CONSUMED.

One my favorite weekly readings is the New York Times Magazine. Both from an editorial and design standpoint, it's just dope. And one of my favorite columns in the Mag is CONSUMED. (A close 2nd is The Ethicist by Randy Cohen.)
CONSUMED is a 1 pg short feature on just about anything people buy...but don't really need. Everything from Stop Snitchin' t-shirts to Planned Obsolescence in Retail to Espo. The author of the weekly column is Rob Walker. So when I had the opportunity to sit down and break bread with Mr. Walker, I was greatly looking forward to it.
We met at Inoteca and had an excellent 2 hour conversation about payola, bribes, consumerism, exclusivity, paying rent, corporate marketing fools, "The Tipping Point", and why Jersey City is better than New York City. Rob is cool. From the outside, he looks like a complete alien in the realm of downtown-skate-hipster-thugs. But after hearing him speak for 5 minutes, you know he's on top of the game. It's probably better that he's not a "groupie" of the culture. It provides him with an outside viewpoint that you simply cannot have if you live within it. I'm looking forward to his upcoming book...