Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with magazine

Help me track down this data-scanning monster.

bad grammar — Tue, 14 May 2013 16:56:10 -0800

This drawing or graphic appeared in the print section of either the Washington Post or the New York Times on Saturday or Sunday, May 11-12 (my house gets both papers on Sundays and inevitably mixes them up). All sections were put out for the recycle bin Monday before I could clip the article. The illustration was so striking that it has driven out of my head any memory of the article's correct citation or specific topic (it was about data-mining companies). I have been searching the websites of both papers and could not find it or the illustration.

A large, red, feathered and spiky, four-legged monster stands atop a field of data. Its head is a single enormous eyeball emitting a beam of laser light. A tiny human figure stands atop the eyeball, pulling on reins or levers to guide the beam. The beast has an upright, stove-pipe-like tail with numbers and words streaming out of it into the cloud.

What are your favorite Anime and Manga magazines?

luckynerd — Mon, 06 May 2013 13:32:32 -0800

What are your favorite Anime and Manga magazines? (Research for work)

I'm looking for the most popular magazines for Anime and Manga. The end result would be to place ads in said magazines. Language isn't an issue. (Uh, pun intended. ;) )

So, what are the well-known magazines for Anime and Manga? Which ones are your favorites?

Why does Busted magazine get featured at the front counter?

Rich Smorgasbord — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 01:01:47 -0800

How does Busted magazine get to be featured at the front counter of stores? Busted magazine, for those of you who don't know, is a slim tabloid-style publication consisting almost entirely of mugshots. There are local editions for several U.S.A. cities, with all the people pictured being from that city. Charming, I know, but the larger sleaze aspect isn't what interests me. It's this:

The magazine is placed prominently by the cash register. No other magazine is featured in this way. Not Maxim, not Time, not any scandal sheet. How did it come to get such advantageous special treatment? If the store can be paid to put it up front, why don't other magazines do the same thing? I've seen it at nationwide chains, and I've seen it at small non-franchise places, and it's always there, sometimes pinned up so you can't miss it. How did they swing this special deal? Or is there something about the magazine that makes retailers feature it? Or a combination of these two? Cashiers say it sells like hotcakes, but I'm sure it wouldn't sell so much if it were mixed in with the other magazines. And it's been around a couple years now, so the novelty must have worn off for the people (like me) who bought it once because it was a hoot... but, it's still right up there. So, does anybody have a clue what the deal is?

Is that me in the photograph?

yellowcandy — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 20:49:32 -0800

Someone mentioned to my mother that a photo in this week's (2/22) edition of The Week magazine is likely me. The article is about people using computers and smartphones on airplanes and is called, I think, 'Please turn off your electronic devices' (p. 11). I need to get a copy of the photo (electronic or hard copy, either is fine) and am in the middle of upstate NY with no access to a big newsstand where I'd normally head to find a copy.

I am not a subscriber, so I can't access the online version, and the article doesn't seem to exist in their free online content offerings, so I'm reaching out to the green for some help. Can you help me figure out if I'm the man in the picture?

Paying a fee to get published in an illustration yearbook: worth it?

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 08:57:50 -0800

I am an illustrator and have been recently contacted by the magazine Uppercase, who offered me an opportunity to be part of the third edition of Work/Life, an annual book dedicated to the work of 100 international illustrators. While surely nicely curated and distributed, Uppercase Work/Life asks their applicants to pay a CDN $500 fee to have a two-page spread. Is it worth it? The email that I got made it look like I had been selected for my illustration skills; reading it more carefully, I understood it was more a discount code for application (a $50 saving).

I've been following the work of Uppercase in the past years and find it interesting. I cannot hide a bit of disappointment at having to pay, but maybe this is normal? Should I pay? Is this worth the exposure? Anybody with similar experience?

Anonymous for fear of being blacklisted by Big Illustration.

Recent New York assault weapons law: I need clear information.

Anonymous — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 15:09:44 -0800

New York enacted the Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act. Where can I find some clear, non-looney, information on how this effects me and my firearms? When NY passed this new law, I assumed I really would not be affected. While three (maybe four) of my firearms are on the banned list, they were all purchased before the 1994 ban. I filled out all the paperwork the dealer provided and didn't think NY's new law would really effect me.

