OMNI Magazine Downloadable from Internet Archive
November 1, 2012 10:06 PM Subscribe
OMNI Magazine delighted, informed, and even confused geeks of many flavours, and is now available to be downloaded from the Internet Archive. [previously]
I just clicked the first issue in the sidebar -- October '78 -- and early in the issue is an iron-on ad featuring the space shuttle.
posted by Catblack at 10:18 PM on November 1, 2012 [6 favorites]
posted by Catblack at 10:18 PM on November 1, 2012 [6 favorites]
I want my "End of the World News". More than ever.
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:24 PM on November 1, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:24 PM on November 1, 2012 [1 favorite]
Five fingers? Ew.
posted by Senor Cardgage at 10:26 PM on November 1, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by Senor Cardgage at 10:26 PM on November 1, 2012 [2 favorites]
I've wound up in the timeline where everything is accessible to everybody forever and ever, haven't I?
posted by Celsius1414 at 10:27 PM on November 1, 2012 [4 favorites]
posted by Celsius1414 at 10:27 PM on November 1, 2012 [4 favorites]
OMNI magazine was cool, and I'm glad to know this online archive of it exists. Thanks for the post, batmonkey!
posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 10:29 PM on November 1, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 10:29 PM on November 1, 2012 [2 favorites]
I have a few OMNI next to my Next Genration.
posted by Mblue at 10:31 PM on November 1, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by Mblue at 10:31 PM on November 1, 2012 [2 favorites]
Wow, the ads in that October 1978 OMNI are indeed very 70's — Jovan Sex Appeal Aftershave on one side and "Have You Lived Before This Life?" by L. Ron Hubbard on the facing page.
posted by RichardP at 10:33 PM on November 1, 2012 [4 favorites]
posted by RichardP at 10:33 PM on November 1, 2012 [4 favorites]
Remember when the silver pages / paper was so controversial?
I found a copy of OMNI I had left in my old room at my mom's house. When cleaning it out this year after she died I took the copy home and read it cover to cover on the airplane. It's held up remarkably well.
Few magazines would be just as enjoyable to read 20 years after the fact, but OMNI is one of them.
posted by bottlebrushtree at 10:52 PM on November 1, 2012 [4 favorites]
I found a copy of OMNI I had left in my old room at my mom's house. When cleaning it out this year after she died I took the copy home and read it cover to cover on the airplane. It's held up remarkably well.
Few magazines would be just as enjoyable to read 20 years after the fact, but OMNI is one of them.
posted by bottlebrushtree at 10:52 PM on November 1, 2012 [4 favorites]
OMNI was where I first heard about numbers stations and smart bars. I also once read an article that explained how to figure out if you were dead or just lucid dreaming- maybe it was lucid dreaming or awake. In any case, OMNI always had a weird veneer of scifi creepiness that would sometimes keep me up at night. For years, I was disturbed by the idea of discorporate voices counting in Russian zipping through the aether. I wish I had kept all my issues.
posted by oneirodynia at 11:03 PM on November 1, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by oneirodynia at 11:03 PM on November 1, 2012 [2 favorites]
Oh shit! My gramma ended up with a free subscription to OMNI after signing up for Games magazine. I used to read them up in the attic, along with mid-'70s National Lampoons and Dr. Strange comics. I always loved going there, but I don't think she understood why I was so anti-social despite concocting the perfect geek petri dish for me to thrive in.
Also awesome: I now have enough electronics skill and money to build one of those insect robots that they had instructions for. I kept that issue for years, wanting to build that, and could never get it together with my dad and ended up losing it. Now I just gotta find it again (it had big red embryonic space babies on the cover, I remember that much, and an article about Mars colonies, and some Philip Jose Farmer knock-off story about living in said colonies).
posted by klangklangston at 11:07 PM on November 1, 2012 [4 favorites]
Also awesome: I now have enough electronics skill and money to build one of those insect robots that they had instructions for. I kept that issue for years, wanting to build that, and could never get it together with my dad and ended up losing it. Now I just gotta find it again (it had big red embryonic space babies on the cover, I remember that much, and an article about Mars colonies, and some Philip Jose Farmer knock-off story about living in said colonies).
posted by klangklangston at 11:07 PM on November 1, 2012 [4 favorites]
What a trip down memory lane! I loved reading it as a kid in the late 70s. Circumstances conspired to keep me away from an Omni-stocked newstand after about '81, so I kind of moved on. I had no idea it lasted until the mid 90s!
posted by 2N2222 at 11:21 PM on November 1, 2012
posted by 2N2222 at 11:21 PM on November 1, 2012
I saw the bracketing and smaller text "previously" and my brain took it as [more inside], whereupon I found myself confusedly reading about OMNI and Bob Guccione's death. I got to the bottom of the thread and it was closed. Why? WHY IS THE THREAD LOCKED oh it's from 2010.
