Comments on: Bookshelf: “The Mental Floss History of the World” http://popdose.com/bookshelf-the-mental-floss-history-of-the-world/ your daily dose of pop culture Tue, 24 Nov 2009 01:24:47 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: The Popdose Interview: mental_floss | Popdose http://popdose.com/bookshelf-the-mental-floss-history-of-the-world/comment-page-1/#comment-9648 The Popdose Interview: mental_floss | Popdose Thu, 11 Dec 2008 09:39:04 +0000 http://popdose.com/?p=8925#comment-9648 [...] of Trivial Pursuit — you could do far worse than The Mental Floss History of the World (go here for a review). Recently, the book’s co-author, Eric Sass, and mental_floss magazine [...] [...] of Trivial Pursuit — you could do far worse than The Mental Floss History of the World (go here for a review). Recently, the book’s co-author, Eric Sass, and mental_floss magazine [...]

]]> By: Jack Feerick http://popdose.com/bookshelf-the-mental-floss-history-of-the-world/comment-page-1/#comment-42187 Jack Feerick Tue, 25 Nov 2008 02:57:00 +0000 http://popdose.com/?p=8925#comment-42187 It taught me a lot of being a professiobal, I'll tell you that - especially with regards to noting the editorial "voice" that a magazine projects, and learning to write within that voice. What made the story work, I think - what attracted me to it in the first place - was the smart-assed, can-do, anti-authoritarian spirit of the fraudsters. In that sense, it would've been easy to write it as a rollicking story of the Little Guy sticking it to The Man. <br><br>But m_f is also determinedly nonpolitical, and - especially at the time that the story ran, when tensions were particularly high about this very issue - Editorial had to tread the fine line of not appearing to take a stand in favor of widespread immigration fraud. <br><br>So yeah, there's a mandate to be snarky, but to not actually ever offend anyone. It's a very tough mission the magazine has set for itself, and a very tricky tone to pull off. To that end, the editors rewrite pretty much everything, sometimes pretty heavily. Nothing personal; it's just that they've got a voice to maintain.<br><br>You can read the piece <a href="http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/9686" rel="nofollow">here</a>, if you're at all curious. To be honest with you, it passed through so many drafts that I no longer remember which bits I wrote and which were added in the various edits. It taught me a lot of being a professiobal, I'll tell you that – especially with regards to noting the editorial “voice” that a magazine projects, and learning to write within that voice. What made the story work, I think – what attracted me to it in the first place – was the smart-assed, can-do, anti-authoritarian spirit of the fraudsters. In that sense, it would've been easy to write it as a rollicking story of the Little Guy sticking it to The Man.

But m_f is also determinedly nonpolitical, and – especially at the time that the story ran, when tensions were particularly high about this very issue – Editorial had to tread the fine line of not appearing to take a stand in favor of widespread immigration fraud.

So yeah, there's a mandate to be snarky, but to not actually ever offend anyone. It's a very tough mission the magazine has set for itself, and a very tricky tone to pull off. To that end, the editors rewrite pretty much everything, sometimes pretty heavily. Nothing personal; it's just that they've got a voice to maintain.

You can read the piece here, if you're at all curious. To be honest with you, it passed through so many drafts that I no longer remember which bits I wrote and which were added in the various edits.

]]> By: JonCummings http://popdose.com/bookshelf-the-mental-floss-history-of-the-world/comment-page-1/#comment-42186 JonCummings Tue, 25 Nov 2008 02:19:50 +0000 http://popdose.com/?p=8925#comment-42186 How did you manage to pull it off? Were you OK with the result? How did you manage to pull it off? Were you OK with the result?

]]> By: Jack Feerick http://popdose.com/bookshelf-the-mental-floss-history-of-the-world/comment-page-1/#comment-10542 Jack Feerick Tue, 25 Nov 2008 01:57:00 +0000 http://popdose.com/?p=8925#comment-10542 It taught me a lot of being a professiobal, I'll tell you that - especially with regards to noting the editorial "voice" that a magazine projects, and learning to write within that voice. What made the story work, I think - what attracted me to it in the first place - was the smart-assed, can-do, anti-authoritarian spirit of the fraudsters. In that sense, it would've been easy to write it as a rollicking story of the Little Guy sticking it to The Man. <br><br>But m_f is also determinedly nonpolitical, and - especially at the time that the story ran, when tensions were particularly high about this very issue - Editorial had to tread the fine line of not appearing to take a stand in favor of widespread immigration fraud. <br><br>So yeah, there's a mandate to be snarky, but to not actually ever offend anyone. It's a very tough mission the magazine has set for itself, and a very tricky tone to pull off. To that end, the editors rewrite pretty much everything, sometimes pretty heavily. Nothing personal; it's just that they've got a voice to maintain.<br><br>You can read the piece <a href="http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/9686" rel="nofollow">here</a>, if you're at all curious. To be honest with you, it passed through so many drafts that I no longer remember which bits I wrote and which were added in the various edits. It taught me a lot of being a professiobal, I'll tell you that – especially with regards to noting the editorial “voice” that a magazine projects, and learning to write within that voice. What made the story work, I think – what attracted me to it in the first place – was the smart-assed, can-do, anti-authoritarian spirit of the fraudsters. In that sense, it would've been easy to write it as a rollicking story of the Little Guy sticking it to The Man.

But m_f is also determinedly nonpolitical, and – especially at the time that the story ran, when tensions were particularly high about this very issue – Editorial had to tread the fine line of not appearing to take a stand in favor of widespread immigration fraud.

So yeah, there's a mandate to be snarky, but to not actually ever offend anyone. It's a very tough mission the magazine has set for itself, and a very tricky tone to pull off. To that end, the editors rewrite pretty much everything, sometimes pretty heavily. Nothing personal; it's just that they've got a voice to maintain.

You can read the piece here, if you're at all curious. To be honest with you, it passed through so many drafts that I no longer remember which bits I wrote and which were added in the various edits.

]]> By: JonCummings http://popdose.com/bookshelf-the-mental-floss-history-of-the-world/comment-page-1/#comment-10541 JonCummings Tue, 25 Nov 2008 01:19:50 +0000 http://popdose.com/?p=8925#comment-10541 How did you manage to pull it off? Were you OK with the result? How did you manage to pull it off? Were you OK with the result?

]]> By: Jack Feerick http://popdose.com/bookshelf-the-mental-floss-history-of-the-world/comment-page-1/#comment-10540 Jack Feerick Mon, 24 Nov 2008 20:05:53 +0000 http://popdose.com/?p=8925#comment-10540 I wrote a piece for mental_floss a couple of years ago, all about the Chinese Exclusion Act (one of the most nakedly racist pieces of legislation in our nation's history), the great San Francisco earthquake and fire, and the massive-scale immigration fraud that happened in their wake; I remember endless back-and-forths with my editor about the need to keep the tone light and frivolous, even while talking about injustices that would make any fair-minded man want to vomit blood. I wrote a piece for mental_floss a couple of years ago, all about the Chinese Exclusion Act (one of the most nakedly racist pieces of legislation in our nation's history), the great San Francisco earthquake and fire, and the massive-scale immigration fraud that happened in their wake; I remember endless back-and-forths with my editor about the need to keep the tone light and frivolous, even while talking about injustices that would make any fair-minded man want to vomit blood.

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