Coverboy

Cover of the first Life magazine back in 1936

Oh how wonderful the life is in a glossy magazine. And how I love to be told what to buy, what to do, what to see, which band to listen to, what trends I should enslave myself to and of course what I should think.

I gladly spend the 59:- to get in to the world of the Swedish male lifestyle mags Café or King. Skip through the tens of pages with ads until I get to a 8-page-interview with Jackie Arklöv or a single page on Dave Gahan. Persons in whom's fates I am interested for complely different reasons. I love one, hate one. Draw your own conclusion's who's who.

I don't have a problem at all to get in to the world of digital photography in Digital Camera at a cheap price of 89:- and most importantly getting a CD with Photoshop techniques on the side, not that I ever go through that one. But I am taught how to best photograph passing cars on a Formula 1 court if I ever get to one.

Today's catch in the pond over at Pressbyrån is Världens Historia with a large one on Mao and his massacres along with Inked - yepp that back of mine is gone gett inked up fast enough. Getting that mag really shows how dedicated I am! And of course I bump in to my friend Rocky (the Comic not the Boxer) on my way out. That one is though worthy of his own review. That's just a straight on masterpiece. But on a sidenote, yes Rocky is a comic but it makes a magazine since it sports some articles and reviews.


What's the great thing about them then? Well accessibility slips off the tongue. It is a very inviting way to present facts and news. Of course the facts are limited and the objectivity ain't really there like in journalistic media - but I want the subjectivity. I am presented to an idea. If Café says beige khakis are the shit 2037 I can choose whether to wear them or not 2037 but I know that if I w o u l d I would be slightly more modern.
And I do know how inconsistant this is with my love for Fight Club and the reference to Khaki is intended

You're not the car you drive
You're not the contents of your wallet.
YOU ARE NOT YOUR FUCKING KHAKIS

Tyler Durden

But please: reread the adress you typed in to get there ... contra-dikt-ory. Yeppp. That's me!


I can from time to time indulge myself in mags on topics I have no relation to whatsoever. I gladly spend a good 30 minutes skipping through my mum's Ellé magazines. Not really sure what to do with the information and if I just wanted to watch beautiful seminaked girls I'd go for Playboy or porn instead. But it is something more to it. You get a glimpse of a culture and lifestyles. I can see people wanting something to define them. I can see 57 year-old-men wanting to let the world know how they take a big interest in cigars or the huntsmen showing off with the new number of Guns&Ammo (Nilecity and the "Tidsstudiemannen" reference intended)


I was gonna host a top-ten-at-the-moment-list of great mags but I have name-dropped most of them I read. To add to that list is of course Fighter Magazine and the old favourite Illustrerad Vetenskap to which my brother still subscribes.


And oh ... if you read this far you might want to know what sparked this all. To no one's surprise it is once more DN and their article "Magasin med makt" of today's paper about this evenings episode of "Bildmagasinens historia, Kunskapskanalen 22.00"

Grundtemat i de flesta går att koka ner till:
"Så här bör du leva",
underförstått med tillägget:
"för att bli en lycklig människa".

And well ... I guess am happy then!