A friend sent me to this site PDF Mags. It calls itself "Your PDF Mag's Magazine." I have no idea what that means. However, there are a bunch of magazines that come out in PDF form listed on the site with links to download. Mr. Mcginnis and I are always on about the various reasons for going the PDF route—no money, not wanting to use up a lot of paper, wanting to add video, other interactive thingies, etc. Go to this site and look around. I'm not yet through them all but so far I'm all into this Polish photo mag called Abandoned Magazine. It's simple: black and white photographs of bits of graffiti on falling down buildings and I'm really in that kind of mood this week.

Cool lesbo magazine Girls Like Us has a new issue out with the lovely and amazing Beth Ditto of The Gossip on the cover. They are having a party for it tonight at the Slipper Room, on the corner of Stanton and Orchard. It starts at 8ish. I'll drop by after I go see Karole Armitage at the Joyce Theater.

It's comforting to have Cometbus around, like an old friend who drops by once in a while and always has a ton of new good stories to tell. Like me, he enjoys life's simple pleasures: beer, coffee, water, the Sex Pistols, 24 hour donut shops, girls, travelling, and the Clash. I remember once a million years ago, I was staying over at the House of Failure on Valencia St. and Aaron showed up to sleep in my friend's room while she was away. We got some beers and shared some cigarettes. Then Holly and I went up to the roof to talk and enjoy the night and he settled down, kicked his shoes off, and read a book. At some point, up on the roof, we noticed a weird smell and couldn't figure out its origin for the longest time. Eventually we surmised that it must have been Aaron's socks. Siick!, we giggled knowingly. It's hard to keep your socks clean on the road.

He put out an issue recently with 7 new New York stories and some nice short interviews and I was psyched to sit down with it and a coffee. The Needles & Pens store is selling a set of twentysome back issues. At $88 it's not cheap but it's awesome for someone just getting into Cometbus or a rainy weekend trip down memory lane for an old fan. I have all the issues in the set of Cometbus back issues and pleased to note that it contains a few of my favorites.

This collection is available at Needles & Pens. You can also buy single issues and other Cometbus collections from Little Type and Last Gasp.

I met Chloe Lum and Yannick Desranleau, a pair of Montreal-based artists/silkscreeners who work under the name Seripop, at a rock show years ago and bought a couple of their posters. They make show posters, flyers, record covers, and art of their own at an alarming rate of production. And they sell their stuff for cheap. They're currently having a sale and have some prints here and here and some additional deals on their myspace page. They say they'll also trade for musical equipment, pre-1990s Archie comics, and records, so if you are interested, email them. It's a great chance to get some beautiful handmade art for your walls.

I actually think a lot of the "kid's" furniture you see at the big stores is cooler than any of their adult stuff. Pottery Barn is so soooooo lame, but PBteen is totally cute. Ms. Keough is having issues finding just the right magazine rack - and I think PBteen's Beadboard Mag Rack might be just the answer for her. It will blend in nicely without crowding her little Brooklyn apartment. It's wood, painted white and distressed so it will go nicely with her light walls and slightly messy chic (i.e dumpster dived) decor.

Last night I found myself short on cash when it was time to pay the dinner bill so I slipped out into the snow storm in search of the nearest deli ATM. The deli I found, somewhere on Dekalb Ave. in Brooklyn, had a fantastic magazine selection including a few titles I've never seen before. My dinner companions probably figured I'd skipped out on the check, I was gone so long looking at shelves of new mags. I left with a pot leaf lighter and the February 2007 issue of Dazed & Confused. I'd forgot about Dazed and probably haven't read it in a year or two. I'm glad I got reminded. This is a good issue! I always feel like I learn something after reading an issue. There's a John Cage interview, an article on the Doug Aitken video piece at the MOMA (which my history of video art teacher called a giant Gap ad), a look at the spring/summer 2007 collections, and a really foxy French guy I've never heard of. The Dazed Digital site already has the March issue up, so go grab Feb off the stands before it goes away.