It was mind-boggling! Time travel, on the cheap! THE SPACE TIME CONTINUUM WAS IN FLUX.
posted by mwhybark at 11:41 PM on November 1, 2012 [2 favorites]
It was mind-boggling! Time travel, on the cheap! THE SPACE TIME CONTINUUM WAS IN FLUX.
posted by mwhybark at 11:41 PM on November 1, 2012 [2 favorites]
A few weeks ago, when Newsweek announced that it was taking all publication online, I immediately thought that it was "going the way of OMNI," which is kind of a shame: OMNI was super great and was taking a very forward looking, bold risk by going online. Sadly, this did not pan out.
I want to say that the Tim Leary book Chaos & CyberCulture turned me on to OMNI back when I was a teenager (which was certainly not long before OMNI went online, and then went under). :) I'm glad its back.
posted by wormwood23 at 11:59 PM on November 1, 2012
I want to say that the Tim Leary book Chaos & CyberCulture turned me on to OMNI back when I was a teenager (which was certainly not long before OMNI went online, and then went under). :) I'm glad its back.
posted by wormwood23 at 11:59 PM on November 1, 2012
Finally, when someone asks me why my pool team was named the Buttered-Toast Cats, I'll be able to print a concise and direct answer. Or, on a quick search, maybe not.
posted by Shotgun Shakespeare at 12:22 AM on November 2, 2012
posted by Shotgun Shakespeare at 12:22 AM on November 2, 2012
I saw my first random dot stereograms in OMNI (which turn out to be much older than I thought). Awesome.
posted by knave at 12:47 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by knave at 12:47 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
Jumped in, got a William Gibson short story pretty quickly.
posted by carter at 1:21 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by carter at 1:21 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
Hooray, thank you so much for this! As a teenager I came into a dozen or so battered OMNIs from 1980-1982, just at the same time as I got into William Gibson and also science proper. I've pored over them many, many times over the years and have a vague plan to get them bound to stop them falling apart any more than they are already. I can't wait to dive into the full archive.
posted by daisyk at 2:20 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by daisyk at 2:20 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
God, OMNI was a great magazine. I subscribed for a couple of years in the mid-1980s, wish I had done so sooner.
posted by maxwelton at 2:37 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by maxwelton at 2:37 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
OMNI's fiction was the greatest thing for many years - remember the compilations? And the kickass covers?
Best "Gee Whiz BANG!" mag ever.
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 3:35 AM on November 2, 2012 [2 favorites]
Best "Gee Whiz BANG!" mag ever.
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 3:35 AM on November 2, 2012 [2 favorites]
Sandkings - - August 1979 - - that is all.
posted by fairmettle at 4:11 AM on November 2, 2012 [10 favorites]
posted by fairmettle at 4:11 AM on November 2, 2012 [10 favorites]
OMNI was the club where Popular Science met Amazing Tales in 1978. The focus was still on the more technical, material aspects of 'the Future is Now'. In the early 1990's, their love child grew up, and (as predicted) was less materialistic than previous generations. However, this did not manifest as widespread transcendance, as the 1960's era Seekers had predicted, but rather as a far greater investment in the social and sensory world. Thus WIRED was born. A bevy of smartphones was the next generation, no longer existing in the paper universe, and the melding of introversion with extraversion was completed.
posted by dragonsi55 at 4:20 AM on November 2, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by dragonsi55 at 4:20 AM on November 2, 2012 [2 favorites]
I was a charter subscriber; in fact, it was still called Nova when I subscribed, but according to Wikipedia they changed the name before the first issue to avoid confusion with the TV show Nova. Omni is where I first learned about James Randi, among other great things.
I just clicked the first issue in the sidebar -- October '78 -- and early in the issue is an iron-on ad featuring the space shuttle.
I actually made a shirt with that ad; not the greatest final result but to a teenager fascinated with space it was still very cool. I wonder if that shirt is still around somewhere at my mother's house.
posted by TedW at 4:22 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
I just clicked the first issue in the sidebar -- October '78 -- and early in the issue is an iron-on ad featuring the space shuttle.
I actually made a shirt with that ad; not the greatest final result but to a teenager fascinated with space it was still very cool. I wonder if that shirt is still around somewhere at my mother's house.
posted by TedW at 4:22 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
I just clicked the first issue in the sidebar -- October '78 -- and early in the issue is an iron-on ad featuring the space shuttle.
That first issue is pretty easy to find in vintage comic stores at a reasonable price, if you want to experiment. It has a swell E.O. Wilson interview that I like to quote.
A while ago I was invited up to a friend of friend cottage. Found a big stack of random old Omnis... it looked like my week just got booked.
posted by ovvl at 4:37 AM on November 2, 2012
That first issue is pretty easy to find in vintage comic stores at a reasonable price, if you want to experiment. It has a swell E.O. Wilson interview that I like to quote.
A while ago I was invited up to a friend of friend cottage. Found a big stack of random old Omnis... it looked like my week just got booked.
posted by ovvl at 4:37 AM on November 2, 2012
Sandkings - - August 1979
Now there's a story that sticks in your head.
I'm also thinking of 'The Watchers' by Orson Scott Card.
