JOURNAL: Spare Me The Details

Tonight, I came home to find the latest issue of Details, and on its cover was Ashton Kutcher. My reaction: I called Customer Service and canceled my subscription.

Don't think that I didn't give the magazine a chance because I have.

For their December 2007 issue, they featured Kevin Federline on the cover, as one of their "50 most influential men under 45". I thought it was bad judgment on their part, and I wasn't alone. In a subsequent issue, there were these two letters to the editor:

"I was impressed, for the most part, with 'The Details Power 50," in your December issue, but Kevin Federline as a 'good father'? Isn't this the same 'good father' who dumped his two kids and Shar Jackson to be with Britney Spears?"
-- Stephan Saminaden, Montreal, Quebec

"Congratulations on one of the most provacative, emotion-inducing covers ever. It provoked me to do two things I've never done before: write a letter to a national magazine and cancel my subscription within five minutes of receiving an issue."
-- Aaron P. Leifer, San Francisco, California

So it was sort of in that spirit that I canceled my subscription, but not after that issue or the April 2008 issue with Ryan Seacrest looking back at me.

In addition to having Ashton Kutcher on the cover, the latest issue also featured an article titled "The Return of the Office Affair". I just happened to flip to it and saw a very disturbing picture of a girl giving a blow job to a guy in the middle of an open office. I mean, it was a side-angle shot, so the picture was more than suggestive, and... the girl was whorish (seriously, who would let their daughter pose for such a pic) and the guy on the receiving end wasn't even hot. Enough was more than enough.

Honestly, I'm sad to see the magazine go in that direction. I really enjoyed the magazine's WIRED-ish way of presenting pop-culture and style, and having all those cologne ads to sniff. Maybe I should just go ahead and subscribe to FHM instead -- their articles are presented in an interesting way and there'd be no uncertainty as far as what to expect.