ABOVE: To Tahiti with Gus Kenworthy.

BELOW: Keep reading for the performances of the year, a gay-book discovery, effortlessly hot nudity and more ...

(Image by Michael Beckert for W)

Didja watch American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace?

Keep reading for some tidbits from star Darren Criss's W Magazine interview and shoot ...

(Video still via W Magazine)

Watch Andrew Garfield, Chris Pine, Emma Stone, Dev Patel, Ruth Negga, Lucas Hedges, Naomie Harris, Anya Taylor-Joy, Taraji P. Henson, Natalie Portman, Matthew McConaughey, Mahershala Ali, Hailee Steinfeld, Felicity Jones, Alden Ehrenreich, Joel Edgerton, Greta Gerwig, Michael Shannon, Dakota Fanning and Amy Adams sing/speak Gloria Gaynor's “I Will Survive” for W Magazine.

The main thing I learned: I'd love to get an album of Amy Adams cover versions. She sounds good!

Keep reading for the video ...

(Image by Steven Meisel/W Magazine)

Barbra Streisand flaunts some leg, at 74, on the cover of W, shot by Steven Meisel.

In the profile by Lynn Hirschberg, she identifies her first crush as Marlon Brando:

Since I was 13, Marlon Brando was my favorite. I saw him in Guys and Dolls—and that was it. Interestingly, there was a period of 27 years when I didn't sing in public, because of stage fright, and when I finally did, I created a scenario in which I sang “I'll Know” with Marlon Brando in Guys and Dolls. I put myself in his movie! I invited Brando to my house to see the piece, and he made me take him through my entire show. We then watched a movie together. It was wonderful: He was my idol, my biggest crush.

Of that crazy, sheer pantsuit she wore to accept her first Oscar, she notes:

That night, in my dressing room, I was choosing between two different outfits. One was lovely, but very conservative. And then there was the pantsuit with plastic sequins. I had no idea that when the lights hit that outfit, it would become transparent! I wanted a white collar and cuffs, which it had, and I wore my hair under my chin, because I thought to myself, I'm going to win two Oscars in my lifetime, and I'll be more conservative next time.

More here!

Eddie Redmayne (Video still via Vanity Fair)

Eddie Redmayne auditions for Hepburn's Breakfast at Tiffany's role, and Margot Robbie does Brando.

Brando's legacy is safe, but Redmayne gives Hepburn a run for her money.

Brilliant, guilt-free click bait from W's Lynn Hirschberg.

Patricidal maniac

Hedge fund manager's son allegedly kills him over allowance.

Why was Pride DVD de-gayed?

Let's get hitched in Tallahassee!

Have you ever invited a stranger to come inside? Listen:

A good, er, Christian look back at 2014.

Aw, I love you, Graham Norton.

Scandal-plagued, trailblazing beauty queen Bess Myerson died last month.

Wasn't Bradley Cooper fat 10 seconds ago?

Moviola

 

Above: A gallery of 30 more, unranked Madonna mag covers! 

Unlike any star since—and unlike only a precious few before—her, Madonna has made the act of being on the cover of a magazine into an art form. A gung-ho participant in creating a visual record of her beauty, her aesthetic, her political and quasi-punk challenging of social norms and her status as a visual icon, Madonna has always taken her covers seriously, in some cases as seriously as other rockstars take music videos or even albums.

As a rabid collector of Madonnabilia, I specialize in ephemera, especially in magazine covers. I would hate to be presented with a calendar and shown exactly how many months of my life I've spent tirelessly pursuing new, old and new-to-me old magazines with Madonna on their covers, valuing some for their uniqueness (she posed specifically for the cover!), some for their status within her career (it was her very first time on a cover!), some for the exotic nature of their home countries (Japan! Japan! Japan!), some for being totally weird (ugliest Madonna cover ever!) and some just for the sake of fulfilling my desire to have one of everything.

Choosing Madonna's best covers took forever, and it will take another forever for us to duke it out in the comments over my rankings, over which ones I forgot, over which ones I personally detest and excluded on purpose...these kinds of lists are a recipe for dissent.

But if you're into this shit, you're into it, and the time spent is as good as the time spent inhaling and exhaling oxygen.

Madonna's still causing a cover commotion in 2014...

Please enjoy this list, and please comment on it. If I have forgotten any major ones, I'll happily amend my list. And if you have Long Island's Nightlife and/or Hamptons '85, I'm all ears and am ready to buy them.

Each entry contains the magazine's title, the country (it's the United States unless otherwise specified), the date of publication and then a credit for the cover photographer. In cases where I was unable to quickly determine the ID of the shooter, it's listed with a question mark. If you think you have info on any of who any of these photographers may be, I'm all ears for that as well.

One more thing: This 32,000-word post is my gift to you. But I would appreciate it if you would consider contributing any amount to my Kickstarter so that I can produce a 20th anniversary edition of my book Encyclopedia Madonnica. Click here! Tell your friends!

Thanks! Now, on with the list...