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Date: 25 Dec 2008 23:13:55
From: samsloan
Subject: Awful Cover on Chess Life for Kids
As my seven-year-old daughter is now a "premium scholastic member", I
just received the December 2008 issue of "Chess Life for Kids".

The cover is terrible, awful, horrible, the worst cover I have ever
seen on any publication of any kind anywhere.

I want to know who authorized or ordered this. The cover is so bad I
do not even want to open the magazine.

Actually, the inside of the magazine is OK.

The cover features two completely dark and blurry photographs. The top
photo is completely out of focus. I have no idea what this is. Looking
inside the magazine, there is no information as to what this is a
picture of.

The bottom photo is of a bunch of Asian kids wearing dark shirts and,
since the background is black too, just about the only thing you can
see is their faces. Inside the magazine there is little information as
to who these kids are or why their pictures are on the cover.

The inside does not say exactly who is the editor of the magazine who
did this. Whomever did this should have nothing to do with
publications in the future. Bill Hall's name is at the top. Does that
mean he authorized this?

Again, the cover is so bad that nobody will want to open the magazine
to see what is inside.

Sam Sloan




 
Date: 28 Dec 2008 12:49:16
From: Quadibloc
Subject: Re: Awful Cover on Chess Life for Kids
On Dec 26, 12:13=A0am, samsloan <[email protected] > wrote:

> The cover features two completely dark and blurry photographs. The top
> photo is completely out of focus. I have no idea what this is. Looking
> inside the magazine, there is no information as to what this is a
> picture of.

The top picture is clearly a bit blurry because it is captured from a
television screen. I suspect it is a picture of astronauts and/or
cosmonauts playing chess aboard the International Space Station. The
drawings of men in spacesuits beside it support that interpretation.

> The bottom photo is of a bunch of Asian kids wearing dark shirts and,
> since the background is black too, just about the only thing you can
> see is their faces. Inside the magazine there is little information as
> to who these kids are or why their pictures are on the cover.

The contrast is low, but it is not that bad. Actually, they may have
been an audience, watching the top picture being projected (perhaps
there was another copy in front of them, but one child is turning
around to see the picture we see in the photograph). So it may be one
picture, not two.

John Savard


 
Date: 28 Dec 2008 12:41:44
From: Quadibloc
Subject: Re: Awful Cover on Chess Life for Kids
On Dec 26, 1:21=A0am, samsloan <[email protected] > wrote:

> Is there any other magazine in the world that puts the bar code on the
> front cover?

Actually, so as to sell a whole page of ad space on the back cover
without distraction, pretty well *all* magazines put the bar code on
the front cover. When have you last been in a newsstand?

John Savard


 
Date: 28 Dec 2008 03:26:09
From: samsloan
Subject: Re: Awful Cover on Chess Life for Kids
[quote="Harry Payne"]I am interested Sam, what was the reaction of
your seven year old daughter, to the Magazine Cover? Does she enjoy
the magazine? I hope you did not throw a fit in front of her.

Harry Payne [/quote]

My daughter will not even open the magazine. It has been sitting here
for over a week and she has not looked at it yet.

That is the problem. If a book or magazine comes here with lots of
interesting colors and drawings, she will pick it up and start going
through it.

Chess Life for Kids has had some excellent covers in this regard in
the past. I am wondering what happened to cause such a poor cover from
a kid's point of view.

Have there been any personnel changes lately?

