Life for poor SFluxe Editor would be so much easier were he Communist. At least the magazine bills would go down. That’s what I thought after reading a recent statement by Fidel Castro:

“Commercial advertising and consumerism are incompatible with the survival of the species. After all possible calculations, you will realize that natural resources, space, climate, weather, and the system cannot yield any other outcome, given their pace and the direction in which they are moving.”

But as I look over at a stack of magazines for September 2007, adding up to thousands of pages of words and pictures, I tend to worry less about the survival of the species than the survival of my own sanity. How many photos of $800 shoes and “fabulous fall fashion” can one person take in a month?  Here’s a breakdown of what’s piled up before me (in no particular oder):

• Vogue - 840 pages
• 7×7 - 192
• Conde Nast Portfolio - 262
• Men’s Vogue - 264
• San Francisco - 280
• Cartier - 128
• Bloomberg Market - 160
• Nob Hill Gazette - 39
• Elle - 592
• Vanity Fair - 414
• Martha Stewart Living - 256
• Wired - 162
• Domino - 150
• C - 176
• Radar - 90
• Smart Money - 120
• Business 2.0 - 106
• W - 640
• Architectural Digest - 166
• Monocle - 210

Over 5,100 pages of… stuff! It’s everything from an article on the Kurdistan oil business to Martha Stewart’s iPod collection and Gary and OJ Shansby’s Sonoma estate.  Each magazine has yellow post-it notes sticking out of the side to highlight article ideas for SFluxe, business ideas, or just some cool song/book/website I need to pay attention to.  (And yes, of course I sticky-noted the wonderful new Vanessa Getty ad for Leiber!)

But whatever insights or ideas might be found in these magazines, for the most part they’re just ad after ad after ad.

I’ve always been addicted to magazines but now it’s at an all-time craziness.   I just keep buying them and feeding the corporate beast.  But what can one do?  If one had to chose sides — Fidel Castro or Anna Wintour — I’d have to go with the tough chick in Chanel.

At least the downfall of the species will be perfume scented.

• Further Reading: “A Reflection on Hard and Obvious Realities” [Fidel Castro]
• Further Reading: “Sienna Miller for US Vogue Spetember” [bryanboy.com]