May 2011 Archives

Texas Monthly Goes to the Movies

The summer movie season kicks off with a series of Texas classics from Texas Monthly. For its Texas Monthly Rolling Roadshow, the magazine (partnered with The Alamo Draftfouse) created a beautiful set of new posters for the classic films. For those in the Lone Star State this summer movie times and location can be found here. … MORE

The Story of O, Part 4: iPad Pages

On Tuesday, June 7, SPD will present The Story of O, featuring design directors Robert Priest and Grace Lee talking about O, the Oprah magazine and the O iPad app. They'll be showing  their redesign of the print product and discussing the launch of the app, all just days after the Oprah show goes off the air. It promises to be another great SPD Speakeasy filled with inspiration, learning, and lots of fun.

Over the past month we've presented samples from recent O work, both the print and digital versions. Our fourth collection is a series of pages from the O iPad app.

(Above): May 2011. Photograph by Dewey Nicks.

Tickets for The Story of O are selling fast. The last SPD Speakeasy sold out, so get your tickets early! currently sold to capacity. Please sign-up for the waitlist so we can work to be sure you have a chance to join us next week when rush tickets become available. Waitlist tickets available here … MORE

Students, Don't Forget: Show and Tell Entries Due Tomorrow

Even if you're just finding out about our Show and Tell Online Student Design Show, it's not too late to enter. All you gotta do is send us your best work by 5pm June 1. How easy is that? Find all the details here on our Student Blog.

Cover of the Day, May 30, 2011

Welcome to The SPD Cover of the Day. We'll be posting our favorite covers every Monday and Wednesday. Stay tuned for the best and coolest magazine and newspaper covers, as selected by our stellar group of experts.

Field & Stream: June 2011
Design Director: Sean Johnson
Illustration: Tavis Coburn

See the original Field & Stream cover from 1950 that inspired this one, on the next page.


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Letter to Jane App

One of our favorite new magazine apps is the latest issue (it's their third) of Letter to Jane. Self-produced and published in Portland, Oregon, by Tim Moore, Letter to Jane strives to "combine pop culture and film history together to make a unique narrative." The quarterly arts and culture app features clean, simple design and easy navigation that highlights a wonderful collection of original photography, videos, and interviews. The images are very cinematic, the overall look and feel is very cool, and reading and looking through the app is a rich, fun experience. This is app creation at its finest. Letter to Jane is a perfect roadmap for the future (or at least one future) of magazine app design, especially for indie publishers. And it's a bargain at only $1.99!

See a selection of Letter to Jane app pages after the jump.


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Cover of the Day, May 27, 2011

Welcome to The SPD Cover of the Day. We'll be posting our favorite covers every Monday and Wednesday. Stay tuned for the best and coolest magazine and newspaper covers, as selected by our stellar group of experts.

Chakota Magazine, The Animal Issue
Art Director: Roberto Hernandez Guerrero  
Photographer: Jill Greenberg

SPD Gala: With Love, From the Photobooth

We know: you've been waiting a really, really long time for the photos from the Gala. Courtesy of our favorite Glenn Glasser, the smallest of previews after the jump, and the link to the full gallery...
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The Final Oprah Show: The Story of O

It's 4p EST and the final episode of Oprah is airing! Don't suffer withdrawal....you can attend the June 7 SPD SpeakEasy, The Story of O, and hear O magazine and app design directors Robert Priest and Grace Lee talk about creating visual magic at a storied brand. Tickets are selling fast! Get yours here.

