Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Rolling Stone Has Format Makeover

Got my Rolling Stone in the mail yesterday and thought it was a Nordstrom catalog for my wife! The publishers have shrunk the magazine size from the 10-by-12-inch size they have been using since the early 80s, to a standard magazine format.

Unlike many of the other print publications dying on the vine, RS added more pages to accommodate the same amount of content and ads. And they put Obama on the cover for the third time in the last six months.

I have subscribed off and on since the mid 80s and have a love-hate with the magazine. As liberal as I am, even I have to question the tone of some of their political coverage. And I get sick of some of the new music and fashion fads they feel that they need to cover to sell to the newer generation.

But like SNL, RS has been around so long, it's an institution all its own. I have to say, I like the new format. It's fresh and doesn't take away from the content. Most importantly, I'll be reading that Obama interview. One thing is that RS usually asks pretty good questions in their interviews.

And speaking of Ringo Starr (non sequitur), he has gone off the deep end yet again with this bizarre video on his site, telling people not to send items for autographs anymore.

Well, as of October 20. You still have time to get something in the mail people!

WTF? Why October 20? Why so grumpy, Ringo?

3 comments:

Donald Capone said...

Ringo must be inundated with fan mail and autograph requests. There must have been that one final straw that broke the camel's back. I mean, what's he supposed to do, sit around all day and sign his name, then just give it away to some fan who is probably going to sell it for profit on eBay?

It reminds me of when Joe DiMaggio stopped signing autographs after he signed a bat for a kid (he thought), then the bat ended up at a memorabilia show.

Isorski said...

Yeah I get it. Ringo just sometimes flips out a bit and it's kind of funny. Many stars have stopped signing things thrust at them by adoring fans only to find the objects on eBay days later. I'd do the same thing probably...

VoxMoose said...

I can see where Ringo's coming from about signing stuff (which involves real action on his part), but no fan mail? He's made an entire career from adoring fans, and part of being a fan is being able to at least feel like you can write the object of your fandom.

By setting the date at Oct. 20th, he'll probably get more stuff to sign over the next few days than he has over the past two months. Glad I decided not to send him that Ming Dynasty vase to sign for Oct. 21st arrival.