Bye, Men's Vogue, I Barely Knew You

The magazine industry really is having a hard time.

I just read from Condé Nast Portfolio's website that Men's Vogue, the barely two-year-old Condé Nast title that was supposed to be the more upscale brother of GQ and Details, announced that it's going to fold. Read the blog post here.

Although the really young publication won't be closed completely, existing instead as a biannual supplement to Vogue, which really was how Men's Vogue came to be. (Rumor has it that it's only doing such for Anna Wintour, the magazine's Editorial Director, to save face. Even then it's not really a good sign: Anna's Vogue also is losing revenue while its fiercest rival, Elle is gaining.)

News like this is very disheartening especially for someone like me who works in the publishing industry. (Numerous publications have folded this year due to economic hardships and the shift in viewer's reading habits from print to digital.) But I also have to realize that a lot of magazines come and go each year, regardless of market conditions. Maybe it came out at the wrong time (Rodale's Organic Style), didn't establish its target reader quick (Condé Nast's Cargo), or it simply competed with a similar title in the same publishing house (Hearst's Cosmo Girl).

Men's Vogue was quite the promising publication, targeting the older, more established men that found GQ's articles too pop-py or too fratboy; and is scared by Details. (Coverline of the year: Do You Have Douchebag Hair?)

Question is, is there such a reader? I mean, will the older, more established men that Men's Vogue is catering to, buy the magazine?

Maybe there was and still is—after all, Best Life still remains a healthy publication, as evidenced by second quarter reports from Rodale.

So what happened?

Methinks it suffered from the Cargo syndrome. It took its time to find its voice, and unfortunately, publishing houses can't afford to do it now when things are so crazy. Men's Vogue did finally put an end to the question of who its readers are, saying that by the November issue, it's going to go with the tagline "Style is how you live." (Link here.) But it's too little, too late—by the time this new tagline is rolled out, the magazine's gonna cease to be a monthly. (There's also the issue with declining ad pages, but you probably already know how much magazines depend on advertising to survive.)

Pure speculation, but I do think it makes sense. (I also want to say, it's a pretty dry, staid publication. But it's most likely because I'm not its audience.)

Oh well. Now I gotta give a Condé Nast customer rep to not give me GQ or Details as replacement subscription. I'll take Vanity Fair, thanks.

Image from USAToday.net

Dude, the Bargain Shopper: Milo Ventimiglia

Milo at the Burberry reopening in Beverly Hills. He's most known playing the role of Peter in television's Heroes.
Cardigan ($50) from Topman.
T-shirt ($14.90) from Heritage 1981.
Jeans ($34.90) from Heritage 1981.
Shoes ($475) from Cole Haan.
Faux-leather jacket (about $80) from H&M. There's no US online store for H&M, so you have to make the trip for this one.

Milo's photograph from men.style.com

Site Check: The Read Green Initiative

No matter how much flak I'll get with killing so many trees, it's really hard not to enjoy a printed magazine. You can bring it everywhere, it won't strain your eyes with UV rays, and the photographs never looked better.

Besides, I'll recycle them once the year's over. Calm down everyone.

To sort of "counter" this, I signed up for the The Read Green Initiative. This organization, lauding the efforts of the magazine community to encourage readers to recycle print magazines when they're done reading them, hopes to add to this noteworthy cause by offering digital subscriptions. You get the first one free, and if you decide to purchase another title, a portion of the price goes to planting more trees.

I like the cause, but couldn't wrap my head over the fact that subscription prices are almost the same as its dead-tree format. Why? Let's not forget that we're also paying for electricity from opening the computer and actually reading the magazine.

By the way, I subscribed to Layers magazine, a digital art tutorials publication. There are some that are NSFW.

I'm Sorry for Killing Trees

Sometime during the (current) length of my stay here in the US, I've amassed quite a number of magazine subscriptions. I was organizing my room one day and realized that, damn, that is a lot of subscriptions!

Some of them, I've paid for—publishing companies slash as much as 80 percent of the newsstand price when you subscribe—others I get from work, and others, well, I get them for free.

See for yourself. And there are 5 more that's going to start some time in November or December.
From top to bottom, left to right: Cosmopolitan, PC World, Men's Fitness, Town & Country, More, Wired, Maxim, Interview, Details, Psychology Today, Country Home, O, Organic Spa, Best Life, Mac World, Men's Health, Parents, GQ, Vogue, Seed, Sunset, Better Homes & Gardens, Metropolitan Home, Women's Health, Tennis, Country Home, Men's Vogue, Popular Science, and PC World.

Not photographed but am subscribed to: Esquire and EGM.

Due to start soon: Mac Life, Ode, Prevention, Men's Journal, and Shape.

