It’s the madcap return of the MISCmedia In/Out List.
As always, this, the most accurate In/Out list published anywhere, compiles what will become hot and less-hot in the upcoming year, not necessarily what’s hot and less-hot at this current point in time. If you believe everything that’s hot now will just keep getting hotter in the future, we’ve got some Skykomish River waterfront cabins to sell you.
Oxycontin
’90s nostalgia
Flips
Calligraphy
Cancun
Green tea
Supporting small business
Will Ferrell
It’s the madcap return of the MISCmedia In/Out List, the longest-running and most accurate list of its type anywhere in the western hemisphere.
As long-term readers know, this is a prediciton of what will become hot and not-so-hot in the months to come. If you think everything hot now will just keep getting hotter forever, I’ve got some Mariners season tickets to sell you.
Blockbuster
Guiding Light
Thongs
Soulseek
Havana
“All your base are belong to us”
Once again, it’s time for the annual return of the MISCmedia In/Out List, the longest-running and most accurate list of its type anywhere in the western quadrant of the northern hemisphere.
As long-term readers know, this is a prediciton of what will become hot and not-so-hot in the months to come. If you think everything hot now will just keep getting hotter forever, I’ve got some Thailand beachfront timeshares to sell you.
Yep, time for that annual tradition that’s almost as old as Kwanzaa and older than e-greetings, the MISCmedia In/Out List. Send your nominations this week to our handy-dandy email addy.
Remember, we’re looking for what will become hot or not-so-hot during the course of Ought-Five, not necessarily what’s hot and not-so-hot right now. If you think everything that’s hot now’s gonna just keep getting hotter forever, I’ve got some pot-bellied pigs to sell you.
HEY EVERYBODY! It’s the madcap return of the MISCmedia In/Out List, the longest-running and most accurate list of its type anywhere in the western hemisphere.
As long-term readers know, this is a prediciton of what will become hot and not-so-hot in the months to come. If you think everything hot now will just keep getting hotter forever, I’ve got some Cubs World Series T-shirts to sell you.
…to send in your recommendations for the fantabulous annual MISCmedia In/Out List for Ought-Four. Remember, this is a prediction of what will become hot and not-so-hot in the coming year. Not everything that’s hot now will just keep getting hotter, but those of you with hurtin’ 401k plans already know that.
THE TRADITION CONTINUES: For the 15th consecutive year, here’s your fantastical MISCmedia In/Out List. Thanks to all who contributed suggestions.
As always, this list predicts what will become hot or not-so-hot over the course of the Year of HAL 9000; not necessarily what’s hot or not-so-hot now. If you think every person, place, thing, or trend that’s big now will just keep getting bigger forever, I’ve got some dot-com stocks to sell you.
(P.S.: Most every damned item on this list has a handy weblink. Spend the weekend clicking and having fun.)
NO COLUMN MONDAY, BUT ON TUESDAY: What you might see on this site in the year of Also Sprach Zarathustra.
ELSEWHERE:
THE TRADITION CONTINUES: For the 14th consecutive year, here’s your fantastical MISCmedia In/Out List. Thanks to all who contributed suggestions.
As always, this list predicts what will become hot or not-so-hot over the course of the Year of the Double-Oughts; not necessarily what’s hot or not-so-hot now. If you think every person, place, thing, or trend that’s big now will just keep getting bigger forever, I’ve got some Packard Bell PCs to sell you.
(P.S.: Every damned item on this list has a handy weblink. Spend the weekend clicking and having fun.)
MONDAY: I’m perfectly confident there will still be electricity and computer networks, and am prepared to ring in the double-ought year with a Peanuts tribute. ELSEWHERE: Matt Groening’s 2000 installment of his annual “Forbidden Words” list includes the long-forgotten “Croissandwich” but doesn’t include “E-commerce….” (found by Robot Wisdom)…. I’m apparently not the only one who’s been asking, “Whatever happenned to the World of Century 21?…” If you have to buy a calendar this late, let it be the Despair, Inc. Demotivators Calendar (found by Bird on a Wire)….
MONDAY: I’m perfectly confident there will still be electricity and computer networks, and am prepared to ring in the double-ought year with a Peanuts tribute.
MISC., your post-print column for (what the Times Personal Tech section calls) the post-television age, was amused by the double standards and double dribbles in that front-page P-I headline on 12/22/98: “Reign star Enis judges basketball, parenthood.” Y’ever see a headline like that about, say, Shawn Kemp?
Alas, that P-I story was one of the last written in the local dailies about the Seattle Reign before the team’s parent American Basketball League announced its sudden, permanent shutdown, leaving fans as bereft of pro women’s b-ball as it is of the men’s game. One could lay the blame for the ABL’s demise on the rival WNBA, with its megabucks backing, its marketable-superstar orientation, and its stranglehold on sponsors and TV outlets. But a less-discussed factor was the league’s management structure. While it claimed to be a grassroots, fan-level outfit, it was really a centralized company which owned all its teams, hired and assigned all its players, and otherwise tightly ran all operations and marketing–just like the Roller Derby, Arena Football, and other assorted marginal team-sports ventures of the past three decades.