Sam Sloan


 
Date: 26 Dec 2008 15:25:54
From: Vance
Subject: Re: Awful Cover on Chess Life for Kids
On Dec 26, 4:07=A0am, Offramp <[email protected] > wrote:
> On Dec 26, 9:19=A0am, [email protected] wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > samsloan wrote:
> > > As my seven-year-old daughter is now a "premium scholastic member", I
> > > just received the December 2008 issue of "Chess Life for Kids".
>
> > > The cover is terrible, awful, horrible, the worst cover I have ever
> > > seen on any publication of any kind anywhere.
>
> > > I want to know who authorized or ordered this. The cover is so bad I
> > > do not even want to open the magazine.
>
> > > Actually, the inside of the magazine is OK.
>
> > > The cover features two completely dark and blurry photographs. The to=
p
> > > photo is completely out of focus. I have no idea what this is. Lookin=
g
> > > inside the magazine, there is no information as to what this is a
> > > picture of.
>
> > > The bottom photo is of a bunch of Asian kids wearing dark shirts and,
> > > since the background is black too, just about the only thing you can
> > > see is their faces. Inside the magazine there is little information a=
s
> > > to who these kids are or why their pictures are on the cover.
>
> > > The inside does not say exactly who is the editor of the magazine who
> > > did this. Whomever did this should have nothing to do with
> > > publications in the future. Bill Hall's name is at the top. Does that
> > > mean he authorized this?
>
> > > Again, the cover is so bad that nobody will want to open the magazine
> > > to see what is inside.
>
> > > Sam Sloan
>
> > I have no interest in debating cover design with you (or with Glenn,
> > for that matter), but the top photo is obviously of the "Earth vs.
> > Space match" (http://www.uschess.org/content/blogcategory/198/475/).
> > Perhaps you were unaware of it? Considering the source, the quality of
> > the photo is not bad.
>
> The way I see it, the picture is of 10 kids sitting in front of a huge
> wall-mounted plasma screen on which a cosmonaut is holding up a
> chessboard for them to look at.
> It is NOT two photos, one on top of the other.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Sloan has ongoing problems with interpreting what is clearly evident
to almost any other person, at least in the visual realm.

Re the bar coding, all of the magazines I get have the bar code on the
front. With all of the shoulds, supposed to be, assumes, believes,
obvious to anyones, etc. that decorate the interior of his life, the
real world must be a dissappointment when he ventures out.

Vance

Vance


 
Date: 26 Dec 2008 04:07:55
From: Offramp
Subject: Re: Awful Cover on Chess Life for Kids
On Dec 26, 9:19=A0am, [email protected] wrote:
> samsloan wrote:
> > As my seven-year-old daughter is now a "premium scholastic member", I
> > just received the December 2008 issue of "Chess Life for Kids".
>
> > The cover is terrible, awful, horrible, the worst cover I have ever
> > seen on any publication of any kind anywhere.
>
> > I want to know who authorized or ordered this. The cover is so bad I
> > do not even want to open the magazine.
>
> > Actually, the inside of the magazine is OK.
>
> > The cover features two completely dark and blurry photographs. The top
> > photo is completely out of focus. I have no idea what this is. Looking
> > inside the magazine, there is no information as to what this is a
> > picture of.
>
> > The bottom photo is of a bunch of Asian kids wearing dark shirts and,
> > since the background is black too, just about the only thing you can
> > see is their faces. Inside the magazine there is little information as
> > to who these kids are or why their pictures are on the cover.
>
> > The inside does not say exactly who is the editor of the magazine who
> > did this. Whomever did this should have nothing to do with
> > publications in the future. Bill Hall's name is at the top. Does that
> > mean he authorized this?
>
> > Again, the cover is so bad that nobody will want to open the magazine
> > to see what is inside.
>
> > Sam Sloan
>
> I have no interest in debating cover design with you (or with Glenn,
> for that matter), but the top photo is obviously of the "Earth vs.
> Space match" (http://www.uschess.org/content/blogcategory/198/475/).
> Perhaps you were unaware of it? Considering the source, the quality of
> the photo is not bad.

The way I see it, the picture is of 10 kids sitting in front of a huge
wall-mounted plasma screen on which a cosmonaut is holding up a
chessboard for them to look at.
It is NOT two photos, one on top of the other.


 
Date: 26 Dec 2008 03:26:05
From: The Historian
Subject: Re: Awful Cover on Chess Life for Kids
On Dec 26, 3:45=A0am, samsloan <[email protected] > wrote:
> Here is the cover. Believe it or not, those dots and splotches are on
> the original cover and are not caused by my scanner or my computer.
> Even the green margin around the edges has irregular colors.
>
> And another thing.
>
> The bar code belongs on the back cover of a magazine, not on the front
> cover.
>
> Is there any other magazine in the world that puts the bar code on the
> front cover? Has there ever been a magazine cover anywhere in the
> world as bad as this one?
>
> There is plenty of unused blank space on the back cover.
>
> Who did this? What is going on here?
>
> http://www.anusha.com/chesslifeforkids-dec08.jpg
>
> There are two words to say to whomever did this, "You're Fired".
>
> Sam Sloan

Yes, a person who puts MIDI files on their webpages is the ultimate
judge of aesthetics.