Related Stories:

The Story of O: The Feature Section Openers
The Story of O: The Covers
The Story of O: Inside Pages

Art and Cocktails

Need something fun and inspiring to start your Memorial Day weekend off tomorrow evening? Join the AIGA/NY at their Unique New York Auction Party, Thursday, May 26th, 6:30pm to 9:30pm. Pentagram hosts an evening with no speeches, no awards, just you and your colleagues and friendly conversation. Led by the feisty auctioneer Michael Bierut, the auction features a small collection of covetable framed artwork, collage and constructions from twelve unique talents from the New York creative pool, including Milton Glaser, Seymour Chwast, Paula Scher, Massimo Vignelli and Maira Kalman. There are so many more, you NEED to click here for the full list and gallery of work. This is your chance to get out and have some fun, and possibly pick up a treasure (especially if you, like some of us, are kicking yourself you missed-out on the gems from our Auction last November). And hey, did we mention the open bar? Get tickets and all info here.


above: Paula Scher's CHINA, 2008, bid here

Fast News for May 24, 2011

SPD MEDIA MIX is our regular list of publication design, digital, and media news and updates. Please send your links and news items to SPD at mail@spd.org and we'll add them to the Mix.

>> Top Ad Gainers: Competitor - a magazine for elite athletes - is leading all monthlies for first-half ad page gains, with an almost 50 percent increase in ad pages from January through June 2011, compared to 2010. Competitor is also the biggest gainer over last June's numbers, up 76% over June 2010. Number 2? Trailer Life at 64%. What does this mean?

>> Mr. Magazine Now a Magazine: Go-to quote guy for the magazine industry Samir Husni, has launched The Samir Husni Daily Magazine, using the paper.li platform. Updated twice daily, TSHDM will give you "an insider's tour of [Mr. Magazine's] daily reading habits."

>> Face-ing the 80s: If you find yourself needing an acute 80s fix, the blog Test Pressing has an inspiring collection of the Neville Brody-designed The Face, the standard-bearer of 80s cool.

>> Caffeinating Print: In an attempt to bring the success of the energy drink to their media branch, Red Bull is taking branded content to another level. The Red Bulletin, a monthly periodical of original content based on the "Red Bull lifestyle", includes features on Red Bull-sponsored athletes, as well as other extreme sport and musical coverage.

The Story of O, Part 3: Inside Pages

On Tuesday, June 7, SPD will present The Story of O, featuring design directors Robert Priest and Grace Lee talking about O, the Oprah magazine and the O iPad app. They'll be showing  their redesign of the print product and discussing the launch of the app, all just days after the Oprah show goes off the air. It promises to be another great SPD Speakeasy filled with inspiration, learning, and lots of fun.

Over the next month we'll be presenting samples from recent O work, both the print and digital versions. Our third collection is a series of covers from the magazine.

(Above): October 2010. Photograph by Levi Brown.

Tickets for The Story of O are selling fast. The last SPD Speakeasy sold out, so get your tickets early! Tickets available here.… MORE

Joe Zeff: Reinvent Everything

Joe Zeff is in Amsterdam today (May 24), giving a presentation at the WoodWing Xperience conference, called "Reinvent Everything--Your Content, Your Business Model, Your Future."

Folks who have seen Joe at various SPD events know that he gives a good presentation, and this one looks to be another smart, potent, focused learning experience. "Reinvent Everything" is a quick guide to an effective digital design strategy (both iPad and other platforms), with great tips on creativity and business. We always learn a lot from Joe's presentations, and this one is no exception. There are sections on development, creativity, technology, partnerships, and app promotion. This is our essential reading for today!

The SPD 45 iPad App: Reviewed

SPD has been getting some nice notices for its new design annual iPad app, which was released last week. Here's what folks have said:

Steven Heller: "The first of its kind: the hardcover design annual re-invented for the iPad." Joe Zeff: "An incredible new iPad app that sets a new standard...the digital version far surpasses the traditional version."

Mario Garcia: "An outstanding first effort...solid, attractive, easy to navigate." There's also a nice interview with app designer (and SPD co-vice president) Josh Klenert, with lots of behind-the-scenes info on its creation.


The SPD 45 iPad app is available here.


Related Stories:
SPD 45: The Design Annual for iPad

Redesigning Bicycling

A look at the redesign of Bicycling magazine with Design Director David Speranza:

Our plan for the redesign was to break away from iconographic photography and take a less-produced approach to the shoots. In the past, we deliberately planned shoots with a single rider and low, flat vistas, with loads of blue sky. The cyclist's speed was controlled so that lighting was optimized and blur was virtually non-existent.

