Back in Dubai trying to finish a piece on Kuwait for HK magazine, a piece on Beirut and Dubai for the South China Morning Post and booking tickets to Nepal to do a piece for Esquire Middle East. Will be there over the New Year which should be interesting. Also finished four books in the past four days including a re-read of Hunter S. Thompson’s Rum Diary, definitely one of his best – written before his mind got addled with all manner of substances.
Posts Tagged ‘Esquire’
Writing, writing, writing
In Books, Magazines on December 23, 2009 at 5:45 pmEsquire Middle East launches
In Magazines on November 7, 2009 at 5:27 pm
ITP has launched the Middle East version of Esquire and made a pretty good go at it for its first issue. Its got the license from the US, not the UK, so it mimics the US style in graphics and takes a fair bit of their content, but there are some original features and front of book pieces. My only problem with the two main original features is that one was a phone interview and the second (about Uday Hussein’s body double) is just a variety of passages from the guys books. Otherwise, it looks and feels right and might sound the death knell for IQ and 4Men unless both get their act together and fast.
Esquire Dubai
In Magazines on August 20, 2009 at 2:34 pmSo Esquire is launching a Middle East edition, or at least an English edition with some localised content. ITP have won the license and it is hard not to be pessimistic about this launch. Apart from a (presumably) cheaper cover price, is there that much local content of interest to expats here? The two main men’s magazines (IQ and 4 Men) are both well below average and IQ has gone monthly (after launching as a weekly). Unless they get a great team in place, it is hard to see why readers would pick the localised version over the UK version, which is consistently excellent, far better than the US version in my opinion. With a launch date set for later in the year, watch this space.
It’s News To Me
In Books, Magazines, Uncategorized on April 25, 2009 at 6:17 pmRead Ed Kosner’s autobiography today – another good thing about Kinokuniya is that it actually sells media books – and although useful for those thinking about a career as editors, it was pretty dull for at least a third of it. The book, replete with cheesy cover, chronicles Kosner’s stewardship of Newsweek, New York magazine, Esquire and the Daily News. It was quite a career, just a shame the book does not live up to the CV.
Bicurious magazines
In Uncategorized on October 14, 2008 at 6:00 pmMagforum reports that Cosmo are going to carry a section for men in its November issue. Not really sure what the point of this move it – presumably its to attract advertisers. But men read Cosmo as it is, they do not need a sub-Esquire insert to make it more palatable. NatMags tried this 30 years ago – it didn’t work then, and editorially at least, its hard to see it working now.
Speaking of men’s mags, I saw a magazine called Fantastic Man in Borders the other day. My first thought was that it was a local magazine – never a good sign – but turns out it is published in Europe. Not quite sure how I feel about it yet. Front page does nothing for me although the finish is beautiful – similar to TMF’s Thai Airway’s inflight, Sawasdee.
It tries to be high-end without appearing to try to be high-end, but fails miserably. Interview with Tyler Brule was a missed opportunity with the writer’s first person observations extremely irritating. While some of the design works – nice FOB piece on the Biro – a lot of it doesn’t and the weird use of upper case for names and brands gets annoying.
Maybe it will grow on me, but so far, it’s anything but fantastic.