Omni had enough short fiction that if you didn't like something, there would always be something else..
posted by ovvl at 4:40 AM on November 2, 2012 [2 favorites]
Now there's a story that sticks in your head.
I'm also thinking of 'The Watchers' by Orson Scott Card.
Omni had enough short fiction that if you didn't like something, there would always be something else..
posted by ovvl at 4:40 AM on November 2, 2012 [2 favorites]
I was always annoyed by the fiction. I wanted more SCIENCE!
I remember switching to Discover with my $3 (?) specifically for that reason. But, the Omni collections were awesome.
posted by DigDoug at 5:04 AM on November 2, 2012
I remember switching to Discover with my $3 (?) specifically for that reason. But, the Omni collections were awesome.
posted by DigDoug at 5:04 AM on November 2, 2012
I feel a great disturbance in the force -- as if millions of Ask MeFi "What was that SF story I read as a child?" questions had cried out in satisfaction and were suddenly silenced.
posted by escabeche at 5:28 AM on November 2, 2012 [6 favorites]
posted by escabeche at 5:28 AM on November 2, 2012 [6 favorites]
Fantastic. It got a little too woo-woo at the end, but lots of great fiction, humor, interviews....
Thanks, batmonkey!
posted by Chrysostom at 5:41 AM on November 2, 2012 [2 favorites]
Thanks, batmonkey!
posted by Chrysostom at 5:41 AM on November 2, 2012 [2 favorites]
I can't wait to get home so I can look at these (work blocks archive.org). It was one of my favorite SF reads and chock full of the short fiction I prefer.
posted by tommasz at 5:42 AM on November 2, 2012
posted by tommasz at 5:42 AM on November 2, 2012
Yep, both OMNI and Wired hit the same button for me when they were new. And both subscriptions petered out after a couple of years.
posted by wenestvedt at 5:49 AM on November 2, 2012
posted by wenestvedt at 5:49 AM on November 2, 2012
Oooooooh shiny! Thank you batmonkey for brigning is to my attention.
posted by Faintdreams at 6:11 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Faintdreams at 6:11 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
A nice way to celebrate the Internet Archive now hosting 10 petabytes of web goodness.
posted by Egg Shen at 6:18 AM on November 2, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by Egg Shen at 6:18 AM on November 2, 2012 [3 favorites]
This is excellent. I always enjoy reading old futurism with a time-traveller's eye (i.e. I know what is going to happen and they do not). I opened up the October 1978 issue and was looking at the piece on upcoming SF tv shows (Battle Star [sic] Galactica! Mork and Mindy! Project UFO!) and movies -- my favourite bit is:
Lord of the Rings (United Artists). The long-awaited interpretation of J.R.R. Tolkien's trilogy by Ralph (Fritz the Cat, Wizards) Bakshi is being touted as a "painting in motion." Judging by the previewed production illustrations, the film promises to be a faithful and loving rendition of the tale.
Yeah, no. A few lines down is a mention of an offbeat new low-budget documentary from New Line Cinema, the distributor that had only recently begun producing original content. And in New Zealand, a sixteen-year-old named Peter Jackson was looking forward to the Bakshi film. By the turn of the century (at which point, sayeth p.36, we might have thousands of people living at the Legrange [sic] points), these disparate things would be recombining.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:30 AM on November 2, 2012 [3 favorites]
Lord of the Rings (United Artists). The long-awaited interpretation of J.R.R. Tolkien's trilogy by Ralph (Fritz the Cat, Wizards) Bakshi is being touted as a "painting in motion." Judging by the previewed production illustrations, the film promises to be a faithful and loving rendition of the tale.
Yeah, no. A few lines down is a mention of an offbeat new low-budget documentary from New Line Cinema, the distributor that had only recently begun producing original content. And in New Zealand, a sixteen-year-old named Peter Jackson was looking forward to the Bakshi film. By the turn of the century (at which point, sayeth p.36, we might have thousands of people living at the Legrange [sic] points), these disparate things would be recombining.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:30 AM on November 2, 2012 [3 favorites]
YES
posted by Sticherbeast at 6:49 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Sticherbeast at 6:49 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
oh man so many awesome airbrushed spheres floating above astral checkerboards...
THANK YOU FOR THIS.
posted by SharkParty at 6:54 AM on November 2, 2012 [2 favorites]
THANK YOU FOR THIS.
posted by SharkParty at 6:54 AM on November 2, 2012 [2 favorites]
This is excellent. I always enjoy reading old futurism with a time-traveller's eye (i.e. I know what is going to happen and they do not).
Similar moment, different magazine - I subscribed to something called Science 80 for a while [or Science 81 or 82 or....depending on the year]. In 1981 their cover story was a whole piece on "how the CDC works to investigate new diseases" - I remember reading it and being only mildly fascinated. It was pretty dry, actually - it just walked you through the steps that the CDC used to identify who were the carriers of the disease through data compilation, and what the means of transmission was, and the virology department was doing this and that and the other to examine the microbe involved and how it worked, and...