With the redesign, we want to embrace the motion and the environment. Foul weather, high tree lines or low sunlight won't necessarily disqualify a shoot from being worthy and therefore attempted. Additional lighting, if any, will be a challenge in that our goal is to have the appearance of only natural light but our hope is that result will be a more "outdoorsy" feel to the cover and interior photos.

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Cover of the Day, May 23, 2011

Welcome to The SPD Cover of the Day. We'll be posting our favorite covers every Monday and Wednesday. Stay tuned for the best and coolest magazine and newspaper covers, as selected by our stellar group of experts.

The Lab Magazine, Issue 03
Editors-in-Chief/Creative Directors/Publishers: Justin Tyler Close,
Jeremy Power Regimbal
Design Director: Xavier Encinas
Photographer: Frank W Ockenfels 3

Just in time for Judgment Day, May 21

Here's the perfect cover for those waiting for the arrival tomorrow of Judgment Day. If you've seen the subway and magazine ads, you know that the Rapture is coming on May 21 at 6pm. Art director/illustrator Tak Toyoshima created this cover for the May 18, 2011 issue of Boston's Weekly Dig. Comic geeks will recognize the stylistic nod to Jack "King" Kirby, and the character Galactus.

Cover of the Day, May 20, 2011

Welcome to The SPD Cover of the Day. We'll be posting our favorite covers every Monday and Wednesday. Stay tuned for the best and coolest magazine and newspaper covers, as selected by our stellar group of experts.

Interview, May 2011

Editorial Director: Fabien Baron
Creative Director: Karl Templer
Photographer: Mikael Jansson

SPD 45: The Design Annual For iPad

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Cover of the Day, May 18, 2011

Welcome to The SPD Cover of the Day. We'll be posting our favorite covers every Monday and Wednesday. Stay tuned for the best and coolest magazine and newspaper covers, as selected by our stellar group of experts.

g2, April 2, 2011
Art Director: Joanna Cochrane
Photomontage: Sarah Plane

The Story of O, Part 2: The Covers

On Tuesday, June 7, SPD will present The Story of O, featuring design directors Robert Priest and Grace Lee talking about O, the Oprah magazine and the O iPad app. They'll be talking about their work redesigning the print product and launching the app, all just days after the Oprah show goes off the air. It promises to be another great SPD Speakeasy filled with inspiration, learning, and lots of fun.

Over the next month we'll be presenting samples from recent O work, both the print and digital versions. Our second collection is a series of covers from the magazine.

(Above): February 2011. Photograph by Ruven Afanador.

Tickets for The Story of O are selling fast. The last SPD Speakeasy sold out, so get your tickets early! Tickets available here.… MORE

SVA: Off Course Show

Step away from your desk for an hour soon and get over to the School of Visual Arts (209 East 23rd Street). You have to see Kevin O'Callaghan's most recent MFA Designer as Author first-year show; OFF COURSE. I have to admit that I'm just a bit partial here, having taught this talented group of students last fall--but they really are a spectacular bunch. And they've created 18 holes of phobias (!!) that you can actually play through, so give make sure to take a long lunch...
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Magazine of the Year: GQ

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And the Members' Choice Award Goes to...

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Magazine of the Year Finalists #5: Wired

This Friday, May 13, at the SPD Gala, we'll be announcing the winner of this year's Magazine of the Year. This week we'll be running previews of each finalist, building up to Friday's big celebration. Be sure to check in every day to see the best magazine design work of the past year, and be sure to follow the results as they're posted on Twitter in real time Friday night. Our Twitter feed is @SPDtweets. 

The fifth of the five finalists for Magazine of the Year is Wired, creative director: Scott Dadich.

(Above): Wired cover.… MORE

Fast News for May 12, 2011

SPD MEDIA MIX is our regular list of publication design, digital, and media news and updates. Please send your links and news items to SPD at mail@spd.org and we'll add them to the Mix.

>> Has the "Jesus Tablet" Risen? Despite recently making iPad app deals with Apple, Condé Nast and Hearst executives "aren't exactly doing backflips" about their iPad business. After months of heated negotiations, the publishers finally threw in the towel and will see if they could make a go of it the Steve Jobs way. In other words, it's not exactly the deal publishers were hoping for. Meanwhile, Time Inc. continues to sit it out and observe.