With the exception of the women's and shelter/home decorating magazines, and Tennis (the first two I give to my mom, the last is for my Dad and uncle), I've read much of each issue. If there's one title among all these that I'm reading a lot more than others, it's Psychology Today. (Don't ask me why.)

Crazy, huh? But I like it—there's always something new to look at and read that doesn't take too much of my time.

Stylista, Oh How Much Do I Love the Delicious Addiction You’ll Give Me

Full disclosure: I’m a stylist and I work in the magazine industry. These two are reasons enough that I would give the Tyra Banks-produced show on The CW, Stylista, my attention. And because Bravo’s Project Runway and The Rachel Zoe Project are over, there’s a considerable void in late-night reality TV that has style and fashion as its main subject matter.

Obviously based off the success of the book—and subsequently, the silverscreen adaptation—The Devil Wears Prada, Stylista chronicles the life of a group of aspiring fashion magazine editors as they fight through challenge after challenge (and the occasional, actually, scratch that—often—bouts of bitchery) for, among other things, a paid editorial position at Elle (under Hachette Fillipacchi Media), an H&M clothing allowance, and an apartment in Manhattan that they’ll pay for a year. Not bad, considering the other production by Bankable Productions, America’s Next Top Model, doesn’t even give a cash prize (it’s a $100,000 contract, take note). At the very least, the winner of Stylista can earn about $30,000 for the year that s/he’s with Elle.

Wednesday’s episode already had proved how much of a train wreck anything Tyra Banks lends her hands on becomes. And it starts with the annoying ripoff of the scene in TDWP where Miranda Priestly (played by the very talented Meryl Streep) leaves her limo and walks to her office. Lauren Weisberg’s novel is based off her experience at Vogue, and with Anna Wintour. No one can dispute that Ms. Wintour is a very recognizable name in fashion and the magazine industry, and it’s pretty funny that they’re playing off this fact with Anne Slowey instead of Anna.

By the way, damn. She can’t walk in those heels to save her life!

Second, according to a very reliable, but not impeachable source, the place where they film the reality show is not the actual Elle editorial office. That’s why they say “Elle downtown.” Hachette’s office is more midtown. Haha. The winner of Stylista will be very surprised that the very manicured office s/he’s used to working at is not where the actual work will happen.

Third, what’s the deal with the annoying—and very unnecessary—ploy for the edit staff of Elle to be bitchy, and—if things are any indication, we’ll witness this in future episodes—condescending, Slowey included? I seriously doubt that much of the staff is that bitchy. I’m pretty sure it’s just the producers telling them, “Be as cold as the people in The Devil Wears Prada, or you ain’t getting paid.”

The challenges are actually pretty okay. Editorial Assistants—the entry-level paid position in each and every magazine—are required to do some administrative work on top of helping run the edit side of the magazine. So I didn’t mind that they had to make the contestants prepare Slowey’s breakfast. (Interesting to note, by the way, Anne doesn’t really eat that much, as evidenced by this piece in New York Magazine.)

Even the elimination is something that actually happens in a magazine: Create and write the contributor’s page. I just wish they paid attention to how the copy is written, if it’s something for Elle. Magazine publishing is a journalism job still, after all.

However, here’s bullshit # 1: They kept the über-bitchy one, Megan, and eliminated Arnaldo, the one that I think would be a better editor between them two. Again, I’m pretty—actually, very—sure that the producers had a hand in this. I mean, come on, Megan will provide delicious tension, and will most likely be Stylista’s Kenley Collins. Ratings!

Bullshit # 2: Joe Zee’s critique of what the contestants are wearing. Didn’t you find it funny that he said to Arnaldo that he looks like he’s working at a law office and has no creativity in his manner of dress when Zee himself is just wearing a suit? Whoop de doo, Mr. Hypocrite.

Still, his other comments were funny, like “Your boobs are spilling out all over my face.” Very smooth. Haha.

Does this mean I would no longer watch Stylista? Far from it. In fact, I’d miss the premiere broadcast of Top Chef New York just to see a new episode of Stylista every Wednesday. One, because I’m curious. Two, because it’s in my industry, and three, because it’s a new reality show. But you see, the problem with this and most reality-based job-search shows is simple: It’s never an accurate portrayal of how the business works. The winner, much like those who have been bagged “America’s Next Top Model” will probably enjoy a brief period of notoriety followed by everyone not caring for them. (I mean, ask yourself, have any of the winners of ANTM walked the runway of an actual high end label like Burberry during Fashion Week? The final showdown episode doesn’t count, as these are runway shows produced specifically to face the last 2 contestants off.)

I’m waiting for Wednesday...

