Free is free, however you want to look at it

I'm right now listening to Radiohead's In Rainbows and reminiscing about when I downloaded it for "free." (I actually decided to pay two or three pounds for it.) What a concept that was! And then, of course, came the backlash from the industry, musicians and critics. "It's setting a dangerous precedent," some said. "Free is the end of the record industry," said others. But all the while, I felt it was a good idea. I also remember, around the same time, Paste magazine copycatting by doing its own pay-what-you-want for a yearlong magazine subscription (I ended up paying $1, I think; I didn't renew after the year). Sure, the "free" idea isn't all that novel. Hulu and Pandora have been doing it for years now (with obvious setbacks—ad breaks—for users), as has just about every major industry for as long as I can remember. Think about the "Buy one, get one free" deals you hear about all the time from restaurants. Or even the free deli-tray giveaways at the supermarket. (I always loved those as a kid.) The reason for those is obvious: You take one bite of the free aged Boar's Head cheddar, and you just have to buy a half-pound. I say free is good. Keep it coming.

—Posted by Will Levith

'Garden & Gun' offers Southern comfort

About 10 years ago, I fell in love with everything Southern. I blame my favorite band, Son Volt, for this. For those of you who don't know me, I have several cowboy shirts in my weekly clothing repertoire; I have a giant collection of alt-country, country rock and roots albums and memorabilia; and I enjoy eating barbecue most of all foods. So, of course, one of my favorite magazines of late has been Garden & Gun, which provides a hefty helping of life below the Mason/Dixon line—including great past features on supper clubs (after reading it, I wanted to start my own!), the best Southern rockers (there was a fabulous feature recently on Grammy Award winner Lucinda Williams and her poet father) and, of course, hunting, shooting and everything gun-related. (I must admit, I'm not a gun owner, but I've had a hankering to be a hunter for a long time.) You might think, for a native New Yorker, this taste would seem out of place, but give this 'zine a good read and you'll know exactly what I'm getting at.

—Posted by Will Levith

My giant media-conspiracy theory, part 1

In this year of the Great Recession, I've felt that the quality of newscasts and news reporting by the major players has taken a major turn for the worse. Sensationalist and celebrity-oriented bullshit is what passes as news on most major news Web sites and TV channels now. Like, for example, crooked-nosed Brian Williams reporting on Michael Jackson's funeral like it's Afghanistan. Which is why I think there's a conspiracy out there to report bad news. There's no other logical explanation. Somewhere in the Hamptons, there lives a gnome, whose one goal in life is to get tons of hits for his blog—and who is planting all this garbage in the press. He holds sway, because he was once a journalist, is independently wealthy and has made great media connections. (Hence, Brian Williams. I've been told he's the guy that made Williams' nose crooked.) Here's a recap of some of the anti-news stories the gnome made popular this year:
  —The gnome leaked stories about an unfaithful Jon and a distraught Kate to all the major news organizations, starting one of the worst news arcs in modern history. The gnome also suggested Kate's hair would make a great Halloween costume. 
  —Recently, the gnome snuck into Tiger Woods's gated community in Florida and cut several wires under his dashboard, causing the golf star to drive out of control and crash. He also leaked photos of Woods' injuries to TMZ. (The gnome is supposedly on the site's payroll.)
  —Fox News was initially contacted by the gnome (via BlackBerry) about the balloon boy saga. The gnome then leaked the story to The Huffington Post, but told his old friend Arianna not to put it atop breaking news so that she could "argue its low news value well after the fact." 
  —One of the first known reports of Michael Jackson's death was leaked by the gnome. He was thought to have snapped the shot of Jackson on the stretcher that OK! magazine ran on its cover days after the incident.
  —President Obama's birther conspiracy? Leaked by the gnome to Fox News and Drudge. The gnome and Drudge, reportedly after a long night of dancing and drinking in Miami, came up with the term "Teabagger" as well.
  —The White House crashers met the gnome on vacation in the Hamptons. He pitched them on the idea of world fame, but warned them of the consequences of showing up on CNN and TMZ for the rest of their lives.
  —The gnome was one of the first people to realize that a Facebook status update was exactly the same as tweet on Twitter. He lobbied the media hard to paint the two as different, though—he argued they could make big deals out of two ridiculous things, rather than just one.

—Posted by Will Levith

Plus-size 'Glamour' models bringing their inspiration to magazine's first calendar

The Glamour plus-sized-model phenomenon continues to pay dividends for the magazine. The Condé Nast title caused a sensation when it featured two photos of plus-sized models in recent issues (see aboe and below). Now, editor Cindi Leive has used the group photo above in the magazine's first calendar. The "Inspiration" calendar is being bundled with a subscription offer on Glamour.com. It's not quite Calendar Girls, the calendar featuring nude British ladies and strategically placed flowerpots and teacups that inspired a 2003 movie by the same name. But it's nonetheless a reminder that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes.

—Posted by Lucia Moses

Get the creepy babies off those magazine covers and back in their cribs

What's with the creepy baby photos that have been popping up on magazine covers lately? Art directors these days seem to be in love with using babies to illustrate everything from the anti-vaccine movement (Wired) to crybaby bankers (New York) to our national disillusionment (Time). (The full-looking diaper on that Time cover baby is probably bothering him more than the state of the union.) Or, from the success of World's Strictest Parents to Time's calling for an end to overparenting, maybe we've just had it with whiny kids.

