Still working on my dissertation. I got an interview with a journalist who wrote last year an in-depth article about Vanity Fair, for Le Monde 2. For now, my supervisor has given me positive feedback. I’m still reading stuff and figuring out things for now (“la problématique” for French amigos ^^). My basic question concerns the globalized strategy of a media brand in the magazine business. My subject is obviously, Vanity Fair, and more precisely, why it hasn’t be adapted in France since Germany, Spain and Italy have their very own VF. Is it due to economic issues or cultural differences making it difficult to be “exported”? Or is it made on purpose by the  Conde Nast Media Gp? Still, why’s that? From what I’ve understood, the magazine business in France is a lucrative market. But it is also undergoing a crisis (heavy costs, troubled issues between editors, distributors and other players). Hopefully, my dissertation will tackle current issues regarding the “press business”  as well as allow me to study this peculiar object, Vanity Fair – a fairly unique magazine.

> …I know. But I like the colors

Went to the American Library and it wasn’t a great start. I fear the worse for the days weeks to come since I’ll be spending most of my time there…

First, there is the librarian. I get there and try to explain what I want to do, in ENGLISH (writing in English is one thing, speaking is another); that I don’t really know what issue of Vanity Fair magazine I need for my “thesis” [mémoire], that, no I can’t be more specific, there are no summaries online or index that could help me say “I want the November issue of 1923″, and if he could give me issues from 1913 to begin with… He smirked and asked: “Okay, Vanity Fair, but what do you search for, what’s the subject?”. Okay… It’s not really your business is it? [I didn't say that]. “I don’t look for documentation about Vanity Fair, I just need the back issues”. He gave me a red file and asked me to look for the issue. Erm, way to uncomplicate the situation since I DON’T KNOW WHAT ISSUE I WANT. I found the page saying that back issues before 2007 had to be claimed at the desk. Oh, goody, I didn’t know that!.. I came back and he wasn’t too please to see me (yeah because he’s the one paying about 60 euros for membership – which, by the way, does not include the right to take home the books AND only lasts til May. Not he just works there, he just gets paid for helping people. Or not.) He asked if I found what I was looking for. I gave up and asked him for the issues published in 1913 (the first issues). He looked at me as if I was really dumb:

“Nineteen thiiiirrrrteeeeen?”

“Erm… Yeah, nineteen… thirteen…”

“Treize?”

“Yeah! Nineteen thirteen, treize, mille neuf cent treize!! One thousand thirteen!”

I was losing patience with Papy Nova.

Anyway, he sighed *again* and more or less crawled to a room at the back, and made a sign so that I would follow him (yes, asking politely would have been too… I don’t know, polite?). He gestured toward the shelves of books and just said that I needed to go back to the reception to fill a yellow form. Okay, that made sense. SO, I went back, filled the damn form and I waited in the reading room. Eventually, I got the anthologies from 1913 and 1914.

I don’t know why he felt the need to smirk again. I really wished he understood that I felt deeply sorry for disturbing His Majesty. Yeah, cause helping people is actually just a hobby, not his actual job, right?

Aside from that, corsets, silversmiths and millinery – whatever that is – have no more secrets for me. The studying session was cool and useful. Here is a line from the first issue of VF that sums up the concept of the magazine:

“A record of current achievements in all the arts and a mirror of the progress and promise of American Life”

Though, today, the letter from the editor has been more about debunking the Bush Administration and commenting on the current fallout of the American Way of Life (see healthcare system, the debt, the financial crisis, etc).

Today: meeting with the head of the department of Media at the CELSA.

I say “Head of” but actually there are two heads; my two professors who created the department. I had to choose my major for next year. It means choosing either “Communication, Media Management and Marketing” or “New Media/Computerized Media and Communication Strategy”. Well, I didn’t know what to choose and I said so during the meeting, so it means I have one month to make up my mind, which, by the way, is pretty hard considering the fact that ideally, I would elect them both. Add that to the list of things I won’t have time to do this month…

Anyway, I didn’t really got to work on my mémoire but I did watch some TV (Mad Men + Gossip Girl) and made muffins. Tomorrow, I’ll go to the BPI with Sonia and try to make amends by working at least, one complete hour (yes, because Sonia talks a lot and I’m a feeble person).

I’m back posting after a long hiatus (Christmas break + the Month of Death, ie January also called “How to Squeeze One Semester into One Month”).

I decided to change a bit my blog’s formula. It was at first supposed to be a mandatory blog used for my E-culture class, but I’m not very good at following trends. Mashable, Cavazza or Arnaud Meunier are much better than I am. However, I do like discussing and commenting on topics related to my studies such as communications or media or journalism or mobile phones and so on. That’s why I will continue to do so. The new formula has more to do with other areas of my life, other interests, that will appear in this blog more proeminently than before. So, this month, I will pretty much be working on my thesis (or mémoire in French) based on the magazine Vanity Fair. As a result, this blog will follow the making of this mémoire. My friend Sonia will do the same, and you can find her blog here.

Pick of the Day: Dido, “Don’t Believe in Love” – the music video, directed by Alex and Liane.

The directors made most of the Ting Tings vids and they’re also reponsible for Bloc Party’s “Banquet”. I like the vid for its intensity, for the lights, the way it suits the lyrics and the atmosphere of the song very tightly.

PS: the pic is the view from my kitchen this morning at 9 am.