Sometimes the world is a bit too much. From looming recessions to crashing investment banks, from the escalating war in Iraq to the deflating housing market – why not take a break and turn to a magazine that’s never turned out an election issue, or even an election article? The latest in cool-kid fashion or make-up artistry might be just what the doctor ordered.
Although certifiably edgy, Paper still knows the value of the beautiful people, the subject of its cover package “64 More Beautiful People,” with indie-music darling Joanna Newsom gracing its cover. Their wrap-up profiles the picks of the cool crowd, from the worlds of film, music, art, nightlife, philanthropy and fashion. Some names are still under the radar, like songstress Sia and male model Sean O’Pry. The magazine boasts some of the best production values of the hip set.
BlackBook is for hipsters who want to get past that velvet rope. The music issue proclaims Janet Jackson – “Miss Jackson if you’re nasty” – the reigning pop dominatrix. The photos of Jackson trussed up in latex and headgear are supposed to be provocative, but the S&M spread comes across as silly playacting, and the interview with the pop star falls flat.
With the departure of longtime editor Ingrid Sischy, we have to wonder whether Interview is due for a makeover. The magazine – created by Andy Warhol in 1969 – seems stuck in another era. Sischy caps her 18-year run by interviewing Madonna. Of course, the star-struck Sischy never dares to ask a hard-hitting question – the magazine’s fawning treatment is probably why several people close to Heath Ledger, including baby mama Michelle Williams, agreed to talk about the actor for a tribute piece.
There’s no nice way to say this: Zink has embarrassingly bad design and poor production values. It’s hard to get past the ugly layout, eye-squinting type and amateurish photography in the front of the book. There are some decent fashion spreads in the back of the magazine, but they are so much better than the stuff in the front that they appear to be from another publication. Unfortunately, the stories aren’t much better. A quick read tells us that a bunch of first-time freelancers are working for peanuts.
With pundits continuing to debate the impact of remarks made by Sen. Barack Obama‘s former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., on the Illinois senator’s presidential campaign, The New Yorker’s Kelefa Sanneh examines the polarizing clergyman and his Chicago megachurch, Trinity United Church of Christ. Obama – who has tried to draw a distinction between his views and Wright’s “prickly politics” – may nonetheless have been attracted to the church because of its role as a “redistributor of values,” where well-to-do congregants could connect with those worse off. Elsewhere, check out the murky story of Odyssey Marine Exploration, the first publicly traded deep-sea treasure-hunting company.
More tales of Manhattan rich kids behaving badly in this week’s New York. This time it’s a case of students at Horace Mann, one of New York City’s prestigious private schools, viciously attacking a teacher on Facebook. When the teacher complained, parents of the accused students argued that the teacher’s reading of the comments was the equivalent of an invasion of privacy. The article raises intriguing questions about the impact of social networking technology. Also inside is a look at the building of Trump SoHo, the controversial 46-story “condominium hotel” now in development. The story is filled with salacious details of reality show sales pitches, a dead construction worker, and shadowy Russians.
This week’s Time offers an eye-opening look at the “myth” of clean energy . Michael Grunwald writes that all the booming biofuel business is actually driving up food prices and making global warming worse. He cites several new studies that suggest “corn ethanol, always environmentally suspect, turns out to be environmentally disastrous.” Also inside is a profile of Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz and his efforts to turn around the stumbling coffee giant.
Newsweek offers up a surprise with all the news of the national political scene: a cover on “The Curious Lives of Surrogates.” What’s most surprising, some of these women – who are giving birth to other peoples’ babies – are married to men in the military. Elsewhere, we get the same old dross: The mag tells us that after taking Pennsylvania, if Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton can win both Indiana and North Carolina on May 6 she can quiet critics calling for her to drop out of the race. Wow! Scintillating! >