morning magazine

The other threads about publications are over in the Gaming forum, but since morning isn't strictly gaming, I thought it better to put it here.

Anyhow, a few friends and I have been working on trying to put together an Asian culture + entertainment magazine, and our first issue has finally been released. It covers video games, anime, manga, movies, music, fashion, goods, and a bunch of other Asian-type stuff. The magazine is aimed at English-speaking fans, and isn't an "expert" magazine in any regard - it is by fans for fans. I know a number of you here won't be into everything it covers, but some of you will.

I'd love to hear feedback about it, good or bad. I know I'll probably get some "OMG Japanese crap" type comments, but I'd love to hear comments even from people who might not totally be into what we cover, but still have some constructive criticism. The first issue isn't anywhere near what I wanted it to be, but we have to start something, and I think it isn't too bad of a start for how small we are. Hopefully now that the groundwork is in place, we can put more work into the next issue to make it more interesting and more like what we want it to be. (Actual interesting content, and not just fluff stuff to pad the size of the issue.)

If we're going to attempt print or not depends on if we're even going to make more issues or not. If there isn't much interest in what we're trying to do, there's no point in wasting our time. If there is interest, then we'd like to at least attempt a small print run for an issue #2 or #3.

Anyhow, here's how to get it: http://mag.gomorning.com

Looks pretty good (I'm not a big fan of how you set your type or how you outline everything in black) but it's not my cuppa tea.

Really impressive, imo. :tu:

i've actually been waiting to read this for a while now. hell, i was actually interested in the Ayu mag that was sorta in the works, too. happy to see that it's finally up. wish i could've grabbed it yesterday but you didn't have things set.

I can't download it here at home, but I'd like to have a look. If it covers current hot pop stars from Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mainland China, Singapore and elsewhere and has some Fresh Fruits type style shots, I'm sure it's something I'd be interested in seeing. I'll try to have a look at work tomorrow.

Well, the magazine layout is as drop-dead sexy as your forums. Jesus, I love the look of those forums.

...Anyway. Can't say I read too much of it, mostly skimming through. Seemed to cover what you want, though. Beyond the Clouds looks gorgeous.

Looks pretty good. You made it in Pages?

Marvellous job on the layout, especially the use of independent art assets in some of the reviews. Do you have a dedicated layout staff, or does everyone do their own pages?

I agree with everything you said in the DS article. The only thing I can say on Nintendo's behalf is A) it's obvious the thing was rushed to market sooner than they were ready, and B) They're scared stiff of getting screwed through either piracy or lawsuits when Timmy starts getting penis drawings sent to him over the internet, so they're taking the online thing very slow and deliberately. But yeah, things like matchmaking could've been slapped together in a month or two.

And nice job on snagging actual advertising. That puts you ahead of 90% of people doing similar things. Next on the list: sign on some actual asians, if only for street cred purposes ;)

I thought it was very well done, and made my day after finally getting my hands on a copy of HGM only to see pages of grid after grid after grid...I want a print version of this, ASAP.

wow!! I am actually really impressed. (I admit, the EGL stuff won me over....)


however, I'm thinking that a few things about it were a little generic, like, since it's covering asian culture in general- maybe you could hold off on using words like "Kawaii" in articles? Like, it just makes it sound sort of high schoolish and less serious, know what I mean?

Also, I though the "japanese culture in general" article was a bit out of place, but I know you're trying to pad the issue so it's okay.

It looks wonderful, I love the sock tutorial =X I'd like to take some pics for the fashion section, but lacking a good digicam right now I can't. However, if for some reason you need anyone to report on J-fashion stuff (lolita, punk, just about everything) I've kept up on the stuff for years and have a pretty wide knowledge + connections with it- I'd be totally up for helping.