Starlog Magazine

Starlog

 

by Larry Dobrow, Thursday, October 19, 2006

 

I HEAR IT ALL the time. "Larry, you seem like a reasonably okay guy. You write in complete sentences and generally wear clean shirts. But really, are you just a little bit of a nerd?"

 

Of course I'm a nerd. I own several Rush CDs. I've been known to pair white athletic socks with brown shoes. This column arrived late because I spent a good chunk of the morning trolling through comments about last night's "Lost" on the Entertainment Weekly and USA Today "Pop Candy" boards. (My random, totally-not-justified-by-the-evidence-at-hand theory: there are two sets of Others on the island.)

 

So technically, Starlog should be right up my alley. It's a fan magazine in the truest sense: every word in every story is written by and for fans. Perusing it, you get the impression that its editors and contributors had a hell of a time putting it together.

 

Unfortunately, while this may make for a happy tribe of office nerdlings, it doesn't necessarily make for much of a magazine. I know, I know: Starlog has survived and prospered for 30 years, so the opinion of some pissant nerd/writer doesn't mean diddly. Let me come right out and state it in the strongest possible terms, then: Starlog ain't long for this galaxy, or any other, unless it decides to enter the 21st century from a publishing perspective. Pretty futuristic, huh?

 

Oh, sure, the mag could slog along in its current format for awhile, coasting on its name and king-dork rep. But unless it takes drastic steps -- we're talking head-to-toe plastic surgery here, plus a rethinking of its fanboy approach -- it can't expect to hold readers' attention for much longer, especially given the more immediate and interactive online competition.

 

There isn't a single item in the November Starlog that doesn't lend itself to rich illustration, yet the mag all too often is content to pair its stories with a few blah film stills. The fonts, colors and layouts seem poached from a circa-1987 Premiere; the issue's most imaginative graphic flourish is a gaggle of magician hats with pithy trivia tidbits popping out of them (accompanying the story on the upcoming flick "The Prestige").

 

Additionally, Starlog lacks any coherent organizational scheme, simply running one story after the next. Sections? Starlog don't need no stinkin' sections, outside of a handful of front-of-book pages devoted to TV listings and DVD reviews. Even when the magazine serves up an entertaining bit -- the four "Log Toons," including one featuring "Yao Ming the Merciless" -- it manages to diminish the overall effect, in this case by placing them on a page with the ownership/circulation statement.

 

The stories themselves positively teem with information, and Starlog affords them plenty of space. But it's pretty clear that enthusiast approach or no, the mag needs writers more capable of keeping an editorial distance. The writer assigned to the interview with William Shatner seems genuinely awed by his subject, throwing out poofy questions like "Anything else coming up?" (Nerd interjection: I own and dig Shatner's "Has Been" record from last year; it's a quirky, mostly sober meditation on life and death that features no "Rocket Man" moments.)

 

Other pieces in the November issue come across as similarly overimpressed with their topics. The story on animated flick "Open Season" reads as if it were written by a studio publicist, while the overlong profile of Dominic Monaghan ("Lost," "Lord of the Rings"... talk about hitting the dork daily double) offers spoilers like "I really did make friends for life on 'Lord'" and "I enjoy new and interesting parts, and I would like people to recognize that I have the ability to play different characters." As for the feature on "Smallville" babe Erica Durance, gosh, set your phasers on "stunning" -- less for her looks than for the nigh-tragic inclusion of a "Dirty Durancing" subhed.

 

And then there are the tens of captions, boring at best ("Hurley has a huge heart, but even he would find it hard to forgive Charlie's abduction of Sun in Season Two") and nonsensical at worst ("Let no one say the Ood aren't odd as well as quite disturbing"... and yes, I'm hip to all things Doctor Who). There's a little bit of self-congratulation here as well, in the last-page "Liner Notes" that chronicle the creation of the issue. Do readers really give a hoot about the order in which stories were laid out, or that a certain piece would have run earlier if the mag had more art? All signs point to no.

 

My unsolicited advice to Starlog: wind down the print pub and pump more and more resources into the Starlog.com Web site. The Starlog brand name still has considerable pull with the pocket-protected crowd, but this audience will go wherever its inside-information needs are best served. Assuming Starlog continues to snare access to film sets and sci-fi deities like The Shatner, it can compete in cyberspace -- and probably better serve rich-media-happy advertisers, not to mention make a few bucks, in the process. But the magazine, barring an extreme Vulcan makeover, looks like toast from where I'm sitting.

