When design consultant Ron Reason browsed the newspaper display at AAN's Toronto Convention last week, he saw a lot of "squatty, square dimensions" and "covers [that] often sing, but the insides too often look, feel and smell like overpacked luggage." That was until he picked up copies of The Stranger, which he found so engaging, he decided to write an illustrated ode to it. (FULL STORY)

Continue ReadingDesigner Ron Reason Hearts The Stranger

Index Newspapers (parent company of The Stranger and Portland Mercury) and Night & Day Studios have released a Savage Love iPhone app, which provides "an interactive take on the love, sex, and relationship advice Dan Savage has been serving up for nearly 20 years," as the press release puts it. The app features a "Question of the Day" updated each afternoon, previous columns and podcasts, and exclusive text and video content. "We thought for sure that the app store would reject this but they approved in record time," Stranger publisher Tim Keck says. "I guess we've lost our touch." The app sells for $1.99, and is tagged in the iTune app store as having "Frequent/Intense Sexual Content or Nudity," "Frequent/Intense Profanity or Crude Humor," and "Frequent/Intense Mature/Suggestive Themes." In other words, everything you love about Savage Love to begin with.

Continue Reading‘Savage Love’ iPhone App Released

Foundation says Raleigh/Durham's Independent Weekly, Indianapolis' Nuvo and the Nashville Scene have recently launched new sites on the Foundation platform. These three papers join 21 others on the content management system, which is specifically geared toward AAN papers.

Continue ReadingFoundation Adds Three New AAN Clients

The Stranger's "Questionland" is like other web Q&A features like Yahoo Answers, but as publisher Tim Keck points out, the local focus of the Stranger's readership makes it even more valuable. "It's different from throwing a question out into the whole wide world," he tells VentureBeat. "You run into these people on the street, and they know each other."

Continue ReadingHow The Stranger Uses ‘Social Q&A’ to Build Community

Savage's 2000 book The Kid: What Happened After My Boyfriend and I Decided to Go Get Pregnant has been turned into a musical by The New Group and will launch on Broadway in April. The Savage character will be played by Christopher Sieber, who has been nominated for Tony Awards for his performances in Monty Python's Spamalot and Shrek The Musical.

Continue ReadingMusical Theater Version of Dan Savage Book Coming to Broadway