Another Man #30
How do you read magazines? Through neccesity I’ve learned to skim them, picking up visual cues and quickly deciphering their content and angle. To some degree this is how we’re supposed to experience them, as another channel of information demanding attention: flick, decode, remember to return later for a proper read.
But in these lockdown days, I have more time to read and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. So I’m going to share some of my finds here.
My latest discovery is the new issue of Another Man, a typically hefty 300+ pages of biannual fashion and ‘high art pop culture.’ Guest edited by Jo-Ann Furniss, the issue retreads her personal favourite subjects. That this means Peter Saville (in happy mode), Paul Morley (reflecting on being a critic), Richard Hamilton (discussed by Saville) and Bryan Ferry (looking back) is just fine. These are not new discoveries, nor new takes on old stories. But great to pick up on shared favourites. Reassuring, even.
One new thing highlight is an excerpt (above) from ‘The Extreme Self,’ a new book by Douglas Coupland, Hans Ulrich Obrist and Shumon Basar, about what’s happened to the world since 2016 and the Trump/Brexit rise of the extreme. A graphic novel rendered, it seems, using Powerpoint or some similarly restricted software, it’s mapping the same space that Adam Curtis has been exploring in his documentaries over recent years. It must have seemed totally current when the magazine went to print, but thanks to Coronavirus now seems from another age.