But I got a shiver when I read the story of Nathan Haddad, who faces 35 years in prison after police found five unloaded 30 round magazines in his car.

I've got more than five high capacity magazines in the safe, and one of my main goals in life is staying out of prison.

I really need some clear information on what the law requires of me. The only information I've found is the law itself, (which I couldn't decipher in a hundred years) or some really extreme sites that tell me to expect the black helicopters at any moment.

I can't be the only person who needs this information, but Google just points me to the crazy zone.

Travel magazines for the Spanish-language reader?

pwb503 — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 13:51:00 -0800

Are there any magazines from Mexico or South/Central American countries specializing in travel to the region, in Spanish, directed towards the Spanish speaking reader, that are available via subscription in the US? If so, which would you recommend? I'm trying too buy a gift for my Spanish-speaking wife who loves travel and loves Mexico and the rest of South/Central America. Her travel interests are less of the resort type and more "off the beaten path" type.

Best science magazines for 11-12 year old girls?

andshewas — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 06:51:03 -0800

What do you think are the best educational (preferably scientific) magazines for middle-school aged girls (11-12)?

Did you see the pictures I did of a home with Asian design? Where!?

attercoppe — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 12:08:55 -0800

Have you seen (within the last decade) these pictures from a home design magazine? Traditional Asian (Japanese?) style - high ceilings with dark beams, large open spaces, tatami mats and paper screens, and very little else. I clipped some pages from a magazine within the past decade, I think more than five years ago. I think it was a design-y home/house type of publication, something like Architectural Digest or Dwell. Since then I've thrown them out, but have been thinking of them lately and wonder if I can track down the periodical and get copies again! A long shot, I know...

Here's what I recall: the pictures showed very very little, or maybe no, furniture or personal belongings in the space. One area in one room appeared to have a sand floor, and in the middle was a small fire pit. The walls were all paper screens, the floors were tatami mats. The ceilings were very high (12 feet+) with dark wood beams crossing at around 8 feet high or so. One picture was an outside view, showing a small pond with tall grasses around it, and a dark wood deck.

There was probably also an article of some sort along with the pictures, but I don't remember anything about it. I feel like the home was not in Asia but somewhere Western, probably in the States.

Speculate away!

Can you identify this mystery dam?

clockworkjoe — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 12:24:23 -0800

Can someone identify this mystery unique western dam (on the left)? The cover of the May 8, 1920 Scientific American has a wonderful illustration of an oddball dam. As the artist, Howard V. Brown was best known for his science fiction paintings, I might have dismissed this as a made-up illustration as I have never seen this dam before in books. However, the article contains a photograph of this dam but does not identify it. It identifies the dam on the right but not the one in question. Nowhere in the magazine is there any identification of this oddball concrete dam.

Does anybody where or what this dam is called?

Looking for a mid-1990s magazine article about end-of-year celebrations in Scotland

usonian — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 09:25:24 -0800

Longshotfilter: Did anyone else in the U.S. see this magazine article about New Years Eve/Hogmanay (or possibly Christmas Eve) in Scotland circa 1996-97? One evening in late 1996/early 1997 I was waiting for takeout in a Thai restaurant in Van Nuys, California. I picked up a magazine and was enchanted by a photo essay about the celebration of Hogmanay in Scotland. (it *might* have been Christmas, but I'm pretty sure it was about New Year's Eve.) I seem to recall that it focused on celebrations away from urban areas - maybe even on an island, and there were cozy photos of people dining, dancing and socializing by candlelight and/or strings of white christmas-type lights.

I did not have time to read the article completely, but those dimly-remembered photos have stuck with me all these years and I would love to track it down and read the whole thing.

Difficulty: I don't remember what the magazine was. I want to say it was something in the Smithsonian/National Geographic spectrum - not a pure travel & leisure magazine, but the sort of magazine that travels, if that makes any sense. On the other hand one nagging but probably unreliable memory says it might have been AAA California's magazine. Given that it was a magazine in a waiting area, it may have been even a bit older than 1996-97.

I've spent a bit of time unsuccessfully searching Google and the archive web sites of possible publications, but I suspect this is going to be one of those things where I need to hope that someone sees this and says "Yes, I totally remember that! It was in [Foo] magazine!" So here's hoping - thanks hive mind!