The graveyard of new team-sports organizations in North America is full of four decades’ worth of great and less-great visions, from the American Basketball Association to the World Football League and the U.S. Football League, to World Team Tennis and several attempts at indoor soccer. Aside from the American Football League (which got all its teams merged into the NFL in the late ’60s), none were long-term successes. (The only current such ventures with a chance at making it are Major League Soccer and the aforementioned WNBA.) None of those attempts found the formula for nationwide popularity and profits; though some tried to find such a formula thru centralized management. A single-ownership league structure (like that of the ABL) can present a unified public image and prevent a single well-heeled team owner from attaining an uncompetitive dynasty situation (like that which ruined the old North American Soccer League). But it also means local team managers can’t build their own squads, around personalities or playing styles popular in their own towns. And when league HQ runs out of cash and/or ideas, there aren’t local team owners (or buyers) to come up with individual solutions other teams can copy.
But for now, the WNBA (with its emphasis on megabucks and celebrity-driven advertising, and its neglect (or worse) of any lesbian fan base) is the remaining structure for women’s pro hoops, at least until the parent NBA can no longer afford to subsidize it (which, if there’s not even a mini-NBA season, might be more likely and sooner). Wish I had more encouraging news for stranded Reign fans, but a pro league of any sort, especially one with teams scattered across the continent, is an undertaking requiring immense logistics, savvy, and long-term backing. The ABL way didn’t work, and neither has just about any other way.
THE HOLIDAY TRADITION CONTINUES: For the 13th consecutive year, here’s your fantastical Misc. In/Out List. Thanks to all who contributed suggestions via private email and the public Misc. Talk discussion boards; and apologies to those whose board postings I accidentally erased last week. (I think I’ve gotten the hang of the discussion-board software scripts by now.) As always, this list predicts what will become hot or not-so-hot over the course of ‘99; not necessarily what’s hot or not-so-hot now. If you think every person, place, thing, or trend that’s big now will just keep getting bigger, I’ve got some Tickle Me Elmo dolls to sell you.
UNTIL NEXT WE MEET in the year so great there’s a Washington highway named after it, pace yourself by toasting the New Year once for each North American time zone (starting with Newfoundland at 7:30 p.m. PST), and ponder these thoughts attributed to Lillian Helman: “If I had to give young writers advice, I’d say don’t listen to writers talking about writing.”
Welcome to the 12th annual Misc. In/Out list, your most reliable guide to the people, places, and things coming into and away from public prominence over the following months. As always, this list predicts what will become hot and not-hot; not necessarily what’s hot or not-hot now. We are not responsible for any investment decisions which might be made on the basis of this information. Thanks to all the readers who suggested items.
INSVILLE………………………OUTSKI
Video golf…………………….Quake Co-ops………………………..Condos St. John’s Wort………………..Prozac Maktub………………………..Electronica Apple comeback…………………Marvel comeback Working for Amazon.com………….Working for Microsoft Della Street…………………..Picabo Street KONG………………………….Nick at Nite Ice wine………………………Ice beer Meredith Brooks………………..Sarah McLachlan Old-hotel wallpaper patterns…….”Sponged” wall finishes See-thru………………………Wonderbra Soul………………………….Funk Pop-Up Video………………….12 Angry Viewers Crimson……………………….Ochre Tennessee Oilers……………….Washington Wizards Atlanta Hawks………………….Chicago Bulls DVD (finally)………………….Internet “push” ads Neomodern……………………..Postmodern Superstores……………………Megamalls New York Exchange………………Banana Republic NY Times in color……………..Commercials in black and white Kasi Lemmons…………………..Paul Verhoven Michelle Yeoh………………….Kirstie Alley Wapato………………………..LaConner Oxfords……………………….Nikes International Channel…………..Fox News Channel Payday loans…………………..Home-equity loans Java………………………….Windows 98 RVs…………………………..Houseboats Monorail initiative…………….Cabaret ordinance New symphony hall………………New Nordstrom store Oracle NC……………………..WebTV Privatized liquor sales…………Privatized electricity sales What’re Ya Talkin’ About, Sherman?.Don’t Quote Me On This! Vin Baker……………………..Dennis Rodman ABL…………………………..WNBA Goddess Kring………………….David Kerley Laetitia Casta…………………Tish Goff R.D. Laing…………………….Deepak Chopra Homemade CDs…………………..Fake indie labels Sleep capsules…………………Futons The new Zoom…………………..Arthur Men’s make-up………………….Women’s suits Wireless modems………………..Cell phones