The Rage Diaries

Media deathwatch: Domino magazine

Since every magazine I warm to is doomed immediately thereafter -- Budget Living, Blueprint, Cottage Living -- it is not really a surprise that Domino may go on the chopping block next month. ("It Could Get Conde Nasty," NYP, Dec 26, 08)

This is a bad time to be a shelter magazine: people think "house" and do not automatically think "decorate" any more -- they think "refinance" or "crisis." So magazines that coo over spending on the home seem out-of-touch to a readership that's worried about how their home's lost 20% in value since they bought it.

There are two other items in that story that I found interesting for a media landscape at large:

"Digital accounts for only 3 percent of [Conde Nast's] total revenue," said one knowledgeable executive. "They don't make a penny on digital - and they never have."

Speaking personally: With the exception of the New Yorker, which is sui generis, Conde Nast's consumer titles have become increasingly irrelevant to me -- and I'm a fairly avid media junkie. The big reason: the magazine-supporting sites are terrible. There's no reason to go to them at all -- and there's no reason to pick up the magazine if I can't extend my engagement online. I am not particularly enamored of how the Time family of magazines has taken to the Web -- there is no announcement on the front page of Cottage Living that the company's shuttering the Web site within days, for example -- but they look like online visionaries compared to your average Conde Nast site.

(Also, it amuses me to no end that Martha Stewart's come the closest to achieving perfect cross-channel synergy via her website. Of course she has. Now if she could only revive Blueprint ...)

AHEM. On to item #2 of interest to us all:

Vogue, the biggest money maker in the company, had a poor year, sliding 9.6 percent in the ad-page count to 2,893.

And all those ads were in the September issue. Ba-da-bum! Thank you, I'll be here through the 31st.

Hey, did you know ...

... that I'm posting regular features at Filthy Commerce already?

Today's offering: the debut of "Social Capital," an advice column that tackles the sticky messes that arise when money and manners collide. Answers include actual research and interviews with people who know more than I do.

Go read! And keep me in mind for any of your " ...oh. Crap"-type questions involving friends, family and finance.

I close one door, I build another

My brother's a professional bassoonist. He's a gifted musician; this has been evident since he was a toddler.  I've never envied him his musical talent, but one thing I've always longed for is something his talent gave him: a purity of focus.

I have gotten a lot out of this weblog, but I don't think anyone would ever accuse it of having any concerted focus. Over the past year, I've been trying to figure out how to bring my spready, varied interests under one thematic umbrella. Unfortunately, there's no elegant way to do so: my blog topics contain multitudes and none of the little bastards will go quietly.

So, like use of the word "hobo" in a comedic context, excessively decorated cupcakes and pirate chic, the Rage Diaries will be over as of January 1, 2009. http://schmeiser.typepad.com/the_rage_diaries/ will not be updated at all. The main URL for this site, http://schmeiser.typepad.com/ will be resolved to my new, more focused blog project, Filthy Commerce.

You readers seem to like the posts about the sinful little business of making, managing, spending and saving money. Just as importantly, I like writing them. And in the past two years, some of the most rewarding conversations we've had in the comments have sprung from posts where we all talked about how we interact with the world of commerce. So from January 1, 2009, on, the blog that lives at http://schmeiser.typepad.com will be focused on how people think about, make and spend money.

The topic matter is still pretty broad -- go back through the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle archives and see how often the talk turned to money -- so I'm fairly confident that most of you regular Rage Diaries readers won't really notice much apart from a name change and a lack of comics-related posts. (And if you miss those ... well, get me a gig writing about comics. I am not kidding.)

I want to thank all of you readers, and especially you commenters who let me know you were out there. I hope you'll stick around through the next phase of my blogging life!

What else are the little people for, princess?

'Tis the season: Phil and I are loading up the TiFaux with holiday movies and unwinding after our hectic days by watching and heckling them, one by one. Last Thursday's showing was a particularly risible little film, A Christmas Wedding, starring Sarah Paulson as The Drip, Eric Mabius as The Blockhead She's To Wed and Dean Cain as The Guy She Should Have Run Off To Aruba With But Won't.

The plot was clearly grown in a test tube; DNA contributors included Preston Sturges, InStyle Weddings and Donna Van Liere (the woman who "wrote" the "novelization" of The Christmas Shoes). Usually, these holiday films are good for giving Phil and I a good laugh or twelve as we notice unintentionally sinister set-ups or patently ridiculous plot developments or actors' obvious "Just give me the check" performances. But this movie just made me exceedingly cranky.

Pick-a-fight Wednesday ... the giving tree

One of my favorite holiday-related errands is to buy toys. Phil and I always pick up a few things for Toys for Tots, and I'll hit the Family Giving Tree for a donation or two as well. I love reading things like:

Hi, my name is Jason and I am 9 years old! I love to eat spaghetti and play football. My favorite animal is a monkey. My favorite part of the holiday is spending time with family!

That's his artwork at left, by the way. He asked for a football and a basketball.

