It's the most wonderful time of, uh, every other month here at Durham Mag, when we get to roll out the brand-spanking new issue.

There's plenty to love, if we do say so ourselves, starting with our cover story on Colin Firth.

Our Community & Events Editor Dana Lange got up close and personal with the British actor while he was in town filming Main Street, a film that we hear doesn't exactly portray Durham in the most favorable light. Dana found out that Firth fell in love with our city quite unexpectedly, and she got him to contrast the movie version of Durham with the real thing. Read all about it.

But there's much more.

Free-lance writer and former N&O reporter Danny Hooley looked at the trends in the Durham real estate market and why the overall stability in prices, while a good sign for our overall economy, made for a short-lived buyers' market. We also take you inside three homes that recently sold for around $300K (pretty impressive) and tell you the stories of the folks who bought them.

We had intended to run our package of stories about Durham's green economy last issue to coincide with Earth Month, but we had to make room for our special downtown section. So we figured environmental consciousness musn't be confined to one month. We're rolling out our look at five businesses already profiting from the burgeoning green economy, taking you behind the scenes of the Durham Farmers' Market to show you where your food comes from (an awesome photo essay by our own Briana Brough), and presenting some facts and tips about going green in Durham courtesy of Tobin Freid, the city/county sustainability coordinator.

Senior Editor Noor Shehzad conceived, wrote and produced our fashion components for this issue. She highlighted recessionista wear, i.e. ways to turn a single outfit from work-appropriate to date-night-ready with a few minor adjustments. She also found this year's hot nail polish colors for three different skin tones. A must-read summer fashion spread. Noor also explored the latest technological trends being used for business presentations, leading into our guide of Durham meeting spaces compiled by intern Iesha Brown.

Iesha also put together our full calendar of events and recounted the nuptials of two Durham newlyweds.

All this plus new columns from Noor, Bull City Rising blogger Kevin Davis and wine expert Arturo Ciompi, a comprehensive directory of area retirement communities, a profile of legendary local orthopedic surgeon Ralph Coonrad, a guide to 200+ Durham restaurants and a look inside the area's most fabulous fundraisers and parties.

Subscribers should start seeing the mag in mailboxes in the next day or so, if they're not there already. Not a subscriber but would like to be? Click here.

Newsstand copies will be available soon at Parker & Otis, The Regulator, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Harris Teeter, Food Lion and Whole Foods.

Update on Thursday, June 4, 2009 at 9:49AM by Matt Dees

Though we never had designs on any place other than our own home county, Durham Magazine has gone international with this latest issue.

Folks from Canada, England, Florida, Pennsylvania (OK, those last two aren't international) and elsewhere are deluging us with requests for multiple copies of the latest issue.

The handsome British actor gracing our cover might have a little something to do with all the hubbub, but we like to think folks who get the issue for their Firth fix will find themselves intrigued by this cool little place we call home in the process. Here's hoping, anyway.

Whatever their motivations, we appreciate all the interest in our mag. We have a lot of fun putting it together, and we're tickled to think about getting it out to an enthusiastic audience, wherever they may be.

So thanks to all our readers, at home and abroad.