Stuff@Night is out with its “Clubs Issue.” I’m just wondering: Isn’t that a little like Playboy coming out with a “Naked Chicks Issue?” Or Newsweek coming out with a “News Issue?”
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Department of Redundancy Department?
27 FebBiting My Tongue
19 FebI was already sort of embarrassed to be buying the three magazines I did today at Barnes & Noble, but somehow, it made me feel better that I didn’t make a bad situation even worse. To wit:
Exhibit A:
The cashier rings up my copy of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue and I notice the price. So I say to her, “Wow, six bucks for that thing?” And she says, “Well, it’s a special issue.” And I almost replied to her, “It’s not as special as it used to be,” and explained why I was saying that, but I figured it was better to just bite my tongue.
Exhibit B:
The cashier rings up my copy of Every Day with Rachael Ray and comments to me, “I didn’t know Rachael Ray had a magazine.” And while my actual response to her was an emasculating, “Yes, she’s had it for more than a year now,” I almost said, referring to the other magazine I was buying, “Yes, and so does that guy from M*A*S*H.”
So yeah, that situation could have been much worse.
Foresight is 20/20
16 JanFile this post under: Patting myself on the back; Ego stroking
Watching the Golden Globes Monday night, I was struck by how cool it is to know that I interviewed Jennifer Hudson before she became, well, Jennifer Hudson, Golden Globe winner, big huge star, and likely Oscar winner. So allow me to re-post a link to my story from the December issue of Continental magazine, and to send some public props out to Todd, who helped me set up the interview back in, like, September. And if you still haven’t seen Dreamgirls, well, what are you waiting for? I’ve seen it twice and I’d gladly see it again. And again.
Maybe my review isn’t enough and you need some further proof of how good the movie — and Jennifer herself — is. So here’s a link to Jen’s recent appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, where she performed “I’m Changing,” or you can just watch it below. I’m so impressed that I got to chat with Jennifer on the way up. It’s so cool. And I can’t wait to say that I interviewed an Oscar winner. That’s much cooler than being able to say I interviewed a Tony winner.
Anyway, enjoy this clip of Jennifer Hudson on Letterman and go see the movie.
It’s Me!
17 Dec
Just wanted to take a moment to say thanks to Time magazine for naming me Person of the Year in its new issue.
Alright, so technically the honor goes to “You,” but since “You” in this case is “Me,” I’ll accept it on my own behalf.
The magazine is recognizing all of us bloggers and YouTubers and Myspacers and Mash-Uppers and so on who collectively have put our lives out there, shared our hobbies, told our stories, made the world laugh and cry, got to know one another, and, put front-and-center for all to see “the stupidity of crowds as well as its wisdom.” Continue reading
Dreamy
3 DecIf you’re at all interested, just wanted to point out that my profile of Jennifer Hudson, which appears in the new issue of Continental, is now online. Jennifer, you may recall, was a finalist on American Idol a few years ago (the year Fantasia won), and she’s likely to be an Oscar-winner for her role in the new movie, Dreamgirls. I got to chat with her on the way up, which I thought was pretty cool.
Also in this issue is a story about the new show High Fidelity, which opens on Broadway this week (it’s based on the movie and book). You may recall I saw the show when it was in Boston a couple months back, and while I didn’t love it, I did think the music was good. Anyway, I hope the show does well regardless.
Booked
20 Sep
Back in the day, I was an avid reader of Swing magazine, which was published by Ralph Lauren’s son David and aimed to inspire twentysomethings to be active members of society (or something like that). In one issue, there was a profile of a young writer named Brad Meltzer, whose new book The Tenth Justice was getting good buzz. Brad was being hailed as “the next John Grisham.” Being a young writer myself, I was inspired by Brad’s success and decided to go to a book reading/signing and meet him in person. When the time came after Brad read from the book, I stood up and asked him a question about his web site and the character sketches, which I enjoyed. Or maybe it was a question about the movie rights, which had just been sold. Or actually, I think I asked two questions.
Anyway, Brad left a good impression on me that night, and when he came out with his next book a year or two later, I went to that signing too. Of course, just like I had done at Brad’s first reading, I stood up and asked a question when he opened things up to a Q&A. Brad remembered me, and later he wrote something nice in my book, thanking me for coming back.
Long story short, Brad is one of the nicest writers I’ve ever met, one of the real good guys, and that’s why every time he’s in town with a new book, I make a point of going to his readings/signings. And yes, every time I also ask him a question, and every time Brad remembers me (tho not necessarily by name) and writes something really cool in my book. So I’ve followed his career over the years; I own all his novels (plus the graphic novels Idenity Crisis and Green Arrow: Archer’s Quest) — though admittedly, I haven’t read them all — and I watched Jack and Bobby, the WB show he created two seasons ago. (And a fun fact is that he was Real World: San Francisco cast member Judd Winick‘s roommate in college.)
