FOREWORD

EX TREME SUN

FROM EXTREMES BY MARIO TESTINO PAGE 108

YOU’VE PROBABLY HEARD THE ONE ABOUT HOW we’re living in extreme times. Maybe you’ve heard it from a candidate for political office. “Extreme times” has become code for lots of bad things—the financial crisis, rising gas prices, global warming, the war in Iraq, partisan rancor, America’s tarnished international reputation, etc., etc. You name it, it’s bad! But we’re not here to tell you that the world is going to hell in a handbasket. In our first-ever winter issue, we’re taking the word “extreme” back from the extremists by exploring the kinds of extreme living that only a VMAN could understand.

Guest editor Mario Testino sets the tone with an exploration of the most extreme forms of masculinity today—many of which would never have appeared in a men’s magazine a generation ago. Mario personally researched and selected his subjects, and the result is some of his best and most personal work. Mario also photographed rising star Chace Crawford for the cover, while Michael Martin found out why everyone’s talking about the devilishly likeable Gossip Girl actor. Elsewhere in the issue, we take a look at the ways two very different rock-and-roll frontmen, Andrew W. K. and Bradford Cox, have constructed their public personas, and check in with a pair of prickly old art provocateurs, photographer William Eggleston and avant-garde filmmaker Kenneth Anger. We also report on teenage vampires, hard-working cheerleaders, and rugged outdoorsmen, with our usual extra helping of far-out fashion.

But back for a moment to those other extremes, the ones that dominate the cable news cycle. If you’d like to weigh in on any of these issues, there are more opportunities to be heard than ever before, as Max Lugavere and Jason Silva of the young cable network Current TV remind us with their stirring call for civic participation. And don’t forget to take part in our most time-honored civic tradition by going to the polls this November. JESSE ASHLOCK