—Posted by Lucia Moses

Do magazine awards still matter?

Given everything that magazine editors have to worry about these days, from staunching newsstand losses to launching brand extensions to helping hawk ads, how much do awards still matter? That was Glamour editor Cindi Leive's first question to a panel of editors Wednesday at an American Society of Magazine Editors luncheon on winning National Magazine Awards. When expense budgets are tight, perhaps awards matter less. Submissions for the past year's so-called Ellies were off 13 percent. In such an environment, "I do think [awards] give you a partial, limited immunity for a while," quipped John Rasmus, editor of National Geographic Adventure, whose award-winning magazine recently cut its frequency from 10 to eight times a year. Panelists also mulled judges' perceived bias in favor of big, well-financed titles and against women's magazines. Peggy Northrop, global editor of Reader's Digest, wondered why female judges are "especially critical" of women's titles, while admitting she used to take them less seriously herself. This year, with ASME's introduction of several new digital awards categories, women's magazines could level the playing field. That is, if they can scrape together the submission fees.

—Posted by Lucia Moses

'Bon Appetit' covers fly fowl this fall

A feeling of déjà vu came over us when we got our November copy of Bon Appetit, with its scrumptious cover image of a roast turkey. The cover choice wouldn’t have been surprising—have you seen a food magazine that didn’t have a turkey on its November cover?—were it not for the fact that just two issues ago, Bon App seemed to run a nearly identical cover. When we double-checked, we found the September bird was not a turkey but actually a chicken, which Bon App told us its readers apparently can’t get enough of these days. Maybe so. But now that Condé Nast has put all its eggs now in the Bon App basket, so to speak, it could be one more reason for all those unhappy Gourmet fans to cry fowl, er, foul.

—Posted by Lucia Moses

One 'Gourmet' fan's sorrowful lament

When I started reading Gourmet, the word foodie did not exist. I was also an avid reader of Teen Beat at the time, so maybe my palate was not fully developed yet. But yeah, I was a 13-year-old who knew what Shaun Cassidy wanted in a girlfriend and who Zanne Early Stewart was. Gourmet was special to me. It didn’t matter if you were 13 or 70, a shared love of good food and (at a certain age) wine welcomed you into a loyal community. The writing was inviting and never pretentious. The editors weren’t foodies who dictated! We all were food enthusiasts! Alright, I’m channeling Nora Ephron, but I’m also in mourning. I will admit that I wasn’t always happy with the magazine's changes over the past few years, but nothing is perfect for 68 years in a row. I'm glad that Food & Wine, Bon Appetit and Saveur are still, well, cooking along. I still have something in print to look forward to every month. There are, however, some less savory aspects to consider in this new Gourmet-less world: Rachael, Sandra and Paula. The culinary axis of evil.

—Posted by Cindee Weiss

'Sports Illustrated' goes with a pink logo to raise awareness of breast cancer

Is Sports Illustrated making a bid for female readers? Not exactly. The Time Inc. magazine is just going pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, as are the NFL and Nascar, to name a few other organizations. The Oct. 12 issue, on newsstands Thursday, will sport a pink logo (matching Daniel Graham's pink gloves, as the Denver Bronco joins other NFL players in donning pink this week to heighten awareness of the disease). SI editor Terry McDonell wanted to run a pink logo sometime this month and decided to team with the NFL's own effort, his rep explained. Not surprisingly, it's the first time the sports magazine has colored its logo pink. You go, guys.

—Posted by Lucia Moses

GQ strives to save the endangered concept of a gentleman from certain extinction

Let's get real here: it's a Tucker Max/Joe Francis/Jon Gosselin/Kanye West world we're living in, where the term "gentleman" seems as outdated as dressing for dinner and controlling that nasty temper. But GQ thinks and/or hopes the gentleman is not dead. That notion comes in handy, seeing that the magazine has an upcoming charitable effort dubbed The Gentleman's Fund, in its third year, that raises support and awareness for "issues that are essential to modern men." Somewhat vague and tagline-ish, but their heart seems to be in the right place. As part of the project -- there's a fancy dress-up ball on Oct. 28 in New York -- the pub has done a study on "The 21st Century Gentleman," finding that the majority of men polled, 67 percent, think it's increasingly important to behave like a gentleman today. (As opposed to, say, knuckle-dragging Neaderthals). Their role models are Hollywood luminaries and political rock stars like President Barack Obama, George Clooney, Hugh Jackman and Will Smith. Wow, no David Letterman? Seventy-one percent of those polled donate money and time to charities, favoring education, kids and arts causes. The highest compliment is to be dubbed a gentleman, said both the men and women surveyed, scoring considerably higher than attributes like smart, funny, successful and handsome. (You'll have to show your work on that one, GQ). In general, the study presents a genteel attitude I haven't seen outside a Merchant Ivory flick or a Ketel One ad. If only it were true. Wouldn't that be nice?

—Posted by T.L. Stanley