Wednesday Morning Magazine Roundup

“It’s all about the babies!” declares the cover of Life & Style, in what some might find a daring nude shot of very pregnant Mariah Carey. At least it was daring years back when Demi Moore struck a similar pose on the cover of Vanity Fair. Here it seems kind of tame, especially when paired with OK USA’s cover of “More Teen Mom Babies!,” which at one time would definitely have been scandalous and now is scandalously celebrated.

In keeping with the theme, OK also has “Khloe & Reese pregnancy news,” taking us over to Redbook, which splashes “The Kardashians Talk!” on the cover and promises to reveal “Baby plans!” and “Body secrets!” inside. OK, too, cites “Britney’s strange behavior”—an opposite stance than US Weekly’s, which fronts a great head shot of Brit and tells of her “new life,” i.e., what “she’s learned” and her “life with her boys and whether she’ll marry again.”

US also flaunts Courteney’s “secret fling” with her co-star. In Touch likewise devotes the bulk of its cover to Kendra & Hank, “Torn apart by Another Woman,” but also features its own “Teen Mom Exclusive” and “Kailyn’s Pregnancy Scare.” Star, too, picks up on Courteney’s “Double Cross” with Josh Hopkins (after she fixed him up with Jen!), but goes with the explosive “blow-up!” brought on by Brad getting “caught in nude scandal with sexy co-star!” Looks like Life & Style’s late on this one, though, as they have new photos of “Brad & Angie’s dream home.”

After all this we had to open up Time Out New York’s “Food & Drink Awards 2011” cover story naming “the city’s best restaurants and bars.” But maybe we drank too much: After checking out Cosmopolitan’s “75 sex moves men crave” we quickly lost count, and passed out—of course--before getting to the “sex position [that] increases female orgasm by 56%.” Alluring cover, though, of Paramore’s Hayley Williams.

Nice shot, too, of Wendy Williams on the cover of Essence, which additionally focuses on “Real stories of amazing friends.” Stephanie Seymour graces the cover of Town & Country with her story “on recovering her life and marriage.”

Over at Nylon it’s Dave Grohl on the cover. But while he predictably discourses “on the best—and loudest—Foo Fighters album in years”—says Nylon—lead time was too long to get into his running feud with Glee for not allowing it to use his music in the show. But we also liked the inside story on Benedikt Taschen’s “publishing revolution”: Publisher Taschen puts out the most extraordinary books, including GOAT--Greatest Of All Time, the Muhammad Ali book to end all Muhammad Ali books—20 x 20-inches, 75 pounds, 792 pages, priced at $4,500 for the “Collector’s Edition,” $15,000 for a special “Champ’s Edition.” Happy to learn they recently put out an “affordable” $150 version.

And speaking of collectors, Mojo commemorates the 10th anniversary of Joey Ramone’s death with a Ramones cover, with a special The Roots Of The Ramones CD attached. Gives us the chance here to promote the first book about the Ramones—Ramones: An American Band—written by one Jim Bessman and still in print, we think!

--jim bessman