>> Adweak? After being welcomed with glowing reviews, the newly reimagined Adweek has begun to fade on the advertising front.

>> How Now: Megan Lane Patrick, has been named content director and editor at How magazine. She replaces long-time editor Bryn Mooth, who has decided to follow her passion.

>> Golden Gatefolds: Another sign of the slow, steady advertising recovery is the incredible jump in advertisers buying gatefold ads in magazines. Gatefold ads jumped 50 percent in the first quarter of 2011.

Magazine of the Year Finalists #4: W

This Friday, May 13, at the SPD Gala, we'll be announcing the winner of this year's Magazine of the Year. This week we'll be running previews of each finalist, building up to Friday's big celebration. Be sure to check in every day to see the best magazine design work of the past year, and be sure to follow the results as they're posted on Twitter in real time Friday night. Our Twitter feed is @SPDtweets. 

The fourth of the five finalists for Magazine of the Year is W, creative director: Jody Quon, design director: Joseph Logan.

(Above): W cover.… MORE

Cover of the Day, May 12, 2011

Welcome to The SPD Cover of the Day. We'll be posting our favorite covers every Monday and Wednesday. Stay tuned for the best and coolest magazine and newspaper covers, as selected by our stellar group of experts.

Worth, #12
Art Director: Dean Sebring
Illustration: Brian Stauffer

Online Student Design Show:

Entries Due June 1

Forget rules, forget themes and categories, forget formulas and all that normal competition jazz ... for our new Show and Tell 2011 Online Student Editorial Design Show, all you gotta do is show us the best stuff you have going.

If you're a student or spring 2011 graduate, we want to see the awesome editorial design you've been working on. Whether it's from your class assignments, from your school publication, or just personal projects, it's all good. And if enough of our jury of pros likes it, we'll showcase your work in an exclusive online gallery on this here SPD website. It's a great way to get your work in front of loads of magazine art directors with the power to hire fresh, young talent like yourself. Find all the details and a downloadable PDF here. And hurry, the deadline is Wednesday, June 1!

Cover of the Day, May 11, 2011

Welcome to The SPD Cover of the Day. We'll be posting our favorite covers every Monday and Wednesday. Stay tuned for the best and coolest magazine and newspaper covers, as selected by our stellar group of experts.

Fortune Magazine, May 23, 2011
Creative Director: John Korpics
Designer: John Korpics
Typography: Carl DeTorres
Illustration (Apple): Joe Zeff Design

Magazine of the Year Finalists #3: More

This Friday, May 13, at the SPD Gala, we'll be announcing the winner of this year's Magazine of the Year. This week we'll be running previews of each finalist, building up to Friday's big celebration. Be sure to check in every day to see the best magazine design work of the past year, and be sure to follow the results as they're posted on Twitter in real time Friday night. Our Twitter feed is @SPDtweets. 

The third of the five finalists for Magazine of the Year is More, creative director: Debra Bishop.

(Above): More cover, November 2010.… MORE

Members' Choice Voting 2011

Attention all members of SPD! As we get ready for the Gala on Friday, with a review of some of the Magazine of the Year finalists, and more to come throughout the week, we have one final challenge for you: time to select your top choice for the only Gold Medal selected by all the members of the Society -- SPD Members' Choice.

Entries are shown after the jump; you may click on each image to see a larger version of the entry on its own. Each member magazine is allowed to enter just one "best choice" from their year, in any format they choose. You will find visual solutions presented as covers, as single pages or spreads, as entire issues (as represented by a sample cover and inside pages), and your challenge is to apply your professional judgment and experience to choose the best solution. It may be design, photo, illustration or infographic; it may be a cover that stuns you or a collection of work from an issue that overwhelms you.

We encourage you to take some time before you vote; there's a reason we're putting this preview live this afternoon but not sending our members the voting link until tomorrow morning: we want you to have some time to look through all these entries and weigh your decision carefully. VOTING WILL CLOSE AT 6PM on Thursday, May 12th.

