Bob Guccione Jr., the son of Penthouse's founder and the former editor of Spin, Gear, and Discover who hops on and off the media radar at his choosing, will guest-edit the September issue of MEDIA magazine, which will kick off Advertising Week. The double issue is being dubbed "The Future" issue, for it will "explore the possibilities, problems and shape of media in the near and distant future. It will feature articles, essays and interviews by and with some of the most powerful, accomplished and imaginative figures in the world of content, advertising, technology and the communications industry, including scientists and futurists, and will be global in coverage."

Topics like energy, robots, and natural resources will be covered, with smarty types forecasting what the next decades will bring. You know, because it's "The Future" issue.

Also to be covered: The future of journalism.

That this discussion will take place in the archaic format of a print magazine is an irony, it seems, that's been lost on everybody.

Well, not everybody. Michael Wolff, the columnist for fellow old timey pub Vanity Fair, has his own predictions about the future. Namely, that Newsweek will be dead in the next five years. And Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says, in the next 10 years, "there will be no newspapers, no magazines that are delivered in paper form." Why not shove that in a sidebar, Bob?

• Coming this May: the cheapest magazine cover design ever. Brought to you by Bob Guccione Jr. and the good people at Discover. [WWD]

• The FBI is taking legal action in trying to gain access to Jack Anderson's archive. Anderson's son says he'll fight them the whole way through. He'll even buy a Blackberry to send out his word. Take that FBI. [CHE]

• You know who the real heroes of international plight are? Search engines. Just look at Yahoo. They're even helping jail writers in China. [Reuters]

• Jamie-Lynn Sigler once stated that she was done posing for guy-mags. And then she realized The Sopranos is in its last season. [FBNY]

• James Wolcott just loves him some made up words. Like rage-gasm, the one he brilliantly used to describe Michelle Malkin. [Wolcott]

Old Jossip pal Bob Guccione Jr. has, unlike his father, mostly remained out of the headlines ever since he taped the last packing box shut at his Gear magazine's westside offices. But the time has come to unseal those file-a-faxes (old school 2003, yo) with Guccione's latest buy: Disney's Discover magazine.

With Mickey Mouse looking to unload the mag and the Spin founder ready to reenter the consumer publishing biz, it sounds like a perfect fit. But just like Joe Mansueto with his newly purchased Fast Company and Inc., Guccione has bigger plans for his new title. Guccione wants to increase advertising staff, add a humor column, publish in multiple languages, build up Discover.com, expand into TV and branch out into two new science print magazines that will reach the layman.

While celebrity weeklies are all the rage, we have a sneaking suspicion we might be on the brink of a of science mag resurgence. First the science-and-society title Seed is back after a year's hiatus with $12 million and funding, and now Guccione is pumping cash into Discovery.

Or, like most magazine adventures, this could turn into an utter failure and bleed through cash just like Gear. Wonder which is the safer bet.