fueled by two slices of pumpkin sourdough toast and a cup of milky tea, i am in the throes of… throwing out magazines. again. long-time readers may recall an episode — more of a mini series really — almost a year ago, when gripped by the fervour of impending baby, i shifted a pile of old magazines as tall as myself (ok, so that’s not so tall) out of my wardrobe and into the recycling bin. at the time, i was like, what am i doing?? there’s history here!!” but of course, aside from the odd early twinge of loss of my complete collection of “juice” magazines, i haven’t longed for a single issue.
today i find myself much less traumatised as i attack a stack of “details” from the mid-to-late nineties. this was my favourite magazine from the era, and thus survived the previous cull. as i flip through them before casting them on the recycling bin pile, i am taken aback by how much i absorbed at the time. no, not just the chris heath celebrity stories or the articles addressing issues pertinent to brash young men (despite so not being a brash young man); looking at the pages now, it appears that every single design element (especially picture boxes with rounded corners sitting on coloured slabs) and typographic trick (testosteronic sans serif type forced into a slant, maybe even set on an angle!) in “details” filtered through my impressionable young brain and ended up on the pages of the magazines i was designing at the time.
i remember a reader’s letter from 1995 or 1996, saying that i should stop copying “spin” magazine, but clearly they were mistaken. i should have stopped aping “details”. in my defense, i would like to think that i inherited the practice from my predecessor… but now that both my collections of “details” and “juice” are n’more, who can really tell? well, ben. ben could probably tell.
anyway. there is no point to this story. i just wanted to remind myself that i threw out all my “details” magazines today. and found appreciative new homes for half my “new yorkers”. it’s all a lead-up to when i tell you that i’m gonna be offline for a little while: first to go overseas, and then to move house.
be seein’ ya.
8 Comments
have fun overseas! i hope to see a lotsa foodie pics.
are moving to be the ice cream mogul already?
Oh have a nice trip overseas 🙂
Hey, I snapped up a bunch of mid-90s Details when they were being thrown out at my last workplace! Myself, I miss The Face.
saffron and pinkcocoa: thank you for the good wishes. ice cream moguldom is still on the horizon, however i hope there will be lots of ice cream (or shaved ice desserts) in singapre, where i’m headed.
ben! argh. i wish you hadn’t told me that. now i feel like these are worthy enough to keep… but i shan’t. (have you still got those “details” you scavenged, or did you throw them out after reminiscing?) i have kept five. three of them have ethan hawke on the cover, from 1994, 1998 and 2003. a good timeline of design evolution and grunge-era posterboy.
i have saved you a “new yorker” — a technology “special colletor’s issue”, with a chris ware cover, if you want it.
i have a handful of details issues i still cling to, one of them from 1988 that still (sadly) serves as a style guide for me. i think it’s because the girl on the cover looked like me then, and because i spent a lot of time in nyc that year. who knows.
have a lovely trip! auf wiedersehen, until we meet again….
i remember the last time you complained about discarding magazines…
since then, i think i’ve acquired at least ten meters of magazines i’ve yet to read and discard. =/
my office truly is a nightmare.
and i’m not even counting the ones at home… >_< so what Do you subscribe to? i'm tempted to subscribe to something like saveur, but then i realize, there's so many food sites online already... not really looking for recipes or techniques, but new ingredients and fusion ideas...
love yr words and “detailed” approach to simple issues
dont get so long, we miss you!
enjoy your trip! i’m back, bowb. new url.