Back to the dark ages

I just got my new Out magazine today in the mail. I am always excited when I get another magazine. It's always like I I'm 10 years old waiting for my Boy's Life to come in the mail. Only now, it's Bear's Life and Out, and Vanity Fair, and The New Yorker, and so on. Today almost all of them came in the mail at once, so I was experiencing magazine overdose! What do I read first? I have to flip through Out, then race to read the comics in The New Yorker, then back to skim through the contents of Vanity Fair, then back to Out....

That's when it noticed it: New format on the cover. Was it like this last month? I don't think so. I would have noticed, for sure. The cover is dark this month. Out is in a crimson color, perhaps unintentional. "Out" appears above a charcoal grey backdrop and the emerging James Dorman wants something from all of us that he hasn't had in a very long time. I always love new formats. Except when LIFE magazine re-emerged with their large format version: Didn't like it.

I start flipping through the pages. Dark... dark...dark...HELIO!! Whoa! Dark... dark.... Advertising is getting dark. Perhaps it's because of the fall season, but I think it's more like a throw back to the dark and mysterious days of the late '70's. Night life. Moon light. Shadows. It's rather interesting to see. Apparently editorial input had a lot to do with this look. Are we moving back into the the dark ages?

Whoever is responsible for this look, I like it. But it's raining now. Raining for the second time in over three months here in Las Vegas. I can't believe it. I'm sitting here watching Capote, and I heard the faint sound of rain outside. So I opened the door and looked out. Cool rain. An event. Leave the door open and let the cool humidity come in. The refreshing smell of a long awaited rain. A long awaited refreshment.