By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
September 29, 1998
Multimedia star Oprah Winfrey can add cover-girl queen to her list of credits.
A longtime fixture on TV Guide, People and women’s magazines, Winfrey graces the cover of both the October Vogue and this week’s Time magazine. Both are timed to hype the opening of her film “Beloved” next month.
The 11-page Time feature offers a comprehensive look at everything Oprah, including a review of her movie (a rave from film critic Richard Corliss) and a journal she kept while making it: “We did a read-through with almost all the actors present. Sitting around a table, not in costume; Jonathan asked us not to act, just read the words. And just the words took us to another place. I had trouble finishing my last scene with Danny (Glover) . . . When we finished, there weren’t many dry eyes in the room. We realized what an incredible journey this is we’re undertaking.”
The October issue of Esquire features a disturbing photo of a man’s fractured head. It accompanies the excellent cover story “What Did You Do After the Crash, Daddy?” In analyzing the economy, Walter Russell Mead writes: “Asia hasn’t found the silver bullet to kill underdevelopment in a single generation, as everybody thought. The IMF alone has pumped tens of billions into the crisis and has exactly nothing to show for it. Throw in the World Bank and relief agencies and we are looking at $140 billion of good money thrown after bad since July, 1997. If this were a wildfire, it would be out of control.”
Scott Carrier’s examination of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge in Cambodia also is a must read. “Can a country ever outrun the ghosts of two million innocent souls?” he asks.
The October issue of The Source is both fat and phat. Former teen rapper MC Lyte is all grown up now and thinking about the next phase of her career. “You have to dream it to be it,” she says. “So I’m dreaming of me being what I choose to be. An actress.” There’s also a fun feature on “Rush Hour” star Jackie Chan, who says, “When you look at my films, it’s more like comedy than fighting. Why? Because I hate violence.”
There’s nothing more irritating than a misleading headline, and that’s what you get with the October issue of Redbook. The blurb on cover girl Jennifer Aniston reads, “The truth behind those hot kisses with Brad Pitt, the reason she’s got a big case of baby lust, and the secret to her amazing 30-pound weight loss.” Where to start? First, there are no quotes about Pitt, much less any pix of the happy couple. And that weight loss story is old news. She lost 30 pounds about a decade ago.
The premier issue of Madison reminds me a little of the late Egg in terms of packaging. But unlike that magazine, Madison actually has some substance to its gloss. Its cooler-than-thou cover (half of a woman’s face) is misleading. The feature on kabillionaire Richard Branson of the Virgin entertainment and air travel conglomerate is a nice read (although he doesn’t mention the hots he has for Salma Hayek, which he lecherously displayed on a recent episode of Conan O’Brien’s talk show). As for the fashion spreads, they could use some work. Note to self: do not try to emulate the topless model sporting the Marge Simpson blue hairdon’t. It doesn’t even work on her.