Thing was, it did that by walking us through the steps that the CDC was actually using right then to check out a new disease that just had cropped up - some weird thing where the immune system shut down completely, and people weren't dying of the disease itself so much as they were dying of a host of other infections. The weird thing was, at first the disease seemed to only affect homosexual men, but then people of Haitian descent were coming down with it, and then a couple of hemophiliac people had it, and...
They hadn't even come up with the name GRID for it yet in the article. That's how early this was.
A few years later, when I finally remembered what I'd read back then, I went looking for that issue but I'd had it stored down in the basement and we'd had a small flood at some point and Mom had thrown it out. I wish I could find that.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:58 AM on November 2, 2012 [3 favorites]
Similar moment, different magazine - I subscribed to something called Science 80 for a while [or Science 81 or 82 or....depending on the year]. In 1981 their cover story was a whole piece on "how the CDC works to investigate new diseases" - I remember reading it and being only mildly fascinated. It was pretty dry, actually - it just walked you through the steps that the CDC used to identify who were the carriers of the disease through data compilation, and what the means of transmission was, and the virology department was doing this and that and the other to examine the microbe involved and how it worked, and...
Thing was, it did that by walking us through the steps that the CDC was actually using right then to check out a new disease that just had cropped up - some weird thing where the immune system shut down completely, and people weren't dying of the disease itself so much as they were dying of a host of other infections. The weird thing was, at first the disease seemed to only affect homosexual men, but then people of Haitian descent were coming down with it, and then a couple of hemophiliac people had it, and...
They hadn't even come up with the name GRID for it yet in the article. That's how early this was.
A few years later, when I finally remembered what I'd read back then, I went looking for that issue but I'd had it stored down in the basement and we'd had a small flood at some point and Mom had thrown it out. I wish I could find that.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:58 AM on November 2, 2012 [3 favorites]
Is there a format that actually works well on a phone? The ePub seems pretty badly formatted in places (maybe scanned without regard to columns?)
posted by newdaddy at 7:09 AM on November 2, 2012
posted by newdaddy at 7:09 AM on November 2, 2012
I'm so glad everyone's as excited about it as I was!
A friend posted it elsewhere and I came to see the conversation about it here and was so surprised it hadn't made it over, yet. This had to be remedied immediately!
OMNI was one of my favourite magazines from when I was very small - I started reading soon after it came out, as thankfully at least two households of my childhood subscribed to it from early on. I read it all through the '80s just as soon as the grown-ups were done, absorbing and wondering and questioning.
It made me watch the future as it happened much more carefully than I think I might have otherwise, to see what would come true, what would fail, what would be dismissed out of hand and then be regretfully realised as the solution all along. And the fiction! At least one household also got most of the other speculative fiction mags, but OMNI was my favourite because of the reliable unexpectedness of the selections. Maybe I read a few things that weren't appropriate for my age level, but, boy, was it perfect for my developing understanding of humanity. And it warned me accurately about the true issues of my time on the planet: environment, energy, advanced war and how they are all tied to seething, unchecked population explosion.
So, we didn't get the rocks that harmlessly encase toxic waste and could be used to sustainably build with after. But we do have a space station. The shuttle program is over. But we're on Mars. We still use cars with wheels on the ground. But the internet is approaching ubiquity. We haven't cured cancer. But we can install electrodes between heart and brain to quell Dystonia. OMNI was a huge reason I could imagine life beyond my circumstances, beyond what we were told the world was and could be.
I have been sadly disappointed that it hasn't ever been truly reborn since attempting to go online. I would be lamenting that absolutely nothing has come to reliably fill its place in my mental life...except that we're fortunate to have MetaFilter. And every time something from OMNI shakes into the news, I've wished I could instantly find the other people who read that same piece and talk with them about it. So I come here.
posted by batmonkey at 7:34 AM on November 2, 2012
A friend posted it elsewhere and I came to see the conversation about it here and was so surprised it hadn't made it over, yet. This had to be remedied immediately!
OMNI was one of my favourite magazines from when I was very small - I started reading soon after it came out, as thankfully at least two households of my childhood subscribed to it from early on. I read it all through the '80s just as soon as the grown-ups were done, absorbing and wondering and questioning.
It made me watch the future as it happened much more carefully than I think I might have otherwise, to see what would come true, what would fail, what would be dismissed out of hand and then be regretfully realised as the solution all along. And the fiction! At least one household also got most of the other speculative fiction mags, but OMNI was my favourite because of the reliable unexpectedness of the selections. Maybe I read a few things that weren't appropriate for my age level, but, boy, was it perfect for my developing understanding of humanity. And it warned me accurately about the true issues of my time on the planet: environment, energy, advanced war and how they are all tied to seething, unchecked population explosion.
So, we didn't get the rocks that harmlessly encase toxic waste and could be used to sustainably build with after. But we do have a space station. The shuttle program is over. But we're on Mars. We still use cars with wheels on the ground. But the internet is approaching ubiquity. We haven't cured cancer. But we can install electrodes between heart and brain to quell Dystonia. OMNI was a huge reason I could imagine life beyond my circumstances, beyond what we were told the world was and could be.