The cover is fine.


 
Date: 26 Dec 2008 01:19:31
From:
Subject: Re: Awful Cover on Chess Life for Kids

samsloan wrote:
> As my seven-year-old daughter is now a "premium scholastic member", I
> just received the December 2008 issue of "Chess Life for Kids".
>
> The cover is terrible, awful, horrible, the worst cover I have ever
> seen on any publication of any kind anywhere.
>
> I want to know who authorized or ordered this. The cover is so bad I
> do not even want to open the magazine.
>
> Actually, the inside of the magazine is OK.
>
> The cover features two completely dark and blurry photographs. The top
> photo is completely out of focus. I have no idea what this is. Looking
> inside the magazine, there is no information as to what this is a
> picture of.
>
> The bottom photo is of a bunch of Asian kids wearing dark shirts and,
> since the background is black too, just about the only thing you can
> see is their faces. Inside the magazine there is little information as
> to who these kids are or why their pictures are on the cover.
>
> The inside does not say exactly who is the editor of the magazine who
> did this. Whomever did this should have nothing to do with
> publications in the future. Bill Hall's name is at the top. Does that
> mean he authorized this?
>
> Again, the cover is so bad that nobody will want to open the magazine
> to see what is inside.
>
> Sam Sloan

I have no interest in debating cover design with you (or with Glenn,
for that matter), but the top photo is obviously of the "Earth vs.
Space match" (http://www.uschess.org/content/blogcategory/198/475/).
Perhaps you were unaware of it? Considering the source, the quality of
the photo is not bad.


 
Date: 26 Dec 2008 00:45:25
From: samsloan
Subject: Re: Awful Cover on Chess Life for Kids
Here is the cover. Believe it or not, those dots and splotches are on
the original cover and are not caused by my scanner or my computer.
Even the green margin around the edges has irregular colors.

And another thing.

The bar code belongs on the back cover of a magazine, not on the front
cover.

Is there any other magazine in the world that puts the bar code on the
front cover? Has there ever been a magazine cover anywhere in the
world as bad as this one?

There is plenty of unused blank space on the back cover.

Who did this? What is going on here?

http://www.anusha.com/chesslifeforkids-dec08.jpg

There are two words to say to whomever did this, "You're Fired".

Sam Sloan


 
Date: 26 Dec 2008 00:26:45
From:
Subject: Re: Awful Cover on Chess Life for Kids


samsloan wrote:
> And another thing.
>
> The bar code belongs on the back cover of a magazine, not on the front
> cover.
>
> Is there any other magazine in the world that puts the bar code on the
> front cover?
>
> There is plenty of unused blank space on the back cover.
>
> Who did this? What is going on here?
>
> Sam Sloan

1) Glenn Petersen is the editor of CL4Kr. 2) Most magazines put the
barcode on the front. Go to a newsstand and look. The only exception I
could find was National Geographic.


 
Date: 26 Dec 2008 00:21:25
From: samsloan
Subject: Re: Awful Cover on Chess Life for Kids
And another thing.

The bar code belongs on the back cover of a magazine, not on the front
cover.

Is there any other magazine in the world that puts the bar code on the
front cover?

There is plenty of unused blank space on the back cover.

Who did this? What is going on here?

Sam Sloan


 
Date: 25 Dec 2008 23:49:53
From: Offramp
Subject: Re: Awful Cover on Chess Life for Kids
On Dec 26, 7:13=A0am, samsloan <[email protected] > wrote:

> As my seven-year-old daughter is now a "premium scholastic member", I
> just received the December 2008 issue of "Chess Life for Kids".
>
> The cover is terrible, awful, horrible, the worst cover I have ever
> seen on any publication of any kind anywhere.

Where can I see a picture?
Can you scan it and put it on t'internet?