Mongrel and Foggy Notions RIP (2 Viewers)

[theoootini]

reading anything longer than a blog entry is painful on the web. and lush pics and design are a big part of why i buy magazines when i do. so yeah, magazines.

 

[snakybus]

But people don't read magazines for listings, or to find out what album is worth geting, really. They want to be entertained, or enthralled, or challenged. Good writing does this. And the writing is better in print journalism, because good writers will want to work for print mags for prestige reasons, because they pay, and because, well, the writing is better (which is a chicken-and-egg thing, but that's the way it is). Also, people like reading stuff on paper. It feels nicer. And people regard stuff you read on paper as being of more value. Anyone with basic web design skills can set up a web site and review shit on it, but it takes a lot more to set up a print magazine. I think it's a shame that both mags are going under, especially Foggy Notions.

 

[Anthony]

Anyone with basic web design skills can set up a web site and review shit on it,

yea but who's going to read that?
If there is no website that offers an appealing design (not blog) with long features then there's a massive hole in the market.

 

[theoootini]

But people don't read magazines for listings, or to find out what album is worth geting, really. They want to be entertained, or enthralled, or challenged. Good writing does this. And the writing is better in print journalism, because good writers will want to work for print mags for prestige reasons, because they pay, and because, well, the writing is better (which is a chicken-and-egg thing, but that's the way it is). Also, people like reading stuff on paper. It feels nicer. And people regard stuff you read on paper as being of more value. Anyone with basic web design skills can set up a web site and review shit on it, but it takes a lot more to set up a print magazine. I think it's a shame that both mags are going under, especially Foggy Notions.

YEAH!

 

[coast to coast]

I agree that the web is limited in some ways but I think the writing on Pitchfork is miles better than in the Foggy Notions magazine. I just don't think a lot of journalism is very good so you feel like you've invested less in it on the internet, you feel less let down by it. Plus when people are writing purely for the sake of writing, rather than to fill a regular (or highly irrelgular in the case of Foggy Notions) space you can most of the time tell when the passion and drive to make the piece really excellent is lacking.

The most interesting piece in Foggy Notions I can recall was the interview with Dave Longstreth and I thought he made that interesting. I like Pitchfork for its recommendations and free music.

For all my criticisms of Foggy Notions it was still pretty good, just never midnblowing and they book fucking savage gigs - so best of luck to them!!!

 

[snakybus]

yea but who's going to read that?

Yeah, that was my point! Gimme some biscuits there Antny

 

[CitySickness]

yea but who's going to read that?
If there is no website that offers an appealing design (not blog) with long features then there's a massive hole in the market.

See posts above - the web just isn't a suitable vehicle for dramatic editorial design, and anything above 1,000 words onscreen will break your eyeballs.

 

[snakybus]

Okay, so we agree that, in general, print journalism is far better. So basically it's free stuff that has made the internet rule and push print mags under.

Sounds familiar.

Somebody should write a thesis on the internet and how it's making people lower their standards. People will read more and more crap writing, listen to crappier mp3s, have crap conversations on message boards, watch crappier versions of movies, and play crap online games instead of proper things like sports and going to the pub. And you do it all while glued to your screen, not interacting with people.

Somebody other than me.

 

[CitySickness]

Okay, so we agree that, in general, print journalism is far better. So basically it's free stuff that has made the internet rule and push print mags under.

Nah. The problems occur when mags and newspapers start trying to imitate the internet, instead of playing to their own unique strengths: "We need more pull quotes! More bite-size pieces! More navigation! Hundreds of pictures! Fifty sponsor logos!"

None of these things happened to Mongrel/Foggy Notions of course - they both assumed their readers had a decent concentration span - but I don't think either of them were forced to fold due to financial pressures.

 

[killy kill]

buy zines

 

[theoootini]

I don't think either of them were forced to fold due to financial pressures.

didn't it say in the editorial of moggy fongrel that they had huge printer debts?

 

[Jim A. Morrish]

didn't it say in the editorial of moggy fongrel that they had huge printer debts?

wouldn't be surprised, it's practically impossible to make a small mag break even in a cuntry this size unless you've tons of ads and it didn't look to me like FN had a huge amount of big paying/corporate ads.

as i said earlier it can be a total dose trying to get these kind of ads when the editors would much rather put their time and efforts into the actual mag content itself and run good gigs, in the end it just wears one down

 

[CitySickness]

didn't it say in the editorial of moggy fongrel that they had huge printer debts?

Which now, the Mongrel editorial? I think they said quite a few things in there that might not be strictly true.

 

[theoootini]

Which now, the Mongrel editorial? I think they said quite a few things in there that might not be strictly true.

ah yeah. thought that might have been the grain of truth though.


...wait butler isn't going to the catholic weekly??!

 

[IcaruS]

Oh well.

 

[Unicron]

I agree that the web is limited in some ways but I think the writing on Pitchfork is miles better than in the Foggy Notions magazine.

You must have really hated the writing in FN then dude. Some of pitchfork's copy is atrocious (mainly in the reviews rather than the news).

 

[cephalopod]

I've split up with Pitchfork

It was very liberating. You see they have the arrogance of self-appointed taste-makers now! Too much power as well, they are making and breaking bands with their reviews, and most of all, they slated the last Kings Of Leon album, which I think is a MONSTER

 

[lympog]

never been a huge fan of either - i never connected with mongrel and foggy often bored me to tears
it's still sad that we're losing two publications and it kind of puts state magazine in more interesting position, because there is now a huge gap in the music media market

leigh

 

[Anarcho Munk]

I was a bit pissed off with Foggy Notions when I realised they did an exact copy and paste job from Wikipedia for the Steve Albini article they did.

That's just not good enough.

I still enjoyed some of their magazine though. And they had some amazing cd's with stuff I wouldn't have listened to if I had come across them elsewhere..|..|

 

[love jones]

mongrel - post celtic tiger, pseudo hip. trendy, but NOT cool. too much fashion and terrible pointless music reviews. Foggy notions - only looked through it once, but if this was Manchester in the late 70s early 80s, it would of done well.