Magazines

From Jeff Bercovici at AOL's Daily Finance:

Vibe magazine, the urban-music magazine founded in 1993 by Quincy Jones, is the latest victim of the media recession. Multiple sources both within and outside the magazine confirmed that it is shutting down.

via FBNY

Lighting struck.

TMZ got some credibility for breaking the news of Michael Jackson's untimely death? Why not National Enquirer for finally predicting it correctly?

Eep.

via Reddit

Let's admit it- you haven't picked up a Playboy since you snuck a peek at your old mans porn stash sometime during puberty. All those hardcore and fetish magazines you're reading haven't exactly been good for the mag's circulation numbers. And the recession hasn't helped either- last month parent company Playboy Enterprises Inc. reported a first quarter loss of $3.1 million.

But there's a new sheriff in town, and maybe he can turn it around. The rumors we reported yesterday turned out to be true- SoCal media executive Scott Flanders has been hired as the new CEO of Playboy Enterprises, and he believes in print. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune, Flanders said:

The consumer experience is much more tactile and comfortable with print. Particularly with magazines, there is a visual experience. Not just for the content and the editorial, but also for the advertising. The newspaper and magazine industry do not have an audience recession. When you add the print readership and the 45 million pageviews. ... The audience for Playboy is larger than it has ever been.

So maybe there's room for optimism. Us, we just want to get invited to the Mansion before Hef retires.

Previously on FBLA:
Scott Flanders Possible New CEO Of Playboy

According to the Wall Street Journal, Playboy Enterprises is going to offer the job of CEO to Scott Flanders, president and CEO of Irvine-based Freedom Communications Inc. WSJ cautioned that contracts had not been signed and the deal could still fall apart, but, "after a couple of recent visits to the Playboy Mansion, Mr. Flanders has emerged as the clear favorite". The CEO post has been vacant since Christie Hefner stepped down late last year.

Freedom Communications owns several television stations and newspapers in the United States, including the Orange County Register.

Jorge Colombo drew the cover art for the current issue of New Yorker on his iPhone in one hour using an app called Brushes. The video below created with companion app Brushes Viewer demonstrates how the artwork was made.

New York Post's Keith J. Kelly reports:

PLAYBOY Enterprises, the far-flung empire founded by Hugh Hefner in 1953, is quietly being shopped around for $300 million, sources tell Media Ink.

Even Playboy is having financial problems?!

It's even hard out there for a pimp...

There are comic's comics, like Bill Hicks, Rick Overton and George Carlin. Then there are comics that other comics hate. Like Carrot Top and Carlos Mencia.

See here for the backstory on why comics don't dig the Mencia.

Cracked Magazine ran a piece titled, "Carlos Mencia's Twitter: 25 Posts Too Unfunny to be Stolen". We thought it was pretty clever satire before we realized it's actually from Mencia's Twitter feed.

Eep.

Previously on FBLA: The Trouble with Twitter - In Cartoon Form

And in case you're wondering if we're getting tired of the Paste-based puns. We are not.

From AP:

A week after asking readers for donations to keep afloat, music magazine Paste has raised more than half the needed cash.

Editor-in-chief Josh Jackson said Thursday the suburban Atlanta-based monthly has raised $166,000 in donations. The magazine focusing on music, film and culture is struggling after a sharp decline in advertising revenue.

Previously on FBLA: Paste Asks for Donations to Keep It Together

Dylan Brody is a story teller and humorist with a rabid well-deserved cult following. He did an interview with Buzzine's Jeanmarie Simpson...hilarious.

JS: Okay, but first I need to indulge in a bit of fan-dorkishness of my own. I'm crazy about your work. Your voice is delightfully, shockingly unique.

DB: Oh, Good! Thank you. I like having fans, and I like shocking them with my uniqueness. Uniquitude. Unique-osity. One of the things that keeps happening lately, as I get some press and some notice, is that people tell me how unique my voice is, and then, with no sense of irony at all, as if they are proving the point, they tell me who I remind them of. So far, I haven't been insulted by any of the comparisons - Garrison Keillor, David Sedaris, people like that.

Read the whole interview here.

After nine years at the helm, Kit Rachlis is quitting Los Angeles magazine. Executive editor Mary Melton will take his place. Folio reports that Rachlis leaving had nothing to do with the June cover story of LA Mag that declares mayor Antonio Villaraigosa a failure. LA Observed has the press release from Emmis Communications, parent company of the magazine:

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., May 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Kit Rachlis, editor-in-chief of Los Angeles magazine since June 2000, has decided to step down. Mary Melton, executive editor of the magazine, has been promoted to editor.

"Kit has done a remarkable job elevating Los Angeles magazine to must-read status. We are deeply grateful to him for sharing his vast talent with Emmis and with the loyal readers of Los Angeles magazine," said Deborah Paul, Emmis Publishing Executive Vice President/Editorial Director. "The appointment of Mary Melton as editor ensures that Los Angeles magazine's tradition of high-level magazine journalism will endure. We look forward to the intelligence and spirit she will bring to every page."

During Rachlis' tenure, the magazine was nominated for a National Magazine Award seven times and received more city and regional magazine awards than any other publication.

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