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Saturday, December 21, 2024

Judge UNLEASHES Ruling that Trump DIDN’T SEE COMING

The Economist Magazine Cover For 12/21/1024

The Economist Unsubscribe 10:03 AM (2 hours ago) to me The Economist Read in browser December 21st 2024 How we chose this week’s image SUBSCRIBER ONLY Cover Story How we chose this week’s image The Economist Josie Delap Christmas editor Choosing the cover of the end-of-year double issue can feel odd. No matter how tumultuous the news (and events in Syria and Georgia are making sure that the holiday season brings little in the way of calm), it swerves away from it. Instead inspiration comes from myriad special features, which this year include everything from efforts to cancel Pushkin in Odessa, to the glories of the Triassic period, to the afterlife of aeroplanes. It has become customary for our brilliant designers to come up with two types of cover. The first takes inspiration from just one story to create a single image that nods to the season in some way. The other incorporates all the stories for readers to discover (Christmas Easter eggs, if you like). Last year’s cover was an unapologetically festive version of the second variety: a Christmas tree in suitably seasonal green and red. This year was no different. Our first idea drew on a piece about Paul Salopek, an American writer who is on a 38,000km journey across the planet, retracing the path of the first human migration—on foot. Our correspondent walked with Mr Salopek through the heat of a Japanese summer. That didn’t seem quite the right weather for a cover at this time of year so the sketch showed him walking through the snow. In the first iteration he is rather small, dwarfed by the sheer length of his journey but also oddly overshadowed by a telephone pole. The second idea drew on a story about the world’s greatest fish market, Toyosu, in the Japanese capital, Tokyo. Fish is more Christmassy than you might think. Many countries incorporate fish into their festive meals (herring in Denmark, shrimp on the BBQ in Australia, the feast of the seven fishes in Italy). And a fish market is an icy place, which also seemed to suit the season. The illustrator, Xinmei Liu, took inspiration from a Japanese woodblock print, “Fish Market at Zakoba”, from the series, “Famous Views of Naniwa”, by Utagawa Hiroshige, which dates back to around 1834. It felt appropriate because apart from the fish market and Mr Salopek’s walk through Japan, we have two other stories about Japan in the issue this year: one about the rigours of Japanese child-rearing, and another about Godzilla, a classic of the Japanese film industry. Ms Liu used the image as a starting point for a cover showing a fish market that featured references to all the stories in the issue. Her first version works well. A good Samaritan helps someone who has slipped over. An axolotl lurks in a tank (mournfully, I assume, given their status as a delicacy in Japan). A couple canoodle between crustaceans, a nod to the story about how little anyone actually knows about sex. A cat and a dog get under everyone’s feet, representing the tale of America’s abandoned pets and the network of volunteers rescuing them. It’s all in black and white so it’s hard to imagine the mood of the final design. The colours of the original artwork are muted blues and browns. The blues would work but replicating those tones wholesale wouldn’t bring the cheer we want from a holiday cover. The Harvard pennant looks odd in a tank of water. We’re missing Pushkin, who made a late appearance in the issue in a piece about cancel culture in Ukraine. And there isn’t enough space to advertise the stories in the issue—crucial information to tempt readers. In the redrafted first option, Mr Salopek looms much larger and the pole has gone. A heavily laden donkey has appeared, a nice allusion to the extent of his journey and the time of year. The balance of the image works far better and overall it is charming. But it might not hold readers’ interest for two weeks. The reworked fish market is delightful. The colours are warm and cheerful. The fairy lights glow and now include a planetary bulb alluding to a story charting the entire contents of the universe. A new string of lights has been wound around the coppiced bonsai tree. Pushkin has joined the axolotl in the fish tank and the Harvard flag is pinned in a more fitting spot. The references to each story are distinct and cryptic enough to keep you poring over it, if not for a fortnight, then at least for the duration of a glass of mulled wine. Cover image • View large image (“Christmas double issue”) Christmas specials → A journalist retraces humanity’s journey out of Africa—on foot → How do you fit everything in the universe on a chart? → How better data could lead to better sex → A day in the life of Toyosu, the world’s greatest fish market