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I was just reminded of this by a friend, and I want to see in retrospect if I am really just clueless, or people are really that dumb.
I used to write for my school's magazine. It's a "culture and arts" magazine, meaning people basically write pretentious shit about their own fashion line and parashooting and their uncle who was a heroin addict (all this has been done). Occassionally you get a real gem, like last semester there was a piece of Afghanistan with just the most gorgeous pictures ever...
but then there are some real duds. And I'm not talking about the stories. The first time I was on the mag people were throwing around ideas for stories, and somebody said "we should spend 24 hours in Walmart and write about that," I'm sure as a joke. At which point our advisor says "Hey that's a great idea!" I'm thinking this must be one of those pop culture jokes that get by me ... but it isn't. A semester later, our cover story is "24 HOURS AT WALMART."
I want to know if I'm just clueless, or if the people on this magazine are really so stupid to think that was a good story idea. Would you want to read about something like that? I mean... jesus christ wtf? So ya, tell me what you think in the poll. You have to understand, I'm not trying to make fun of my coworkers. I am legitimately confused as to how the entire staff got itself worked up about this article, and if I just missed the point.
Oh, and it was terribly written.
Poll: Would you read an article about spending 24 hrs in walmart?
(Vote): Yes
(Vote): No
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I might give it a look-over. I'm not saying I think it's a good idea, but it might be interesting to see what they did with it.
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Yea lol the comments about all the fat fucks and immigrants would be hours of entertainment. 24 hours.
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what the hell is wallmart?
oh, sorry... waLmart
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The other people at your school's magazine sound mentally deficient
Which works out really because you'd have to be mentally deficient to willingly read 24 hours in walmart
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Think of a catchy title and write from an interesting point of view.. not so much being at walmart for 24hrs but w/e people behavior or some crap like that...
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I would probably start reading the article just to see what kind of point they're trying to make. When I realize that they don't have one I would get angry for having my time wasted and promptly rip up the article.
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telling us what the article is about is absolutely not enough information to say whether or not we'd read it. the way the article is written is what it is all about. they could right a good piece on watching sap fall off trees. If the writer sucks, the writing sucks. the opposite will also be true.
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i'd skim it... but spending 24 hours in a wal-mart is as interesting as a being stuck in an elevator for that long
o wait . . .
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meh I wouldn't read an article about just spending a nice boring 24hrs in Wal-Mart
I might be interested in reading the experiences of something insane/ridiculous/interesting going on during your stay in wal-mart....
voted no
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HEY! GUESS WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
....
People are morons. This is a prime example and the sooner you realize it, the sooner you can take in this retarded shit that people do all the time without getting worked up over it.
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Hong Kong20321 Posts
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i would read out of sheer curiosity.
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If I was on the train I'd read it. Wouldn't go out of my way. But I'd certainly be curious.
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what would you doing at wal-mart?
people watching?
or just standing around
or marching endlessly through the aisles, checking the low prices
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That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
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On July 23 2008 22:56 DoctorHelvetica wrote:
That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.
Agreed.
I just fail to see the point they're attempting to make.
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Its so stupid that i want to read it.
People are complete idiots.
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On July 23 2008 16:00 Gene wrote:
telling us what the article is about is absolutely not enough information to say whether or not we'd read it. the way the article is written is what it is all about. they could right a good piece on watching sap fall off trees. If the writer sucks, the writing sucks. the opposite will also be true.
This is 100% true. A good writer can turn a shit story into something interesting.
Also, aside from the being there for 24 hours part, you don't explain the whole angle besides that. It could be a piece highlighting the shitty treatment of their employees, it could be something about shitty customer service you get from chain places, it could be something about why mom & pop stores are better than chain megastores and how they are losing out because they can't keep up. It could just be a simple as 'how I lived in walmart for 24 hours off gummy worms'.
Honestly, there's a lot of different angles posible. I'd definitely read at least the first 1/4 of the article out of curiosity. You can tell by then whether it's worth reading on or not.
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You wouldn't happen to still have a copy you could scan for us would you?
Anyways, this actually could make a decent story as long as (as everyone has said) the author is an awesome writer. Judging from your post though, that didn't seem to be the case.
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Honestly, there's a lot of different angles posible. I'd definitely read at least the first 1/4 of the article out of curiosity. You can tell by then whether it's worth reading on or not.
I did mention it was pretty terribly written. Let me see if I can find the PDFs online... no i couldn't, but you can download last semester's edition here: http://www.ohlonemidnight.com/index.html
As somebody who's been writing for a while, I do understand what you guys are saying about the angle. But there wasn't an angle. It was simply "24 hours at walmart". IIRC, the piece read like that too. Just 24 hours at walmart -- first we did this, then we did that, then we met this guy.
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Oh, it's certainly possible it sucked. It's a college paper lol. I'm just saying it could've potentially been good in the right hands.
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I actually read something on this on the internet a few years ago and it was a really good read.
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EPT
