I Got Stephen King'd



It happens to the best of us. . . we buy something because it promises to have a "tribute" or essay or something by Stephen King -- only to discover HAHA!, you've been Stephen King'd.  His named gets slapped on all kinds of things that at times offer nothing more than a passing mention of him.

For me, it was the July/August 2012 edition of Readers Digest, "best of America" issue.  The cover reads, "including tributes by Stephen King, Dave Berry. . ." A tribute by Stephen King?  Wow!  I was interested.

Finding the "tribute" was real work.  I realized it wasn't going to be a muti-pager, so I began searching page by page.  Maybe a half page?  Nope.  But at least a box, right?  . . . Nope.  Remember in the olden days when Readers Digest printed their contents on the cover, and with each headline was a page number?

WAIT!  I found it!  Here is the Stephen King tribute:
Stephen King on MAINEIt was a beautiful summer's day, flawless, the kind that the tourists came to the Mine seacoast for.  You don't come to swim because the water is never really warm enough for that; you come to be knocked out by the day." (From The Stand)
1. That wasn't a tribute, that was a quote from a book.
2. That quote got cover billing on the front of Readers Digest.  Never mind the "13 things your TV weatherman won't tell you" was two full pages -- it didn't make the cover.  Stephen King did!

Question: Have you ever bought something a celebrity's name was on it -- only get realize the product really had nothing to do with that person?

2 comments:

  1. Not as such, but I bought a magazine -- this was one that came out sometime in 2011, I think, although it might have been 2010 -- because it contained a new interview with King. It was one of the most pointless, inept interviews I have ever read; the interviewer asked questions that King has answered probably about 7569 times.

    At least the magazine didn't lie about the contents, though; it was a lousy interview, but it WAS an interview. This Reader's Digest thing is simply a flat-out lie. Shame on them!

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  2. Man I hate Reader's Digest. The jokes aren't jokes or funny stories.
    A man and a wife are outside, a duck walks by. The man looks at the woman and says 'It's sure hot outside!'
    Stuff like that.

    Sorry you got duped.
    -mike

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