Now that you can use a Genius plugin to annotate any article online, some people are getting really creative. Take Audrey Gelman, a political PR consultant, alleged inspiration for Marnie on Girls, and newlywed, who used the service to annotate a Vogue article about her own wedding.
This, I believe, would be the definition of a power move.
https://twitter.com/audreygelman/status/748526224729903105
The original Vogue article is your typical wedding coverage, gushing over how the wedding was, somehow, “a valiant exercise in restoring millennials’ good name” (thanks, married people!). There were details about the flowers, the ceremony, the outfits, and how “the bride’s chestnut waves were festooned with sprigs of baby’s breath.”
However, Gelman took it upon herself to add even more detail to the piece, both through tongue-in-cheek commentary and actual details about some of their decisions. She explained the history of their venue, the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant, shouted out their florist, and posted cute pictures from the actual wedding. Which looked really pretty! Congrats.
But there’s no reason you’d read this unless you were actually at the wedding, as it’d be a cool way to share more information with your guests. Of course, it’s no coincidence that Gelman used Genius for her annotation—her new husband, Ilan Zechory, is a co-founder of the company.
Could this usher in a new era of meta-meta-commentary? Will every New York Times Vows column be filled with explanations of how the couple is not actually as insufferable as they sound? Can I get my friends to annotate my obituary with dumb jokes?
However, it only works if you’re of the 1 percent who have their weddings written about in places like Vogue. The rest of us can Genius the Flickr page of our wedding photos, I guess.