Other Blogs: Terrorism Freebie

Gawker posted this today that cracks me up:



I would totally buy this for my kids if I had any.....I wonder if you could get this stuff in the 50s about Russia and the Soviet Bloc

Recession Gossip: Luxury vs. City magazines

If you didn't already know, I have a scholarly interest in city magazines. Fair warning that if any conversation veers into the realm of "Gee, I really enjoyed reading X city magazine when I lived in X city" you will probably get a long and detailed response back about that magazine's success, circulation rate, and possibly even a critique on their design and how cool their art director is (from my personal experience, city magazine designers pretty much kiss ass).

There's a big debate (in my head) between city magazines and their evil twin, luxury titles. While city magazines theoretically delve into investigative features at least once a year on problems facing an area, luxury magazines tend to focus more on specific area or zip codes. Content in luxury titles will remain strictly fluff, usually because these magazines are focusing all their attention on nabbing the Nordstrom and Porche advertising market. Circulations are met by sending the magazine free to specific neighborhoods--and these magazines can easily become thinly veiled marketing tools for advertisers to reach their specific audience.

The question that has been on the minds of magazine folk lately (okay, it's prol just me and people like Samir Husni worrying about this stuff) is whether or not luxury titles will thrive or fail with the coming recession.

The scholarly rule of thumb (i love sounding all expert) is that city magazines are by definition, 'luxury' expenses that are usually the first thing to be cut when a reader starts budgeting. The genre continually goes through periods of growth (the last ten years) and decline (the 90s). Lately cities have been flooded with the luxury titles, creating an illusion of competition even though readerships and advertisers are usually entirely different. You would assume, though, that once this recession hits, these titles will close up shop because no one is buying diamonds and fancy cars....but what's even more depressing than a bear market in the magazine industry is that financial worries will have absolutely no effect on luxury titles:

For those that are accepted as leaders in whatever luxury category they happen to be pimping, they should be able to ride out the wave just fine, because a rich person losing money can still afford a magazine, while a poor person can't. [Gawker]

It doesn't help matters that more traditional city titles are closing up shop, either. Good thing I didn't apply for that job there like I was thinking to.....

Why I need to find a full-time job....

And what poor sap has to total everything up?

“We’ll assign a research assistant or a hapless intern to try to count up most of the tips in the magazine and find some way to quantify for the cover of the magazine,” Mr. Zinczenko said.

That comes out of a story on why magazines feel the need to count up to insanely high numbers on the cover that no reader would ever actually double check. I found it via UnBeige.

While I think having 570+ is a bit obsessive, I am of the mindset that if they put a numbered list on the cover, that's what I want to see in the magazine---listed 1 through X. I can't get enough of them, apparently.

And so, three numbers that would be on my cover had I started a magazine just about me and my crazed job-seeking life.

I think it would be called 'Obsessive'
Tagline: Yes, I will fret unnecessarily over the little things.
Themed Issue: Finding a Job

1. SIX. The total job applications sent out last week in a nervous fit of 'must-find-work-before-recessionITIS'
2. 1500. The total number hours I can work before my 'temp' status is officially up and I become unemployeed.
3. 25. The ever approaching age where I will have to admit I am a quarter of a century old and still not settled down.




Man, I crack myself up. I told two or three friends a month ago they had permission to slap me if I got crazy about this job thing, and I think the slap rule has just come into effect once again. sigh. back to work.

UPDATE: Cover Drama

You've got to love a good controversy to hype up PR for a magazine. Jezabel has an update/recap of the LeBron James Vogue cover here.

Samir Husni was quote in a USA Today article:

Husni believes the photo was deliberately provocative, adding that it "screams King Kong." Considering Vogue's influential history, he said, covers are not something that the magazine does in a rush.

"So when you have a cover that reminds people of King Kong and brings those stereotypes to the front, black man wanting white woman, it's not innocent," he said.

I agree, it does scream King Kong. And I agree, any comparison between humans and animals is NOT acceptable, especially when the relationship has been used in the past as a horrible, horrible derogatory comment about a specific race. But I also am going to give Vogue a little credit. I highly doubt that's what the magazine was going for.

I'm sure they wanted him to appear in that angry athletic stance that would be a direct opposite from Giselle's model smile. I also wouldn't hold it past Annie Leobovitz to make the connection to King Kong as a way to portray this theme in a easily recognizable style. USA Today has some quotes about how this pose shows LeBron's 'game face.' I believe what Vogue was going for was something in between the two.

It also seems as if more people pointed out my comment about why he wasn't wearing a suit and the post also notes that the inside photo shoot had other sports stars also wearing 'sports apparel' -- Apolo Anton Ohno, Shaun White, Michael Phelps -- next to models in high fashion.

So that's a no to the suit. I get it. But I also offer another question. Had LeBron been wearing a suit, does it make a different statement?

....hmmmm....this image actually brings to mind the ever present financial woes of the country right now. LeBron's anguish suddenly seems real as he learned the value of his BearSterns stock .....WAY too politically ironic for Vogue, though.

Other Blogs: A Photoshop Quiz....

Defamer has a pretty spot-on analysis of the extent of Photoshopping done on Ryan Seacrest for the April issue of Details:

They found 6......and you get bonus points if you can spot the final two before peaking at the answers.