Time Declines Further
Dear Editors of Time:
I remember the mid-1980s, when desktop publishing made a huge variety of fonts available to the masses, and everybody felt compelled to use them all — from Aardvark to Zulu — on every term paper, brochure, poster, and letter to mom that they spat out of their spiffy new laser printers. That was about the same era in which Time decided it wanted to be able to use color on every single page in the magazine.
Well, the rest of us eventually developed some design sense, but it appears from Pages 60-61 of this week's issue (2012 May 28) that you guys still have your rainbow fixation after all these decades. Furthermore, it looks like you got a deep discount on a bunch of blank WHAM! BIFF!! BAM!!! KA-POW!!!! stars from some going-out-of-business comic-book company and were desperate to use them all up before they went bad.
Has it never dawned on you that the one place in your magazine where people are really interested in content — you know, actual words — would be the book reviews? It's frequented (I know this may come as a shock) by people who actually like to read. Sadly, this year's summer-books section continues a long, tragic decline in Time's ratio of text to square centimetres. And in 2012 it seems to have crossed the cotton-candy threshold and now comprises more empty space than substance.
As a long-time subscriber to your publication, I wish you well in your quest for the Newbery and Caldecott Medals, but it would sure be nice if every now and again you'd come up with something for those of us who still read it for the articles. Or maybe consider celebrating your 2nd century with a more appropriate name.
= = = = = =
anoesis [an-oh-ee-sis], n., a state of mind consisting of pure sensation or emotion without cognitive content
I remember the mid-1980s, when desktop publishing made a huge variety of fonts available to the masses, and everybody felt compelled to use them all — from Aardvark to Zulu — on every term paper, brochure, poster, and letter to mom that they spat out of their spiffy new laser printers. That was about the same era in which Time decided it wanted to be able to use color on every single page in the magazine.
Well, the rest of us eventually developed some design sense, but it appears from Pages 60-61 of this week's issue (2012 May 28) that you guys still have your rainbow fixation after all these decades. Furthermore, it looks like you got a deep discount on a bunch of blank WHAM! BIFF!! BAM!!! KA-POW!!!! stars from some going-out-of-business comic-book company and were desperate to use them all up before they went bad.
Has it never dawned on you that the one place in your magazine where people are really interested in content — you know, actual words — would be the book reviews? It's frequented (I know this may come as a shock) by people who actually like to read. Sadly, this year's summer-books section continues a long, tragic decline in Time's ratio of text to square centimetres. And in 2012 it seems to have crossed the cotton-candy threshold and now comprises more empty space than substance.
As a long-time subscriber to your publication, I wish you well in your quest for the Newbery and Caldecott Medals, but it would sure be nice if every now and again you'd come up with something for those of us who still read it for the articles. Or maybe consider celebrating your 2nd century with a more appropriate name.
= = = = = =
anoesis [an-oh-ee-sis], n., a state of mind consisting of pure sensation or emotion without cognitive content
posted by Richard S. Russell | 7:21 PM
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