 

Larry Dobrow is a Contributing Writer.

 

Magazine Rack for Thursday, October 19, 2006: http://publications.mediapost.com/

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If this issue was forwarded to you and you would like to begin receiving a copy of your own, please visit our site - www.mediapost.com - and become a complimentary member.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We welcome and appreciate forwarding of our newsletters in their entirety or in part with proper attribution.
(c) 2006 MediaPost Communications, 1140 Broadway, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10001

Ladies' Home Journal Magazine

Ladies' Home Journal

 

by Larry Dobrow, Tuesday, October 17, 2006

 

HEADING INTO TODAY'S EXERCISE, here's what I knew about Ladies' Home Journal: One, it is a women's magazine -- a "home journal" for "ladies," if you will. Two, it contains lots of recipes, many involving peaches. Three, it's been around forever and ever, and ever and ever, amen. Four, it's the kind of publication that media nudniks scorn, because it has the audacity to give readers precisely what they want, in a breezy, easily digestible format.

 

Come on. Where are the multihued sidebars? The swirly, elongated fonts? The faux-provocative headlines ("332 Ways to Save 448 Minutes!") and quizzes ("Are you white? These questions reveal what the mirror doesn't!")? You'll never win an Ellie with a chart that succinctly lays out the benefits and potential perils of natural remedies/herbal supplements -- and without an Ellie, your mantel will remain as empty as a Lucky editor's bookshelf, or soul.

 

So no, I wouldn't change a thing about Ladies' Home Journal. Women love this magazine. Why mess with something that works in the interest of creating snazzier fodder for your art director's portfolio?

 

All those women's-mag mainstays? Ladies' Home Journal pretty much invented 'em: the family/lifestyle hints, the affirming first-person columns, the quickie relationship fixes. And despite a few tweaks over the years -- most notably bulked-up entertainment and beauty/fashion coverage -- the magazine remains true to its primary mission, which is to present time- and cash-crunched mommies with a glut of practical tips for everyday living.

 

Which isn't to say that the November issue fires on all cylinders. The wimmens o' country music headline it, with Wynonna Judd on the cover and a bunch of quick-hit interviews with Sara Evans, Lee Ann Womack and others contained within. There's nothing wrong per se with any of this, yet each of the Q&As covers the same topical ground: life, outlook, family, etc. A group klatch (and yes, I realize that busy schedules likely render this impossible) would have been a better choice, especially if some old-school, chaw-chewin' wingnut like Tammy Wynette were injected into the mix.

 

Nobody bothers to ask the bright-toothed, curvy gals about suggestions that Nashville has started to prize looks over talent, the responses to which might've proven a bit more diverting than "I love my husband/boyfriend. And you know who else totally rules? God!" Also, one inscrutable quote, from the expansive chat with Wynonna, caught my attention: "I've had my dark night of the soul." You and me both, sister, though I'm guessing yours didn't involve a Coors Light beer ball and some scandalously misaligned papier-mâché undergarments.

 

I question a few of Ladies' Home Journal's choices on the layout front, especially the way ads for an ADHD drug and a Web site hawking gunk to "firm up your derriere" interrupt an excerpt from Elizabeth Edwards' memoir -- one which discusses the death of her son, no less. Too, sometimes the relatively minimalist design doesn't work. Take the odd mishmash of headlines and captions on the page that precedes the "Your Self" section: It features "Speedy Stress Solutions" in small letters, right above "An End to Loneliness" in larger letters, with "Why Joy Is Contagious" in medium-sized letters just below. For a second there, I thought I was reading something out of Jewel's poetic canon.

 

What I've written so far dwells on the negative, which ain't fair. Ninety percent of the stories and features in the November issue -- especially the columns and home, health and family sections -- works quite well; the issue as a whole comes across as a masterpiece of creative economy.

 

Owing to its surprisingly frankness, "Can This Marriage Be Saved?" transcends its glib title. The "Inner Life" piece on stress reduction offers advice more involved and less obvious than "downsize!," while the "Love, Sex & Self-Image" poll results are presented in a visually appealing manner and without too much extraneous analysis. Best is the extensive guide for coping with and ultimately defeating breast cancer. No-nonsense in tone and realistic in its depiction of the challenges that lie ahead, the story ably compiles a wealth of crucial information.

