It’s all in the STRUT
The Batchoun brothers unleash their stylish Brit-influenced fashion mag to Canadian audiences
The intoxicating smell of Skyy Vodka and Redken hairspray spiced the air. At Toronto’s eau restaurant this past October, a crowd of four hundred polished and preened advertising types and a small number of media representatives were introduced to Strut a unisex fashion magazine base in Montreal. They sipped alcoholic drinks and watched a hair […]
The Death of Canada’s Oldest Newspaper
Torstar shuts down the Cambridge Reporter after 157 years in print
Reporters, editors and staff members arrived for a Monday morning meeting at the Ainslie Street office in downtown Cambridge with little idea of what was to ensue. Few were aware that by the end of the week their jobs would be terminated and the doors to the country’s oldest newspaper would be closed for good. […]
Dear Blog…
From jaded teens to aging bachelors, online diaries give us a glimpse into the average life
She is 20 years old. She was born on September 11. She hates Toronto girls for being so skinny. She hopes her father will kill himself. She feels like a loser and a poseur for discovering cool bands through eye Weekly, not through the so-called “scene” she desperately longs to be part of. She is […]
So Long, Elm Street
Stevie Cameron talks about Elm Street's demise
Elm Street founding editor Stevie Cameron snaps, “Oh, for Christ’s sake! That’s the kind of jealous sniping I don’t accept. What’s the matter with food and fashion? Vanity Fair has fashion!” Cameron is reacting to post-mortem comments on the reasons for Elm Street’s demise in January 2004. She’s not buying the prevalent suspicion that the […]
Too good to be Stu
Prankster columnist Jesse Brown fabricates an anti-lad magazine about the average Joe
Embarrassment and amusement. That’s the official reaction from Doug Bennet, the publisher of Masthead magazine, after his publication was taken in by an elaborate ruse perpetrated by known prankster and Saturday Night columnist Jesse Brown. Brown decided to fabricate an anti-lad magazine called Stu because he was tired of getting beaten over the head with […]
Copywrong
Does the publisher or author hold the right to secondary publication?
Heather Robertson, Mary Soderstrom and Jim Carroll all tell similar stories. In the early 1990s, they searched online databases and were shocked when they found their own articles. No one had asked their permission or given them extra money to put their work in a database. They felt cheated. The publishers were making a profit […]
Wartoons
Cartoonist David Rees declares cartoons on war
It is less than a month after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and the United States government has just begun bombing Afghanistan. It’s the middle of the night in an apartment in Brooklyn and David Rees, a freelance magazine fact-checker and occasional cartoonist is trying to make sense of everything that has being […]
Smitten with S.M.U.T.
Whether you define it as porn or erotica, S.M.U.T. penetrates its way through the orgy of competing adult-only publications
Jen Bowers, the editor and creator of S.M.U.T. magazine, emerges from the dark and smoky Zen Lounge on Queen West in downtown Toronto, where the publication is having its launch party. The 29-year-old greets me with a handshake in the lobby and upon finding out that I am part of the “media,’ passes me a […]
Feminist mags in trouble in Canada
The women behind Canadian feminist magazines are dedicated and certainly have the know-how but poor readership and advertising woes makes their jobs that much harder
Canadian women don’t have to look too far for beauty tips these days. Stores are filled with racks full of glossy women’s magazines boasting fall’s hottest eye shadow techniques or ten easy steps to achieving sexier arms. But we seem to be falling short when it comes to reaching women on a deeper level. Women […]
And the Winner is…
For all the prestige and glory associated with winning a national journalism award, is it truly a celebration of journalism at its finest?
I have never won a national journalism award. Which is okay, because I’m not a real journalist. But when I become a real journalist, it still won’t matter. Sure I’ll apply for the awards, but I’ll say it’s an honour just to be nominated. And if I win, I’ll frame my award and display it […]
