My copy of Paper Magazine's "BTS Break the Internet" issue finally arrived — two months after I pre-ordered it, over a month after its release on US newsstands, and paying an atrocious $31 USD for shipping. (Quite frankly, I myself cannot believe I paid this much for shipping for a fucking magazine. From New York, no less. I shit you not, shipping from the other side of the world costs less than that for the exact same weight.) But there was literally no other way to get the magazine here because the publication is no longer carried in Canada, at least at any of the major retailers. (You can get it online in Canada, but only through a yearly subscription, which I was definitely not interested in.)
Over the course of November and December, I had emailed Paper Magazine three times: the first time was to find out whether I could add another copy to my order (because Ying wanted one as well, and we could split the shipping cost that way); the second time to ask the exact same thing as the first time because I didn't hear back from them after two weeks; and the third time was to ask when the issue would be shipped because it had already been out on US newsstands for a week by then. I DIDN'T GET A SINGLE FUCKING REPLY. Mid-way through December, people all over the world — from North America to Europe to Asia — were asking the same thing: Did anyone who pre-ordered this issue of Paper Magazine get their copy yet? Did anyone even hear back from Paper Magazine about this issue? The answer, across the board, was a resounding "NO!"
Finally, two days before Christmas, I received a generic copy-and-paste response that everyone else got: "The issue: Breaking the Internet has shipped on 12/13/19. If you ordered multiple issues, each will be shipped separately. Late day to receive your order is: January 10, 2020. All issues are shipped regular mail and there is no tracking." (Never mind their grammatical errors, or using "late day" instead of "last day." They never even got back to me about adding another issue to my order.) It's no wonder Paper Magazine is no longer carried outside of the US. The people who run Paper Magazine are completely unresponsive and totally unprofessional in the way they operate. You'd think that an independent publication like that would want to go above and beyond for their customers. They need to seriously organize their distribution centre and hire more people for their customer service department (if they have one at all?). Like, GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER.
On the bright side, my copy came in mint condition. It arrived in a thin paper envelope used for documents — no bubble wrap, no protective plastic cover — so it could've been bad. I read hundreds of complaints on Twitter regarding the state in which their magazine arrived. Many people received theirs with torn pages and totally destroyed spines. Some people even got theirs with ripped covers. Most of these people were from the US, so it might also have been caused by the negligence of USPS. (Shipping in the US was only $4 per issue, after all. Really nothing compared to the $31 shipping to Canada.) Still, using a flimsy documents envelope to ship A MAGAZINE? These aren't packed in skids, the way subscriptions or retail orders would be. These are literally single issues of magazines being sent by regular postal service, and they were just being cheap and careless.
My final complaint? The addition of the Lisa Frank illustrations. Listen, they were cute in the late '80s and early '90s for CHILDREN (I would know, because 6-year-old Denise fucking LOVED Lisa Frank), but we are in 2020 and Paper Magazine is geared towards young adults. This was such a bad fucking call by Paper Magazine, who is known for sleek, minimalistic covers that would have worked so well here to showcase BTS' neutral-pastel outfits. There was absolutely no rhyme or reason for adding Lisa Frank's (almost painfully American) illustrations to this issue — one that features a Korean music group (in thousands of dollars worth of Louis Vuitton clothing, no less) and is also their annual "Break the Internet" issue (which would insinuate something that has made a mark in the current pop culture landscape). So, for what purpose do these outdated, nonsensical illustrations serve? They don't go with any of the features inside the magazine, nor the outfits that the boys are wearing on the cover. Is there some sort of resurgence of Lisa Frank that the whole world except for Paper Magazine is unaware of? These illustrations and neon rainbow colour scheme totally take the focus away from BTS, and also makes the issue look overwhelmingly tacky. And not even in a cute way. It looks like a cheap teenybopper magazine from the early '90s. (I would also know, because 10-year-old Denise bought WAY TOO MANY issues of Tiger Beat and Bop.)
The only redeeming qualities about this whole thing is that the boys themselves look beautiful (despite the — and I cannot stress this enough — INCREDIBLY TACKY illustrations), and the article itself was informed, well-researched, and well-written. I suppose, at the end of the day, that is what really matters.
Be First to Post Comment !
Post a Comment