JournoList
It’s been interesting that, in all of the many, fawning pieces about Ezra Klein written in the last few months, I haven’t seen anyone ask him about the second thing he’s famous for: JournoList. The RCP guys finally brought it up during their drivecast with Klein, but since it’s video and not print, I suspect it didn’t get the attention it deserved, because his answers didn’t exactly close out the topic. Breitbart went to the trouble of making a transcript of the exchange:
They ask Klein about JournoList, the email group Klein ran several years ago that often served to coordinate coverage among left-leaning members of the media. Does such a group still exists, Cannon wonders?
Klein evades the question throughout. His first response is to rebuke Cannon for believing in “conspiracy theories”–never mind that the original JournoList was, in fact, the rare case of a conspiracy theory being true.
Then he says, “I’m not involved anymore, and if there’s–I think there still might be–there are a shit-ton of email listservs around this town,” before contending, bizarrely, that JournoList never coordinated anything.
“I hated JournoList by the end,” he adds, “I hated it so much. I spent all my time moderating flame wars on the list.” Klein mocks the idea that journalists, who want to be the first to break a story, would coordinate stories.
Cannon retorts: “You underestimate how partisan some of our colleagues are.” Klein disagrees: journalists are “cynical.”
Cannon tries once more: does JournoList still exist?
Klein: “Oh–I don’t run anything like that.”
February 11, 2014
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Once More
Anthony Lane has a very good essay about him and, funnily enough, fixates on the PSH performance which most struck me, too.
One final note: When I said that Hoffman might be my favorite actor of my generation, I didn’t mean “best.” That’s a separate question and Hoffman probably ranks somewhere on any such list, too. But I really meant my personal favorite. Like most people, I have a little list of actors who give me enormous pleasure whenever they show up–I like to think of them as actors whose VORPs are just totally off the scale. For me, anyway.
Politico Longform Covers Erika Harold
And uses it as an occasion to obsess about the Republican brand and racial optics. Which is pretty hysterical, since Harold’s political identity has pretty much nothing to do with that stuff and her campaign is actually based on the idea that the incumbent never had to face GOP primary voters.
But the most hysterical part in Todd Frankel’s piece is when he describes Harold thusly “She is anti-abortion rights . . ”
That’s right–Harold isn’t against abortion, she’s against the God-given right to abortion.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen that locution used by a non-activist.
I wrote about Harold’s insurgent campaign here, in case you missed it.
February 5, 2014
The NYT Newsroom Against Tom Friedman
I guess that to really despise Friedman, you have to work near him:
One current Times staffer told The Observer, “Tom Friedman is an embarrassment. I mean there are multiple blogs and Tumblrs and Twitter feeds that exist solely to make fun of his sort of blowhardy bullshit.” . . .
Another Times reporter brought up Mr. Friedman, unsolicited, toward the end of a conversation that was generally positive about the editorial page: “I never got a note from Andy or anything like that. But I will say, regarding Friedman, there’s the sense that he’s on cruise control now that he’s his own brand. And no one is saying, ‘Hey, did you see the latest Friedman column?’ in the way they’ll talk about ‘Hey, Gail [Collins] was really funny today.’”
Asked if this stirring resentment toward the editorial page might not just be garden variety news vs. edit stuff or even the leanings of a conservative news reporter toward a liberal editorial page, one current Times staffer said, “It really isn’t about politics, because I land more to the left than I do to the right. I just find it …”
He paused for a long time before continuing and then, unprompted, returned to Mr. Friedman. “I just think it’s bad, and nobody is acknowledging that they suck, but everybody in the newsroom knows it, and we really are embarrassed by what goes on with Friedman. I mean anybody who knows anything about most of what he’s writing about understands that he’s, like, literally mailing it in from wherever he is on the globe. He’s a travel reporter. A joke. The guy gets $75,000 for speeches and probably charges the paper for his first-class airfare.”
Another former Times writer, someone who has gone on to great success elsewhere, expressed similar contempt (and even used the word “embarrass”) and says it’s longstanding.
“I think the editorials are viewed by most reporters as largely irrelevant, and there’s not a lot of respect for the editorial page. The editorials are dull, and that’s a cardinal sin. They aren’t getting any less dull. As for the columnists, Friedman is the worst. He hasn’t had an original thought in 20 years; he’s an embarrassment. He’s perceived as an idiot who has been wrong about every major issue for 20 years, from favoring the invasion of Iraq to the notion that green energy is the most important topic in the world even as the financial markets were imploding. Then there’s Maureen Dowd, who has been writing the same column since George H. W. Bush was president.”
Of course, I suspect that in response Friedman would just point to this and say, “Scoreboard.”
