Smoke Break #885: To Digital Natives, A Magazine Is An Ipad That Just Doesn’t Work

Via Nerdcore, the worst fears of old school publishers are confirmed…

How To Make A Sweet Magazine From Scratch In Just 48 Hours

(via Laughing Squid) An inspiring micro-doc detailing the recent production of 48Hr Magazine.

48 Hour Magazine – a raucous experiment in using new tools to erase media’s old limits. Can you write, photograph, illustrate, design, edit, and ship a magazine in two days?

OK, but can you sell enough advertising in 48hrs to pay for it? Er…

Sean Orr: On Discorder…

I received an email the other day from a friend pleading for support to keep Discorder in print and free. “I’m looking for some input on what you guys think might improve Discorder, or what it provides (if anything?) to the music community”. Here is part of what I wrote to her in response:

In a city that has the most visible media concentration in the world (with the Canwest Empire and Bell Globe Canada sharing the spoils of lax CRTC laws), any and all independent media have struggled to survive in a city with an active outdoors population, a large English as a Second Language percentage, free commuter papers to a very large suburban readership, the age of the internet etc; it is as important now as ever to preserve the print medium as a vital way to communicate with a very select demographic. As a student at UBC, Discorder provided me with a creative outlet while I pursued strictly academic studies – only to abandon those to return to writing later in life. Furthermore, as a musician I found it an excellent resource, and always enjoyed the high level of writing.

Discorder is one of those secret treasures of Vancouver that we need to support. We may not have the cultural base to sustain it on any real economic level; it may look bad in the books; but surely since the Arts are under attack from government budgets and corporate boardrooms, it’s important to invest and pool our resources when assets like it are threatened. Just look at the CBC as an example, or even the much beleaguered CanCon system. Discorder in part defines who a lot of us are, and as a young and transient population we need it to continue (albeit in a way that might have to explore alternative measures in order to survive). I have no idea what this might look like, but surely there are ways…

A Touching Story Of A Magazine That Loved Being Stroked

I love paper magazines because they’re tactile and come with their own special smells (a garden of titles), but I wonder at the longevity of the mode. So what’s next, Gutenberg? The video above, a Bonnier R&D research project, is a fair guess:

The concept aims to capture the essence of magazine reading, which people have been enjoying for decades: an engaging and unique reading experience in which high-quality writing and stunning imagery build up immersive stories.

The concept uses the power of digital media to create a rich and meaningful experience, while maintaining the relaxed and curated features of printed magazines. It has been designed for a world in which interactivity, abundant information and unlimited options could be perceived as intrusive and overwhelming.

The ads, of course, would need to be clickable, and that presupposes that the device is web ready, the data readable on an iPhone (etc), and that we’re living in the golden age of advanced touch screens. We’re not quite there yet, but I can see the way.

“Double For Death” Is The Best Detective Story I Ever Wrote…

Book marketing is an interesting game. If a book’s saleability increases with every high profile endorsement it receives, then this particular novel, “Double For Death”, which I found on my cabin shelf at Point No Point over the holidays, is pure gold. It seems when you can’t find anyone willing to recommend your work, you just do it yourself.

Condé Nast To Close “Gourmet” Mag, “Bon Appetit” Safe, For Now

The New York Times has some sad news from the Condé Nast publishing empire. The foodie world will soon to lose its bible, Gourmet magazine. From the piece: “The magazine has sustained a severe decline in ad pages, but the cut still comes as a shock. There was speculation that Condé Nast would close one of its food titles — Gourmet or Bon Appétit — but most bets were on the latter. Gourmet has a richer history than Bon Appétit, and its editor, Ruth Reichl, is powerful in the food world.” Alas, no dice. Here’s a NYT reader weighing in, channeling my thoughts exactly: “There have been ups and downs, but it is clearly the gold standard of food magazines…I guess in the Age of Limbaugh, there isn’t a place for the magazine of good living. How sad. God, I hope The New Yorker is safe.” We couldn’t agree more. Thanks to reader “AA” for the tip.

Overthinking The Aesthetics Of Publishing In One Easy Lesson…

A German art house print periodical changes its name with every issue in order to announce a monthly change in the magazine’s primary typeface. Seriously.

The Republic Of East Vancouver Newspaper Prints Its Last Copy?

Kevin Potvin has cryptically announced that he is stepping back from publishing The Republic of East Vancouver newspaper after almost 10 years of being black and white and read all over the East Side. He pens a pretty lament…

For all the words out there, I think there is room for another one, a word that stands neither for “writing” nor for “reading” but for that thing that happens between the two. It is a sacred thing, maybe like the word for God that Jews can’t or won’t pronounce. Writing something is only one third of it and reading is only another third, and where they meet is a third place where the writer and reader meet, and that is where meaning condenses out of the air like dew on the morning grass.

Read his full and sorta sad explanatory sign off after the leap… Read more