tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6024401572816020459.post1764212061908769446..comments2024-03-28T07:17:29.768+00:00Comments on STARLOGGED - GEEK MEDIA AGAIN: 1995: CULT TIMES MAGAZINE Issue 1 (Visual Imagination) SLOW ROBOThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15891511135128944714noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6024401572816020459.post-25776283684022471852015-05-20T07:53:14.358+01:002015-05-20T07:53:14.358+01:00I think I read it on one of the forums around the ...I think I read it on one of the forums around the time of the closure. The source might not have been reliable which is why I felt I had to say it could be widely inaccurate. I suspect economic reality was catching-up with VI for a while as the editorial budgets were obviously being squeezed. SLOW ROBOThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15891511135128944714noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6024401572816020459.post-32070097230263275472015-05-20T07:46:52.330+01:002015-05-20T07:46:52.330+01:00I must admit that I have never read an issue of LO...I must admit that I have never read an issue of LOADED (although they did issue a book of "British Heroes", which I assume compiled material from the magazine, that was jolly good).<br /><br />I know that it's been on borrowed time for the last few years... I've read several previous announcements of its impending demise as it shifted publishers but it sounds like, this time, they have run out of time. <br /><br />I guess they have been undone by a change in public taste and the slow decline of magazines themselves. I know NUTS shuttered a year-or-so ago... presumably because you can find similar material (Boobs!) online... for free!SLOW ROBOThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15891511135128944714noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6024401572816020459.post-51785189438911365352015-05-19T19:24:37.975+01:002015-05-19T19:24:37.975+01:00*** UPDATE *** LOADED MAGAZINE CEASES PUBLICA...*** UPDATE *** LOADED MAGAZINE CEASES PUBLICATION<br /><br />Perhaps this falls outside the remit of starlogged but it ties in with my previous post above. I stumbled upon this by chance but in fact I had suspected something was wrong when the new issue failed to appear in the shops :<br /><br />http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3015949/The-end-era-Lads-mag-Loaded-closes-21-years-publishers-announce-current-issue-last.html<br />edhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13633073283427830809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6024401572816020459.post-35111048233350333482015-05-19T11:27:35.756+01:002015-05-19T11:27:35.756+01:00wow where on earth did you read that ? Still can...wow where on earth did you read that ? Still cant believe that such an expansive line shuttered so abruptly. Yes its always fairly obvious when a mag is going downhill, the dreaded ' new look ' or ' change in format ' being two such signs. There did seem to be a repetition of material in the later issues.<br /><br />Lets face it, there is NO substitute for a print mag. The worst offender was DREAMWATCH, a once great magazine which by the time it folded seemed a pale shadow of its former self. The editor tried desperately to make it sound good by touting " we are regenerating into a website ! "<br /><br />In reality , this amounted to a feeble looking webpage and even that disappeared soon after. Even the mighty STARLOG suffered a similar fate right down to the final indignity of having its website removed due to ' non payment of fees. '<br /><br />STARBURST is quite unique in its resurrection. Its never been easy to find here but since my local newsagents changed owners, they have been getting more mags than ever before and one of them is STARBURST. Hurrah !<br /><br />edhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13633073283427830809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6024401572816020459.post-36729691539394208092015-05-19T07:41:25.134+01:002015-05-19T07:41:25.134+01:00I was surprised that, for a defunct publisher, no ...I was surprised that, for a defunct publisher, no one had turned off (or simply allowed to wither and die) the VI website. I've no idea if it's still maintained and updated.<br /><br />I remember reading at the time that VI's accountant had died (massive apologies now if this was not the case) and without his/ her knowledge of where the cash was stashed, the whole shebang ran out of dosh. <br /><br />It was certainly my impression that they were getting more and more desperate in the final months. TV ZONE, the only one of their titles that i bought regularly, seemed to become ever more sporadic and the contents/ layouts ever more slapdash. <br /><br />I also recall that they had a trick (and I forget the details) to repackaging one magazine and passing if off as another one... thus encouraging the unobservant to inadvertently double-dip. I always suspected they interviewed someone once and then recycled the material, or parts of it, across numerous titles but passing off old-as-new seemed to be taking it too far.<br /><br />I'm always highly dubious when any magazine abandons print. From the demise of HERO ILLUSTRATED in 1996 onwards, it had never seemed to amount to long-term success in the digital sphere. <br /><br />I'm rather liking the new STARBURST. I was surprised to see it return but it's become a regular read ever since. SLOW ROBOThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15891511135128944714noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6024401572816020459.post-31264004967919818182015-05-18T18:50:39.216+01:002015-05-18T18:50:39.216+01:00I'm not sure I would describe their site as &...I'm not sure I would describe their site as ' still running ' although there is a link to a new film review site. <br /><br />Visual Imagination's entire line of mags came to an abrupt end back in 2008-09, apparently due to a new found ecological conscience on the publishers part. Even the mags had bizarre ads along the lines of <br /><br /> ' look at all the trees you will save if you get the online version ! "<br /><br />I remember one of the staff e-mailed to tell me they would no longer be publishing print magazines. He almost seemed embarrassed.<br /><br />At least STARBURST has returned since albeit under a new publisher although I still prefer the old format.<br /><br />edhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13633073283427830809noreply@blogger.com