Touring Universal News I discovered a men's fashion magazine that really came out of nowhere - Denmark's He Magazine. I don't mean to disrespect the Danes; what I mean is that I'd never heard of it advance, and it seems to be a completely independent magazine made by a group of twenty-somethings. I couldn't find any information online about it's launch - nor any information on it's editor-in-chief Daniel Magnussen (other than a sparse Myspace profile that gave his age, 26) or Art Director Jack Dahl (other than an empty website for his design studio, Homework).

The bold title, stark photography and direct gaze of cover model Antoine commanded attention on the rack - and I always grab fashion magazines that lack cover lines. My first impression was that I-D had taken Dazed & Confused/Another Magazine's lead (which started Another Man last year) and started a 'brother' magazine. Indeed, the art-directon has a lot in common with the British mainstay - uncluttered san-serif typography, clean, blocky layouts, bold photography obsessed with hip youth culture and pretty boys. The chunky, colorful headline type seems to reflect this seasons fashion trends as they see it - playful, comfortable and future minded as emphasized in their spread of Raf Simons current collection. This is a true fashion lovers magazine, and a magazine lovers magazine. Highlights in their 3rd issue include profiles of the Acne team and an insightful interview with the amazing Ann Demeulemeester. Don't worry, it's in English. The big question I keep asking myself is how the hell did they pay for this luscious production?

I woke up early today to write something here before class and instead I've just spent the last hour looking at this amazing street fashion site called Face Hunter. I can't stop! There's so much there! I know it's not exactly print related but go there now and look. My only regret is that I've spent so much time on the site and now I barely have time to put together a fierce outfit. Damn!

I just looked up the photographer, Yvan's myspace and it turns out he was the cute fellow in the Henrik Vibskov photos I was loving from his Spring 2007 mens collection.

"Have you noticed how bland, safe and banal our newsstands have been looking lately? Is this what you want? Hey consumers, vote with your feet! Don't let quality magazines die." We've found yet another magazine obsessive, Michael Bojkowski at Boicozine. His tastes vary slightly from ours - but he's still go it. I found him while searching for info on He Magazine, which he seems to have discovered before me. The most impressive thing about his site is a wonderful collection of magazine covers that he calls The Nation Magazine Cover Archive (NMCA). It's fascinating to see Esquire's once phenomenal covers and consider it compared to the sad, sad magazine that exists today. Who the hell reads Esquire anyway?

Happy Andy Warhol Week! This Thursday is the 20th anniversary of Warhol's death and Factory Craze: A Week of Warhol at the Gershwin Hotel will be celebrating his life and work with events all week. Party promoter/curator Earl Dax went to the private opening ceremony yesterday and had this to say:

"The event was fabulously messy and filled with many off the cuff recollections. Robert Heide recalled Andy Warhol asking "When do you think Edie's going to commit suicide...? I hope she'll let us know, so we can film it," and Ultra Violet observed "The Factory was a like a multi-level marketing firm with no pay." Penny Arcade brought the room to a hush when she noted that "Warhol's greatest accomplishment was convincing the the art world that he was a painter when he really was an art director. You can see Andy Warhol's impact today because there's not a lot of art in art, but there's a lot of art in advertising."

A quick side note: I went to Penny Arcade's garage sale on my first day in New York and she gave me a fedora and told me some stories about the neighborhood. A list of events, including a panel discussion of Warhol's influence on publishing, is after the jump...

David LaChapelle signs copies of his new book Heaven to Hell (TASCHEN 2006) at the Taschen store in Soho this Thursday, February 22nd, 6 to 8PM. He's a big candy coated homo - go have a lick!

