What's New in Old Media

It's been a busy week, what with the work and the two inches of water in my basement, so I haven't had much time to read, but I did catch up on some magazines last night, and if you're not a subscriber, I want to highly recommend this week's issue of New York magazine. This publication went through a recent period of crapulousness, but in the past year it's gotten better and better. This particular issue is just great.

First, the magazine is celebrating its 40th anniversary, and doing so by every few months taking one section and writing and designing it as if it were 1968. This week features the 1968 Strategist - dining, nightlife, real estate, beauty, and shopping columns pulled from the archives and (here's the best part) laid out and designed just as they would have been 40 years ago. It's fascinating not only in that way-back machine kind of vibe (CorningWare is new! the Kodak Instamatic is both expensive and revolutionary!) but also in the use of graphics and fonts. Laid out in the middle of a contemporary publication design, you can really see the aesthetic differences between the two periods. Note that I didn't include a link, because this simply does not come through online. Go ahead, give some props to print and buy the issue.

In fact, to try to get you to buy the issue, I won't provide links for these other articles, not that you can't find them online if you desire. If you're interested in quitting smoking, voluntarily going insane, or want to know what suicidal ideation really feels like, then read Derek De Koff's "This Is My Brain on Chantix." All he wanted to do was stop smoking. Instead, he ultimately found himself in a bar chatting with and trying to pick up not a potted plant but the plant's shadow. Yes, you read that correctly.

Can anyone resist the story of a coke-addled hedge fund manager, his drunken wife, an internet psychic, and a male stripper named Tiger? I didn't think so. This week's issue also features a look into the death of Seth Tobias, the fight over his estate, and the wild, strange trip that was his marriage. Did Phyllis Tobias kill him? Did he secretly carry on an affair in Vegas with Tiger? Is it fun to lose $250 million in a year's time? Read all about it.

I'll be spending part of the weekend proofing the layout of my own print publication. I know this sounds very old media, but please help keep print alive. Here are just a few of the things new media can't provide: the smell of ink, the beauty of feature design uninterrupted by advertising, the pleasures of a story researched and written to last longer than a very short news cycle, and the paychecks given to press and delivery people. Buy something this weekend. Then read it.