nick sylvester = maker upper

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ok that was probably true

― gear (gear), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:02 (twenty years ago)

and sylvester should take comfort in that there's two things that can happen to him now -
1) 'serious' journalist fate (janet cooke, ruth shalit, stephen glass) - no longer work in journalism, get better paying, more prestigious job instead (ok, i guess it could be argued cooke made a lateral move after the post)(note: ignore possibility of consequences if your name is mike barnicle, rick bragg, joe klein).
2) fluffpiece/lifestyle feature 'journalist' fate (neil strauss, tom junod, richard meltzer) - positive: nothing negative happens to yr career. negative: this means you're still a fluffpiece/lifestyle feature 'journalist'. positive: except now you're better paid. negative: you become an even bigger asshole.

Janet Cooke worked at a department store for like 20 years or something!

― Whiney G. Weingarten (whineyg), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:05 (twenty years ago)

Nothing much here except:

Also: Yes, yes, we know about that essentially useless Editor’s Note. More on that TK later.

Hmmm.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:07 (twenty years ago)

They asked for and paid for a Nick Sylvester piece, and they got one. Unless the editor specifically said "hey, this is going on the front page under the general news and editorial section" it's possible (probable?) Nick didn't know what he was supposed to turn in. With things the way they are (I'm still amazed the Riff Raff column exists, and I like a reasonable portion of Nick's stuff) it's not surprising that he could make the front page with a parody article.

Is there anything Nick's written for the voice that hasn't had some sort of parody disclaimer or was at least written in the guise of being a gossipy music article?

― mike h. (mike h.), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:07 (twenty years ago)

I love Situationism as much as the next guy (if the next Guy is Debord; get it? get it?) but, for instance, the same Voice issue has a Sylvester story entitled "E-thics" (oof). It's about viral marketing schemes. I would like to be able to take the facts that Nick cites (e.g., that the "Mothers Against Noise" joke was bankrolled by Universal) seriously. Sadly, I can't.

― Never Work (joseph cotten), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:08 (twenty years ago)

I love Situationism as much as the next guy (if the next Guy is Debord; get it? get it?)

I am going to steal the fuck out of that.

Isn't it pronounced "Gee" though?

― Whiney G. Weingarten (whineyg), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:10 (twenty years ago)

Trife, you shoukd get a VV blog where you write like you write on ILX

― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:10 (twenty years ago)

like i said whiney - lateral move!

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:10 (twenty years ago)

hey JB are you asserting that Sylvester has the writing chops of any of those other writers? because that's kind of a mitigating factor when it comes to taking comfort.

― don weiner (don weiner), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:11 (twenty years ago)

what the fuck has this got to do with situationism?

― The Man Without Shadow (Enrique), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:12 (twenty years ago)

er, don, neil strauss's chops?

― The Man Without Shadow (Enrique), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:13 (twenty years ago)

captain save-a-hack logic

― ,,,,,,,,,,,,, Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:14 (twenty years ago)

writing chops - meltzer>junod>sylvester>strauss (note: strauss best seller in the bunch)(ie. nick you might want to think about pitching a teagan presley bio right now while the iron's hot).

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:16 (twenty years ago)

meltzer never made anything up! especially when he did!

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:19 (twenty years ago)

maybe a book on "trap-hop" modelled after
http://tommcmahon.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/leniafrica2.jpg

― ,,,,,,,,,,,,, Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:19 (twenty years ago)

haha i thought that graphic was gonna be the david foster wallace hip-hop book at first

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:25 (twenty years ago)

http://img314.imageshack.us/img314/1322/traptop0pc.jpg

― LYRICAL MR PERFECT, Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:26 (twenty years ago)

haha that book is pretty good tho

xpos YES

― ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:27 (twenty years ago)

blount, your gap between junod and sylvester is approximately 1.43298 zillion miles.

― don weiner (don weiner), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:30 (twenty years ago)

he should avoid a hip-hop book, those things never sell. teagan presley bio all the way, and then a funny how to book about scoring milfs, then maybe a collection of 'essays' on various pop trivia including a first published in esquire feature on mischa barton that may stretch the truth slightly, then, if the time is right, a guest shot on around the horn.

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:32 (twenty years ago)

i predict a long career of being the guy making funny hand gestures in the background of cobrasnake photos

― gear (gear), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:33 (twenty years ago)

who are you, his agent?

i'm sure that's been the gameplan since his freshman year.

xpost

― The Man Without Shadow (Enrique), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:34 (twenty years ago)

is it time for the "WHAT'S ON NICK SYLVESTER'S IPOD?" thread yet?