 

Finally, with the November issue's family-style makeover, I think Ladies' Home Journal might have stumbled onto a hell of an idea for a reality show. In it, the mag drags a Minnesota clan to New York for all sorts of primping and trimming and such (not that they really need it -- sure, mom's ink smudge of a brow could use some work, but they look like a normal American family). Think about it: add a "confessional booth," a shrieking nanny or two and some kind of vote-dad-off-the-island component, and you've got Fox ratings gold. I'd like an exec-producer credit, by the way.

 

So there you have it. "Venerable" and "traditional" are words that few publishers want to hear mentioned in conjunction with their magazine, but Ladies' Home Journal wears its old-fashioned virtue proudly. Kudos to the folks putting it together for resisting any number of noxious publishing-world trends.

 

Larry Dobrow is a Contributing Writer.

 

Magazine Rack for Tuesday, October 17, 2006: http://publications.mediapost.com/

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If this issue was forwarded to you and you would like to begin receiving a copy of your own, please visit our site - www.mediapost.com - and become a complimentary member.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We welcome and appreciate forwarding of our newsletters in their entirety or in part with proper attribution.
(c) 2006 MediaPost Communications, 1140 Broadway, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10001

Hallmark Magazine

Hallmark

 

by Fern Siegel, Wednesday, October 11, 2006

 

REALITY IS RELATIVE. I'M not talking about Bob Woodward's State of Denial expose on the Bush administration, though it's clear the current Congress needs a reality check. But since most of us never get to slap sense into our political reps, we'll leave the world of make-believe to them. They've had more practice. By contrast, most American women face real life on a daily basis.

 

The problem is, many women's magazines exist in a far-off galaxy where the goal of existence is twofold: achieve the perfect blonde highlights and wear size 4. And never, ever, age. These pubs, which apparently target zygotes, are obsessed with weight, men and sex. Their reality, like Congress', is skewed.

 

So it was refreshing to discover Hallmark's emphasis on every-day life. And it doesn't get any realer than a Kansas City reader whose beauty secret is "a bra that makes 40-year-old boobs ride higher than half-mast." Of course, the catch is how you frame reality. Since it's Hallmark, the focus is emotional. In a crowded category, one needs something to stand out. (Body By Victoria Shaping bras aside.) Enter the five focal points that double as the magazine's section headers: Inspire, Renew, Nest, Connect, Nourish.

 

Now, I'll be the first to admit that I prefer Cynical, Sardonic, Witty, Jaded and Snarky in my table of contents, but I'm in the minority. If I had twins, I'd name them Sarcasm and Irony. But that's me; I'd want them to feel special. For you, gentle reader, as Charlotte Bronte so neatly put it, Hallmark, according to its associate publisher Carol Campbell-Boggs, is aimed at a 43-year-old woman with a median income of about $80,000. Eureka! A baby-boomer magazine that dares to a) speak to women who are older than 25 and b) features a pretty model on the cover with wrinkles around her eyes. I was so pleased, I treated myself to top-shelf vodka as I perused the debut September/October issue.

 

Let's start with Nest, which suggests ways to bring that autumnal look into your home. Step 1: Go outside, gather acorns, gourds and branches, then dump them in a bowl. This is the kind of stage direction I love: simple and direct. "And don't be afraid to get creative," reads the copy. "Nature doesn't strive for perfection, and neither should you." Nature, let me just add, produced the Grand Canyon, the Tetons and Lake Louise in Banff. Man came up with bellbottoms, Slim Jims and the pet rock.

 

But hands down, my personal favorite was Nourish, which offers this novel solution to stress: a slice of banana cream pie. Sure it's true-blue comfort food, but it's so much more! It contains milk, which has an amino acid used to produce serotonin; it has Vitamin B6, thanks to the banana, which produces brain chemicals that improve the immune system; and it has magnesium, in the grains and almonds, that relieve muscle tension. I bet many have turned to pies in times of crisis. Now they can stop feeling guilty. Three cheers for a pastry-rich therapy program. It relieves stress--and tastes good, too.

 

And per Hallmark 's press, some 400,000 consumers will enjoy this sage advice. That's the rate base at launch; paid circ numbers are expected to grow to 550,000 with the January/February issue. To reach these consumers, Hallmark will leverage the retail distribution power of its 4,200 Gold Crown stores, as well as the 44,000 additional retail outlets--drugstores, supermarkets and other retailers nationwide--that carry its products. That's reach--and to its debut advertisers, Estee Lauder, Unilever, Kraft and Nestle, a reality that goes ka-ching in the coffers.

