The late, great SPY magazine once had a feature (if we remember correctly) consisting entirely of a list of seemingly disconnected names. It was called, appropriately, THE SPY LIST.** All of the names supposedly had something –usually something obscure–in common and the readers were responsible for figuring out what it was.
We have our own version of THE LIST, but the constant variable is pretty obvious. Our list consists entirely of people we’re obsessed with–classic names and more recent acquisitions. We’re a little fickle, so our list will change as we go, but here’s the Right This Very Minute snapshot of people we’re tracking: THE COEN BROTHERS, JEFF KOONS, JUNOT DIAZ, GRACE GUMMER, TERRY RICHARDSON, RADIOHEAD, ADAM RAPP, TOM WOLFE, NORMAN FOSTER, JOSH SCHWARTZ, JONATHAN MILES, PHILIPPE STARCK, MATTHEW BARNEY, ALICE SEBOLD, KYLE JARROW, ELIZABETH PEYTON, CHRISTOPHER WHEELDON, SHEPARD FAIREY, STEPHANIE MEYER, WES ANDERSON, RONAN NOONE, T.I., JOSEPH O’NEILL, RICHARD MEIER, NATHANIEL RICH, JJ ABRAMS, CHUCK PALAHNIUK, DAMIEN HIRST, BECK, TONI MORRISON, BANKSY, GERARD MORTIER, BARBARA KRUGER, KEITH GESSEN, MARY LOUISE PARKER, RICHARD PRINCE, RYAN MCGINLEY, JONATHAN ADLER, JENNY LEWIS, MARTIN SCORCESE, TERENCE KOH, DAVID WROBLEWSKI, SARAH BENSON, HELGI THOMASSON, LIEV SCHREIBER, THE COOL KIDS, ALISON PILL, JOHN ADAMS, ALAN BALL, NEIL LABUTE, DAVID MAMET, GERARD MORTIER, LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA, BILL T. JONES, MGMT, MILTON GLASER, TREY MCINTYRE, PHILIP GLASS, OF MONTREAL, MELISSA BARAK, DANNY BOYLE, TINA FEY, SPIKE LEE, STEPHEN COLBERT, JANET EILBER, LYKKE LI, GUILLERMO DEL TORO, M.I.A., MATTHEW WEINER, MICHEL GONDRY, KANYE WEST, JASON O’MARA, CHARLIE KAUFMAN, DIPLO, STEFAN SAGMEISTER, TIM KRING, DIABLO CODY, JEAN NOUVEL, GREG DANIELS, KARIM RASHID, DAVID KELLY, ZAHA HADID, YVES BEHAR, and CORMAC MCCARTHY. (Whew. We could barely remember them all.)
But what we like may not be what you like. So tell us who YOU think we should be watching. THE LIST is changing all the time…
** The first SPY list, for the trivia obsessed: MILTON BERLE, GARY COOPER, SONNY CORLEONE, WILLEM DAFOE, ANTHONY HADEN-GUEST, DON JOHNSON, LEVON HELM, GEORGE S. KAUFMAN, HENRY KISSINGER, TOULOUSE LAUTREC, RODDY MCDOWALL, DAVID METCALFE, ARMANDO ORSINI, TONY PECK, ROBERT PLANT, IGGY POP, DAVID LEE ROTH, SECRETARIAT JAMES WOODS.