#ReaderRage

myelin sheath — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 14:29:38 -0800

How do I tell my dad that we need to find a better weekly news magazine? My family has been subscribed to Newsweek for years. In the past six months, I've become increasingly frustrated with the quality of the magazine, and I'm starting to completely doubt its journalistic integrity. I've mentioned it a few times, and pointed out a couple of offending articles. My mom is totally on board with finding a new magazine. My dad is less so--but I'm sure if I had more concrete examples, he would be open to it.

I should note that my parents do respect my opinions on these matters, and it hasn't caused much drama before, but I'm afraid of how easily this can come across as "You're stupid and wrong and let me show you what's best for you."

Essentially, how do I frame this? Are there a couple of particularly strong specific examples that I should stick to? I have lots of trouble with these kind of discussions because I try to cover everything, and then my argument becomes confusing to follow, or we get stuck quibbling over a minor point. I'm also not sure if I should try to bring up big-picture points about the issues with modern American journalism as well, so he might notice how some of his other favorite sources, like CNN, have some of the same problems.

My dad is a really smart guy, and I owe him so much for encouraging the development of my critical thinking. However, I think seeing bullshit like this on the cover of a trusted source is toxic, and I don't think he's immune. (And clearly I'm not the only one who takes issue with it.) I am extremely proud and lucky that my father is as open-minded and intelligent as he is, but as I get older, I notice his prejudices more and more. I wish he could understand just how pervasive prejudices and "isms" are, and that all stereotypes need to be held suspect and interrogated for their actual accuracy and relevance. I guess that's another whole conversation, isn't it?

I also think that the conversation would go better if I had a magazine to compare it to, and maybe replace it with, but I don't know which magazine I should go with. I'm a child of the internet generation, and the news articles I read come from all over.

Thanks in advance.

I've got issues

Terminal Verbosity — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 13:41:19 -0800

Please recommend a virtual magazine host. So, I edit an e-zine, which we host with a third party. That company, Bluetoad, is apparently at the center of the Apple UDID leak. Their website is now down and I'm on the lookout for something better.

I need a platform that will, in descending order of importance, do the following:

Take in a pdf and output an interactive e-zine

Enable linking

Have some sort of analytics built in

Display well in a magazine format on a computer as well as on a tablet

Not cost a fortune

One thing Bluetoad does that I like is keep a database of advertisers so that linking ads is not a chore

I have a domain name. I'd like it if the link to the magazine were www.domain.com/issue, not www.onlinemags.biz/domain-online/48332qwe45

Have pretty pretty page transitions, skins and other features

I've come across issuu.com and flippingbook.com. Do you have testimonials for these services? Would you recommend another?

Looking for a customisable online magazine generator that gets its content from multiple Twitter users - any ideas?

scrm — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 02:53:59 -0800

I'm looking for an online tool to create a daily web-based magazine for a citizen journalism collective. Ideally, it would gather articles, links and photos from designated multiple users on Twitter, and allow an editor to lay them out and edit them to create nice, readable pages. I'm part of citizen journalist collective. Currently we're doing this: our volunteers post relevant links and photos on Twitter with a specific hashtag. Using Scribblelive we then make a selection of the most important tweets and post this online in a Scribblelive feed on a page on our site. This is updated on an ongoing basis.

What I'm exploring is whether it's possible to have an online 'magazine' using the same content from multiple Twitter users, that is published on a daily basis. It would need to be customisable in terms of typography, layout etc. and as automated as possible to minimise the workload. We could then also create a PDF of and this send it to our mailing list, print it, etc.

I see that Paper.li goes in this direction but it doesn't seem to be customisable in the way that I'm looking for. Also we need to have content input by hashtag rather than have the tool following all the tweets of specific users, since these users don't exclusively tweet content that should end up in the magazine.

Any ideas? Does anyone have any experience with these tools and can advise?

Thanks!

Should I take this copywriting job if I want to be a writer?

Michael Pemulis — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 21:51:26 -0800

I was hoping to be offered a writing job on the editorial side, but instead I'm going to be on the business/advertising side. What does this mean for me? I'm trying to break into the whole media-slash-writing-for-a-living business.