― sean gramophone (Sean M), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:35 (twenty years ago)

lol @ gear

maybe a reader-submitted mcsweeneys list too?

― ,,,,,,,,,,, Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:35 (twenty years ago)

Is there anything Nick's written for the voice that hasn't had some sort of parody disclaimer or was at least written in the guise of being a gossipy music article?

um, this story?

i know all the facts aren't out, so it's hard to judge this situation completely. but i'm kinda weirded out by people making the "c'mon-they-should've-known" defense. even if you think the editors should've known -- which is a stretch, and you'd need to know what kind of talk went on between reporter and editors -- there's no way the reader can know. and yeah, it's fluff. guess what? writing good fluff is hard. having the right quotes, the right anecdotes, it takes work like anything else. making shit up is making shit up.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:40 (twenty years ago)

F U N N I E S T W A Y S T O S E L L C R A C K

By Nick Sylvester

Use slang I can't understand.

Be from the south, or at least, Virginia.

Have avant garde minimalist production.

Wear Bathing Ape sometimes, if not a bucket hat.

Be poor and Black.

― ,,,,,,,,,,,, Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:41 (twenty years ago)

xpost: (and i can't believe people are getting into whether the guy who apparently wasn't there and never talked to the writer is a fratboy or not. that's the lamest excuse i've ever heard. there's no "unless it's a fratboy" exemption in the ethics rules.)

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:42 (twenty years ago)

xpost

Capital "B," cuz.

― Jimmy Mod: The Prettiest Flower In The Pond (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:42 (twenty years ago)

is might magazine responsible for this klosterman/strauss/sylvester type of fluffpiece writer? i never read it but it seems like eggers pre-new sincerity definitely would've been this type of asshole.

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:42 (twenty years ago)

capital b what?? i doubt nick would put caps on 'black' (unless he was poppin a cap on a black lol slang) but i do

― ,,,,,,,,,,,,, Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:44 (twenty years ago)

is it time for the "WHAT'S ON NICK SYLVESTER'S IPOD?" thread yet?

-- sean gramophone (sea...), March 2nd, 2006 11:35 AM.

Yes.

― Edward III (edward iii), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:45 (twenty years ago)

i'm still wondering how making up the quotes somehow, in some people's mind, automatically makes the piece a "parody."

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:50 (twenty years ago)

it means indie nerd rock critics w/ ties to pfork & the voice are choosing bullshit hipster crew love over journalism

― ,,,,,,,,,,,,, Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:53 (twenty years ago)

like all those republicans who 'stand behind' tom delay

― ,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:54 (twenty years ago)

ethan yr verging on dom territory here

― ham'ron (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:54 (twenty years ago)

amirite?

― ham'ron (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:54 (twenty years ago)

Oh OUCH

― Dan (That's Mean, Jess) Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:55 (twenty years ago)

haha

― ham'ron (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:56 (twenty years ago)

sorry, sorry

― ham'ron (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:56 (twenty years ago)

'this thread needs to go, actually'

― ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:56 (twenty years ago)

that was actually a fabricated quote on my part from myself

― ham'ron (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:56 (twenty years ago)

"verging"

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:56 (twenty years ago)

any similarities between crack rappers and actual people, living or dead, are coincidental

― ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:58 (twenty years ago)

I shall be keeping all your names for the roman a clef about ILX I am writing with Edmund Morris, who shall interact with all of us when we were six.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:58 (twenty years ago)

Though perhaps 'interact' is too neutral a term.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 2 March 2006 16:58 (twenty years ago)

seriously trife if anything get on him for biting aidin vaziri's style, failing to kiss musicians' asses is hardly a crime even if *gasp* they're rappers. not everyone can be byron allen dude.

― j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 2 March 2006 17:01 (twenty years ago)

"Calliope niggas made the St. Thomas look like church..."

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Thursday, 2 March 2006 17:01 (twenty years ago)

Wondering when this would get back around to Nik Cohn.

― deej.. (deej..), Thursday, 2 March 2006 17:04 (twenty years ago)

noblesse oblige is better than nothing i guess

― ham'ron (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 2 March 2006 17:04 (twenty years ago)

failing to kiss musician's asses /= dehumanizing solipsistic bullshit, half of which is made up

― ,,,,,,,,,,,, Thursday, 2 March 2006 17:07 (twenty years ago)

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