ABC1 30-something man gives his verdict on ShortList

As an ABC1 30-something man living in London who doesn’t normally buy men’s magazines I am bang centre in the target market for new free weekly ShortList which launched today.
And to my surprise, I really liked it.
At first glance it looks and feels like the sort of supplement which would fall free out of a Sunday newspaper – which considering it is free anyway shouldn’t be a bad thing but is for some reason a bit off-putting.
And when you delve inside – the bitty, scatter-gun approach to the content continues to make it feel fairly downmarket. It reminded me of the patronising way MTV used to bombard viewers with dancing graphics to try and keep their attention for more than a few seconds (and maybe still does for all I know).
But as I delved further in the sheer volume stuff in ShortlIst meant that for all the misses – a fair few off the editorial features were hits for me.
The first picture from the set of De Niro and Pacino’s new film Righteous Kill. What bloke wouldn’t be interested in that?(mind you, I make a habit of avoiding any film whose title sounds like the latest US mission in Iraq).
There’s an amusing enough column from Danny Wallace – which thankfully ran long enough for me to feel like I was actually reading, rather than just looking at some sort of editorial flash cards.
Despite myself, I found I just had to read the feature on “how to work less and join the new rich”.
Most of the eponymous lists I found a little annoying – like being told effectively that I was too shallow to read actual prose.
But some of these even won me over – like the greatest film role refusals in Hollywood history. Imagine how different the world would be if Burt Reynolds had played Han Solo in Star Wars? It’s staggering if you think about it.
Rounded off by a bit of sport, a longer feature on Sumo’s answer to Gazza and a quick round up of what’s on TV and I have to admit that for once next week I won’t be dodging the small army of merchandisers handing out free publications at Waterloo.
An impressive first effort from the ShortList editorial team. But they will have had a few months to come up with a stonking first issue. The question is can they do it week after week.