 

You get the picture: Hallmark has the requisite food, family, home, beauty entries, but the take is practical rather than precious. Though I did pause at Inspire. Learning how to tie a scarf like a Frenchwoman is not what I'd call inspirational. However, given the French stance on the Mideast, its participation in the U.N. food-for-oil scandal and its Vichy collaboration, I wouldn't mind learning to tie a scarf around some odious French politician's neck. That's what we call aspirational.

 

Fern Siegel is Deputy Editor of MediaPost.

 

Magazine Rack for Wednesday, October 11, 2006: http://publications.mediapost.com/

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If this issue was forwarded to you and you would like to begin receiving a copy of your own, please visit our site - www.mediapost.com - and become a complimentary member.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We welcome and appreciate forwarding of our newsletters in their entirety or in part with proper attribution.
(c) 2006 MediaPost Communications, 1140 Broadway, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10001

Technology Adoption Panel Looking for New Members

I am currently a TAP Panelist and just found out they are looking for new members. You don't get paid directly, but you do get a chance to win quite a bit of money. This is not a scam of any kind.

---

So that the people you refer don't think you're involving them in a scam, here are some answers to commonly-asked questions about the TAP, along with a link to the registration survey at the end:

Who are you people, anyway? In-Stat (a division of Reed Business Information) is a leading provider of technology market research and consulting.

What's a "Technology Adoption Panel"? The "TAP" is a dynamic, online panel of more than 16,000 technology users and decision makers interested in contributing their opinions and insights about technology usage and issues in the workplace and at home.

I often experience technical difficulties while operating my telephone and other common technologies. Are you sure you want me to join your panel? Yes! The fact that you operate common technologies makes you a technology user. We want to hear about your personal experiences with the technologies that you have used.

I'm a very, very busy person. What will you expect of me if I join the panel? As a member you'll be sent periodic email invitations to participate in quick (as in 5-minutes-or-less quick) online surveys. You will never be invited to take more than one survey a week, and you are under no obligation to take any of the surveys (although we would love to include your experiences, perceptions, and opinions in as many of our research efforts in which you're willing to participate.)

Let's cut to the chase - what do I get out of this deal? In addition to helping to shape trends and identify issues regarding the role of new technology in business and personal life today and in the future, you'll have access to the executive summaries of all of our surveys. You'll also be entered into a drawing for a $100 American Express Gift Check after each survey for which you qualify and will also be entered into our quarterly drawings for $2000.

Will you be selling my survey responses to my neighbors, co-workers and psychiatrists? To ensure information provided by members is kept completely confidential, all data we collect is reported in aggregate. We do not sell or rent the personal information of our panelists, nor will we ever try to sell our members anything.

You had me at hello - how do I sign up? Simply click on the following link and take the registration survey (which should take you around 5 minutes to complete). If you become a member by the end of this month, we will automatically enter you into our next quarterly drawing of $2000 (held on or about December 31, 2006.)

Join The Technology Adoption Panel

Thank you again, and good luck in the drawing.

Sincerely,

Stephanie Pickering
Primary Research Project Manager
In-Stat
225 Wyman Street
Waltham, MA 02451

Muscle & Fitness Hers Magazine

Muscle & Fitness Hers

 

by Larry Dobrow, Wednesday, October 4, 2006

 

NOTE FROM LD: TOMORROW'S column will be the first-ever "Uncle Larry's Mailbag." In it, yours truly will answer the questions that seem to be piling up on that blog thing, as well as anything/everything you send to me today at Larry (at) Mediapost.com. I'm told that I should stick to magazines and such, but special consideration will be given to personal attacks and things that make me giggle. Go to it, kids.

 

If I were to write a book, its working title (and central premise) would likely be: "Things I've Accidentally Flushed Down the Toilet." Owing to the location of the throne within my snug NYC bathroom, due south of the medicine cabinet, right next door to the sink; I've accidentally sent many an item plunging to a watery grave in the 2.5 years I've lived here: razor blades, vitamins, a friend's earring, toothpaste and deodorant and shampoo caps. All have met their end, courtesy of my toilet's gaping, insatiable maw.

 

The September/October issue of Muscle & Fitness Hers almost enjoyed that tragic fate. I was reading it while on the can earlier today--this is my job, you know--and placed it in what I believed to be a impregnable location as I washed my hands. Somehow, in reaching for the hand towel, I elbowed the magazine off its perch. As I saw it fall, time stood still. My face froze in a silent, agonizing "noooooooo!" It teetered on the edge of the inner rim before tumbling, unscathed, onto the floor. I let out a deep sigh of relief and solemnly vowed never again to mix work and potty. I broke that promise 18 minutes later.

