Editor’s Letter

We have now been printing for six years. Man, are we old. Up until recently we were still talking about how long the magazine had been around for in months. It was only last year we stopped having week-a-versaries.
We’ve come a long way from a magazine that you wouldn’t take home even after 12 beers. True story, I used to interview trance and techno DJs for those early issues. Trance DJs like Tiesto for fuck’s sake. Don’t mistake me writing about trance DJs as something that people just did six years ago. It was as lame back then as it is now. I wasn’t editor at the time so I’d like to say, “It’s not my fault I was just following orders.” But we all know who used that as a defense.

If you’re lucky enough to have one of those issues kicking around, you could probably blackmail us with it. But hold off doing that for a second. Place the issue in your hands now (sorry online readers) next to one of the issues with the trance DJ interviews (there were a few). Gently touch them. Wow, wasn’t that awesome what just happened? For those of you that don’t have an old issue, an implosion took place that resembled what happened when Ron Silver got pushed into his past self in the Jean-Claude Van Damme masterpiece Timecop. That’s what happens when matter and anti-matter collide. Or, if you will, when shitty and awesome collide. This cosmic reaction highlights our ongoing commitment to constantly improving and reinventing this magazine to remain relevant. It’s what keeps us afloat, that and the magical angel feather that Jesus gave to our publisher.

A lot of magazines these days are clinging to their old ways and holding on for dear life despite being decimated by the internet and the economy (“We’ve been in business for a long time. No need to change.”) Or trying to reinvent themselves in a half-assed way (“A new font, a Facebook group and a Twitter account will save the day!”) The reality is most of these magazines will go out of business. They serve no purpose other than being “kind of like this other magazine, only not as good.”

This isn’t just limited to magazines though. There are a lot of businesses still kicking around that probably shouldn’t. Example: Porno Video Stores. Who in their right mind wants to go out for pornography these days? Have these people not heard of the internet? All the most disgusting and depraved porn you want, instantaneously. You don’t even need to get dressed.

The Yellow Pages (or whatever the hell it’s called now). Pizza and Restaurant are separate categories. What section do I flip to if I want to order pizza from a restaurant? I usually end up getting so frustrated with this dilemma that I just rip the Yellow Pages in half in a fit of rage. Then I look online and realize I could have found the phone number, reviews and viral videos about the pizza restaurant infinitely faster.

Angel feather permitting, we won’t be going the way of Red Hot video stores, the Yellow Pages or the majority of other magazines out there. I’m sure the difference between this issue and the issue you’ll be looking at in another six years will be dramatic. Hopefully, though, the comparison won’t be as embarrassing… and we’ll finally be reviewing hoverboards. Thanks for reading.

Photography: Toby Marie Bannister http://www.tobymarie.com/