Emerald Queen………………….Tulalip Casino The new Beetle…………………Sport utes Beacon Hill……………………Upper Queen Anne Rosie O’Donnell………………..Dr. Laura Pectoral implants………………Penile implants Wormwood………………………Crystal meth Monarch……………………….Absolut Budapest………………………Prague International Herald Tribune…….NME Cabarets………………………Poetry slams Tom Frank……………………..Noam Chomsky Having sex…………………….Reading erotica Bad Badz-Maru………………….Elmo Asian crash……………………GATT Breakfast movies……………….Dinner theater Golden Delicious……………….Fiona Apple Aaron Brown……………………Matt Lauer King of the Hill………………Wacky World of Tex Avery Manhattan……………………..Wired rewired.com……………………suck.com Rowan Atkinson…………………David Schwimmer Imps………………………….Angels Schmidt……………………….Budweiser Sleater-Kinney…………………Oasis Peasants………………………”Peasant food” Seattle housing crisis………….Potholes “Super duper”………………….”Rad” Cool………………………….Hot Old magazine art……………….Photomosaics Empowerment……………………Self-victimization Revolution Records……………..DGC Chocolate-covered graham cookies…Mazurkas Pepper pot…………………….Lentil Silk shirt…………………….Silk jackets Do-gooders…………………….Go-getters
And, as promised, some of your suggestions: Subject: In/Out nominations Sent: 12/11/97 2:54 PM Received: 12/12/97 8:32 AM From: Ed Harper (MacTemps), a-edharp@microsoft.com To: ‘clark@speakeasy.org’, clark@speakeasy.org IN……………………………..OUT trains………………………….747 center fuel tanks MIR debris………………………Russians in space co-ops………………………….condos St.Johns Wort……………………Prozac Cuba (if Castro dies)…………….Club Med Ad Busters………………………Spy (stick a fork in it) scotch………………………….martinis (these have to go) UW mens basketball……………….UW football (after the huskies lose the Aloha Bowl) The soon-to-be-radioactive Columbia..Dilbert (maybe ‘The Problem with Dilbert’ will help) real heroes……………………..Diana (nah, it’ll never happen) conspiracy theories………………El Nino Subject: My nomination for the in/out list98 Sent: 12/7/97 10:02 AM Received: 12/7/97 8:40 PM From: Jose Amador, jaguerra@vcommons.com To: clark@speakeasy.org OUT:electronica IN:Maktub Subject: In/Out list Sent: 12/17/97 5:03 PM Received: 12/18/97 8:41 AM From: Jeremy Surbrook, fishnet@u.washington.edu To: clark@speakeasy.org Dear Clarke, These are my submissions for 1998, In: sleaze Out: Political Correctness In: bland domestics Out: microbrews In: the 1930’s Out: 1970’s In: bargain Hunting Out: conspicuious consumption In: fast, short action films Out: long, boring ambiguious, incomprehensible art films In: word of mouth Out: the internet Thanks, Jeremy
IN……………………………..OUT trains………………………….747 center fuel tanks MIR debris………………………Russians in space co-ops………………………….condos St.Johns Wort……………………Prozac Cuba (if Castro dies)…………….Club Med Ad Busters………………………Spy (stick a fork in it) scotch………………………….martinis (these have to go) UW mens basketball……………….UW football (after the huskies lose the Aloha Bowl) The soon-to-be-radioactive Columbia..Dilbert (maybe ‘The Problem with Dilbert’ will help) real heroes……………………..Diana (nah, it’ll never happen) conspiracy theories………………El Nino Subject: My nomination for the in/out list98 Sent: 12/7/97 10:02 AM Received: 12/7/97 8:40 PM From: Jose Amador, jaguerra@vcommons.com To: clark@speakeasy.org OUT:electronica IN:Maktub Subject: In/Out list Sent: 12/17/97 5:03 PM Received: 12/18/97 8:41 AM From: Jeremy Surbrook, fishnet@u.washington.edu To: clark@speakeasy.org Dear Clarke, These are my submissions for 1998, In: sleaze Out: Political Correctness In: bland domestics Out: microbrews In: the 1930’s Out: 1970’s In: bargain Hunting Out: conspicuious consumption In: fast, short action films Out: long, boring ambiguious, incomprehensible art films In: word of mouth Out: the internet Thanks, Jeremy
Subject: My nomination for the in/out list98 Sent: 12/7/97 10:02 AM Received: 12/7/97 8:40 PM From: Jose Amador, jaguerra@vcommons.com To: clark@speakeasy.org OUT:electronica IN:Maktub Subject: In/Out list Sent: 12/17/97 5:03 PM Received: 12/18/97 8:41 AM From: Jeremy Surbrook, fishnet@u.washington.edu To: clark@speakeasy.org Dear Clarke, These are my submissions for 1998, In: sleaze Out: Political Correctness In: bland domestics Out: microbrews In: the 1930’s Out: 1970’s In: bargain Hunting Out: conspicuious consumption In: fast, short action films Out: long, boring ambiguious, incomprehensible art films In: word of mouth Out: the internet Thanks, Jeremy
OUT:electronica IN:Maktub
Subject: In/Out list Sent: 12/17/97 5:03 PM Received: 12/18/97 8:41 AM From: Jeremy Surbrook, fishnet@u.washington.edu To: clark@speakeasy.org
Dear Clarke, These are my submissions for 1998, In: sleaze Out: Political Correctness In: bland domestics Out: microbrews In: the 1930’s Out: 1970’s In: bargain Hunting Out: conspicuious consumption In: fast, short action films Out: long, boring ambiguious, incomprehensible art films In: word of mouth Out: the internet Thanks, Jeremy
