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LOOKS Looks Familiar

Posted on July 1st, 2008 9:56am by Tim Rogers
Filed under Media

I’m flipping through my copy of the current LOOKS, brought to you by the DMN. “Huh,” I said to myself, “where have I seen that story about Hail Merry founder Susan O’Brien before? Oh, right. It was back in December, when our D Beauty did the story, using the same photographer, the talented Allison V. Smith.” On the left, our version; on the right, theirs. IJS.

30 Comments to “LOOKS Looks Familiar”

Matt @ July 1st, 2008 at 10:23 am

I’m not getting your point here. The only similarity I see is that the pics were both taken outside.
billh @ July 1st, 2008 at 10:28 am

Allison V. Smith is of course a wonderful photographer. I love her Marfa pictures in particular. I love keeping up with her blog:
http://superficialsnapshots.blogspot.com/
Mike @ July 1st, 2008 at 10:29 am

Wait. Your kidding me. Different media outlets did a story on the same subject. That never happens. I fear it will happen a lot more with all the cutbacks in the media (esp at newspapers).
JNo @ July 1st, 2008 at 10:32 am

I guess they felt they could improve on layout…ijs
James @ July 1st, 2008 at 10:36 am

So where exactly is the girls room and what goes on there?
Bethany @ July 1st, 2008 at 10:40 am

Pole dancing classes, pookie.
James @ July 1st, 2008 at 10:43 am

I knew you would know. In fact, I almost eneded the sentence with, Bethany???

I’m going to start a men’s lap dancing class. What do you think would be a good rate to charge?
James @ July 1st, 2008 at 10:44 am

Please excuse the typos. Typing to fast…
Bethany @ July 1st, 2008 at 10:46 am

Wait..are the men doing the lap dancing, or is it for the women to give men lap dances?

Because price difference would be substantial.
James @ July 1st, 2008 at 10:49 am

Men doing the dancing. I’d be teaching…
Bethany @ July 1st, 2008 at 10:52 am

Hmmmm…at least $60. That’s what the Girl’s Club charges nonmembers.

(I swear they’re not paying me for testimonials)
Billusa99 @ July 1st, 2008 at 11:06 am

OMG… a tabloid tiff over eating raw food in Dallas and who wrote it first. Next, we’ll be discussing Nipponese cars with batteries and what wisdom said imparts on their owners and their critics.

Be still my beating heart.
Daniel @ July 1st, 2008 at 11:09 am

Allison V. Smith is the best photog in Dallas. (Hal Samples is no slouch.)

Not trying to be a d*ck, but the DMN folks used her gifts to better effect.
Towski @ July 1st, 2008 at 11:22 am

“Please excuse the typos. Typing to fast…”

James, I think you are doing a pretty good job, considering it’s with one hand…
??? @ July 1st, 2008 at 11:29 am

Really, Daniel? I thought the green dress looked absolutely awful. Granted, I have not seen the full article, but that dress is just bad.
Jason @ July 1st, 2008 at 11:30 am

Figures. Since everything the News publishes was either in the NY Times or the AP before they ran it, I guess they are rolling out that initiative company-wide.

I believe it’s that original creativity that has their value dropping at the rate of sixty-some-odd percent YTD.
JNo @ July 1st, 2008 at 11:31 am

No really ??? the DMN version is better layout.
Daniel @ July 1st, 2008 at 11:44 am

The dress would be horrible in real life. In the photo, it works. Plus, they went for the single dramatic image instead of a welter of “editorial”-style shots any competent hack could have taken. That’s like hiring Stephan Pyles to fry your morning bacon.
Bethany @ July 1st, 2008 at 11:49 am

Do you think he would?
Daniel @ July 1st, 2008 at 11:55 am

He fries Marty Cortland’s bacon while a team of synchronized pygmies attends to his eggs. His wife like to watch this. Very. Much.
Bethany @ July 1st, 2008 at 11:57 am

Oh. So he’s busy, you’re saying.
Daniel @ July 1st, 2008 at 11:58 am

(pronoun/antecedent ambiguities are opening worlds I never knew existed. The rich really are different from us.)
Daniel @ July 1st, 2008 at 12:06 pm

His secretary says he can probably squeeze in a quick Post Toasties job, but please be aware he has high expectations for remuneration. (If you have to ask, et cetera.) Thursday morning 10 a.m., then!
Gadfly @ July 1st, 2008 at 12:30 pm

I’m with JNo. The DMN’s version is the better layout. But it looks like they were able to treat it like an editorial, while D used it as one of several articles in their business section. There are always a great deal more design possibilities with editorials.
Gadfly @ July 1st, 2008 at 12:34 pm

I’m not sure that I should have called the DMN’s layout an editorial. But it’s been treated like one with 2 whole pages. No ads.
Jason @ July 1st, 2008 at 12:55 pm

Gadfly, are you saying the D version was not editorial?
James @ July 1st, 2008 at 1:07 pm

TOWSKI-I just got over the paranoia of camera’s in my office and now I’m going t…I can’t finish..their watching
Kirk @ July 1st, 2008 at 2:37 pm

The biggest difference I see is that the D spread was paid for with advertising.
Jason @ July 1st, 2008 at 2:48 pm

Ads on pages do not mean the article was “paid for.” That’s like saying: “The evening news is paid for, because there were commercials scattered throughout the broadcast.”

Ads make newspapers and magazines exist. Without the ads, there would be not stories (and without edit there would be no ads). But, an actual story (or spread) is only “paid for” if it is an advertorial. I don’t believe that story was an advertorial for the Girl’s Room or a spa.
Kirk @ July 1st, 2008 at 7:58 pm

Jason: Rest assured that I understand the economics of magazine and newspaper publishing. I didn’t mean to imply that it was “paid for” as in an advertorial; I meant “paid for” as in funded by advertising sold by the magazine. I doubt that LOOKS broke even or turned a profit on advertising in its maiden voyage.