I tell you all this because Brad’s in town today (Wednesday) to promote his sixth novel, The Book of Fate, which has been getting some great reviews and debuted at the top of the New York Times Bestseller list last week. The book’s a thriller set in Washington, D.C., about an attempted presidential assassination, the secret society of Masons, and all kinds of other stuff. He wrote it with some research help from former Presidents Clinton and Bush. I’m not doing a very good job of selling the book, so I encourage you to check out Brad’s web site, where you can learn more about it. Brad will be reading from Fate at Brookline Booksmith in Coolidge Corner at 7 p.m., and if you’re free, he’s worth listening to, meeting, and reading. Just thought I’d do my part and give him a plug here. Look for me. I’ll be there.
Things That Drive Me Crazy
25 Aug
Number 27: Having to flip through pages and pages and pages and pages of ads before I get to the Table of Contents in a magazine, as I do this month for the new issue of GQ. I get it that ads keep the cost of the magazine down, and I’d rather have the ads up front so they’re not interrupting the features, and yes I do work in the magazine world, and blah blah blah all that stuff, but you know that there’s a problem when the TOC doesn’t appear until page 86 and magazine feels the need to tell you on each of the three pages where you’ll find each successive page of the TOC because they’re practically buried. I say move half the ads to the back of the book. No one really looks at that many ads in a row anyway. At least I don’t.
Number 28: Buying tickets for things. I used to go to a lot of concerts, but for about a year I didn’t go to a single one, partly because it was so damned annoying and frustrating to get tickets. Even if you were a member of a fan club (which I was) and got to take advantage of a presale (which I did), the tickets available in that presale weren’t always the better ones. And on the public onsale date, even if you kept hitting “refresh” on your web browser on the Ticketmaster web site, at the minute the tickets went on sale, somehow they were either already nearly sold out or you couldn’t buy very good seats. And don’t get me started on buying on the phone. I didn’t even try to buy Red Sox tickets this year. So it made me more frustrated to see that my two recent experiences with Ticketmaster — buying tickets for Jamie Cullum and The Killers — weren’t any more pleasant. Thankfully, I got tickets to both events. But I didn’t enjoy it.
Number 29: The people who work in my building on the lower floor and can’t walk down one flight of stairs to get there. We only have one elevator working, and it’s a slow-moving one. There’s one floor below the ground floor, and it’s easily accessible, and it’s beyond me why the people who work there wait and wait for the elevator to descend when they could more easily just take the stairs. While I’m on the building subject, I also hate the people who go out for a smoke and stand right in front of the door so I have to walk through their smoke to get anywhere. Yuck.
(Alright, fine. So the list is a lot longer at this point than 29. Didn’t want you to think I was that irritable. These are just the things that are annoying me today, right now.)
Hey, I Know That Guy
1 Aug
If you turn to page 82 of the new Improper Bostonian (with Josh Beckett on the cover), you may see a familiar face smiling and standing in front of the Bronson Gates on the Paramount Pictures studio lot (and yes, holding up a picture of the Improper).
It’s me (big surprise), and it’s a picture taken during my recent trip to L.A.
That picture in particular was taken by Todd when I visited him at work. (He actually had to take it twice until I got it just right. This one here is the other one we took.)
Alright, so it’s not the “Improperazzi” or the “Proper Bostonians” section (which I still would love to be in one day), but this has to be the next best thing, right?
It’s definitely better than the “Improper Impersonals,” that’s for sure. I’ve already been in that section (against my wishes).
A Real Show Man
12 Jun
The Tony Awards were handed out last night, and for the fourth year in a row, Continental has proven to be a positive jinx. What I mean is, whatever we’ve had on the cover of our May issue has won. In 2003, it was Marissa Jaret Winokur, who won best actress for Hairspray. In 2004, it was Idina Menzel, who won best actress for Wicked. Last year, it was Spamalot, which won best musical. And this year, it was LaChanze, who won best actress for The Color Purple. The cooler part, at least for me, is that I interviewed Idina Menzel and LaChanze thinking both would be a front-runner for the award. I also interviewed Sutton Foster, who was nominated last year and this year (though she didn’t win either year), and suggested profiling Winokur back in 2003. So, because my Tony prognostication skills are apparently quite good, I just thought I’d gloat for a minute on here. Congrats, LaChanze!
Purple Read
1 MayAnother story of mine has gone live online, so I thought I’d post a link.
I interviewed LaChanze, the star of Broadway’s The Color Purple, for the May issue of Continental. Just click on the link to check it out. Continue reading
Martin's Musings 