He may seem like an unlikely digital visionary, but Huey Lewis was years ahead of the curve when he sang, ''It's hip to be square.'' Okay, he didn't mention CD-ROM magazines by name, but digizines like Blender, Launch, and the brand-new Trouble & Attitude are proof that computer geeks can be hipsters too.
Billing itself as ''the multimedia magazine for men,'' Trouble & Attitude serves up an interactive Molotov cocktail of fun with articles on topics zigzagging from the grade-Z schlock film studio Troma (The Toxic Avenger, Surf Nazis Must Die) to the late media guru Marshall McLuhan to the jiggle-TV phenom Baywatch. ''Our feeling is that CD-ROM is the next television,'' says copublisher Jonathan Braun, who claims a 60,000 circulation.
What sets the $9.95 bimonthly's mix of fashion tips, features, and sex-and-relationship advice columns apart from Details and similar mags, which also target 18- to 35-year-old males? In addition to text and photos, the 'zine is packed with full-motion video clips, alt-rock song snippets, and interactive interviews. The disc can hold the equivalent of 250,000 pages of text, but don't worry; Trouble has only 200.
