• A book called We Love Magazines features 1,100 pop culture magazines. Horror. [PingMag]
  

About a month ago, Time Inc. announced their decision to cease publication of 'LIFE,' the once-iconic magazine that had been existing quietly in the form of a free weekly newspaper insert since 2004. According to the press materials, LIFE had served as an insert for 103 American newspapers. This weekend marks the last time that will ever happen.

Rocketboom present (Andrew Baron) and past (Amanda Congdon) were there, as were Kent Nichols and Doug Sarine, creators of Ask A Ninja. I also got fleeting glimpses of Cali Lewis from GeekBrief.TV and Alex Lindsay of Pixel Corps and This Week in Tech fame.
I say again. Where were the audio people?

Have you not picked up the latest issue of Sister 2 Sister magazine? We have, and we have read cover 2 cover! From a long exclusive trip with Michael Jackson, to bathroom time with Naomi Campbell, to ripping on Calvin Klein, there are a thousand and one reasons why this is one of the most awesome magazines at the newsstand. We will tell you twelve of those reasons.

This morning, some commenters had a great idea: Divorce magazine! Good news: it exists. You can purchase either a two-issue subscription for $13.95, or, if you're pretty sure the custody hearings and bitter rage are going to drag on a bit, you can commit to a four-issue union for $25.95. Still not sure whether it's a good idea? You might want to sample a few of Divorce's offerings online. For example, in an article about how cherishing "the gifts of your marriage" could help "heal your heart," Spiritual Divorce author Debbie Ford offers some very good advice.

After their unexpected blockbuster of six nominations in last year's National Magazine Awards, the little magazine that could, the Virginia Quarterly Review, must bravely chin-up to accept their return to their 2005 level of nominations: a mere two. (They're up against the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in their circ category! We can't wait to see that tension at the awards dinner!) At least they beat out that monster-piece rag of the baby-loving set, Cookie, who were nominated just once. If Cookie wins, we're holding the magazine folks of this town hostage, and none of us might survive.

Since we've long been fascinated with all things of the Slavic persuasion, we were thrilled when the premiere issue of Russia! magazine ("Since 882 A.D.") landed in the office. Especially since it refers to New York mag contributing editor Michael Idov as "Russia's answer to Dave Eggers"!

• Surly Maer Roshan only talks to Yusef Jackson. Yusef talks to Ron Burkle. It's called plausible deniability. You know, allegedly. [NYO]
  

Well, you've heard today from those who swear that each and every letter you read in a magazine has come directly from a reader (albeit one more than likely serving time on the orders of the state). Now, let's take a look at the other, more believable side. After the jump, voluminous evidence that certain publications—some of which you even read—play fast and loose with their letter section.

On Friday, we confronted the frightening possibility that Interview and other publications might make up some of its letters to the editor. We asked those of you with direct knowledge to provide your own stories. The results were more or less what we expected. While a few respondents vociferously denied the possibility that any letters were ever fabricated, the vast majority of you gave specific and credible evidence of missives spun from intern-laced cloth. We'll bring you the voices of the cynical later in the day. After the jump, words from the few fabulism deniers.

Sad news for fans of Nick Jr. Family Magazine's incisive Blue's Clues coverage—the mag will cease publication after this April's issue. The kiddie mag with circulation roughly equivalent to that of the New Yorker is kaput. After the jump, editor in chief Freddi Greenberg writes the kind of "I'm going back to blogging" email that David Remnick will never have to send.

This morning brought news of Cocktail Weekly, Bauer's attempt to provide a service book for a twenty-something female audience. Lost in the report was any word of another title Bauer's bringing out, which seems odd: They've got their eye on an underserved (albeit undersized) demographic who are an ideal receptive group for ads from the pharmaceutical, high-end audio, and luxury automobile industries. We've obtained a copy of the first issue's cover; click to enlarge. [Vaguely NSFW, if you're, like, a teacher or a priest or something.]

