While perusing this week’s Adweek, the article Who Said Women Aren’t Funny? grabbed my attention….as I was obviously wondering “Who Said That??” It turns out, Christopher “Hitch” Hitchens, an acclaimed author, in a 2007 Vanity Fair column said just that, and chalked it up to the absence of a Y chromosome.
Adweek recently combated his argument by touting female writers who are emerging as driving forces behind comedy pilots, one example being Mindy Kaling who has written over 20 episodes of The Office. I dispute his argument by touting ANDERSON’s own Laurie SantaLucia and Lauren Streiff who not only inspire daily laughter around the office, but who also were the masterminds behind ANDERSON’s A Very ANDERSON Holiday, our office Holiday “card” sent out to all our friend’s and family in December. While my own funny bone may be slightly broken, it’s undoubted that female comedy writers/actors are definitely on the rise, and I can’t wait to see who will join the ranks of talents like Ellie Kemper, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, and Tina Fey, just to name a few.
If you’re interested in reading more, check out the article here!
R.I.P Christopher Hitchens (1949 – 2011)
It’s common knowledge that the Print medium is on a decline. With all of the new technology out there, people are just not turning to magazines and newspapers as much as they used to, and instead are turning to the Internet for their news, gossip, etc. Adweek ran an article, ” ‘People’ Turns to Tech to Promote Sexiest Man”, which shows this exact notion is plaguing People magazine. Each year, People magazine puts out it’s “Sexiest Man Alive” issue and in past years, the issue has done quite well and even doubled the average newsstand sales. However, People knows that even the “Sexiest Man” can’t drive sales this year. They are turning to motion-activated bins that will play LMFAO’s “Sexy and I Know It” to draw people’s attention and to hopefully sell this issue. Even Bradley Cooper, this year’s sexiest, needs a gimmicky push to get his issue off the shelves.
Personally, I am old fashioned. Even in this industry, where I get to learn about and stay on top of new technology, I still enjoy picking up a physical magazine and feeling the crunch of the glossy paper as I turn the pages. For me, playing LMFAO would get a good laugh out of me. However, I don’t know that I would be any more inclined to buy a magazine unless I thought the content was worth it. It’s the cost that keeps me very choosy on which magazines I purchase. At a $4-$6 rate for most magazines, I am not going to just pick up anything with a shiny cover. I always do the quick read-through while waiting in the grocery store line to get a sense of whether the content is worth purchasing. With all the technological advances that have occurred and that will continue to occur, Print publications just need to create even better content (and yes, prettier, more artful pictures) to stay in the game. (P.S. Ryan Gosling, runner up to the Sexiest Man, apparently YOU need to step up your game as well)