The Members' Choice winner will be announced at the Gala on Friday, May 13th. Finalists after the jump...
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Fast News for May 10, 2011

SPD MEDIA MIX is our regular list of publication design, digital, and media news and updates. Please send your links and news items to SPD at mail@spd.org and we'll add them to the Mix.


NATIONAL MAGAZINE AWARDS SPECIAL
>> The winners of the 2011 National Magazine Awards were announced last night at the annual awards presentation at the spectacular 583 Park Avenue ballroom in New York City. Hostess Katie Couric, along with celebrity presenters Jillian Michaels, David Copperfield, Rocco DiSpirito, and Dr. Mehmet Oz, doled out awards in 18 categories. … MORE

The Story of O: The Feature Section Openers

On Tuesday, June 7, SPD will present The Story of O, featuring design directors Robert Priest and Grace Lee talking about O, the Oprah magazine and the O iPad app. They'll be talking about their work redesigning the print product and launching the app, all just days after the Oprah show goes off the air. It promises to be another great SPD Speakeasy filled with inspiration, learning, and lots of fun.

Over the next month we'll be presenting samples from recent O work, both the print and digital versions. Our first collection is a series of single-page feature well openers.

(Above): June 2011, illustration by Angela Riechers.

Tickets for The Story of O are selling fast. The last SPD Speakeasy sold out, so get your tickets early! Tickets available here.
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Magazine of the Year Finalists #2: GQ

This Friday, May 13, at the SPD Gala, we'll be announcing the winner of this year's Magazine of the Year. This week we'll be running previews of each finalist, building up to Friday's big celebration. Be sure to check in every day to see the best magazine design work of the past year, and be sure to follow the results as they're posted on Twitter in real time Friday night. Our Twitter feed is @SPDtweets.

The second of the five finalists for Magazine of the Year is GQ, design director: Fred Woodward.

(Above): GQ cover, June 2010.
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Magazine of the Year Finalists #1: Bloomberg Businessweek

This Friday, May 13, at the SPD Gala, we'll be announcing the winner of this year's Magazine of the Year. This week we'll be running previews of each finalist, building up to Friday's big celebration. Be sure to check in every day to see the best magazine design work of the past year, and be sure to follow the results as they're posted on Twitter in real time Friday night. Our Twitter feed is @SPDtweets.

The first of the five finalists for Magazine of the Year is Bloomberg Businessweek, creative director: Richard Turley.

(Above): Bloomberg Businessweek, December 20, 2010. Creative director: Richard Turley.
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Dead Osama bin Laden Magazine Covers

There's nothing we enjoy more than these new Dead Osama bin Laden magazine covers. If you attended the SPD Speakeasy with former Time art director Arthur Hochstein, you know that the Time cover, illustrated by Tim O'Brien, has been ready since 2002. We think it's aged well, and we like the boldness, immediacy and artfulness of all the covers in this collection.

We'll be posting new covers as they appear. Please send us any that we've missed.

(Above): The New Yorker, illustrator: Gurbuz Dogan Eksioglu.


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Fast News for May 5, 2011

SPD MEDIA MIX is our regular list of publication design, digital, and media news and updates. Please send your links and news items to SPD at mail@spd.org and we'll add them to the Mix.

>> Hearst Bites the Apple: Hearst has struck a deal with Apple that will make it the first big publisher to sell subscriptions for its digital editions on the iPad. The company will sell iPad subs for Esquire, Popular Mechanics and O, The Oprah Magazine through the iTunes store starting next month. The subscriptions will cost $19.99 a year, or $1.99 a month. Is Conde Nast hot on their heels?

>> Key to the Cities: AD Steven Banks and his magazine, Los Angeles, were the big winners at the National City & Regional Magazine 2011 Awards, held this week in Chicago. Banks was named "Designer of the Year" while Los Angeles won the award for "Excellence in Design." Runners-up included 5280 Magazine, Cincinnati Magazine (also "Best Cover" winner), Seattle Met, and Texas Monthly, which also won for its website.

