editors\' picks :: MinOnline

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editors' picks
Jeremy Greenfield & Courtney Barnes

Favorite Newsweekly

The Week

Like every parent, we dread the day when our kids will ask us, “Mommy, Daddy, where does news come from?” Okay, so we’re not parents…yet. But when that day comes, we won’t have to say a word—we’ll just hand them a copy of The Week, one of the two Dennis publications that Felix Dennis retained ownership of this year after selling the rest of Dennis Publishing to Alpha Media Group.

If you don’t have time to keep up with the daily papers, the news magazines, or the deafening white noise of the blogosphere, pick up a copy of The Week; we think you’ll thank us. We know Felix Dennis agrees:

“In my professional life to date, I have launched, acquired, closed and sold more than 150 magazines. I believe that The Week will be my enduring legacy to the world of periodical publishing. I have never known a magazine with the addictive and proselytizing powers exhibited among readers that The Week exhibits on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis. To me, it appears to be a unstoppable force.”

Favorite B2B Magazine

The Deal

One magazine that jumps off the stands in our minds is one you can't find on the stands at all. The Deal, published by Bruce Wasserstein's The Deal LLC, is our favorite B2B magazine, and a must-read for anyone even remotely curious about M&A. It explores the personalities, the big money, the high stakes, and the intrigue in the deal world, and all at a level of editorial and production quality that matches or exceeds anything in the consumer B2B world. At $265/year for 38 issues, The Deal is worth every penny.

Favorite Event

The New Yorker Festival

Bringing a magazine to life in the form of an event is hard enough when the magazine’s topic is something focused, like fashion or sports. But what if the only overarching themes a magazine has to work with are intellectual curiosity and Eustice Tilly? Despite the limitations, The New Yorker puts on our favorite event of the year with its annual festival. Features from this past year include editor David Remnick’s interview of foreign policy journalism stud Seymor Hirsch, articles editor Susan Morrison’s interview of an at-the-time-mustachioed comedian/actor Steve Martin, a performance by ethereal Icelandic rockers Sigur Ros, and an outdoor demonstration by David Belle, the inventor of parkour (if you haven’t already, check it out on YouTube). Fine, so we’re intellectual dorks. Now that we have a place to gather (if only for one weekend a year), we happily accept your condemnation.

Favorite Ad Campaign

Disney

As magazine-ophiles, it’s as easy to be seduced by advertising campaigns as by the editorial content they bookend. This is especially true for Disney’s 2007 print campaign, which dressed up celebrities to resemble prominent characters in its animated movies and placed them in fairytale settings. Where else could you see soccer star David Beckham raising a sword to rescue Sleeping Beauty atop a rearing stallion, or pop princess Beyonce looking a wee bit nauseous as Alice in a spinning tea cup? Other than your own private fantasies, that is. Thank Annie Liebovitz and ad agency mcgarrybowen for these inspired pieces.

Favorite magazine trend

The Celebrity-ization of Editors

Gone are the days of the Algonquin Round Table. Magazine editors have broken free from the confines of minor celebrity status among select literati and joined the big leagues of Hollywood glitterati, having partnered with television producers to host (or at least participate in) primetime television shows. From Atoosa Rubenstein’s foray into reality TV with MTV’s Miss Seventeen to Food & Wine Special Projects Coordinator Gail Simmons’ role as judge on Bravo’s Top Chef, magazine editors are the newest installment in reality television, and they’re not showing any signs of stopping. Among the other silver-screen stars: Elle magazine fashion director Nina Garcia is a judge on Bravo’s Project Runway, Elle DÉCOR EIC is a judge for Bravo’s “Top Design” and former Jane EIC Brandon Holley was a guest judge on America’s Next Top Model. Even David Granger, Esquire editor-in-chief and connoisseur of all things civilized, acknowledged meeting with a TV production company about a prospective venture.

Favorite Brand Extension

Glamour Reel Moments

Clever brand extension concepts are popping up left and right, but few have fused star power with real readers’ stories like Glamour’s Reel Moments. To connect with readers in an intimate and creative way, editors developed the film series, now in its second year, by asking for inspirational moments that encapsulate real women’s struggles and successes. The winning entrants have their stories transformed into silver screen mini-movies, which are acted in and directed by Hollywood superstars. Current alumni include Dakota Fanning, Rosario Dawson, Kirstin Dunst and Kate Hudson.

This year’s films were shown at a Red Carpet event on October 9 in L.A., and the proceeds benefited FilmAid International, an organization that uses film to enrich the lives of women around the world. Good movies + good causes = good times all around.

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