'Twas the early 90s, and Raygun magazine's notorious "fuck if you can read this" art director David Carson famously declared "The End of Print". And we laughed ruefully, shook our heads with pity as we tried to decipher just who exactly "S o.uL AsyLUM" was, and returned to our copy of Spin to read about the Breeders' new LP.

Then a new decade rolled around, and, again, it was the end of print. Pundits decried the internet's unfettered reach, and media titans mourned their dwindling newspaper circulation numbers. And we laughed ruefully, then, with some chagrin, filled out fictitious zip codes and birthdates and registered to read the Post online. But, o, how we missed the large pictures of Lindsay Lohan dancing atop tables at seedy bars!

And then we were saved by the media pioneers of the southern hemisphere — Australia, to be precise, and the launch of Is Not Magazine in Melbourne. The future of print, it seems, draws from the past, and wheat paste is back with a vengeance:

Is Not Magazine is a magazine in the form of a 1.5m x 2m bill poster. From April 9, 2005, it has been on display at 50 outdoor poster sites in inner-city Melbourne, and will soon appear at a caf
, bar, bookstore or laundromat near you. It
s a design challenge and a reading experiment; a paper saving device; a bastion of editorial complexity and a grey area for the discerning communal reader. It enriches public space and brings reading to life. Approach it from any angle; bend down curiously; lean in for a closer look; embark on a treasure hunt to find a story that ends in another location.

Or, to put it bluntly, when it comes to magazine launches, art-school legend Shep Fairey is sooo much more influential to the kids these days than that Maer Roshan fellow.

And we laughed ruefully.

Is Not Magazine [online]

Is or Isn
t Magazine [Gridskipper]