The daily digest of Twin Cities culture | Secrets of the City

Good riddance. That section of the paper had such an identity crisis. The 2 worst parts:

a. the shopping section, where the writers suggest overprices items for MNsotans to buy. That section is done better in MPLS/STPAUL mag, O magazine, any fashion magazine, the Taste section of their own newspaper, etc etc.

b. the feature on the back page, of some worker the area with absurd taste (and probably massive credit card debt). Last week they featured an event planner at the dome, who name-dropped a few pairs of $500+ shoes. um, hello? on your salary? i doubt it. I also strongly doubt that most Strib readers didn't also snicker at that. If we want to read about that kind of consumption, we'll read the NYTimes' style section.

i say let magazines be magazines, and newspapers be freaking NEWSPAPERS.

i also say "struggling with high-end focus of some of our content" means "we couldn't sell ads to any of the high-end names we were dropping, they don't seem to see much value in newsprint."

Write your own post, Paul.

I'm still mad that they dropped the brilliant, modernist design that they implemented in the 60s and 70s. Back then, the Strib had character, at least in terms of design.

But, the, I also miss all of Ferris Alexander's porn theater ads, so what the hell do I know?

Paul -

Maybe no one else is doing anything worth writing about. Let's see the StarTribune is:
1. Buying the company that owns the P. Press
2. Dumping a highly touted new section
3. The largest media outlet in the state and thus frequently taken as represntative most other media.
4. Daily and containing most the news that is discussion worthy
5. Hilariously bad sometimes

If you were being sarcastic, then good one. If not, then some suggestions or original posts would be a good follow up post. I looked down the rest of the listings and enjoyed the baseball, vlogging and visitor posts.

Let's see, we have Peter on one thread and Paul on this one slagging MNspeak. Hmmmm. Oddly, neither gave a real name. Hmmmm. Who's next? Mounds?

As for the Strib killing Signature, it's actually quite interesting, if you are concerned with the business of media. They did launch it to compete with the magazines, because, let's face it, they can't stand to see any other print media in town get any advertising. Its birth and death echoes that of whatever that Friday tabloid section was from a few years ago that tried to compete with City Pages. They try something aimed at a niche, they give it a couple of months, it's not done well, and it doesn't make all the young and poor (like CP readers) or old and rich (like MSP readers) go all ga ga, and so they drop it because someone at corporate noticed that the quarterly results fell below budget because some idiot projected that they could steal all the ads from CP or MSP within a couple of weeks, because, by God, WE'RE THE STAR TRIBUNE.

I should probably go back and break up that last sentence or Peter Scholtes will be all over me.

You can call yourself Bud, Mr. B. Maginnis, but your answers are the same no matter what forum you lurk on. In fact, the guys behind Withering Glance are a) not old (at least not older than you) b) quite smart and funny and c) the producers of what has come to be quite a popular weekly feature, whether you like it or not, so it'll probably be sticking around. As for its "gayness," I think one column a week by openly gay writers isn't out of proportion.

tbart, your assessments are generally right on, though I sometimes don't like to admit it. So what are your predictions in the off event the newspaper of record rolls out a quarterly glossy advertorial product that only goes to people in the burbs making around 200 grand? Let's just "pretend."

I love Withering Glance, but I wish they'd have called it Alpha Sissies.

i hate to say it, but Kersten was spot on with today's column on visa troubles for highly skilled immigrants.

thoughts?

new man, I've heard that, too. Just what the affluent suburbanite needs-- more advertorial than MSP already provides. If I were doing it, I'd assume that the target audience was smarter than they give them credit for being, and offer them a magazine that had actual well-written stories bracketing the high-buck ads. (Insert irony icon here.)

As for Claude and Rick, they are right up there with Kersten and Lileks on the list of stuff I just don't have time to read.

"Alpha Sissies"

I love it!

Mr. bud, I suspect you failed to fully understand Tevlin's comments. I think what he was saying is that lawmakers have been too busy poking their noses in the private lives of gay folks to actually get about the business of, well, legislating... you know, dealing with budgets and such.

Also, I'll fight this one tooth-and-nail: clothing, fashion, hairstyles... this stuff isn't nonsense! It's our life-blood! Oh how I wish straight men from Minnesota would catch on...

Does anyone have a copy of the Gay Agenda for tonight meeting?

I lost my copy and I don't want them to take away my Gucci loafers.