spiralicious | Men's Magazines

In honor of the testosterone festival that just visited us this past weekend, and the fact that i have access to many dead magazines at work i have decided to do an overview of four "men's" magazines:

Magazine: CO-ED

Issue: spring 2007

Summary: It’s divided up like a 17 magazine: notes, entertainment, schools, sports, fashion, and survival guide. The schools sectioned does include a category of “girls of…” for each school but its kind of sad and pathetic, as is their centerfold poster. They also have stories on more serious issues such as STDs and Pregnancy in college.

Compare with: It’s like 17 for men. Although it could also be somewhat comparable to Jane.

Ad factor: Surprisingly few

Scantily clad women factor: pathetic

Katrina’s notes: It’s not as stupid as you would think. I doubt I’ll ever get one again but it had some interesting info. The over all layout was kind of like a website with too much information in one spot with pictures. The entertainment section has very thorough reviews as does the schools section. I liked that New Orleans was one of the only three destinations featured in their spring break guide. I was a little shocked to see the more serious articles and sub-sections like the career path. In the health section one article was titled “Beer Makes you Fat!” I almost fell out of my chair I was laughing so hard. No duh!

Magazine: Maxim

Issue: March 2007

Summary: Most of it is advice and answering questions with some interviews and fashion thrown in.

Compare with: Hairball called it “Cosmo for men”

Ad factor: Where was the magazine?

Scantily clad women factor: Hairball read the whole thing without filliping out, what do you think?

Katrina’s notes: Some of the information was halfway interesting then for no other reason then it answered some of the “that’s why guys do that” questions. Normally I am a bit critical of ad heavy magazines but I have to admit most of them were pretty entertaining; more so then are in most women’s magazines. Christina Aguilera is on the cover and my first thought was “Those shoes do not go with those panties at all.”

Magazine: Blender

Issue: March 2007

Summary: It’s a Music magazine with a fashion section.

Compare with: It’s Spin-esque, but it’s really a music magazine trying to be a Maxim/Cosmo type magazine.

Ad factor: not bad, there are quite a few but it’s not as bad as it could be.

Scantily clad women factor: very few but it really depends on the issue.

Katrina’s notes: arg! I really hate Blender and the only reason I grabbed it was that it has Anthony Kiedis in a Catholic school girl’s uniform on the cover. They are still having the Rock Star Wars, the ultimate tournament, to see who the best rock act ever is. They are down to the final four: Bob Dylan vs. Prince and Talking Heads vs. The Beatles.

Magazine: Sports Illustrated

Issue: Swimsuit 2007/The Music Issue/Winter 2007

Summary: Models in swimsuits in different themed shoots. This is the music issue so they are music themed shoots, mostly.

Compare with: There really is nothing to compare it too.

Ad factor: Each layout has its own sponsors so there really is no way to tell where the ads end and the magazine begins.

Scantily clad women factor: It’s the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition.

Katrina’s notes: The 3-D layout was kind of cool. I don’t really think Beyonce’s cover was up to par. Free downloads and the guitar-pick bikini.

Website of the day: http://www.wheresgeorge.com/