Border Patrol

A parody Web site developed by Toronto-based This Magazine encouraging disgruntled Democrats to move to Canada is being taken more seriously than its developers intended.

Marry an American encourages young Canucks to tie the knot with their southern neighbors in order to help them escape the Bush regime. Visitors to the site -- initially mostly Canadians before the actual election -- are encouraged to take a pledge, view profiles, and get hooked up. There's even a charming "Aboot" section.

Once the election was completed and Bush was reinstalled for four more years, more Americans began to swarm the site. One commented that they got the joke -- but wished it was real.

Making Book

Sports Illustrated is a consistently high-quality read, and I'm not even a real sports fan. And even though I'm sure its recently issued anniversary book is a worthy read, I am thrilled silly -- silly! -- about a different book scheduled for a May 2005 release.

Bill Scheft's The Best of the Show: A Classic Collection of Wit and Wisdom will collect 100 of his best columns from Sports Illustrated, indicating why the former David Letterman writer is one of the funniest people in sports -- and publishing. I can't wait. He's a major reason to read SI, and his book may be even better.

By Redesign

Starting with the January issue, Technology Review, "MIT's magazine of innovation," will undergo some major changes. Now that Jason Pontin sits at the top of the masthead, Tech Review's staff will reorganize the editorial content, introduce some bigger-name writers, and redesign the mag's look and feel. Some of the changes are already afoot. Long-running columnist Michael Schrage is out the door, as is Joe Chung. Gladly, Simson Garfinkel seems to be staying around. Looking forward to the next issue! I just renewed.

In related news: A hearty Boo! Hiss! Pfftlb! to Tech Review for their shoddily done Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation. "Printed" on page 10 of the December issue, it appears to be a bad scan -- the text is basically illegible, as are most of the important numbers. I can barely read the thing. Near as I can tell, the average press run pushes past 360,000 and the book sells maybe 49,000 on the newsstand. Come on, Tech Review, you can do better than this.

Regional Advantage

Oh, why didn't Time Out Chicago launch while I lived in that fine city? It's sure to give the Chicago Reader and New City a run for their money.

[Thanks, Noah!]

Launch Pad II

Doc Searls reports that the publisher of Linux Journal is preparing to publish a new magazine aimed at newcomers to Linux: TUX. Get it? Tux? Penguin suit? Oh, Tux is the name of the Linux penguin logo. Still, harf! Expect a starting circ of 60,000.

Breaking Guitar's Neck

Livejournalist Radpantz says that Guitar World magazine shouldn't publish features about people who can't play the guitar. Seems fair.

Growth Sport

Is XXL magazine the fastest-growing magazine in America? Get thee to a newsstand and see what all the fuss is about.

Life, Back from the Dead

While I'm still not sure whether the new version of Life magazine -- or its new distribution method -- will have a positive impact on publishing, it is interesting to gauge how far formerly hot titles can fall. Though the magazine's storied history and attention to photography are impressive, I can't but wonder what happened.

Luckily, people have captured some of Life's past life. Life in 1962 offers text, images, ads from -- and commentary on -- a single issue. The Smithsonian Institution Press has even published a book about the magazine.

CIO-verfilled Niche?

TechTarget is launching a new magazine targeting CIOs next spring. CIO Decisions, with a controlled circulation of 60,000, will contend with CIO and CIO Insight. The sneaky Petes even registered the domain name cioinsights.com. How many magazines does a chief information officer need?

Quiz Nous

What magazine are you?

What magazine am I? I am Popular Science: The only thing more exciting then the present is the future. I am always the first to hear about whats going on in the realms of human achievement. What magazine am I?

Quotes of Note

"Lots of work goes into Cosmo Girl. Hundreds of talented and bright people put their efforts into getting just the right model and just the right tone of teenage girl happiness. Sure it may not be on the same level as people working in toxic fume filled mines, but they're at least doing something." -- Suburb Squirrel

Nervy, Pervy XXVIII

How embarrassing. You're writing an article about men who like to wear diapers, and you out one of your sources. LiveJournalist ActiveSilence used to write about pornography while he was in college, and a recent blog entry indicates that it's always a good idea to verify first names as well as last when cold-calling a potential interviewee.