Dave Eggers’ debut novel A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius almost lived up to its hyperbolic title and he did put the fun back into philanthropy (More like funlanthropy right? Where my high fives at?) so the dude is almost impossible to hate. And that’s taking into account the self-importance, the self-righteousness, the holier-than-thou stable of writers that is McSweeney’s and his hand in the most unashamedly hip film ever.
You’d think he’d grow complacent with his varied achievements but when he’s not penning scripts with his Wife, lording over the McSweeney’s empire, teaching kids how to read or watching the Where The Wild Things Are money roll in, Eggers is making newspapers feel nervous. That’s right McSweeney’s groupies keep your eye out for the newly launched “San Francisco Panorama” a full colour, 112 page broadsheet that claims to be a “21st Century Newspaper Prototype” – and not a kindle or electronic display in sight!
Speaking with The Guardian Eggers explains the inspiration behind the project: “I love papers. There’s a downbeat atmosphere about the future of the form so we thought we could demonstrate some things newspapers do uniquely well: the main way they can continue to exist is to differentiate themselves as much as possible from the internet…Paper is a uniquely beautiful format, more so than the web, I think: you need to invest in the aesthetics. We’re resurrecting practices from 100 years ago – like printing full-page comics. We want to give young people ways to engage with it, feel ownership of it.”
Note: Rest easy Print Dinosaurs, this will be the first, last and only issue of The San Francisco Panorama.