I have been sadly disappointed that it hasn't ever been truly reborn since attempting to go online. I would be lamenting that absolutely nothing has come to reliably fill its place in my mental life...except that we're fortunate to have MetaFilter. And every time something from OMNI shakes into the news, I've wished I could instantly find the other people who read that same piece and talk with them about it. So I come here.
posted by batmonkey at 7:34 AM on November 2, 2012
YESSSSS!!!!
OMNI was my introduction to fringe/futurist/SF/Guccione culture. I read Harlan Ellison for the first time in an issue of OMNI and realized the world was a hell of a lot Weirder than I'd ever dreamt. Thanks so much for this.
posted by waxbanks at 7:40 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
OMNI was my introduction to fringe/futurist/SF/Guccione culture. I read Harlan Ellison for the first time in an issue of OMNI and realized the world was a hell of a lot Weirder than I'd ever dreamt. Thanks so much for this.
posted by waxbanks at 7:40 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
Sandkings - - August 1979 - - that is all.
Downloaded the "Best of" anthology specifically to look for that story, which I remember reading in the magazine as a kid.
Found out it was written by George R. R. Martin.
Mind blown.
posted by PlusDistance at 7:41 AM on November 2, 2012 [3 favorites]
Downloaded the "Best of" anthology specifically to look for that story, which I remember reading in the magazine as a kid.
Found out it was written by George R. R. Martin.
Mind blown.
posted by PlusDistance at 7:41 AM on November 2, 2012 [3 favorites]
I'm inside the magazine looking out. I can see 14-year-old waxbanks. He's falling in. He looks a little scared but also excited. I'm not gonna stop him.
Thanks for this.
posted by waxbanks at 7:49 AM on November 2, 2012 [2 favorites]
Thanks for this.
posted by waxbanks at 7:49 AM on November 2, 2012 [2 favorites]
Is there a format that actually works well on a phone? The ePub seems pretty badly formatted in places (maybe scanned without regard to columns?)
I imagine that among all the innovative, far-reaching ideas floated around the offices of Omni, the notion that a generation later people would be reading back issues on a phone never came up.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:03 AM on November 2, 2012 [2 favorites]
I imagine that among all the innovative, far-reaching ideas floated around the offices of Omni, the notion that a generation later people would be reading back issues on a phone never came up.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:03 AM on November 2, 2012 [2 favorites]
Omni clearly had a taste for promoting woo, and as such opened itself to being scammed. Consider the September, 1984 issue page 46, which ran an apparently serious story about a "tomato-wheat-cow-superhybrid."
Omni, you deserve a break today!
posted by Tube at 8:04 AM on November 2, 2012
Omni, you deserve a break today!
posted by Tube at 8:04 AM on November 2, 2012
For me, Omni was the perfect combination of actual science, fiction, and fringe reporting. All things I enjoy to this day. The science held the same thrall that the bizarro fringe stuff had for me. I consider myself lucky to have had my formative years into my 20's be entertained by Omni, National Lampoon, MAD Magazine, The Far Side, Calvin and Hobbes, and so on. What a great time that was, and I hardly knew it then...
posted by Eekacat at 8:17 AM on November 2, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by Eekacat at 8:17 AM on November 2, 2012 [3 favorites]
fuck yes lucid dreaming here I come
posted by boo_radley at 8:18 AM on November 2, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by boo_radley at 8:18 AM on November 2, 2012 [2 favorites]
An ad for Byte magazine in the pages of the November '78 issue!
I have fallen through a wormhole and am typing this comment on the Kaypro II my dad brought home from work.
posted by anthom at 8:20 AM on November 2, 2012 [4 favorites]
I have fallen through a wormhole and am typing this comment on the Kaypro II my dad brought home from work.
posted by anthom at 8:20 AM on November 2, 2012 [4 favorites]
Tube: that's basically a fast-flying summary of the GMO research at the time, and we are certainly already reaping crops and harvesting livestock that reflect the results of that research.
The silver pages were legendary for glibly or breathlessly zipping through some piece of research without too much real investigation, but, wow, it was great for the brain! That and the red section were my favourites (even ahead of fiction).
posted by batmonkey at 8:34 AM on November 2, 2012
The silver pages were legendary for glibly or breathlessly zipping through some piece of research without too much real investigation, but, wow, it was great for the brain! That and the red section were my favourites (even ahead of fiction).
posted by batmonkey at 8:34 AM on November 2, 2012
PlusDistance: "Found out it was written by George R. R. Martin."
Yes, it won both the Hugo and the Nebula.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:49 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
Yes, it won both the Hugo and the Nebula.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:49 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
I was really hoping to find the issue with a report (on the last page?) on a very important affliction: Disney Fingers. The report detailed the phenomenon of clumsily attempting to pick up objects but seemingly having only four gloved fingers. I want to say it also talked about having clown feet but I'm not sure about that. All these years later I probably use the phrase 'Disney Fingers' at least once a week.
