Marathon runners, remember this name: Gabriel Sherman. Mr. Sherman runs marathons (6!) but doesn't want you to run in any, believing that you slow johnnys-come-lately to the scene have ruined the marathon...Should we implore Mr. Sherman to stop writing because he's ruining journalism with his shallow, insubstantial articles? Hell no! Keep writing, Mr. Sherman...we'll keep reading in the hopes that you'll one day improve and recognize the importance of, every once in awhile, doing something for which you're not ideally suited because you *want* to.
The democratization of the marathon, Jason KottkeI think that cool hunting, trend forecasting, and everything else in the culture industry may just be morally bankrupt...And that has given a lot of people running trendspotting sites and online magazines a pretty big ego...Don't believe the Hypebeast! Don’t listen to Josh Rubin (dude doesn’t get irony) and more than anything else don't believe that these dudes know any more than you do. Technology enables schmucks and hot things alike and you are just as capable of finding out what is "next" as the dude next to you.
The Lies The Culture Complex Tells You, Julie FredricksonTucker Max, the rare successful blogger turned author of "I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell" (tucker max.com), is a bit more, um, direct. "These bloggers aren't good writers and they really don't get a lot of traffic if you really look at the numbers," he said. "They had a blog, people liked reading the blog, then they wrote stuff people don't want to read. Who cares what Jessica Cutler's novel is about? People liked reading she had sex with senators who paid her (money)."
Publishers say few hits on blog books, Boston Herald via GawkerI don't really have an opinion on these topics one way or another, but I certainly dig the crankification of blogger volume. For that reason, Jason, Julie and Tucker get YM's
"Time Bomb Tom" Award of the Week.
