Off the Rack: Biz Gurus to Looky Loos

TheTyee.ca

BC Business (May & April)

Ever wanted to get a grip on the profitable ideas people in this province? In the May issue, Linda Bartz mounts an impressive, meticulously researched feature package on innovators in B.C. Bartz's well-rounded list should be required reading for those penning this year's Power issue of Vanmag. "Good is the enemy of great," muses PR queen Patti Schom-Moffatt in another piece on innovation. Schom-Moffatt (full disclosure: a former employer of mine) waxes comical about applying a business guru's teachings to her offbeat boutique agency. A sidebar looks at how the book, Jim Collins' Good to Great, is being applied at Radical Entertainment and Business Objects. B.C. is home to the world's biggest waterpark designer? Yessir. Also, Denny Boyd creeps us out with whack readings from his favourite erectile dysfunction spam.

The April issue of BC Business is flush with interesting stories you won't read elsewhere. The editors pull on their Vaughn Palmer decoder ring to give a look into our unofficial leader of the provincial political press corps. A story on pitching to the media goes out of the ballpark with a detailed, intelligent account of PR strategies and tactics. Even an unlikely story on "globalization 101" hits the mark. As usual, editor Rob Howatson's front- and back-of-book sections shine brightest with their unusual and far-reaching stories. Now, howsabout a redesign, huh? Bcbusinessmagazine.com

Adbusters (May/June)

Presenting just about the only issue of Adbusters you'll ever be able to giftwrap for the super-patriot Yankee in your life. (Okay--just a standard-issue patriot.) The culture-jammer cadre squeeze every last drop of gentleness to produce "Hope and Memory," which can only be described as a hopeful valentine to our American cousins, a call to recast its foreign policy and recant its military adventurism. Adbusters editors: I don't know what y'all are blissing out on this month, but I'll take a double dose. Consider this a collector's issue.

Adbusters.org

Vancouver (April)

The restaurant awards issue package is typically great, but there are other highlights this month. Editor Matthew Mallon unloads some considerable snark in the stand-up events review, rattling off shotgun disparagements with abandon: Ralph Nader ("Another saint of the left goes babbling off into history believing his own myth … turning himself into a melancholy punchline"), Rufus Wainwright ("Isn't it also great how he's sort of turning into a cross between Ethel Merman and Leonard Cohen") and self-reflexive art ("We just worry about plays about playwrights--often a warning sign of something disappearing up its own behind"). Also, Daniel Wood takes his blend of adventure and investigative journalism to the local sex trade, looking into the brothel scene with mixed results. He's done his research, he's combed the town--heck, he even does ride-along with Mayor Campbell. But unfortunately he brings heavy-handed and melodramatic touches along for the ride, breaking from laff-lite accounts of playing a rural simple om with a masseuse to a closing visual of himself, fingers clenched in outrage before the police tape at Willie Pickton's infamous farm, the way-Hollywood picture of a man bent on crusade. James Ellroy would not approve. Vancouvermagazine.com

Western Living (May & April)

So, this is the "ideas issue"? The WL crew picked a fine--and generous--time to review Rebecca Eckler's new book, Knocked Up. There is a lot else on the menu, thankfully, including the discovery of the "bungaloft" and transparent bathrooms, not to mention a memorable, award-calibre piece by star journo Bruce Grierson on a Frenchman's quixotic quest to drop from the sky.

The previous month's Western Living features some outstanding photo work throughout, as well as a story on the literary stars of Bowen Island. Is it tipping? The newest star resident is Michael Ondaatje. Could a Twin Peaks-esque TV treatment be far off? Maybe it's time to sell. Westernliving.ca.

Around the Rack: BC Book and Magazine Week. While Off the Rack has been recently AWOL he did run across Ana Torres, the brains behind the British Columbia Association of Magazine Publishers. They put on a series of fine events each year and although BC Book and Magazine Week has passed now, keep an eye out for the coming Magazines West and other events, posted at their site. Bcamp.bc.ca.

Jeff MacIntyre is regularly heckled, from dangerously near and glamorously afar, at jeffmacintyre.com