A quick search didn't find any matches, but I'll definitely be spending some time digging through the archives. This is a going to be a great distraction from the election.
For me, Omni was the perfect combination of actual science, fiction, and fringe reporting. All things I enjoy to this day.
Well said.
posted by Room 641-A at 9:05 AM on November 2, 2012
A quick search didn't find any matches, but I'll definitely be spending some time digging through the archives. This is a going to be a great distraction from the election.
For me, Omni was the perfect combination of actual science, fiction, and fringe reporting. All things I enjoy to this day.
Well said.
posted by Room 641-A at 9:05 AM on November 2, 2012
Folks, zoom into that magic eye. The resolution is good enough that you can still make out the image!
posted by leotrotsky at 9:12 AM on November 2, 2012
posted by leotrotsky at 9:12 AM on November 2, 2012
Wow. This immediately transported me back to the Gold Circle discount store in Columbus, Ohio, circa 1982, browsing the magazine rack while my mom shopped.
posted by orme at 9:19 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by orme at 9:19 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
Omni exerted such a formative force on my pliant young teenage mind.
My county library had a major sci-fi geek on staff... the guy who, one day in the bookmobile, asked me (a 10-year-old girl who had ripped through all the horse books and all the dog books and all the Newberry Medals and, well, pretty much everything else in the juvie section) "Did you like Star Wars? Here, try Red Mars by Robert Heinlein." (*cue swell of strings*)
I imagine he was responsible for the fact that they had the full run Omni as well. You could check out periodicals (I KNOW, right?) and I spent one lovely summer checking out the maximum number of Omni magazines possible every week, and returning the next week for more.
I got a subscription, and decorated my bedroom with framed pictures from the art sections.
posted by BrashTech at 9:26 AM on November 2, 2012 [2 favorites]
My county library had a major sci-fi geek on staff... the guy who, one day in the bookmobile, asked me (a 10-year-old girl who had ripped through all the horse books and all the dog books and all the Newberry Medals and, well, pretty much everything else in the juvie section) "Did you like Star Wars? Here, try Red Mars by Robert Heinlein." (*cue swell of strings*)
I imagine he was responsible for the fact that they had the full run Omni as well. You could check out periodicals (I KNOW, right?) and I spent one lovely summer checking out the maximum number of Omni magazines possible every week, and returning the next week for more.
I got a subscription, and decorated my bedroom with framed pictures from the art sections.
posted by BrashTech at 9:26 AM on November 2, 2012 [2 favorites]
fairmettle: Sandkings - - August 1979 - - that is all.Came here to mention the best science fiction I've ever read, that haunts my imagination to this day. And fairmettle beats me to it - my arch-enemy! Drat you...
posted by IAmBroom at 9:34 AM on November 2, 2012 [2 favorites]
And that story where a dude realizes that everyone is breathing in sync. And that this is a harbinger of imminent death.
Another about a bunk-bed sized survival shelter that was, I think, outside time. With dire results when its occupants left it.
posted by five fresh fish at 10:04 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
Another about a bunk-bed sized survival shelter that was, I think, outside time. With dire results when its occupants left it.
posted by five fresh fish at 10:04 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
Fantastic. My fav SF mag ever. Through many moves I've managed to hold onto #1 (found in a filling station; to quote myself "??? !!!!") and the July, 1982 issue with Gibson's Burning Chrome in it.
posted by Twang at 10:14 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by Twang at 10:14 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
I was gloriously and luckily raised by a father with a subscription to this magazine. My favourite part was always the puzzles in the back. I directly attribute those to helping me develop a very keen set of puzzle solving skills and critical thinking abilities at a young age.
Also, the stories (both the facts and the fiction) fed my imagination until it grew to monstrous size. I'm so happy to see these available online. Thanks for the link!
posted by jcterminal at 10:15 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
Also, the stories (both the facts and the fiction) fed my imagination until it grew to monstrous size. I'm so happy to see these available online. Thanks for the link!
posted by jcterminal at 10:15 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
Sandkings - - August 1979 - - that is all.
...
Found out it was written by George R. R. Martin.
yeah, that is indeed a story that sticks with you. You know what just occured to me, in light of Martin's struggles to meet fan expectations for productin on Game of Thrones?
Sandkings is a riff on what it means to be an author. Martin fears being consumed by his own creations. Funny how I never noticed that before.
posted by mwhybark at 10:40 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
...
Found out it was written by George R. R. Martin.
yeah, that is indeed a story that sticks with you. You know what just occured to me, in light of Martin's struggles to meet fan expectations for productin on Game of Thrones?
Sandkings is a riff on what it means to be an author. Martin fears being consumed by his own creations. Funny how I never noticed that before.
posted by mwhybark at 10:40 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
five fresh fish: "And that story where a dude realizes that everyone is breathing in sync. And that this is a harbinger of imminent death."
