In celebration of their 154th anniversary, our friends at The Atlantic shared a photo of their first cover, from November 1857. The difference between that image and the very different design the magazine is rocking these days sparked our curiosity about what some of today’s best-loved and most widely read publications looked like in their infancy. After the jump, we’ve rounded up debut covers of everything from The New Yorker to Vogue to Spin. We have to admit, some of them really surprised us: Who knew People started off so classy? Or that Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz’s baby was TV Guide‘s first cover model? Journey with us through media and design history after the jump.
The ’00s were an unusually dark decade, at least if New Yorker cartoons are any indication. At the magazine’s website, cartoon editor Robert Mankoff tracks the number of murders depicted in them by decade, beginning in the 1930s — and finds that the first ten years of the 21st century featured more homicides than every other era besides the ’40s (which makes some sense, considering that’s when the US was involved in World War II). Cartoon characters were safest from violent crime in the ’70s and ’80s, when the magazine’s comics included two and zero murders, respectively. See the data graphed after the jump, then visit Mankoff’s New Yorker blog to read his entertaining analysis of the fluctuation from decade to decade.
Today at Flavorpill, we were impressed by Jay-Z’s cameraphone video of Beyonce’s rehearsal last night (that voice!), but wished that he would have rotated his freaking phone. We found it almost impossible to tell the difference between the Terrence Malick cutaways and the nature documentary footage in Brow Beat’s clever quiz. We wondered how long it will take before this painter breaks his hunger strike against The New Yorker. We were excited to hear that Comedy Central will be streaming comedy live from Bonnaroo — now we don’t have to camp! We imagined a world where boring cereals had mascots too. We couldn’t bring ourselves to stream Eddie Vedder’s ukulele album. We revisited some of the most scarring moments from Little House on The Prairie. And finally, we enjoyed Vulture’s analysis of movie superheroes’ suits in regards to the amount of groin protection that they offer. (Poor Andrew Garland!)
Earlier this week, Vol. 1 Brooklyn ran a post about the telling nature of literary tote bags which we couldn’t help but love over here at Flavorpill. And, since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, we decided to do a spin-off for today. Are you ready for a brief follow-up quiz, readers? We certainly hope so.
1. iSteve: The Book of Jobs, the first official biography of Steve Jobs, will be making its debut sometime in early 2012; it will be written by Walter Isaacson, who is the managing editor of Time, and published by Simon & Schuster. [via CNN]
2. How to make friends: In an attempt to increase engagement on its Facebook page, The New Yorker is putting an article by Jonathan Franzen about mourning the loss of his author friend David Foster Wallace behind a “Like” wall as opposed to on the magazine’s website. [via Mashable]
3. Michael Shannon will play General Zod, a villain who faces off against Superman in Zack Snyder’s upcoming reboot. According to the director: “Zod is one of Superman’s most significant enemies because he has insights into Superman that others don’t. Michael can project both the intelligence and the malice of the character.” [via Vulture]
4. Yoko Ono has given her permission for the first collection of John Lennon’s correspondence to be printed in October 2012. The book will be edited by Hunter Davies, the official Beatles biographer; anyone who has a Lennon letter to share may contact him at johnlennonletters@hotmail.co.uk. [via The Guardian]
5. According to a report in The Sun (so take it with a grain of salt), Mick Jagger and David Bowie are set to start work on a comedic film about a pair of rock managers in the 1960s that they’ve been writing for the last 15 years. If this proves true, they better being planning to cameo. [via Such Small Portions]
Culture is an ever-evolving beast, it’s true. We may not be completely sure where it’s going, but we do know where it’s been, and how better to track our progress than by looking at the changes in the most popular (and enduring) lifestyle and culture magazines in American culture? We’ve already taken a look at redesigned book covers, but magazines are a more immediate reflection of our selves – like advertisements, they’re a reflection of a cultural ideal. Plus, well, they’re fun to look at. Click through to see the vintage covers and contemporary redesigns of your favorite American rags, and let us know if you think we’re changing for the better or worse.
Welcome to Conversation Pieces, where Flavorpill curates five articles from the past week that you should read. Some are long, others are short. Some are from major publications, others aren’t. The only thing all these articles have in common is that they’re interesting. This week we examine cures for writer’s block, what being a Luddite originally meant, robots that think they’re human, the virtues of solitude, and more. After the jump, find something exciting to discuss this weekend in the home, at the bar, or on the street.
On the heels of a 30 Rock episode that took on everything from Jezebel to Sarah Silverman in a brilliant (and hilarious) send-up of the eternal “women in comedy” controversies, Tina Fey has a wonderful new essay in The New Yorker about her time at Saturday Night Live. In addition to a laugh-out-loud funny section enumerating what she learned from Lorne Michaels (“Producing is about discouraging creativity”), Fey enlightens us to the real difference between male and female comedy writers. Learn the disgusting truth in an excerpt after the jump, and then make sure you click over to The New Yorkerto read the whole, well-worth-the-pay-wall piece.
Guess what, bookworms? There’s a new David Foster Wallace short story in The New Yorker this week! But don’t worry about leaving the comfort of your home or workplace to grab a copy ASAP, because the magazine has generously posted the full text of “Backbone” online, paywall-free — although we’re sure completists will want to shell out for a hard copy, too. The story is about (nominally, at least) a six-year-old boy whose “goal was to be able to press his lips to every square inch of his own body.” Hey, sure. Sounds like DFW to us. This should tide us over until Wallace’s final, unfinished novel The Pale King comes out April 15th. [via Jacket Copy]
