J. Beaman - The Magazine

Best line: “Kucinich drops out, Aragon gets pissed.”

Everyone in the douchosphere is talking about this. Even Josh.

But, Kerry Howley puts it best:

It is in fact a personal essay. Such essays often involve the first person singular, yet somehow we manage not to accuse Joan Didion and Richard Rodriguez of excessive self-love.

The essay is dull because it’s a formulaic redemption narrative, not because it invokes its author. Girl blogs, hurts friends/lovers, despairs, does some other stuff, finds forgiveness, and learns value of kindness and discretion except in instances where the Times Magazine is paying $3 a word. Plug in “drink excessively” every time Gould employs the dubious verb “overshare,” and you’ve got James Frey without the lying. Condemn her if you like, but she’ll laugh all the way to a fat book contract and Oprah endorsement.

One other thing about sexism. Sometimes I think that if I talk about how hot someone is, I’m automatically being sexist. I don’t really mind, it’s just annoying.

Kerry Howley is way hotter (and, to enhance, way smarter) than Emily Gould.

How awesome would it be if CNN, Fox and MSNBC did this instead of freaking out repeatedly about lost blond women.

And flickr’s new video stuff looks great.