Magazine sales scam

[mermaidcafe.livejournal.com]

If some guys came to your place selling magazines within the past few days, even if you didn't buy any, call the non-emergency police # or 311 and give the police your info. They came to my place in Winter Hill on Monday (thankfully, I didn't buy anything or let them in) and I don't know where else they went, but the cops apparently kicked them out of the city today. The PD still wants a record of who they talked to, though. These guys had no license to be selling; also, when I looked up the name of the suscription company associated with them, there was no trace of that company.

(In other words, don't hold your breath on your year's worth of Cosmo--you'll just have to find his special LMNOP spot some other way.)

Comments

[ron_newman]

LMNOP?

[mermaidcafe.livejournal.com]

I don't know what it is because I haven't read my Cosmo! But I bet it would totally rock his world!

The Cosmopolitan Institute

[wombatbanana.livejournal.com]

Perhaps you've heard that the Cosmopolitan Institute has completed its decades-long study on "how to please your man." Here's the press release (http://www.theonion.com/content/video/cosmopolitan_institute_completes?utm_source=embedded_video) announcing this stunning achievement.

Re: The Cosmopolitan Institute

[ron_newman]

Cosmopolitan was a well-regarded literary magazine for many decades. Then again, Abercrombie & Fitch was once what LL Bean or REI are today.

Re: The Cosmopolitan Institute

[mermaidcafe.livejournal.com]

Was this opinion rendered by the same people who read Playboy for the articles?

Re: The Cosmopolitan Institute

[arrowintwolakes.livejournal.com]

Playboy also was a well-regarded source for literary articles once upon a time, with Hunter S. Thompson, Norman Mailer, Saul Bellow, and Gore Vidal as regular contributors.

Re: The Cosmopolitan Institute

[mermaidcafe.livejournal.com]

I remember once coming across a Playboy Fiction Anthology that was really good, so it is possible. As to Cosmopolitan truly being an institute of advancement, that's another story. ;)

Re: The Cosmopolitan Institute

[ron_newman]

Although I'm relying on the Wikipedia article at the moment, Cosmopolitan's old reputation as a literary magazine is something I knew about long before anyone heard of a Wiki.

Re: The Cosmopolitan Institute

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

No, Cosmopolitan really was a literary magazine, not a sex-for-women magazine at all. It didn't change until 1965. Before then, it published people like Sinclair Lewis and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Re: The Cosmopolitan Institute

[mermaidcafe.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know, I was just kidding. That doesn't really come through over lj comments very well. :)

Re: The Cosmopolitan Institute

[wombatbanana.livejournal.com]

I'm reading House of Leaves right now, and I was amused by the footnote that cited GQ with the name "Gentleman's Quarterly."

Re: The Cosmopolitan Institute

[ron_newman]

It's not called that anymore?

Re: The Cosmopolitan Institute

[wombatbanana.livejournal.com]

I don't see that name on their website anywhere, nor does Google. It also doesn't appear to be on the cover, based on images I found online. It might be on the masthead, but at best it's obscure.

Re: The Cosmopolitan Institute

[arrowintwolakes.livejournal.com]

Gentleman's Quarterly does appear on the cover, at least the ones my roommate gets. It's in small print right below the GQ logo, I think.

Re: House of Leaves

[mermaidcafe.livejournal.com]

Ooh, are you listening to Poe's album "Haunted" for the true companion book/music experience. (If you don't know, the singer Poe is Mark Danielewski's sister, and her second album goes really well with the novel--she suggests certain songs for certain sections of the book in the liner notes and everything.)

Re: House of Leaves

[wombatbanana.livejournal.com]

Neat! I hadn't heard about that, I'll have to check it out.

Re: The Cosmopolitan Institute

[arrowintwolakes.livejournal.com]

That's what post-modern writers refer to as a "joke." (cf. Eggers, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius; Wallace, Infinite Jest; et. al.)

Re: The Cosmopolitan Institute

[mermaidcafe.livejournal.com]

How does one become a professional Moan Zone researcher? Without just becoming a professional, of course.

I love your icon. It reminds me of what my house will look like in fifty years. But the cats will have bodies.

Re: The Cosmopolitan Institute

[wombatbanana.livejournal.com]

Get your PhD in moanology and then get an industry job instead of staying in academia. Duh.

Half of my icon is in the (ironically-named; figurative) dog-house at the moment because it decided that the bristles on the broom just looked so damned delicious that it could (literally) eat them up, and its digestive system voiced a dissenting opinion.

