Harper's Bizare.

So I stumbled upon this editorial in Bazaar the other day. Jonah Hill, one of Judd Apatow's comedy darlings, poses with Riley Keough in various LA scenarios. Each photo has a 'text message' for a caption. I thought to myself, "hmm, that's entertaining. A little alienating to most of the magazine's demographic, though." As if on cue, my mom looked over my shoulder and said, "Yeah, I didn't really get what all that was about. What's The Hills?"
Oh boy.
How does one explain the faux-reality monstronsity to the uninitiated? To define The Hills, I feel, would be like admitting that my generation is exactly as disappointing as all the baby boomers want to believe we are.

Now, I don't have any official data on what the average Bazaar reader is like, but I'm going to guess that a good chunk of them are not texting or watching The Hills. Afterall, this is the magazine that dedicates pages each month to skin care and fashion trends for women over 70.

First of all, let's address the text thing. Until about a month ago, my mom didn't even have text messaging. I'm positive she has no idea who Jonah Hill is, so she probably thought it was peculiar that some pudgy guy was throwing up piece signs next to a supermodel and texting about his fabulous California lifestyle. And using "The Hills" as the overarching theme? What a disaster.

Bazaar, second only to Lucky, is my favorite magazine--but this editorial kind of let me down. I get that they wanted to do something youthful and Jonah's last name made this convenient. But couldn't they have emulated Gossip Girl? And please, PLEASE don't tell me this means that one of the show's bimbos is landing a job in the west coast office. Bazaar, you're already late on the reality show marketing thing. (As much as I adore Isaac Mizrahi, The Fashion Show just isn't capturing me the way Project Runway ever could.) Don't dig your grave any deeper. Find another way to salvage the existence of glossy pages.