TASCHEN Store New York
107 Greene St. (between Prince and Spring streets)
212-226-2212

Once a week or so I meet Mr. Mcginnis at Universal News for coffee and magazine browsing. We each grab a stack of titles we've never looked at or maybe haven't seen in a while and then sit down and discuss. There were a few highlights this Friday but nothing really blew me away. The only thing I was psyched about all through the issue was Lula, and that doesn't count because it wasn't a magazine I'd never bought before. More on that issue later. Here's what else I saw:

Encens: a French/English fashion magazine. I liked that most of the book was in black and white and that they used a few different kinds of paper. Also, did you know that LA fashion designer Rick Owens makes furniture now? I guess I've been a little out of the loop.

032c: a bi-annual German contemporary culture magazine with good articles but not the best feeling paper. I also liked the cover.

Very: a New York/London art and fashion mag that also publishes style guides to various cities. Glad to see they're still publishing. The best part about them has always been their great covers. The paper also feels good.

Chimera #1
By Lorenzo Mattotti
32 pages Black and White, 2-color cover,
8 1/2” x 11", with jacket
$7.95

Italian artist Lorenzo Mattotti's lush Chimera begins with lovely thin brushstrokes and sparse compositions of innocent children watching the sky. The creatures they envision in the clouds take over the narrative (stealing it actually), and as night spreads out over the landscape the ink strokes grow dense and sometimes impenetrable. The Chimera here seems to be the hybrid creatures of imagination and nature. A simple concept perhaps - but Mattotti's gorgeous brushwork imbues the story with mythic power. An expressive work printed on thick drawing paper, with a smell that reminds me of childhood coloring books.

available from Fantagraphic Books

Zing, one of our favorite art mags, is apparently having a party - even though the fate of the magazine itself always seems in question. Come back to the 5 and dime, zingmagazine, zingmagazine.

Zing Magazine Armory Fair Celebration
Tribeca Grand: Sunday, February 25th: 8pm-1am
Music by Spencer Sweeney and Sascha P
Complimentary Cocktails 8pm-9pm
RSVP here for Zing Event

Speaking of art mags, Documenta 12 Magazine launches. Edited by the curators of Documenta 12, the contemporary arts event held in Kassel, Germany. Haven't seen it yet, but it's in our to buy list.

North Drive Press produces mobile group exhibitions. Artists make multiples of work and NDP collects them and distributes them in a box or a vinyl sleeve. I spoke with editors Matt Keegan and Sara Greenberger Rafferty about their lovely editions...

I ask this first, even though it's a bit obvious. What is your mission?

North Drive Press first came about and continues to exist in order to create an archived space for emerging artists via interviews and texts, as well as through the production support of art editions. The majority of our contributors are not at the point where they are producing texts or multiples for well-known publications and publishers. We want to provide a space of distribution via NDP's annual issues and our website. The project is seen as a forum, archive, and project for artists and by artists.

I always want to know what past ideas/projects/plans bring people to what they're doing now and the process they went through to get there. What were you working on before that brought you to this project?

We are both lovers of ephemera. Matt started the project originally to produce something like a mobile/collectible group exhibition and to foster professional and social relationships between artists. When Sara was asked to join as co-editor, it was because they both had an affinity for artist books, democratic distribution, and loosely organized presentations of materials by artists. We are both artists and our individual practices inform our collaborations and vice versa.

Yesterday we went to The Armory Show and it was seriously overwhelming. I figured the massive pier full of art would be easier to handle if we travelled in a pack and with beer. It helped. I'm not going to get into what I thought were the highlights and lowlights of the show, because honestly I have no idea where to begin. As we were leaving a friend asked me what I liked the most and all I could say was, "Hey wasn't it nice to run into Franklin at Peres Projects. What a cute hat he was wearing!" So instead I'll show you photos of the Open-Book store, the Armory's temporary art book store designed by the Acconci Studio and produced by Deitch Projects and D.A.P. The store was made from big swooping sheets of plastic anchored by wires that shocked you when you touched them. Ow! According to the Steidl site, "The Acconci Studio design takes as its starting point a horizontal plane which has been suspended, cut and folded." Steidl Books was there showing some of their big special editions including Ed Ruscha's enormous and beautiful THEN & NOW.