 

Writing this column, then, feels like something of an afterthought. Of course, it doesn't help that Muscle & Fitness Hers gives me so little to work with. In every way, from its hyperactive design and layout to its by-the-numbers gal-mag staples, the title reeks of desperation from each of its well-oiled pores.

 

I have no idea why the publishers decided to compromise the stalwart Muscle & Fitness brand by slapping it onto a generic women's magazine, but it's a decision that would only have made sense if that magazine stuck closely to its strengths. Muscle & Fitness, no matter what its publishers seem to think nowadays, is not a lifestyle brand. It was, is, and always will be about lifting heavy stuff.

 

Not surprisingly, the September/October Hers excels only when it focuses its attention on, duh, muscles and fitness. "Training: Notebook" passes along a wealth of helpful tips on everything from the necessity of wearing lifting gloves and belts to push-up technique. "Workbook: Muscle," despite its burial at the end of the magazine (is the mag trying to alienate fans of the core brand?), offers a novel and well-articulated take on so-called isolation exercises.

 

When Hers downshifts into lifestyle territory, however, shield your eyes and your brain. "Nutrition: notebook" goes where every mag has gone before with its foods-that-help-moods piece (oh, a delicious rhyme!), while "HerLife: motivation" proposes a bunch of flat mental tips for exercising ("get psyched," "rev yourself") before flogging relaxation products (massagers, yes; vibrators, no). "HerStyle" presents tops and shoes and bags without much editorial comment; "HerBeauty" babbles about citrusy scents and hair dyes.

 

As for the features, "Time Shavers" could well be the most excruciatingly dim story I've read in a magazine this year. It promises to help readers save 992 hours a year, yet the suggestions include "toss your own pie" ("you'll save up to a half-hour waiting for the pizza-delivery guy"--kinky, right?) and "order postage stamps online" (15 minutes a week saved? Are you buying one stamp at a time? And who mails that many letters?).

 

The profile on TLC's Chilli compromises the mag's fit-first mission with a photo depicting her in the act of frying bacon. As for cover girl Courtney Hansen, whose name, oddly, isn't mentioned on the cover, her totally awesome Farrah Fawcett hair deserves far better than the story that accompanies it. Yes, she hosts a block of auto-themed shows on Spike TV, but that still doesn't excuse the story's lead: "If auto expert and TV host Courtney Hansen were a car, there's no way she'd be something as mundane as a Taurus. No. This rising star of the entertainment world is a high-octane NASCAR speedster all the way." I mean, wow. Is it fair to the rest of us that the person who wrote this paragraph is technically allowed to represent himself as a journalist?

 

It wasn't until I perused the entire Muscle & Fitness Hers that its "editor's letter" started to make sense. Rather than the traditional seasonal tie-in ("Autumn's chill brings with it shorter days...and longer workouts!") or big-picture statement ("weightlifting in North America finds itself at a crossroads, a STEROIDS crossroads!"), the letter avoids coherent thought entirely, throwing out a bunch of unrelated stats in a variety of fonts and colors ("4: Supermodel and überwaif Kate Moss' dress size pre- and post-rehab," "62: Percentage of women who are over 20 and overweight"). Ladies and gentlemen, that's what the Muscle & Fitness brand has been reduced to. Flush away.

 

Larry Dobrow is a Contributing Writer.

 

Magazine Rack for Wednesday, October 4, 2006: http://publications.mediapost.com/

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If this issue was forwarded to you and you would like to begin receiving a copy of your own, please visit our site - www.mediapost.com - and become a complimentary member.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We welcome and appreciate forwarding of our newsletters in their entirety or in part with proper attribution.
(c) 2006 MediaPost Communications, 1140 Broadway, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10001

______________________________________________
FREE 1 Year Technology and Business Magazine Subscriptions!

Subscribe to many leading magazines absolutely
FREE. There are absolutely no hidden or trial offers,
and no purchase necessary. Publications are
absolutely free to those who qualify.