Music Break:Day Break

I'm almost done with my Stylista post. Will have it here by tomorrow.

For now, a song that I've been playing over and over again. Really fantastic, and performed by an obviously talented artist. If you've been following my blog, you'll know who I'm talking about.

Stylista Premieres Tonight!

...and I'm definitely going to blog about it.

Runway Review: NY Spring 2009 Men's Collections

Marc Jacobs returns quite often to his favorite era in fashion: grunge. Yes, it may have been the show that got him fired (it's one of the most celebrated cases of a brand kicking itself in the behind seeing as how Mr. Jacobs eventually built for himself a fashion brand while Perry Ellis, well, just stagnated), but we can't fault him for continually referencing something he's very familiar with.

For Spring 2009, his Marc by Marc Jacobs line offers the same grunge-sportswear-Euro styling that much of his customers like. Highlights are the shirts in two boldly contrasting colors paired with clam diggers (or extra long shorts, you decide); deep V-neck sweaters under muted cropped- and regular-length trenches; pork pie hats Pete Doherty would approve (he's still relevant?) and what I think is a nice styling choice—wearing two slim belts.

By the way, Mr. Jacobs came out of the show wearing a kilt. Will we see them on his runways soon, or it's just a personal statement on his part?

Photographs from men.style.com

Gouken Lives! And I’m Not Sure if I’m Happy

Time for some video game blog-entary.

Refresher: Gouken (erroneously named Sheng Long Stateside—there’s no such character!) is the brother of Gouki (Akuma), son of Goutetsu (no U.S. name), and Ryu and Ken’s master. The official canon is that during the events of Street Fighter 1, while Ryu is competing in the tournament, Gouki came in to the dojo and challenged Gouken to a fight. According to Tiamat’s excellent SF plot guide, Ken witnessed part of the match, and saw his master get killed in Gouki’s hands. Gouken’s remains are buried near the Suzaku Castle (Ryu’s stage in a good number of Street Fighter games).

Now Street Fighter 4 comes along, an interquel between SF2 and SF3, and for some reason thought of reviving Gouken. Is Yoshinori Ono (the producer of the game) pulling all the stops to give SF4 the massive success that SF2 received during its time that he’s throwing everything but the kitchen sink in this game? I don’t know. But as it is, this is one—and probably just one of the few—addition to SF4 that I have mixed feelings about.

First, the good: EGM can no longer run an April Fool’s joke involving Gouken!

In terms of gameplay, Gouken moves a little differently compared to Ryu, Ken, even Gouki, preventing him from being just another Shoto-clone. (By the way, they practice Ansatsuken and not Shotokan Karate.) For one, he throws his fireballs with just one hand. His Tatsumaki Senpuu-Kyaku doesn’t go forward, but instead moves vertically. (The EX version of the same move behaves like Gouki’s Messatsu Gourasen Super Art.) His Saving Attack is the Joudan Soukotu Geri (Ryu’s new move in SF3), and his Ultra Combo is the Shin Shoryuken.

He’s actually quite badass from the videos that I’ve seen in YouTube. Sure, he doesn’t suffer from the SNK boss syndrome but he nevertheless appears that he hits hard.

Now, the bad. For what they’re worth, I follow canon of every video game I play. For instance, I know about the Highbornes of Warcraft, and the events that lead to the Night and High Elves living in separate worlds. I also know that M. Bison is actually inhabiting Rose’s body in SF2.

Resurrecting Gouken after the events of two series have transpired (SF Alpha and SF2) seriously messes up with the established canon. Did he rise from the grave? Why the heck would he keep his being alive secret from Ryu and Ken, who saw him as a father figure (especially Ryu—damn it, he’s a freaking orphan) after all these years? Will Gouki attempt to kill his brother once again, this time with a move that isn’t the Shun Goku Satsu? So many questions.

I’ll have to wait until Capcom releases its official retcon to see how they plan to merge the now-alive Gouken to the running canon, and fix the plot holes that this created. For now, I can’t wait to play him in the home version of SF4.

Dude, the Bargain Shopper: Fabrizio Moretti

Drummer of the band The Stokes, and all-around nice dresser—in a rockstar kind of way.

All the items I got for Mr. Moretti are from H&M. I'm not sure of the USA prices of the pieces, so here's an estimate: jacket $70, cuff $15, T-shirt $15, belt $10, and pants $30

I'm very much interested in doing another Dude, the Bargain Shopper for Fabrizio, but I'm having problems finding a nice enough photo of him. If anyone has a better quality photograph, please send them my way.

Image of Fabrizio from a Google Images search.

Kristen Wiig is HILARIOUS!

This one needs no introduction. One of the funniest skits in the current season of SNL.