Good Magazine has a story up called The 51 Best Magazines Ever. Smartest, Prettiest, Coolest, Funniest, Most Influential, Most Necessary, Most Important, Most Essential, etc. The following is our chat about it.

Mr. Mcginnis: A "top" list of any kind is surely an indicator that a magazine is no good.

Ms. Keough: Heh. I agree. I hate that stuff. They're meaningless. "top 10 albums of the year" "100 hottest women." Ugh.

Mr. Mcginnis: When you read this list, you get the impression someone is trying to get work.

Ms. Keough: Isn't the list by Graydon Carter? I think he has a job.

Mr. Mcginnis: No, he wrote the introduction. Ms. Keough, don't you read? Anyway - The sidebar insinuates that this is a list compiled through a poll of professionals in the industry. You don't pick magazines like Loaded, People or Lucky as "The Greatest" unless you're retarded or want to schmooze up to a publisher or editor or something. I mean REALLY.

Ms. Keough: Dude. Lucky? Really!?

Mr. Mcginnis: Number 44.

Ms. Keough: I mean it's not like i don't think Mad or Colors or many of the others are great.

Mr. Mcginnis: Well, I do like some of these. But I would say only 13 on their list are (or WERE) any good at all. Esquire, Details, Life, MAD, Interview, The Face, The Paris Review, Ray Gun (iffy), Rolling Stone, Sassy, Colors (also iffy).

Ms. Keough: Not Playboy? The ones I don't really know much about are: Spy, Collier's Weekly, Ramparts, Brill's Content, The Little Review, and Domus.

For another list of online only magazines, check out scrnmgs.com. This photo mag AK47.tv caught my eye. They seem to publish here and there, the last issue being jan/feb 06, but there's a fair amount of content to browse through. Check it out.

There are two free, American cultural zeitgeist magazines that have been around for the last few years. One represented tacky rudeness mistaken for irony, while the other actually strived to be positive, represent the unsung and spread useful information. One has ushered in the marketing category of "hipster," where middle class suburban refugees holding cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon can buy into "alternative" culture while still being sexist, racist, homophobic and greedy as fuck. The other free magazine, Arthur, made you believe that there was still hope for our generation. Unapologetically anti-war, nerdy and a bit hippy, Arthur never confused it's mission with simply existing to sell ad space.

I feel saddened and defeated with the recent news that Arthur, the BEST national free magazine, has folded. I felt that Arthur was on a trajectory to being better and more popular than ever, but the founders, editor Jay Babcock and publisher Laris Kreslins, have had a falling out about the future of the magazine. Kreslins has removed Babcock's final message about the folding, asserting that the magazine is simply on hiatus - but without Babcock, Arthur is indeed dead.

What Others Are Saying:
Arthur Mag Calls It Quits - Village voice
Future of Arthur Magazine looks bleak - LA Times
Disinfo on Arthur's Demise
silver in sf

Omg so, I just woke up and I have to do laundry, organize my life, make a quick website, pack my suitcase/camera bag, go to yoga, and have dinner with my mom. Ack! I'm going to Paris tomorrow for an art show and as usual I waited until the last minute to do everything. While laundering I'll drop by Spoonbill & Sugartown and get something to read on the plane. I'm behind on my New Yorkers and Harper's so I'll bring a couple of those I guess.

Anyway, dear readers, if you live in Paris or have been there, give me some tips. What magazines and books should I buy? Where should I go?

P.S. I got a converter thing for my laptop plug so I'll be posting from there.

A few weeks ago I posted this cool mag rack available only in the UK. Recently on a decorating show, Freestyle Design, they used an Ikea wine rack in a similar manner. Unfortunately they don't have it at Ikea anymore, but there are still a few cheap on ebay.

It occurs to me that there are many wine racks that could work as magazine racks - like this cheap elephant wine rack available on amazon.com. Get inventive.