 diamond geezer
Monday, February 10, 2003
The Word
Today I had the pleasure of a train journey from London to Cambridge, commuting against the flow in half-empty carriages. I knew that my newspaper would only sustain my brain as far as Hitchin, so I had to buy myself a magazine in order to survive the complete round trip intact. Usually I'll stand in a newsagents and stare at the assorted glossies for ages without ever seeing a single copy of anything I actually want to buy. It's been like that ever since the demise of Record Mirror back in 1990, may God rest its pop soul. However today, on a Swish recommendation, I decided to buy the launch issue of Word magazine. Excellent choice.
At last, a magazine that's actually worth reading. Word is the nearest thing I've ever seen to reading blogs in print, an intelligent selection of opinions, previews, reviews and recommendations. Mark Ellen is the editor behind the project, so there's a definite Q-music angle, but there's much more than that in the way of books, entertainment, interviews, films and gadgets. I shall certainly be back down the newsagents for issue two.
Top reads in this next month's Word:
• deep meaningful interviews with Neil Tennant/John Peel/Nick Cave.
• how old famous people are, one for each age from 11 to 100.
• Laura Cantrell's US Thrift Shop radio show.
• the history of the Found project.
• how the online CDDB database and mobile service Shazam recognise music.
• new headphones to die for.
• how long it took Andrew Collins to write 12 episodes of EastEnders.
• the credibility of the Top 40 chart.
• top advice from successful publisher Felix Dennis ("Only fools lend books" apparently).
• Kim Wilde, Five Star and the Human League on an 80s revival tour.
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