June 2003 issue comments

[Peggy Wilkins]

Continuing with more comments about the June issue.

First a brief note about what I said yesterday.  On rereading it, I
see references to things like amount of white space, layouts, blocky
and clunky appearance, fonts -- all issues relating to appearance.  I
thought I should deliberately point out an assumption I hold in making
such comments, so it is clear why I am making them.  These may seem
like trivial details; however, I think that layout on pages has a
strong impact on the reading experience, and on how viewers perceive
the magazine.  This is especially true after PLAYBOY has retained the
same look and feel for so many years, and so departures can really
stand out.  But even those who have never seen the magazine before
will go away with a sense of what it's about from its appearance.  I
would like the PLAYBOY viewing experience to give an appropriate sense
of elegance and sophistication.  It should leave a positive
impression.  I know this is hard to define -- all I can say is I know
it when I see it, and I know when I think it can be fine tuned --
which I both hope and think it can.  I hope to see further refinement
in the appearance of PLAYBOY's page layout as time goes on.  In my
view it is definitely worth spending time and effort on.

More about Reviews:

Richard Roeper on sequels: another big name movie reviewer; if he
comes back (and he should), this is yet another reason to expand the
number of pages given to reviews.

Games: this is a fine addition to the magazine.  Computer gaming is
nowadays a significant part of the entertainment world.  The games
reviewed in June range from the very popular (Matrix is new and
popular; the new Castle Wolfenstein installment) to some I've never
heard of.  Dean tells me to expect a lot of furor over the upcoming
Half Life and Doom sequels; so I hope PLAYBOY will be able to feature
them as soon as information is available.  These games are much
awaited.

What happened to the previous Wired section, and Living Online?
Perhaps Wired would have been redundant this month with the "Major
Turn-Ons" feature which is devoted to the latest electronic hardware.
I really miss Living Online; if it doesn't continue in its past
format, it would be nice to see something devoted to the online
experience that so many of us live with on a daily basis.

I like the changeover of the Video section to DVD, especially the
specific addition of "DVD extras" to the comments.  I like the mix of
newer and classic titles featured.  And I like the history lesson
(film noir) -- as a classic film fan myself, I appreciate the effort
spent on providing meaningful film history and context to a new
generation.

Mantrack: I don't have much to say about it.  I've never quite
understood this feature; and I understand the subtitle ("hey...it's
personal") even less.

Forum: PLAYBOY has quite a history of discussing sex and religion in
both the Philosophy and the Forum.  June's summary of sexual belief
and practice in the major religions was well worth a mention in the
May "Next Month" feature; and it was certainly worth the wait.  This
is an interesting two pages that can potentially give one pause to
think about the arbitrary nature of belief -- perhaps something of a
religious topic in itself.  For me this was one of the key features in
this issue -- definitely one of the "must reads" that PLAYBOY has been
aiming for.  It's both inherently interesting and thought provoking.
I wonder how many other people were as interested as I was.

Dan and I briefly discussed the change of paper in the Forum on the
PML recently.  I never quite understood why the "cardboardish" paper
has been used for so many years; while Dan pointed out its use in art,
and in particular in PLAYBOY since the '60s in cut-outs, die-cut
pages, etc.  I will agree with Dan that those more artistic uses had a
certain impact, but I still much prefer the glossy paper, especially
as glossy paper lends itself to sharper image reproduction -- the
cardboardish paper often results in relatively fuzzy images.  So I am
happy for this change, and want to see it in Playmate News, too.

More tomorrow.

Peggy Wilkins
mozart@lib.uchicago.edu