The Atlantic's PR reps just sent out some PDFs of the magazine's new look, as overseen and conceived by editor James Bennet and Pentagram's Michael Bierut.

In an essay in the November issue of the 151-year-old magazine, Mr. Beirut writes:

I was both honored and daunted to receive the commission to create a new design for The Atlantic. I know the magazine well, having been a faithful reader for the past 20 years, and unlike many designers, I have a sometimes unhelpful suspicion of change. How could we make it new and better without threatening the things that readers like me enjoy so much? It's a hard problem.

One possible solution: Andrew Sullivan. A lot of Andrew Sullivan. Like, full-page spreads of Andrew Sullivan's face, as the above layout shows.

The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg is reporting on his blog that photographer Jill Greenberg has been dropped by her photo agency, Vaughan Hannigan Artists. A call to the agency by Media Mob confirmed the news.

As you may have already read elsewhere, Ms. Greenberg created controversy by posting unflattering and grotesquely retouched outtakes from her John McCain cover shoot for The Atlantic on her site, The Manipulator. Among the retouched photos is one showing the Republican Presidential nominee with bloody shark teeth beneath the headline "I Am A Bloodthirsty Warmonger" and another showing a primate defecating on Mr. McCain's head. (As far as choice of target and sharpness of message goes, Ms. Greenberg's photos were far from Heartfield-level attacks on the candidate.)  read more »

The September 1/8, 2008 "Special Convention Issue" of The Nation features a striking cover of Barack Obama as a mosaic composed of hundreds of smaller images of other people, suggesting that Senator Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, doesn't just stand for himself: He is all of us united. The cover line says it all: "What He's Made Of." (Like Soylent Green, he's made out of people.)

But the image, credited to "Gene Case & Stephen Bling/Avenging Angel From a Poster by Shepard Fairey, Illustrations by Christopher Serra," is also striking for its similarity to the cover of The Atlantic from December 2007, which also featured Senator Obama as the sum of many, many parts.  read more »

Buzz Bissinger is the author of the Texas high-school football book Friday Night Lights and Prayer for the City, which is about Philadelphia under former Mayor Ed Rendell. Mr. Bissinger also wrote the Vanity Fair article on which the movie Shattered Glass was based. He is 53 years old, with a wide, almost froglike face and glasses, and on the night of Tuesday, April 29, he participated in a panel discussion on HBO’s Costas Now, hosted by NBC sportscaster Bob Costas, on the subject of sports and the Internet.  read more »

The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg—who joined the magazine from The New Yorker last year—has started a blog.

His first entry, which features an endearingly retro Public Enemy reference as its title, begins with the self-effacing words, "This is almost certainly a mistake." Well, it can't be as big a mistake as championing the invasion of Iraq relying (according to Harper's Ken Silverstein), "heavily on administration sources and war hawks (and in at least one crucial case, a fabricator)."

In March, Goldberg offered a mea culpa on Slate:

I wanted very much for the liberation of Iraq to succeed, for many reasons. I wasn't sure there was an alternative to Saddam's removal, in part because the sanctions regime was collapsing. I believed that Saddam's nuclear ambitions posed an almost immediate threat to national security. I believed that Saddam was a supporter of terrorism.  read more »

One of the more exciting conversational themes in Albany today is Errol Louis' column in the Daily News about gay marriage. In it, he writes that the effort to legalize gay marriage, which passed the state Assembly this week, has provided a template for efforts around the country to legalize polygamy and incest.

Gay marriage advocates have reacted furiously, with a number of them emailing and calling me to express their outrage.

Alan Van Capelle, executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda, said, “I found it absolutely disgusting.” Capelle pointed out that the sexual deviants Louis cites in his column are actually all straight people.

“So don't drag us down with the bottom of the heterosexual group,” he said.

Louis, when told of Van Capelle’s comments, emailed me to say, “One possible response is dismissive ‘disgust.’ A more serious strategy would be to craft an argument for why stable, consensual, adult same-sex relationships should be recognized by the state but stable, consensual, adult sibling sexual relationships should not.”

The full Van Capelle-Louis exchange is after the jump.  read more »

“Andrew, did you see David?” said authoress and blogger den mother Arianna Huffington to writer Andrew Sullivan  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/2007/beltway-bells-are-ringin-david-geffen-unveils-andrew-sullivan-s-plans-wed-actor#comments Style Andrew Sullivan David Geffen Tue, 24 Apr 2007 22:34:15 -0400 Spencer Morgan 53523 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/node/35835

Tragedy strikes REBNY's plans for a global Manhattan real-estate Web portal! This is a sad day for New Yorkers who were hoping to further fuel their firey Internet real-estate addiction. [Real Deal] - Max Abelson]]> http://www.observer.com/node/35835#comments Real Estate Andrew Sullivan East Hampton Park Slope Ryan Schreiber Thu, 08 Mar 2007 12:44:14 -0500 Observer Staff 35835 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/node/31207

Ben notices an Orwellian purge from the campaign website of Sean Maloney.

Rudy Giuliani will hire more fund-raisers and key staffers in early primary states in an effort to prove he's really running.

Andrew Sullivan wonders if Barack Obama has a James Frey problem.

Sheldon Silver will be attending the February 11 event hosted by a social service organization that received $3.4 million in state funds over the last three years.

Jerry Skurnik remembers another time when a governor appointed a state senator from an opposing party to a cushy state job.

Craig Johnson is a having a fund-raiser with bloggers.

A Democratic lawmaker in Erie County is running for re-election after pleading guilty to tax fraud.

Did Jeanine Pirro's former secretary testify in front of a grand jury?

The Village Voice didn't hear much about Mayor Bloomberg's poverty plans in his state of the city speech yesterday.

DMI has a map showing that hospital closings in New York City tend to happen minority communities.

The Forward looks at how the mayor of Kiryas Joel helped elect Rep. John Hall.

A blogger turns to Billy Martin to explain why he's not getting linked more often.

And above is a commercial for Republican Maureen O'Connell featuring the wife of the Republican state senator whose departure to Spitzerland created the vacancy.

-- Azi Paybarah]]> http://www.observer.com/node/31207#comments Politics Andrew Sullivan Barack Obama Rudolph Giuliani Sean Maloney Thu, 18 Jan 2007 12:49:10 -0500 Observer Staff 31207 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/node/30756

Bill Thompson told a local paper he didn't want to replace Alan Hevesi because, basically, he couldn't run for mayor from an office in Albany.

Andrew Sullivan warns against underestimating Al Gore.

Greg Sargent wonders why CNN called Rudy Giuliani a "moderate conservative."

Sue Kelly conceded her race, finally, to John Hall. But she wants the ballot counting to continue for "historic purposes."

Long after Andrea Stewart-Cousins declared victory, Nick Spano also conceded.

Ben says that nobody lost too badly in the Hoyer-Murtha House Leadership race. Which, if true, is a fortunate outcome for Anthony Weiner.

The city got $650 million to build schools.

Wikkipedia is no longer blocked in China.

The face of Alarming News's Karol Sheinin is revealed.

Joe Crowley and Greg Meeks both want a seat on the Ways and Means Committee.

And pictured above may be one of the last times we see a ballot on a mechanical voting machine. Thank you WFP.

-- Azi Paybarah]]> http://www.observer.com/node/30756#comments Politics Alan Hevesi Albany Andrew Sullivan Bill Thompson Thu, 16 Nov 2006 12:00:00 -0500 Observer Staff 30756 at http://www.observer.com