As you may recall, Time Inc. put a bunch of magazine titles on the auction block in September. Mostly it's outdoorsy and sporty-outdoorsy magazines, plus mags related to the care and feeding of human larvae. Yesterday was the deadline for presenting initial bids. Quite a few of the larger players have expressed little to no interest in the proceedings, leaving the field open to a motley crew of second-stringers and media mandarins heading up investment groups (such as bagmen formerly with Primedia or Wenner Media). This almost certainly means widespread firings at these publications, so expect a tidal wave of resumes to crest through Manhattan by year's end. Our admittedly low but nevertheless serious bid for SaltWater Sportsman has as yet elicited no response. Heard about who bid, for what, and for how much? Let us know.

We called for submissions to a gallery of the worst magazine covers from the past 40 years, and you responded like the champs you are. Yes yes, several people pointed out Demi Moore's nude-preggers shot from Vanity Fair, but that's already on the ASME's best-list (at #2 actually), so it's disqualified for our purposes. After the jump, in no particular order, find what you sent and what you said about the baddest covers of our age.

When the American Society of Magazine Editors select their annual "Top 40 Magazine Covers of the Last 40 Years," other folks reflexively respond with their own counterpoint collections of the worst covers. Matt Haber did the deed last year at the Observer, and Simon Dumenco does the same now for Ad Age. We think these are fine examples of the genre, but we (and you) can do better. Or at least, we (and you) can do more. Just a cursory look found this Esquire cover from April 2004 with Rachel Weisz as "Eve the Stripper (with Nipples Airbrushed to Invisibility)." But let's dig depper. We got 40 years to paw through, and surely we can get more interesting material than celebs in wacky outfits (or naked/pregnant). Send your submissions for the worst magazine covers of the past 40 years — any mag, from anywhere in the world — to tips@gawker.com, and we'll present a gallery of our very own.

Under what has to be our favorite headline since "Revealed! Seahorse Sluts," Kati Cornell reports that reputed crime figure "John "Junior" Gotti made a failed bid to turn himself into a publishing king by investing in a celebrity-packed magazine for prison inmates called Hottie." We're going to forego the obvious suggestion that perhaps Maer Roshan missed out on an alternate opportunity to fund Radar and just point out the fact that even Victoria Gotti thought this was a bad idea, and she doesn't say no to anything. Still, we're not sure that her judgment was correct in this case: We've obtained a test cover Junior put together, and we think the thing shows potential. You'll find it after the jump.

Breaking from AdAge:

• Rip off those condoms, boys! The FDA proposes to sell the morning-after pill over the counter for women 18 and older; we encourage you to try Plan B just once, if only because the woman in its advertisement looks so damn serene. Inner peace comes from knowing you knocked that would-be zygote out of commission. [Plan B]
• Why would alleged perv Jeffrey Epstein donate $30 million to Harvard? Almost all of the university's students are of legal age. [Crimson]
• In the midst of all of Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic fun, Hollywood Jew-bashing Gregg Easterbrook is back on ESPN.com. Coincidence? Not when he's got advice from Jesus for Phil Mickelson. [ESPN]
• Haute Living, the bible of those who like to live haute, will launch a NYC spin-off version, to be found in "400 luxury buildings where the average price of an apartment is $4.2 million." Just what New York needed: rich fucks reading about their rich fucking lifestyle while lounging about their rich fucker apartment. [The Real Estate]
• And in other magazine news, introducing ShopSmart, Consumer Report's ghetto version of Lucky. [NYDN]
• Life & Style to get bloggy. [FishbowlNY]
• Poor Lower East Side. You've tried to stand tall throughout the climbing rent prices, overcrowded bars, and impossibly expensive boutique shopping. You even kept your cool when Starbucks set up shop. But now the line has been crossed: a gym, an actual area promoting fitness, is headed for Ludlow Street. A moment of silence, please. [Curbed]
• So with the biblical heat outside, how long until people start losing power? We're setting the over/under at 18 hours. [NYSun]

Our commerce-savvy sibling over at Consumerist takes note of the growing furor over Babytalk magazine's decision to run a breastfeeding cover. Consumerist questions the authenticity of the breast itself (suspiciously, there is no areola); we're just happy to see a Time, Inc., publication that doesn't feature Angelina Jolie on the front. Although, in this case...

I see it's true you've left Time Inc.