Click here to subscribe!
http://consultant-directory.tradepub.com/
_______________________________________________
Promote your consulting business with
http://www.Consultant-Directory.com
_____________________________________________
Professional SEO firm submits to over 160 systems
by hand and shares the list so you can do it yourself!
http://www.Best-Free-Search-Engine-List.com
____________________________________________
Search 7 million deleted domains for one you want.
http://www.bizprolink-internet.com
____________________________________________
Free race car photo classified ads and huge
racing directory. Visit http://www.RaceCar2000.com
____________________________________________
Post your resume for free and search for jobs at
http://www.TheJobSpider.com
____________________________________________

Andy Warhol Started Interview Magazine

Interview

 

by Dorothy Parker, Thursday, September 28, 2006

 

RECENTLY, AT A SCREENING of the Andy Warhol documentary that ran last week on PBS, Bob Colacello, Andy's sidekick (and editor of Interview magazine back in the day) was asked ''Who is the Edie Sedgwick of our time?'' ''Paris Hilton! Andy would have loved her,'' he told a reporter from New York magazine. ''He would say, 'But why do you hate her? She's so fabulous! We've got to put her on the cover of Interview every month!' I would scream, ''I'm not putting Paris on the cover one more time!'''

 

As it turns out, Andy was so preternaturally ahead of his time in his visceral understanding of celebrity culture that even his prediction, (''in the future, everyone will be world famous for 15 minutes'') has had its 15 minutes.

 

And maybe he's right about always having Paris. Any photo of the sorely overexposed brand-building heiress on the oversized magazine's cover would certainly have seemed more iconic (or, okay, HOT) than the odd, messy crew cobbled together for no discernible reason as cover celebs for this October issue. Ethan Hawke, Shia LaBeouf and Keith Urban wear T-shirts and jeans, while the women, Alicia Keys, Rachel Weisz, and Catalina Sandrino Moreno, sport long, shiny, sexy red evening gowns.

 

Why? And why that combination of people? (And six of them, at that?) What's their connection? Even though the picture was taken by famed fashion photographer Albert Watson, there's something ugly and unsettling about the graphics and the grouping, from the bright red Interview logo slapped on behind them to poor Shia La Beouf's head, floating somewhere over Keith Urban's shoulders. Ingrid Sischy's Letter from the Editor, (on page 120) does little to explain the choice, other than they are all grouped under the motto of the issue, ''The Times They Are a Changing,'' taken from Bob Dylan's famous 1964 song. Huh?

 

Of course, when Andy started the magazine as part of his empire in 1969, it was filled with celeb interviews that cried out for editing. Those pages were the editorial equivalent of his films that showed hours of someone sleeping or smoking a cigar. You kind of get bored by the second puff.

 

And that's pretty much the case with the interviews in this issue, as well. As earnest as Edward Norton is in interviewing New York attorney general and would be-governor Eliot Spitzer, the candidate is not all that interesting. What would seem to be a great combo on paper--Gladys Knight interviewing Alicia Keys--is mostly, as these interviews always tend to be, mutual appreciation copy. On the thematic note of the times a changin' issue, Keys does say ''I dream about speaking in big forums about issues that need to be spoken about.'' Yawn.

 

Elton John's husband, David Furnish, is a contributing editor, and Elton himself is all over the issue. He interviews Keith Urban, who, perhaps by dint of just having married Nicole Kidman, seems to be channeling Tom Cruise's robospeak. In the course of the interview, Urban, the man with the great highlights in his hair, uses the word ''extraordinary'' six times.

 

On the other hand, the review section, including ''Elton's tip sheet'' music picks, and movie reviews, is always good.

 

But you have to give the editors props for prescience in the interview with Dallas Cowboys' wide receiver Terrell Owens, who's been all over the news in the past few days for an alleged suicide attempt. The last question Dave Hollander asks him, (put, for some reason, in the extremely creepy third person), is ''Is Terrell Owens happy?" His answer speaks volumes: ''At this point, honestly, I'm not as happy as I'd like to be. I'll just leave it at that."

 

Peter Brant bought the magazine in 1989 from the Warhol estate, and as explained on the Web site, continues with a similar formula to this day--30 percent features/70 percent glossy advertising. The first 33 pages of the issue is composed of fashion ads, and a lot of them are great (woman lying on floor looking up at a Gucci boot the size of Godzilla, for example.) So are the photos. So maybe, in the end, Andy would be pleased. After all, another of his famous dicta was "I never read. I just look at pictures.''

 

Magazine Rack for Thursday, September 28, 2006: http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If this issue was forwarded to you and you would like to begin receiving a copy of your own, please visit our site - www.mediapost.com - and become a complimentary member.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We welcome and appreciate forwarding of our newsletters in their entirety or in part with proper attribution.
(c) 2006 MediaPost Communications, 1140 Broadway, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10001