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« Heller Hath No Fury
The Devil Wears Leather
In MTV's new reality series I'm from Rolling Stone, six college-age interns take on Jann Wenner, competing for a single permanent writing gig at the venerable rock rag. But what they really end up doing is showing, in matte relief, the vast difference between rock fans of today and those of yesteryear.
The six interns are rocketed into the world of rock journalism full throttle; their first assignments include interviews with big names like The Roots and Ghostface Killah. But many of these kids are so unpolished, it's hard to see why they were chosen at all, except perhaps to add drama to that most MTV of genres, reality. To be sure, they're smart kids and affirmed music geeks, but when, for example, Peter writes his first piece drunk, or Krishtine bitches about having to endure rewrites (what does she imagine, that she has nothing to learn?), or Russell jokes with Nelly Furtado about grabbing inappropriate body parts, it's hard to not, like, roll your eyes so far back into your head they get stuck. It seems more important to them to present themselves as hip and cool-enough-to-hang, rather than intellectual, respectful and articulate, like the writers of rock journalism's '60s and '70s golden age. No child-prodigy, Almost Famous-style writers here, for these apparently are different days we live in. Nowadays, evidently, Tika can lose her notebook on the train, Colin can think Boho is short for Brooklyn, and interns can skip work, blow off deadlines, and try to attribute homophobic-sounding remarks to Nellie McKay without having concert notes or, for that matter, proof of any kind to back up the claim — all without losing their jobs right there on the spot.
But unlike your average reality show, where people are pretty plastic and often selected for their looks, this one has the advantage of being about arty, difficult people — drinkers, aspiring musicians, bipolar sufferers — who come with a truckload of insecurities rather than the boatload of ceaseless self-promotion you see chez The Apprentice. This fact alone should make the series more interesting, but its failure lies in the fact that the show's central struggle is about who's got writing talent, and as viewers we can't read their articles for ourselves. It's difficult, therefore, to determine who has the talent and who doesn't, so we're left with assessing candidates by their interpersonal styles. This is certainly an important aspect of any journalism job, but these kids don't present themselves like little Cameron Crowes: They're too busy trying to get their interview subjects to think they're cool. Add to this that most annoying but omnipresent of habits, when people end their statements like they're questions? Whatever, dude.
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Jan 30, 2007 1:08 PM
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