>> The Font Oscars: Are you working with winning fonts? Check out the Type Directors Club's TDC2 2011 winners here.

Cover of the Day, May 4, 2011

Welcome to The SPD Cover of the Day. We'll be posting our favorite covers every Monday and Wednesday. Stay tuned for the best and coolest magazine and newspaper covers, as selected by our stellar group of experts.


The New York Times Magazine, May 1, 2011
Design Director: Arem Duplessis
Art Director: Gail Bichler
Designers: Arem Duplessis, Gail Bichler
Illustrator: Sara Cwynar

Fast News for May 3, 2011

SPD MEDIA MIX is our regular list of publication design, digital, and media news and updates. Please send your links and news items to SPD at mail@spd.org and we'll add them to the Mix.

>> Launches Gone Wild: New magazine launches doubled in Q1 of 2011 compared to last year's numbers, according to MediaFinder.com. Of the 54 launches, the majority were focused on regional interests, food, and women's issues.

>> Get Your Free Magazines!: Time Inc. and Apple have reached a distribution deal for all of the publisher's magazine apps. Sports Illustrated, Fortune, People, and Time will all be available as free downloads for subscribers to their print editions.

"The Last Blast": Dan Winters Photographs the Shuttle Launch for Texas Monthly

After an aborted attempt on Friday, and another postponement now this afternoon, we are waiting for next Saturday to see the final launch of the space shuttle Endeavour. The trip is part of NASA's final set of missions for the entire space shuttle program, making each trip to the heavens even more rare as they close in on sending the final ship, Atlantis, up in June of 2011. (And causing job security anxiety for the astronauts.) In an amazing photo essay for the April 2011 issue of Texas Monthly, photographer Dan Winters documented the first of these final flights, that of the space shuttle Discovery, launched this past February. TM Creative Director T.J. Tucker and Dan share some of the work published in the magazine with us here, and more of the making-of process that went into creating the historic photo essay. From T.J. Tucker, Texas Monthly Creative Director:

In early 2010, I met my good friend and longtime Texas Monthly contributing photographer Dan Winters for coffee at a cool little spot off South Congress Avenue in downtown Austin. We do this a handful of times a year to catch up and talk about upcoming projects. Since I'm fortunate enough to be working at a magazine that still appreciates a good photo essay, I'm always looking for ideas. On this day Dan was talking about NASA and the end of the space shuttle program. In twelve months, NASA would be sending its final missions into space, and Dan wanted to be there--toting not one camera but eight, with the intention of capturing the most dynamic images from this singular fleeting event. Now, let's see, Dan Winters + space shuttles. Hmm . . .

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Cover of the Day, May 2, 2011

Welcome to The SPD Cover of the Day. We'll be posting our favorite covers every Monday and Wednesday. Stay tuned for the best and coolest magazine and newspaper covers, as selected by our stellar group of experts.


Portland Monthly, May 2011
Art Director: Jason Blackheart
Sign Painter: Peter Vogel/Nutmegger Workshop
Photographer: Christine Taylor

TIME: The X Factor

Aurthur Hochstein spoke of TIME's iconic "X" covers and continuing the tradition with covers marking the demise of Saddam Hussein and Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi back in October at SPD's 1,000 Covers evening. With the breaking news that Osama Bin Laden has been killed (on the day of the 8th Anniversary of "Mission Accomplished" no less) will the magazine will run another edition? … MORE

SPD 45 & SPD 46 iPad App FAQs

Thanks for downloading SPD 46 and SPD 45 for iPad. This is your place to get more information and answer questions about SPD 46 or SPD 45. Please don't forget to rate and review our app in the App Store. Thanks.… MORE

"Above & Beyond" The Traditional iPad Publication App

The last two weeks have seen the release of three high profile non-traditional publication apps for the iPad: Al Gore's Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis, The Final Hours of Portal 2, and now Above & Beyond: George Steinmetz--the latter two coming out of Joe Zeff Design's shop in Montclair, NJ.… MORE

Bonus! Cover of the Day, May 1, 2011

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