At COOL’EH, we do things right. When we decide to do a Best Of issue, we don’t put it out till the next year. Why? Well suppose the album of the year comes out on December 31st, what then?  Someone has to be responsible, someone has to wait till Christmas morning to open the presents, someone has to put their finger in the dike for the whole night…and that someone is COOL’EH. So here is the ultimate Best of 2008 Issue, and believe me when I tell you, we were thorough. We’ve got interviews with Brian Lehrer, Santogold, Max B, Padma Newsome, Diamond Galas, The P Brothers, NO AGE and 100 Bullets’ creator Brian Azzarello. Plus Three Sheets’ Zane Lamprey on drinking after midnight, B-Real on why O.G. Kush was the best marijuana strain in ’08 and our very own Stereolabrat on why you should not dress yourself anymore. Round that out with Somali piracy, Biofuels, Bernie Mac, the L.A. Lakers, Hulu.com, Jay Electronica, The merits of fur as a fashion statement, Rotisserie Peruvian Chicken, Def Jam Records and a brand new podcast. 2008 is over and it is only right that COOL’EH has the last word.

It may be hard to believe, here at the end of The Fall of Palin, that we planned our Women’s Issue far in advance of her nomination. And I would be lying if I didn’t admit there was a certain amount of serendipity in the timing. But while the former mayor of Wasilla made her way into this issue, she certainly is not the headliner, not by a long shot. We’ve got a visit to a political prisoner awaiting trial in the alongside interviews with feminist pioneer and female ejaculation expert Deborah Sundahl, J.D. Samson [formerly of Le Tigre] and graphic novelist Marguerite Abouet. Frenchman Sebastian Tellier graces us with his Y chromosome while NYC graffiti legend and Wildstyle subject Lady Pink deigns to an insightful Q&A. Zimbabwean-American singer/musician Chiwoniso talks mbira, Mugabe and motherhood while Biz3’s Kathryn Frazier tells us exactly how the wind blew her Chicago pr firm into the spotlight. COOL’EH does some gallery hopping form Montreal to London and has Jack of J*Davey play us a new track, and then explain it to us because we’re jetlagged. We could’ve stopped there but who else would answer your pressing questions about the mysteries of synchronized menstruation, where a girl can find snowboarding gear that actually fits, what would Sarah Palin be like as president, and which woman deserves the title of the baddest bitch in history. Add to that decidedly non-gender relevant music reviews of Japanese Motors, Jake One, Large Professor, Metro Area, InnerPartySystem, Hasan Salaam and books (yeah, we still read, isn’t it crazy!) about the NYC Vandal Squad and the 9-11 Commission Report through the eyes of a surrealist poet…there is more but why ruin the surprise! So here it is, the COOL’EH Women’s Issue. Not quite as cozy as the wombs we were all so rudely evicted from but feel free to plug in your umbilical cord.



SEBASTIEN TELLIER - LADY PINK - CHIWONISO - KATHRYN FRAZIER - JD SAMSON- ROXANNE ARSENAULT