But, it does make it believable. Two years ago I had this brilliant idea for a website. So, I looked into making it happen. I even built a prototype through godaddy.com. Then I found out about all of the sexy, self-website-building companies out there and abandoned by initial efforts to make something cooler, hipper whatever. Moving, boys, transitioning to full-time freelance writing put it on the back burner.
But since I've come back to Ann Arbor I've roped my two best girlfriends into starting the site with me, expanding on my initial idea to include their interests and ideas for a "lifestyle" online publication. I'm not going to say more about that on here. But, I will say that in doing market research I've come across a whole lot of douchey online "literary" and "lifestyle" websites their owners call "magazines" to give them more credibility. I've seen some cool stuff too, don't get me wrong.
But the cool stuff doesn't give me cause to complain. It kind of speaks to what's great about the Internet. The democratization of information presentation. Say it three times fast. I dare you. The point is that people with new, interesting ideas to re-package old info, people who are creating new info, people who just come up with really cool visual shit rock. And thank god they have an inexpensive way to share their awesomeness.
BUT people who create a "magazine" with this mission statement: was founded to discover and share the stories of creative and inspirational people. Through photography, video, and the written word, we let artists—and their work—speak for themselves. Are just wasting my surfing time, killing my buzz. What does that even mean, really? With all of the print publications covering "art" and "inspirational" stories, not to mention the bazillions of other sites trying to do the same thing, I have absolutely no incentive to keep reading. It's just a bunch of pretentious crap. A bunch of punk kids with a modicum of experience, promoting themselves and their friends.. and whatever. Is it any surprise that it's based in New York?
It's hard for me to understand the fine art/fashion/cultural world in terms of their insistence on speaking in their exclusive language, looking down on us Phillistines. Creating their "magazines" and garbage-ing up the Internet.
Perpetuating the idea that only certain people can understand what you're about, and only speaking to them is a joke. Plain and simple. It's a principle born on insecurity. There's one chick, Amber Rae, who puts out an email once a week, sharing stories of young people who started their own businesses (based on their passions), written in their own words, that is truly inspiring. She wants everyone to reach his or her own potential, whatever that may be. And there are others like her. And that is a good use of my time. Don't listen to the hype. Don't believe that you have to say a painting is good because someone tells you to, but doesn't deign to explain why. Don't believe that an "intellectual" story has merit just because someone claiming to be literate puts it online because they have an MFA in douche baggery--I mean creative writing.
Don't start to believe, just because you've heard it over and over, that a website is a magazine. It's a website. Just because someone is under the age of 45 does not mean they hold the key to Pandora's box of "cool." You know? There are super cool people of all ages.
Art, fashion, culture and the love of food and wine can be shared by everyone. There isn't one person who needs to be left out when it comes to the enjoyment of these experiences. And anyone who gets off on the idea of being misunderstood deserves their fate: life lived in a place built on pretension, ironically devoid of meaning, heart and soul. Peopled now by hangers-on, those desperate to belong, spitting and sputtering away on nothing but fumes.
No comments:
Post a Comment