$400, plz - Veneer "Magazine"

[Almanzo]

I was just kidding. I'd buy an Xbox 360 first.

[jebreject]

I wouldn't buy one of them shits either

Not that I could afford it in the first place

[jebreject]

PS I'm sure it goes without saying I don't really want to beat you up but the idea of spending $400 on a magazine subscription seriously blows my mind, like we're from different universes or something. Like we use different math or something.

[Almanzo]

PS I'm sure it goes without saying I don't really want to beat you up but the idea of spending $400 on a magazine subscription seriously blows my mind, like we're from different universes or something. Like we use different math or something.

For what it's worth (absolutely nothing; i'm broke as balls), it is squarebound, comics with a bookshelf, and is a very palpable "art object" on its own - just while we're calling it a "magazine."

[Antero]

*twitches and explodes*

THAT'S what's been bothering me recently.  An explosion of magazine "art objects" and designer books and so on and so forth - little tchochkes with this (how appropriate) veneer of artness.  They're coffee table books with delusions of grandeur... and it's always imagery that values representation and flat form over texture and composition and, you know, beauty.

Too hipster.  Hipsters make my head hurt.

[Almanzo]

*twitches and explodes*

THAT'S what's been bothering me recently.  An explosion of magazine "art objects" and designer books and so on and so forth - little tchochkes with this (how appropriate) veneer of artness.  They're coffee table books with delusions of grandeur... and it's always imagery that values representation and flat form over texture and composition and, you know, beauty.

Too hipster.  Hipsters make my head hurt.

I see things like $50 plastic cases of designer stickers and stuff like that that drives me nuts, as well as completely insane cofeetable objets d'art full of bullshit adult baby David Shrigley stuff, and it makes me want to join Al Qaeda - but this is something different. It's like any other literary or academic journal, but presented artfully as a neat object. The content is through the roof, and it looks neater than this month's Chicago Mensa Bulletin or Fortean Times.

[SPACERACE]

seriously, it comes with a bookshelf! people spend 400 bux on bookshelves all the time and i don't see anyone smashing the state because of it.

[Bernard]

Goddamn that website is even uglier than the Hold Steady's.

[elpollodiablo]

ZING

[WhereTheSlimeLive]

My friend paid 300 dollars for this book written by Mr Doctor of cult musical oufit Devil Doll.  http://www.hurdygurdy.it/  If you look the guy up, Mario Panciera, I guess he is this famous collector of punk.  He has been writing this "bible" for 9 years where categorizes and gives thorough information for EVERY irish/english punk album/group released no matter how insignificant or brief their career was.  My friend bought the special edition huge one that you can get normally or something.  My friend doesn't even really like punk, he's just really into Devil Doll.

[Andrew_TSKS]

i even had to quit reading "the believer" about 6 months ago, after buying every single issue from #1 on. i just didn't have the time to get through one issue a month anymore. and the $8 per month is only justifiable if i'm actually reading the damn thing.

Eh, if it helps at all, I just got the last issue of a year's subscription this week and I'm not renewing. The last couple of issues have just featured way too much overwritten charmless whimsy (even for me!). It's a shame cos I remember the first few issues being actually interesting.

i intermittently liked stuff in it right up to the very last issue i read, but yeah... i do feel like it was at its peak in the first year or two. whatever, though, i may still get back into it at a later date when i have more time.

[jebreject]

And, man, I miss Stephanie.

Me too! At least I live in the same city as her though. And I could really just, you know, go hang out with her whenever.

[jebreject]

also, reese, yer privilege is showing. you might wanna tuck that back in

[Aglaya]

And, man, I miss Stephanie.

Me too! At least I live in the same city as her though. And I could really just, you know, go hang out with her whenever.

Yea, I met her once when she was down here in Athens, and it was a really fun night.

[dominic]

Goddamn that website is even uglier than the Hold Steady's.

Hey Bernard? When you post catty stuff like this completely out of the blue when Stephanie's not even posting here any more (c.f. wtf?), it makes you look so, so lame. It also makes me inclined to think that you actually *were* using an obviously personal problem with her as an excuse to call her a racist last year - you know, the last time she posted here before she left.

C'mon, lady, you're better than that.

And, man, I miss Stephanie.

I was under the impression that stephanie didn't do the "boy's and girls in america" website, which might be what bernard's talking about. Of course it might not be. 

[lastclearchance]

And, man, I miss Stephanie.

Me too! At least I live in the same city as her though. And I could really just, you know, go hang out with her whenever.

Yea, I met her once when she was down here in Athens, and it was a really fun night.

I met her once when she was in Hoboken, and it was a really fun night. I'm pretty sure everyone who has met her can substitute the location of the meeting and the sentence will still be true.

[Greg Nog]

It didn't even occur to me that Bernard's comment might have anything to do with stephanie.  I thought she just hated the Hold Steady's site design.

Also, Antero:

They're coffee table books with delusions of grandeur.

I think there's like a 99% chance that I will steal this pithy description to refer to something in the near future.  I'm not even sure if it's a fair thing to say about an object, but nevertheless I am delighted by it.

[jebreject]

I was under the impression that stephanie didn't do the "boy's and girls in america" website, which might be what bernard's talking about. Of course it might not be. 

I've said my piece, so I'm going to stay out of this otherwise, but no, Steph did NOT do the new Hold Steady site.

[Bernard]

Huh? Sorry, this is in reference to what?

[Illest Waffle]

Anybody who thinks that this magazine is cool is a massive homo.

The paper I use to wipe my ass is worth more than this magazine. And if you are "excited" about some budget ass ikea looking bookshelf then you ought to go fuck yourself.

You god damn hipster faggots need to stop ruining my nights with dribble like this.

[jebreject]

ftw

[Bernard]

Oh! Ok, I see what's going on here. Well, there are a few different things going on. First of all, I don't know what Stephanie's involvement with the Hold Steady website actually is. I suppose if pressed, I would guess that she updates it with tour info? Something like that? So no, I'm not comparing it to another ugly website as a dig at Stephanie's web design skills, which would be oddly futile, since as you noted she doesn't post here any longer. Second, although I wouldn't have known of their site if it hadn't been for Marie's comment, which I thought was funny, the original joke has since generalized -- I use the Hold Steady as a stand-in for sort of clumsy, unattractive websites.

But the third thing, and this is where we will probably not see eye to eye, is that you a positive relationship with or memory of Stephanie, which has prompted you to take a rather stern and hostile tone with me. And that's fine, but I don't remember my own interactions with her with equal fondness. She was quite unpleasant to me, and without justification. So, I find myself being taken to task for treating somebody I dislike in the way I treat people I dislike. Leaving aside for a moment that I wasn't actually doing what you thought I was doing, I am ill inclined to be upbraided for treating people in a manner I believe is appropriate.

Perhaps it is for the best of the mood of the board if we steer clear of each other, as it seems unlikely that you will approve of my behavior, or that I will consent to take moral instruction from you.

[jebreject]

let's keep talking about class war

[elpollodiablo]

Yeah we're letting this whole stephanie/awful band thing distract us from the issue at hand, which is that reese is Little Lord Fauntleroy and thinks that $400 is a pretty good deal for a magazine or bookshelf

[SPACERACE]

i'm gonna punch you in the pussy pollo