One of the reasons I like the Family Giving Tree is because the requests remind me how humble many of our wants or needs are. This is not necessarily the case with all giving trees -- occasionally, I read something about someone who's taken aback at the brand-name and big-ticket requests some of the needy make.

I can understand thinking, "I can't afford [Big Ticket Item] for myself -- why would I buy it for someone else?" But I wonder if it's just a slippery slope down to the sentiment "The needy should be grateful for whatever they get -- it's better than nothing at all." I can't get behind that. I may not always remember that gratitude ought never be expected, but I can not back the idea that it should be compulsory in any charitable transaction.

So I do not have it in me to begrudge anyone their desire for nice things, for things that make them feel as though they belong in the ranks of "normal" Americans kids and families. And to sidestep the whole complicated issue of generosity and reward, I now avoid non-virtual giving trees.

But let me throw open the floor to you ... Giving trees: Do you participate? What -- if any -- limits do you place on any participation? And do you think there should be limits on what people ask for?

This could be a very good idea

McDonald’s Corp. is offering a money management program to its more than 500,000 unit-level employees in the United States, company officials said Thursday.

McDonald’s partnered with Visa Inc. to offer the “McDonald’s Practical Money Skills” program, which includes a budgeting guide to track expenses and access to an instructional video and an online resource center at www.practicalmoneyskills.com/mcdonalds. The materials, which are also available in Spanish, are based on Visa’s financial education program, "Practical Money Skills for Life."

-- "McD Offers Budget Advice to Workers," Nation's Restaurant News, Dec 4, 08

Given the paucity of personal-finance classes in most U.S. public school systems, and given the tremendously diverse nature of much of McDonald's workforce, this could end up being a very good way to educate several different segments of American society. I've been poking around the online resources, and they include a budgeting journal and some helpful loan calculators.

I'll be curious to see how McDonald's promotes the program among its employees -- it's one thing to offer it, but another to make your teenaged workforce think realistically about money.

Pick-a-fight Friday ... Are you what you drive?

Have y'all seen this totally vomitous Lexus "December to Remember" ad yet? The ad that's basically like, "Hey -- remember how the reason of the season is to make other people seethe with jealousy over your wretched material excess? Now go buy a Lexus and relive those good times!"

Compare and contrast that with Subaru, which is blanketing the primetime airwaves with ads touting its Share the Love Event: if you buy a Subaru before January 2, 2009, the company will make a donation to one of five charities: the ASPCA, the Boys and Girls Club of America, Habitat for Humanity, Meals on Wheels or National Wildlife Foundation. See? You can purchase a new car and share the love with your fellow man!

It's a genius campaign, because it makes the would-be buyer feel good about their purchase. So there's a recession on? You're giving to the needy even while you drive away in a new car!

Both Lexus and Subaru have rolled out commercials that are designed to appeal to very precise consumer segments. And this makes me wonder: do we really catch the pitches from these companies? When you choose the cars you drive, do you take the brands' public profiles into account? Do you feel some auto brands better reflect your values?

Time is money -- and this recession year, we're shorter on both

The median number of leisure hours available each week dropped 20% in 2008, from 20 hours in 2007, to an all-time low of only 16 hours this year. This continues a trend which has seen America’s median weekly leisure time shrink 10 hours - from 26 hours per week in 1973, the first year we tracked it.

-- The Harris Poll: Leisure Time Plummets 20% in 2008 - Hits New Low

The factor cited in the reduction of leisure time:

We have a theory. As the American economic situation worsened, people who were worried about their jobs spent more time “just checking in” via computer or wireless device. While our respondents didn’t consider this as time spent working, they also didn’t count it as leisure time and landing instead in a nebulous grey area.

Also, as leisure time shrinks, Americans appear to be indulging more in solo activities. Four of this year’s top five choices are typically done alone: reading, watching TV, exercising, and computer activities. Reading, watching TV and exercising all increased this year, while computer activities dropped 2 points. While this may seem counterintuitive, since our research indicates that US Internet penetration is at an all-time high, it does add credence to our theory that Americans may be spending just as much or more time on computer activities, yet are considering this time as neither work nor leisure.

So we may be goofing off just as much as usual -- we're just doing it all online, alone, between surfing job listings and articles on staying employed. Ah, Internet -- perforating the boundaries between work and play for us all.

A rare blip of common sense?

Another recent poll of more than 39,000 [Gasbuddy.com] members showed that 54% were still limiting their driving and combining multiple errands into single trips. An additional 16% said they had reduced their driving speeds and weren't planning to speed up again. Only 18% said they hadn't changed their driving habits to save fuel, and 2% said they had gone back to their old ways of driving.

-- "Gasoline Is Cheap But We're Still Saving It," LAT, Dec 1, 08

We recently resumed a weekend trek to a farmer's market we really like that's 30 miles away, but we've cut back our driving in many other ways, so we're still on an every-other-week trip to the gas station. What about you all? Did you alter your driving habits this year? What's the effect been like on your wallet?