Orson Scott Card, "Deep Breathing Exercises" July 1979
posted by Chrysostom at 11:53 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
Orson Scott Card, "Deep Breathing Exercises" July 1979
posted by Chrysostom at 11:53 AM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
klangklangston: "I now have enough electronics skill and money to build one of those insect robots that they had instructions for. I kept that issue for years, wanting to build that, and could never get it together with my dad and ended up losing it. Now I just gotta find it again (it had big red embryonic space babies on the cover, I remember that much, and an article about Mars colonies, and some Philip Jose Farmer knock-off story about living in said colonies)."
Sounds like maybe October 1988?
posted by Chrysostom at 11:58 AM on November 2, 2012 [2 favorites]
Sounds like maybe October 1988?
posted by Chrysostom at 11:58 AM on November 2, 2012 [2 favorites]
Room 641-A: "I was really hoping to find the issue with a report (on the last page?) on a very important affliction: Disney Fingers."
Terry Runté's Last Word piece in January 1985.
Runté had several great Last Words I remember fondly. Sadly, he was murdered in 1994.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:14 PM on November 2, 2012
Terry Runté's Last Word piece in January 1985.
Runté had several great Last Words I remember fondly. Sadly, he was murdered in 1994.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:14 PM on November 2, 2012
tommasz, what sort of place blocks ARCHIVE.ORG???
posted by jscott at 12:28 PM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by jscott at 12:28 PM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
OMNI Magazine delighted, informed, and even confused geeks of many flavours
Pffft. I was a sexy blonde college girl and in no way ever considered myself a geek. Not even a little bit. But I subscribed from Day One.
I do remember Sandkings vividly and I also remember that any time (other than Sandkings) that I really enjoyed a short story-- it turned out to be by Orson Scott Card. So I was so excited when his first novel came out. His short fiction was better.
When I think of Omni the first thing that pops into my head is the H.R. Giger paintings for Alien. My God, those paintings were astonishing.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 12:35 PM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
Pffft. I was a sexy blonde college girl and in no way ever considered myself a geek. Not even a little bit. But I subscribed from Day One.
I do remember Sandkings vividly and I also remember that any time (other than Sandkings) that I really enjoyed a short story-- it turned out to be by Orson Scott Card. So I was so excited when his first novel came out. His short fiction was better.
When I think of Omni the first thing that pops into my head is the H.R. Giger paintings for Alien. My God, those paintings were astonishing.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 12:35 PM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
in no way ever considered myself a geek. Not even a little bit.
...
any time that I really enjoyed a short story-- it turned out to be by Orson Scott Card. So I was so excited when his first novel came out.
uhhh... I have news for you
posted by SharkParty at 12:55 PM on November 2, 2012 [2 favorites]
...
any time that I really enjoyed a short story-- it turned out to be by Orson Scott Card. So I was so excited when his first novel came out.
uhhh... I have news for you
posted by SharkParty at 12:55 PM on November 2, 2012 [2 favorites]
Yeah it's actually possible to be a sexy blonde female geek. I married one.
posted by lordaych at 1:02 PM on November 2, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by lordaych at 1:02 PM on November 2, 2012 [2 favorites]
I opened up to a page from the Winter 1995 issue and it said:
We can laugh and joke about the flip-up communicator on Star Trek, but technology seems to be moving very strongly in that direction.
Or past it now.
posted by Rashomon at 1:48 PM on November 2, 2012
We can laugh and joke about the flip-up communicator on Star Trek, but technology seems to be moving very strongly in that direction.
Or past it now.
posted by Rashomon at 1:48 PM on November 2, 2012
FINALLY,
I can find the issue with the great comic of a pillar of flame sitting in an executive's chair with an arm coming out of it and a finger pressing on the intercom with the caption: "Liz, get me everything we have on Spontaneous Human Combustion".
It's been driving me nuts for a couple of decades now
posted by spock at 3:59 PM on November 2, 2012
I can find the issue with the great comic of a pillar of flame sitting in an executive's chair with an arm coming out of it and a finger pressing on the intercom with the caption: "Liz, get me everything we have on Spontaneous Human Combustion".
It's been driving me nuts for a couple of decades now
posted by spock at 3:59 PM on November 2, 2012
Thank you, batmonkey. This is too great.
posted by the sobsister at 4:11 PM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by the sobsister at 4:11 PM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
I never read it and always assumed it was a tax-writeoff for the Penthouse porn empire. It was also a vanity project for Mrs. Bob Guccione. Sorry, fanboys, there's no way to financially justify that content as a big, glossy magazine, even in the 1970s.
BTW, the Omni web site redirects to Penthouse.
posted by Yakuman at 4:56 PM on November 2, 2012
BTW, the Omni web site redirects to Penthouse.
posted by Yakuman at 4:56 PM on November 2, 2012
Orson Scott Card, "Deep Breathing Exercises" July 1979
Dammit, why'd it have to be authored by that asshole? Humbug.
posted by five fresh fish at 6:20 PM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
Dammit, why'd it have to be authored by that asshole? Humbug.
posted by five fresh fish at 6:20 PM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
I never read it and always assumed it was a tax-writeoff for the Penthouse porn empire.
