Magazines

"Oh, you mean the guy with the 70-year-old head and the 20-year-old body-builder body? That picture has got to be Photoshopped." Dr. Jeffry Life smiles when I tell him about the general reaction I get about the famous picture of him with his shirt off, the shot that turned a mild-mannered doctor in his mid-60s into a poster boy for super-fit aging and controversial hormone replacement Appearing in medical-clinic ads in airline magazines and...

The Los Angeles Times said its Sunday magazine, facing tough challenges, will cease publication. LA, Los Angeles Times Magazine will print its final issue June 3, Kathy K. Thomson, president and chief operating officer, said in an email Tuesday to employees. The magazine came out weekly until 2008, when the paper's editorial department stopped publishing it. The Los Angeles Times Media Group then put out the magazine in a monthly format. "The entire magazine industry has been faced with a very challenging environment," Thomson wrote.

Professional golfer Bob Toski, widely regarded as one of the best teachers of the game, has withdrawn from the PGA Senior Tour after admitting that he may have violated the rules of golf. In a prepared statement released by the PGA, Toski said: "In the late fall of 1985, one of my fellow players brought to my attention that I may have been violating the rules of golf by mismarking my ball.

Left limping by years of declining print sales, the magazine industry is hoping a new plan for tablet users will give it legs to leap into digital profits. Five of the largest magazine publishers —Time Inc., Condé Nast, Hearst Corp., News Corp. and Meredith Corp. — jointly released a tablet computer application Wednesday that offers owners of Android-based tablets unlimited access to 32 of the nation's most popular glossy titles for $14.99 a month. Publishers compare the new plan to the all-access model that Netflix Inc. gives to movie subscribers.

Finally, a business magazine has asked a question on many folks' minds: "Is Your Boss a Psychopath?" The magazine is Fast Company and its answer to that question is: Yes, your boss might very well be a psychopath. After all, many of America's legendary titans of industry exhibited symptoms of psychopathy -- folks such as Henry Ford, Armand Hammer, even Walt Disney. Psychopaths are people who are amoral, ruthless, pathologically selfish and utterly unburdened by qualms of conscience.

Food is covered in all kinds of magazines these days, including lifestyle publications such as Better Homes and Gardens, Family Circle and Sunset and personality-driven magazines like those run by first-name-only icons such as Paula, Sandra and Rachel. Then there is Martha, whose magazine is both. But there is a hard core of dedicated food magazines still devoted to food, each in its particular (not to say, necessarily, peculiar) way. Because food is not the prime motivator for either lifestyle or personality magazines (in the first case, it's just part of the mix; in the second, it's as much celebrity as pure content that drives the operation)

Two years ago, Conde Nast's Vogue published its biggest issue, an advertising-packed behemoth that symbolized the prosperity of New York's glittering magazine industry as it rode the twin booms in the economy and luxury spending to dramatic heights. Generous expense accounts were de rigueur at glossy fashion and lifestyle magazines. Some top editors and publishers enjoyed clothing allowances and mortgage assistance. Even lowly assistants flitted about in chauffeur-driven town cars.

Janice Min, editor in chief of US Weekly magazine, was on vacation in Colorado when news of the biggest celebrity death since, well, Farrah Fawcett's a few hours earlier, started her cellphone ringing. And ringing and ringing and ringing. Min, who was driving, didn't pick up, but she glanced at her incoming e-mails. "Oh my God, I got like 40 e-mails in 60 seconds," said Min, whose holiday evaporated with news of Michael Jackson's death this week. "I haven't been out of my hotel room since."

With the presidential primaries, the Occupy movement, continued unrest in the Middle East and the Kim Kardashian wedding disaster, it's not as if there was a shortage of news in the second half of 2011. But you wouldn't know it looking at newsstand sales for the nation's magazines. Single-copy sales of consumer magazines took a major hit in the second half of last year, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Publishers sold 28.9 million newsstand copies, 10% less than the number sold over the same period in 2010.

Nancie Clare was named editor of LA, the Los Angeles Times Media Group's monthly Sunday magazine, in the latest in a series of management changes. Effective immediately, Clare replaces Annie Gilbar, who shepherded the magazine's relaunch in September 2008, the group said Monday. After serving as editor in chief for the last year, Gilbar is leaving the company. Clare also participated in the relaunch and was promoted to executive editor in January after serving as deputy editor.

