Becky Reads Company: December 2013

When the latest issue of Company plopped onto my doormat (yes, I subscribe. Like I said last month, I love to hate it!), I was very excited about creating my second installment of Becky Reads Company. My first post in this series was really well received and I had a lot of fun creating it. I snuggled up all cosy on my sofa, opened the magazine, started reading the first page of text and HOLY SPELLING MISTAKE, BATMAN! I actually counted the words- It was 28 words into the magazine. In the editor's letter. Woah. 

I'll talk about that more later but, for now, just take that as a bar for the standard of the rest of the issue. 

The good

I love velvet. I love shoes. Velvet shoes? Come to me, my babies! 

This styling is so adorable! 

HANSON ARE BACK! OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD! 

My feelings on Jameela Jamil swing back and forth quite rapidly. However, her column tackling abortion was sensitive, mature and intelligent. Bravo! 

I blooming love Christmas jumpers! Look at the little puggy one! "The novelty animal tribe" describes me perfectly. 

Some people might think designer collaborations go too far, but I actually think these Giles Deacon ones are genius. Collaborating with Muller Light? So bizarre but I love it! As for those Superga shoes? I need them in my life! 

I find psychology really interesting, so The Science of Shopping fascinated me. It talked all about the way shops use the senses, particularly smell, to enhance sales. 

The bad

"The spaghetti straps on this dress give it a 90s edge." Bonus points for not using an apostrophe in "90s" but it would be nice to actually see the spaghetti straps mentioned. 

Is there any need to mention that the coffee you bought was skinny? It bears no relevance to the article. Not to mention the fact that it ruins the lovely alliterative quality of "morning mocha". Nobody's going to think any less of you for buying a normal bloody coffee. Buying a skinny one does not make you seem cooler, or more desirable, or more attractive. It just makes you seem like a superficial idiot. Not to mention the bizarre comma in the middle of a clause and the ridiculous overuse of hashtags (5 in this article alone), but more on that later. It's a shame, as the concept of the article is really positive. 

It's not the article that annoyed me (I actually found it very positive and inspiring) but that, yet again, Company feel the need to illustrate an article referencing geeks with big, black glasses. It's such a superficial idea of what a geek is. 

Want to go back to Myspace circa 2005? This list of photo-editing apps will tell you how to get that taste-free 16 year old girl look. Look! I can get a heart on my selfie! 

The ugly

Yes, I marked the editor's letter. No, I have no shame. I actually had to do this so I could keep track of just how many errors there were. It's ridiculous. First of all, it's "collaborative", not "collaberative". Come on, how difficult is it to check? You can Google it in 2 seconds flat. Especially since, you know, it's your job. Then there's the lack of speech marks to close the quote, although they actually seem to have slid down the page to close a quote that has no opening speech marks. Finally, I know I'm being picky, but can we talk about the overuse of ellipses? It reminds me of the time I learned how to use a semi-colon and used one in every other sentence. Reckon the editor has only just discovered the wonders of an ellipsis? 

Oh look, two pages later and we still cannot master the use of speech marks. What is going on at Company HQ? 

You know incorrect punctuation is my biggest pet hate, so bear with me. Why has "Frowers" got a capital letter? When did we start capitalising common nouns in English? It should be "FROWers" or "frowers". Either would be correct. 

#trending. #stophashtaggingeverything.