Re: The Cosmopolitan Institute

[mermaidcafe.livejournal.com]

Oh, good, so I wouldn't have to join a moanastery, then?

*ducks*

You're killing me with those kittehs.

Re: The Cosmopolitan Institute

[wombatbanana.livejournal.com]

No, nor sit through long services where they play the organ.

Rumor has it that obsure tomes (http://flickr.com/photos/blacktabi/sets/72157606322036692/) mentioned in whispers amongst members of certain cults (http://flickr.com/photos/blacktabi/sets/72157604280939365/) contain wood-cuttings that purport (http://images.zevils.com/v/Thanksgiving_2006/IMG_6560.JPG.html) to show not these creatures as not mere heads, but heads with bodies -- foul, non-euclidean things. Yes, the dreaded beasts of legend, the Cats of Cthulhu!

Re: The Cosmopolitan Institute

[mermaidcafe.livejournal.com]

Dude, your cat eats off the FLOOR. I don't know what kind of zoo you've got there, kid.

I do agree about the "Candlelight" mode on Tabi. I will have to try out "Fireworks" setting on Dart to bring out his dangerous, yet dazzling, internal beauty.

Re: The Cosmopolitan Institute

[wombatbanana.livejournal.com]

Yeah, orange guy will even scoop a kibble (or is it a bit?) out of his bowl so that he can eat it off the floor. Weirdo.

I'm glad to see that he's safely ensconced in bubble wrap. That should provide effective protection against dangerous inner beauty.

Re: The Cosmopolitan Institute

[mermaidcafe.livejournal.com]

Yes, but cat-dropping games lose some of their excitement.

Re: The Cosmopolitan Institute

[mermaidcafe.livejournal.com]

One night my wise, head-AND-body-type cat discovered bubble wrap. He did this with no help from me! (You might have to look closely.)

Re: The Cosmopolitan Institute

[wombatbanana.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm getting married in a couple of weeks, so we've been getting tons of boxes from the places we registered.

The cats have been extremely pleased. Claws is a real box-hound.

Re: The Cosmopolitan Institute

[mermaidcafe.livejournal.com]

Maybe Claws registered for boxes?

Re: The Cosmopolitan Institute

[wombatbanana.livejournal.com]

He even pimped his box. There was a rectangular one that was perfectly him-sized, and he chewed (biting off and spitting out hunks of card-board) a cut-out in the side so that he could stick his arm out.

Re: The Cosmopolitan Institute

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

HAHAHAHa, very funny video.

[carmstro.livejournal.com]

What was the name of the company they claimed to be associated with?

[mermaidcafe.livejournal.com]

They said it was part of some leadership contest. The subscription house on the form was Dream Team Subscriptions. They also had some things you could buy to have donated to the Shriners' Hospital.

[diatomacearth.livejournal.com]

Oh hey, I got a visit from one this morning. I shut her down right away and didn't hear much of the pitch, but I remember the phrase, "leadership contest."

[mermaidcafe.livejournal.com]

This morning? Totally call the cops--they were all supposed to be kicked out of the area yesterday.

[ocschwar.livejournal.com]

Ask again in 5 minutes and it will be different. It's a fly by night operation. They all are. Some actually do get orders processed and subscriptions started. But what they all have in common is that they pay the door-to-door kids in booze and hash, not money.

[mermaidcafe.livejournal.com]

Yeah, googling magazine sales and crimes brought up plenty of stories.

Though I'll confess I was first tipped off by watching the Law and Order episode inspired by one such case.

[drever.livejournal.com]

Were these the same guys who came to my door bugging me to talk about my career for "points" and then peddling a magazine?

[mermaidcafe.livejournal.com]

Yes they were! Wasn't that the craziest-ass link between the whole career/points/magazine thing?

Yeah, call the Somerville PD and give them your info.

[ocschwar.livejournal.com]

Deeper background info. (http://houstonpress.com/2008-07-17/news/what-mainstream-publishers-don-t-want-you-to-know-about-door-to-door-magazine-sales/full)

[mermaidcafe.livejournal.com]

Uh oh! Something entirely different should happen when your LMNOP spot is properly stimulated!

[arrowintwolakes.livejournal.com]

Well, you know, some people...

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

I actually once bought magazines from one of those door-to-door salespeople and really got the magazines! Not this batch, though.

[deleriumhead.livejournal.com]

Yep..they some how got into my building the oher day. I listened for a minute then just shut the door.

Location: Medford highlands/Boston Ave