Larry Stevenson, a Venice Beach lifeguard who helped popularize skateboarding in the early 1960s by marketing his Makaha boards to riders eager to essentially surf on land, has died. He was 81. Stevenson, who had Parkinson's disease, died Sunday at Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center, said his son, Curt. "He was the guy who said, 'I can merge surfing with the skateboard culture,'" said Michael Brooke, author of the 1999 skateboarding history "The Concrete Wave. " "At one point in time, there was nobody bigger making skateboards.

On the cover of the current GQ, a beaming Drake strides confidently toward the reader, fit and fearless in a $3,100 Gucci suit and $1,590 Tom Ford shoes. Inside, the 25-year-old rapper greets the magazine's reporter poolside at his "lady-fantasy" (her words) compound in the San Fernando Valley. Writer Claire Hoffman gets Drake to reveal cover-worthy morsels about his womanizing (prodigious, now purportedly regretted), his fragile paternal ties and his Internet-fueled entree into the music world.

Admit it, at 45 years old, the Advocate looks good. Over those years, the LGBT magazine has seen the same challenges as any other print publication but has forged ahead with its watchdog duties in human rights as well as being a pop culture compass. The glossy will celebrate the big 4-5 at the Beverly Hilton on Thursday, welcoming a host of celebs and activists, as well as fashion and social types. Not to mention inductees to the Heroes Hall of Fame, a list of notables that includes Ellen DeGeneres, Rosie O'Donnell, Cynthia Nixon and Jake Gyllenhaal.

Here's a hot story, especially if you're reading this on the new iPad. The popular device — 3 million were sold in its first weekend — can reach 116 degrees during intensive use, according to a test by Consumer Reports. The analysis came as more iPad owners complained that the latest version of the tablet computer got warm — very warm in some cases. The consumer magazine ran a graphics-intensive video game for 45 minutes and found that the device got hottest on its back panel, in one corner, likely near the computer processor.

The letter to the editor of a prestigious archaeology magazine came from inmate No. J81961 at Tehachapi State Prison. Prisoner Timothy Fenstermacher, a high school dropout, wrote to disagree with an article by an archaeologist at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Archaeologist Orly Goldwasser had based her story on the birth of the alphabet in part on the appearance of the rare "Sinai hieroglyph," which she said was used in the Sinai during Egypt's Middle Kingdom. Fenstermacher thought otherwise.

Chris Hughes, co-founder of Facebook and coordinator of Barack Obama's online efforts during the 2008 presidential election, is entering the "old media" fray as publisher and editor-in-chief of the New Republic, the publication announced Friday. Initial response? Journalists who do not write for the New Republic are seething with envy, and wonder if perhaps another Silicon Valley millionaire/billionaire would like to come and inject an infusion of new-media money into their publication too. But it's not just the money, it's also what Hughes is saying about the state of journalism today that is drawing attention.

The best thing about nudist magazines is that they give you a newfound appreciation for clothing. The glitziest fashion spread in Vogue's history is not as good an advertisement for clothes as a nudist magazine's simple black-and-white photo of a pudgy middle-aged couple just sort of standing there buck naked. In this over-civilized modern world, we don't often get to see what average Americans look like under their clothes.

Whether you're interested in comets or cooking, photography or soccer or mystery stories, there's bound to be a magazine in which you can explore your interests. Many can be found on the Internet. Magazines can inform you of recent discoveries, teach you valuable techniques, inspire you with ideas and connect you with fellow enthusiasts. Discover the joy of reading magazines and learning about what fascinates you through the direct links on The Times' Launch Point Web site: http://www.latimes.

Saturday's game ended with UCLA Coach Ben Howland screaming at his players — not that usual tough-love-type stuff, mind you. This was sheer happiness. The Bruins had a rough week, with a Sports Illustrated story portraying a program in disarray. It was part of a rough regular season that began with leading scorer Reeves Nelson being tossed off the team. So the Bruins found particular joy in a 75-69 victory over Washington — the Pac-12 Conference's first-place team — that resulted in senior walk-on Tyler Trapani getting pushed around by teammates in the locker room as Howland hollered.

Here is a roundup of alleged cons, frauds and schemes to watch out for. Telephone collection calls Callers posing as law enforcement agents, lawyers and debt collectors have been placing random telephone calls and demanding that victims immediately repay nonexistent debts, the Internet Crime Complaint Center said in a recent bulletin. The callers claim to be collecting debts for groups such as United Cash Advance, U.S. Cash Advance, U.S. Cash Net or other firms, according to the center, a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center.