So much for the benefits of being an Esquire subscriber
The 21st Century Begins Now! Unless that is, you pay to get Esquire delivered monthly to your home, in which case, eh, the 20th Century cover treatments will do.
Am I the only Esquire subscriber who finds it incredibly lame that Esquire’s much-hyped 75th anniversary issue — the one with the e-ink cover made up of moving words and flashing images — arrived in my mailbox this week with, oh, about zero e-ink actually on it?
Turns out that Esquire subscribers just got a plain ol’ typographical treatment, while the whiz-bang, circuitry-packed “collector’s” version went to the news stands. Maybe it’s just me, but shouldn’t it be the other way around?
Putting aside those sour grapes for a second, it’s also astonishing just how blah the high-tech cover actually is. From the early reports, I was expecting a full page of electronic ink, not a 1/5-page gimmick with the bland text “The 21st Century Begins Now” repeated again and again. That hardly seems like a David Granger cover blurb, and it makes me wonder why they didn’t spend a little more time coming up with something clever to say, rather than merely a clever device on which to say it. As Wired points out, Time got more mileage out of the comparatively primitive mirror they put on their cover a year and a half back.
So, then, why am I complaining about not getting the cover?
Well, it’s the principle of the thing. I love Esquire, I’ve subscribed for years. Even if the cover is a dud, I think my subscription fee should entitle me to said dud.
