January 5, 2004
I finally feel back to normal (what do jet setting business people do?). It’s very cold out, built a fire in the pot bellied stove even though I have to leave in twenty minutes to go into the office.

I came home with a whole pile of magazines that I picked up in Spain and England. For several years the Brits have been putting free CDs in with many titles and this practice has spread to Spain where I saw a sign at a newsstand that said if you bought a particular title you would get a free scarf (I’m not making this up and have the picture to prove it).

Two particular titles really grabbed me. One is a magazine called Clio which is the Spanish version of True West. It is very slick and modern and has many elements of design and layout that I want my staff to consider. It also came with a bonus: a free novel with the purchase of the magazine (3.50 Euros, about $4). The other title (owned by the same company) is called Que Leer (What to Read) and has many, many book reviews (also another staple I’d like to emulate). Unfortunately, the catchy title has unfortunate cross cultural ramifications. My kids saw me reading it (or trying to, it’s in Spanish), and later, Deena said, “Where’s that Queer magazine?” With Russell Crowe’s head blocking out the L, it does send an unintended message to Americans. This of course cuts both ways, and probably the most famous example, going the other way, was when GM tried to sell the Nova in Spanish speaking countries. “No va” means won’t go, won’t run, etc.

One of the things we are trying to determine at True West is whether women have gotten the short end of the stick when it comes to American history. Please put your two cents in. You can click right here.

"The enemy of art is the absence of limitations”
—Orson Welles