This year, I had an internship with internet media conglomerate X Media, and that went really well. I wrote for a high traffic blog and I'm currently using that experience to try to write for other websites or magazines. A month or two after the internship, X Media gets in contact with me and offers me a job. Only problem is that this gig isn't on the editorial floor. It may be called something like "content commerce" or "brand writing with an editorial tone." And I won't be reporting to an editor, but to a "suit" on the business side.

It's a job! It'll cover the bills, but it won't make me rich. And I'll be writing, but I'll definitely be selling something, as opposed to just, y'know, writing. I'm new to the industry and I don't know much about working in media, so I've got some general questions:

1. Is there some facet of journalistic ethics that means that doing this kind of sponsored work prohibits me from crossing over to the editorial side?

2. So let's say this gig goes well, but in a year I'm trying to write again. Will editors be skeptical if I don't have any clips from the last year?

3. Alternatively, what kind of work in the marketing or advertising worlds does writing sponsored posts qualify me for?

4. Have any of the writers out there switched between journalistic writing and copywriting? How did it work out for you?

Nothing with Katy Perry on the cover, please.

Syllables — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 09:22:58 -0800

What magazines should I subscribe to? Particularly with a crafty, healthy, or food bent? I LOVE getting magazines in the mail. It makes my day, even. Readymade was my goto, can't live without magazine for a number of years, and it's demise has left a hole in my heart. Are there any comparable magazines out there?

I am particularly interested in crafty things or edible things. I have a subscription to Taste of Home, but it tends to be counter-productive at this point in my life. I'm trying to focus on getting healthy and eating lighter, and the down-home cooking isn't resonating anymore.

To be very clear, am NOT looking for magazines with articles like "6 ways to blast belly fat while you sleep!" Or "What foods are secretly aging your butt!"

I don't want to waste my money on inferior magazines, and I really don't want to go to the store and browse through the selections and decide from there. I'm really looking for personal recommendations, and maybe lesser known magazines that might not populate the racks, so hit me with your best suggestions metafilter.

Help us make an app for a history magazine.

LarryC — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 13:55:46 -0800

I serve on the editorial board of a historical publication that walks the line between scholarly and popular articles. It is a magazine format publication, known for the high quality of its illustrations as well as articles. How do we create an iPad (and maybe Android) app for the magazine? The magazine shall remain nameless, but it is a really strong publication.

The editor would like an attractive app which includes the ability to make in-app purchases of either single copies or subscriptions. also desired are the ability to do some multimedia add-ons to the print edition, including photo essays, podcasts, and videos. The models are the Smithsonian magazine app and BBC History magazine. (Though we are open to other models--suggest away! And yes I saw this thread.)

Where do we start? A conversation with one developer resulted in a price quote of $50,000. Googling "creating a magazine app" gets a dizzying number of results.

I guess I am looking for recommendations of readings, companies to work with, and questions and concerns that we don't know enough to have thought of yet. And if you are a magazine editor who has been down this road, talk to me!

What a nice rack. No, wait, come back!

eschatfische — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 12:31:09 -0800

I really like this Umbra Loft magazine rack - but they no longer make them, and I can't find anything similar on the 'net. Any way to get one, or something extremely similar?

How to make a magazine-style portfolio

jschu — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 17:45:30 -0800

Ideas for creating a magazine-style portfolio? I want to make a portfolio of my work, mainly blog articles (with accompanying photos) and advertisements. It's all on the same topic (travel) so I thought it would be fun to design it like a magazine.

I was originally thinking of making it using the iPhoto photo album software, but I need to be able to customize the layout a bit more, and besides, I need to emphasize the writing, not the photographs. I would also like to be able to create my own cover.

So what's the best way to lay out, print, and bind a one-off magazine-style project like this?

Help finding an ad for Marlboro Lights from 2007. Needle, haystack, whatevs.

tangaroo — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 13:28:48 -0800

Do you happen to have a 5 year old magazine with this Marlboro ad in it? Marlboro doesn't want to give the academic journal (that is going to publish our paper) permission to reproduce the image we used for our research. If possible I need to find a source (ie which magazine or even an online version) in which the original ad was published. Probably in 2007-2008ish?

This is the ad we're trying to find.

Tineye and google image search only give me results for the non Lights version of the ad. Thanks for any suggestions or help!

