It’s nice to be liked, but it’s better by far to get paid. That’s what Liz says. Today was a rare day; I managed to get paid for writing a few things that people enjoyed.
The best part about my continued working relationship with Derek and TTAC is that I have a chance to do stuff like this: a 2200-word think piece about the socioeconomics of auto repair, sprinkled liberally with sarcasm and kidney shots to some of my less favorite fellow “journalists”. It was great to meet “Tavarish”, by the way; he’s a nice guy and I think he has a very bright future writing about cars.
Over at Road&Track, I have the chance to work with Alex Kierstein, which is a true privilege. I stayed up Monday night writing a piece about the new Miata’s, ahem, modest power. He read it and sent it back. Not good enough. And you know what? He was right. The revised version can be read at the R&T website and it’s better for the changes.
Both articles are being discussed on Jalopnik and elsewhere today. It’s great to see the conversations taking place. It’s also oddly flattering that there are people out there who have never met me but who hate me. That means they remember me, right? Maybe?
that’s Writing on the Internet for you. Someone will hate you no matter what you say. one of the tech sites I read is simultaneously on the take from Microsoft, Apple, Sony, Nintendo, GM, and Google.
At least if you go by what the comments say.
Both pieces are great.
I mean, considering how few Carmax mentions there are.
Mentioning CarMax puts asses in the seats. The annual TTAC stats make that crystal clear.
so that’s how DeMuro got hired at Jalopnik.
I’m truly a cynical, jaded person, who becomes more so with each passing year.
Money makes the world go round, and the overwhelming majority of people I meet put on a false facade, spewing empty platitudes, and are as self-serving as can be.
And I will tell you this: You writing hits home often because you are not the least bit hesitant in calling a spade a spade, even if you sometimes can come across as more self-aggrandizing than I think you actually are in real life (I think you often use discussion of material objects as a hook, and that you appear to be very grounded in truth, with a penchant for understanding & relating to the struggles of the common man, which is your true appeal, in reality).
I love the cynical, jaded, skeptical lens you so often deploy to scrutinize and then eviscerate that which you wax poetically about, whether advertising, the state of automotive journalism, or “everyone knows this” assumptions du jour.
It’s completely, fully justified in the present era, and more importantly, necessary (where have all the muckrakers gone?).
Loved the TTAC article today. I used to read Tavarish on his old website and followed him over when he hit it big at Jalopnik. You absolutely hit the nail on the head about his car buying advice not being practical for someone who has to rely on a daily driver. I always kind of considered his articles would only be useful for a project car. On another note, great coup getting the MX5 story. It made me warm and fuzzy thinking about the JB haters whose skins were going to crawl over this. It’s a beautiful world!
I used to use your Mitsubishi Eclipse Convertible review that started out with the Mitsubishi Zero and then called every Mitsubishi product built after that “a complete piece of crap” as An Introduction to Jack Baruth for those who weren’t familiar with your writing but I think I’m going to direct newbies to today’s TTAC piece as The Definitive Introduction to Jack.
As for the less than positive reactions from some of the readers they may want to retake sixth grade reading class and especially focus on the lost art of reading comprehension so the next time they post comments to a website they don’t make themselves look so stupid.
Your TTAC piece dovetails nicely with a six-part series on the travails of the American Middle Class that recently ran in my hometown dead-tree rag (http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/business/2014/12/12/why-americas-middle-class-is-lost/). Sadly for them, your post on TTAC was more insightful and concise, and had much more car-related content to boot. In particular, the Bullet Points of Privilege elicited much discussion among my colleagues and friends today. It was also a good opportunity to reflect on the confluence of skill, upbringing, and sheer dumb luck that locates us all on the socio-economic spectrum.
In short, thanks for provoking some thought.
Thank you for reading!
No matter how much flack I get for it, I have long believed that we are producing babies too quickly with an increasingly uncertain future. Increasing population, decreasing job pool. Not a recipe for success. I keep telling the stepkids over and over, don’t start spittin’ em out until you are stable. Even their mother has told them she’d rather them not have kids, ever, than not be able to provide a good life for them.
The Million-Mile Lexus piece worked on so many levels, I’d use it as an example of editorial writing for my J-school students (if I were a professor and, um, actually had J-school students).
As for the Miata piece…
I have a 1983 Porsche 911 SC (gray market — originally titled in Germany, which gives it 20 standard more hp than the US-spec SC) which I got for a song. At 200-hp, it can’t keep up with most new family sedans in the straights. The HVAC is a joke. No, worse, it’s actually cruel and unusual punishment. Heck, even the wiper system is barely adequate. But while it isn’t “fast”, it is “quick”. By today’s standards, it is surprisingly light. It has look-and-turn agility (don’t f’n lift, dammit). And with the performance dual exhaust, sounds like a vintage, snarling Porsche race car on the downshifts. It smells of old leather and hot oil. It had - and still retains- its original purpose. I imagine the new 155-hp MX-5 Miata to be much like the old Porsche — designed with a specific purpose, light, quick, responsive. One that will delight today, and 30 years from now, leaving the giant alloy air-cars stranded at the riverside.
“and 30 years from now, leaving the giant alloy air-cars stranded at the riverside.”
Thank you for this. You may now return to dreaming at the fiiiiiiresiiiiiiide.
I loved reading the lexus article. I recently purchased a truck on craigslist for 5k with 150k miles on the clock and then three days later overloaded it and towed a giant robot and missile turret cross country with a minimal tool kit and was able to just fix anything I ran into on the road. I had the solenoid fail in the middle of arizona but was able to pull it apart and rebuild it by using a flat stone to clean the contacts. I never thought of what I knew about cars as a privilege. I worked as a service crew on a rally team, a very privileged position and learned a bunch. At work, this has opened up a lot of discussion about how expensive it can be to save money. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153003226060791&set=a.10150156493025791.338934.723500790&type=1&theater
Now THAT is an epic fix!