I wanted to keep this as review-free as possible,
but I have to justify my magazine habit somehow. So I bring you...

Periodicals that rock the
purple monkey dishwasher
(#2)

COLORS

(site is great if you have shockwave; poo-poo if you don't)

Of all the magazines that my friends casually pick up from the floor and peruse when they visit, this is the one that actually makes it to the sofa with them: it's a visually stunning magazine.

Yes, it is a vehicle of clothing company, Benetton but Benetton bankrolls this expensive project not to showcase its clothing line but to illustrate that Benetton has a global outlook.

"COLORS is a global magazine about local cultures"

Sold in 80 countries, published in five
languages, COLORS was created to reach
young people everywhere. The magazine is
based on a simple idea: Diversity is good. Each
edition takes a major social issue-- War,
Religion, Race, Travel, even Shopping-- and
watches it unfold around the world. Pick up the
issue about Sports, for example, and you'll find
out what Sumo wrestlers in Japan eat for lunch,
what Buzkashi players in Afghanistan use for a
ball (a decapitated goat) and what athletes
around the world wear to protect the groin.

While COLORS is a porthole to how the other half lives, it isn't packaged as passive documentary. The agents provocateurs at COLORS make aggressive attempts to kick you in the perceptions on every page.

The agents provocateurs responsible for COLORS include by Benetton ad photographer and troublemaker Oliviero Toscani and graphic design guru Tibor Kalman who was appointed editor-in-chief and has since left.

Any store that actually cares about magazines will carry COLORS.

Consider it a litmus test of sorts.