Help Me Find This Fable About Cheetahs

These Birds of a Feather — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 18:51:55 -0800

Trying to identify a myth/fairy tale I read in an issue of Highlights back in the 1990s. It has to do with how animals got their spots/colors, and how the cheetah, who was vain, waited too long and had to use the leftover paint colors to create its yellow coat, black spots, and black "tears". The only comparable story I can find is one about how the Zebra got its stripes.

Hadithi, Mwenye & Kennaway, Adrienne. (2004). Greedy Zebra. London: Hodder Children’s Books.
While all the African animals are selecting their colorful coats and horns, Greedy Zebra is obsessed with eating. By the time he notices the striking features of the other animals, only leftover black strips of cloth remain.

Any ideas? I've searched through varying combos of "cheetah fairytale paint" etc but no luck. Would love to share this with my students as they're reading about cheetahs this week. Thank you!

Where can I find issues of 3-2-1 Contact magazine from the 1980's?

dan_of_brainlog — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 01:36:29 -0800

Is there a library or archive that might have issues of 3-2-1 Contact magazine from the 1980's? 3-2-1 Contact Magazine was a kids print magazine in the U.S. from the 1980's onward, related to the PBS show produced by the Children's Television Workshop. The best I've found from casual searches of Internet resources is a 138MB zip of scans, but this archive is too incomplete for my purposes. Is there a library or archive that would have something like this? Or were magazines not considered archive-worthy, and personal collections (eBay, magazine forums) are my only hope? I'm looking for something specific, namely a mention of my name in the computing section added to the magazine after the magazine Enter was discontinued. The only clue I have is that it's more likely to be in an issue from 1987, but that's not definitive. What's worse is my memory of this may be entirely fictional, and it's bothered me for years that I haven't had confirmation. I'm not losing sleep or anything, but it'd be interesting to know for sure that it's true, that it's false, or that it's infeasible to know.

Looking for magazines with a local cultural focus

Shepherd — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 04:56:09 -0800

What are the best small local-history/culture magazines or publications in North America? I've just become the chairperson on the board of a local publication of long standing. It has suffered from a declining readership and, frankly, spotty quality over the past decade. In the last year, a new editor and designer have taken the reins, both volunteers and without much experience but with lots of enthusiasm.

The magazine serves a largely semi-rural population with a couple of large towns and a mid-size city in the mix; its focus is non-fiction, but it's written for general access and is not a scholarly journal.

I'm looking at this as a chance to start a longer-term revitalization of the magazine, and I thought the best way to go about it would be to seek out exemplary magazines that have the same rough characteristics as ours, and look at what other publications are doing with success.

Here's a list of six characteristics that I think define the magazine, more or less in order of importance for what I have in mind:

- Geographically defined;
- Non-fiction;
- Articles on past history and current culture*;
- High quality of writing and design;
- Independently owned and locally published/distributed;
- Regularly published.

*culture not just meaning music and the visual arts, but culture in the more traditional sense as well: professions, traditions, etc.

Don't feel entirely bound to hit all six of the above, but the top three are pretty important. Feel free to colour outside the lines if you think you have a line on something amazing. The "Small Farmer's Journal" has come up as an interesting publication that works as an example: it's not bound by geography but by a culture, yet still kind of falls into our wheelhouse.

Thanks!

An issue without issuu

drea — Thu, 31 May 2012 00:35:00 -0800

I'd like to upload a .pdf to turn it into a virtual magazine (like on Issuu.com), but I don't want to use issuu. Is there a wordpress plugin I can get somewhere to do what issuu does? I can't seem to find it on Google (keywords: digital magazine plugin, digital magazine, issuu wordpress plugin) but I'm sure people have used the digital magazine format on their own websites without having to resort to issuu.

Important things I would need the "thing" to have:
- must be accessible on iPad
- page analytics and metrics (how long a reader spent on a page, referrals, country location, etc.) would be a huge plus.
- ideally a Wordpress plugin, but I'm open to other options.

Many thanks for all your help and suggestions!

What is depicted on the cover of the New Yorker from February 6, 1937?

morninj — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 10:57:31 -0800

What is depicted on the cover of the New Yorker from February 6, 1937? Here's an image.