Got the "firsts" on my next piece in Esquire magazine
Saturday, November 13, 2010 at 12:03AM 
Just remembering some of my covers over the years.
My favorites are obviously those where my name got on the cover (Scarlett and Halle).
The "firsts" just mean the first draft of a full-up version, totally laid out with all graphics and the break laid out to any jump pages (those not connected to the first pages or stuck near the back of the "book").
The piece will come out in the January 2011 issue, meaning out in early December on news stands, when, coincidentally given the subject, I'll be in China.
It's actually still got my original main title and original sub-sub title, which I think is a first for me.
Started, as almost all of my pieces with Mark Warren, executive editor of the print magazine, with an extended riff of mine during a marathon, catching-up phone call (Mark and I typically talk like family for an hour or so before getting down to business) in mid-August. He was intrigued by my rant on the rising American hyperbole regarding China, I could tell. Days later he sends me an email asking me to write it up.
So I crank it out over a couple of weekend days, starting with a favorite movie image that, the minute I saw it, I knew I'd someday use it in a piece. It gave me the excuse of exploring the subject in five chunks. That opening stayed largely as is, just a lot tighter.
Now I just have to fight, later in the piece, for a very subtle nod to "Blade Runner" - a phrase I misquoted, I now realize after watching it again with my son recently.
Also working on a slight graphic alteration of the title that would involve some wordplay.
Crossing my fingers on that one.
Reader Comments (2)
Nice cleavage on those covers :-) :-)
Stop...he reads them for the articles.