You say this like it's a bad thing.
It was also a vanity project for Mrs. Bob Guccione.
You say this like it's a bad thing.
Sorry, fanboys, there's no way to financially justify that content as a big, glossy magazine, even in the 1970s.
You also say this like it's a bad thing.
BTW, the Omni web site redirects to Penthouse.
I once found an older relative's Geocities home page, and along with the animated gifs and links to the mundane, he had at the bottom of the page a link to Penthouse, with this text: "when there's nothing else to do."
posted by maxwelton at 6:22 PM on November 2, 2012 [4 favorites]
You say this like it's a bad thing.
It was also a vanity project for Mrs. Bob Guccione.
You say this like it's a bad thing.
Sorry, fanboys, there's no way to financially justify that content as a big, glossy magazine, even in the 1970s.
You also say this like it's a bad thing.
BTW, the Omni web site redirects to Penthouse.
I once found an older relative's Geocities home page, and along with the animated gifs and links to the mundane, he had at the bottom of the page a link to Penthouse, with this text: "when there's nothing else to do."
posted by maxwelton at 6:22 PM on November 2, 2012 [4 favorites]
Dammit, why'd it have to be authored by that asshole?
Because in the late 1970s he was one of the best SF short fiction writers on the planet, that's why.
That said, it's no "Sandkings."
posted by escabeche at 7:13 PM on November 2, 2012 [2 favorites]
Because in the late 1970s he was one of the best SF short fiction writers on the planet, that's why.
That said, it's no "Sandkings."
posted by escabeche at 7:13 PM on November 2, 2012 [2 favorites]
Oh, I am so happy. I have been haunted by an article that was (I think) in a 1982 issue by G. Gordon Liddy, about how hella easy it would be for terrorists to strike certain vital points in our nation -- he claimed that virtually all the electricity for the US travels through about 10 major way stations, and that coordinated strikes at many of them would cripple us for weeks. I so want to revisit that article and see if any of those vulnerability points have been addressed in the decades since. Now if I can just figure out how to search within the collection . . .
posted by jfwlucy at 7:17 PM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by jfwlucy at 7:17 PM on November 2, 2012 [1 favorite]
The Liddy article was "Rules of the Game" in January 1989. Remembered it right after Sept 11th....
posted by Chrysostom at 7:52 PM on November 2, 2012
posted by Chrysostom at 7:52 PM on November 2, 2012
My parents were working class poor but they still let me buy a cheap-ish subscriptions in the very early the '90s (and an Encyclopedia Britannica in the late '80s).
I grew out of OMNI (and the subscription to the US version of Time) by about 14.
Crap, my parents where willing to throw money at nurturing my geekiness. I feel terrible for not paying off.
posted by porpoise at 7:56 PM on November 2, 2012
I grew out of OMNI (and the subscription to the US version of Time) by about 14.
Crap, my parents where willing to throw money at nurturing my geekiness. I feel terrible for not paying off.
posted by porpoise at 7:56 PM on November 2, 2012
Fantastic. It got a little too woo-woo at the end,
That’s how I remember it too, and why I quit reading and didn’t really remember it going into the 90’s. But when when it came out when I was a kid it was a big thing for me. The only magazine I can remember caring about that much. In some ways it was the beginning of geek culture, or the mainstream aspects.
posted by bongo_x at 8:25 AM on November 3, 2012
That’s how I remember it too, and why I quit reading and didn’t really remember it going into the 90’s. But when when it came out when I was a kid it was a big thing for me. The only magazine I can remember caring about that much. In some ways it was the beginning of geek culture, or the mainstream aspects.
posted by bongo_x at 8:25 AM on November 3, 2012
Ooh, and the layout and design (of those early issues at least) I just loved, and still do.
posted by bongo_x at 8:27 AM on November 3, 2012
posted by bongo_x at 8:27 AM on November 3, 2012
So exciting! Thanks.
When I was a fifth grader, my school's library gave away its old magazines and I got loads of Omni and New Yorker magazines. That bonanza organized my brain.
posted by classa at 10:10 AM on November 3, 2012 [2 favorites]
When I was a fifth grader, my school's library gave away its old magazines and I got loads of Omni and New Yorker magazines. That bonanza organized my brain.
posted by classa at 10:10 AM on November 3, 2012 [2 favorites]
This is very cool but the OCR on some of these issues makes the stories unreadable on my Google Nexus 7 using the Kindle app. How can the Kindle file be fixed?
posted by JJ86 at 10:34 AM on November 5, 2012
posted by JJ86 at 10:34 AM on November 5, 2012
So many airbrushed bald women with prisms bursting from foreheads.
posted by benzenedream at 10:03 PM on November 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by benzenedream at 10:03 PM on November 5, 2012 [2 favorites]
The Complete Index of Omni Magazine
posted by feelinglistless at 12:18 PM on November 6, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by feelinglistless at 12:18 PM on November 6, 2012 [3 favorites]
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posted by facetious at 10:14 PM on November 1, 2012 [2 favorites]