MetaChat - Ask MeCha: What magazine(s) should I read?

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08 June 2006

Ask MeCha: What magazine(s) should I read? →[More:]Say you're a writer/editor/word-lovin'-individual, and you have $50 to spend on magazine subscriptions. What would you get? Why? You already have access to pretty much everything you can get at the grocery store, plus some other cool stuff. All kinds of creative stimulation is good - pictures, creative writing, essays, games, etc. Think "Mental Floss"-ish.

post by: ferociouskitty at: 14:05 | 29 comments

BUST!

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN!

BITCH!

posted by SassHat 08 June | 14:07

The New York Review of Books
Science News
World Soccer
Church and State

posted by Hugh Janus 08 June | 14:08

Bitch. It's the most well-written, humorous approach to feminism and popular culture I've ever found, with all sorts of perspectives. I adore it. If that's your thing, of course.

On preview: SassHat, you too? Yay!

posted by elizard 08 June | 14:09

Elizard, we are sooo mind twins.

posted by SassHat 08 June | 14:10

And 2600.

posted by Hugh Janus 08 June | 14:12

Thirding Bitch. Suggesting Utne Reader.

posted by Specklet 08 June | 14:14

Yes, but are we girl anachronisms?

posted by elizard 08 June | 14:14

Hustler usually satisfies all my literary needs.

(actually Mojo, Wax Poetics, Bust, Beer Frame, Ugly Things and Bounce are all regular reads of mine. and Hustler and Hustler Humor, too)

posted by jonmc 08 June | 14:15

I still dig on Harper's (as in Index, not Bazaar).

And The Economist ... though that subscription will eat all of your $50 and then some.

posted by grabbingsand 08 June | 14:20

Seconding Mojo. Also Uncut. And it comes with a free cd! One that rarely sucks! Although a subscription would bankrupt you...I'd suggest picking it up once in a while.

posted by elizard 08 June | 14:25

Ummm...and it totally doesn't fit your parameters. But it's a good mag. Seriously.

posted by elizard 08 June | 14:27

Harper's and The New Yorker and rags like that can sometimes be interesting but they're so damned...tasteful and soberly liberal that they kinda make me wanna cut loud farts if that makes any sense.

posted by jonmc 08 June | 14:31

Actually, I wanted to say something like that in the original question, but I'm still kinda new here and I like to wait a while before I let people know that I have the brain of a 13-year-old boy.
Also, when I'm self-deprecating, I often take down others with me.

posted by ferociouskitty 08 June | 14:33

elizard, I totally agree that Uncut is a great read. I am a huge fan and wish it weren't so insanely expensive for a subscription.

posted by richat 08 June | 14:41

For $.50 a week you can get the Santa Cruz Comic Weekly. Its worth the cash.

posted by fenriq 08 June | 14:41

Bitch! Make! Vice! Frank151! Cook's Illustrated! Do you like mountain biking? Dirt Rag! Non-video games? Games!

(Also Harper's, The Atlantic, The Economist, the New Yorker and the NYT magazine (and maybe Esquire and Vanity Fair, though I wouldn't spend money on either). These are what we have instead of general interest culture publications and mainstream literary magazines.)

posted by box 08 June | 14:50

Oh, hell, if you're going for food porn, go the whole way and get Saveur. I've got a subscription. I spend a lot of time alone with it.

posted by elizard 08 June | 14:52

mcsweeney's? i think its more than $50 though...

posted by drjimmy11 08 June | 14:57

New Yorker is the only mag I subscribe to. Then my wife cashed a bunch of air miles and got Outside, the Smithsonian, Conde Naste Traveller (yuk), Spin and a few others.

I might consider Utne Reader, or Adbusters, but I have not seen either for a few years.

posted by danf 08 June | 15:19

Last time I checked out Adbusters (about a year or so ago), I was most disappointed. They've gone beyond shouty, and seem to have lost any sense of humour they once had. Also, the 'artistic' layout irritated the crap out of me--fine, have fun, but make it readable for chrissakes. Of course, they may have changed since then.

posted by elizard 08 June | 15:23

I get Stop Smiling, which I really like. I heard about it from an AskMe magazine thread.

posted by mullacc 08 June | 15:26

Forgot to mention: Wired really isn't that bad these days, and, like a lot of mainstream magazines that depend on high readership and subscription numbers, subscriptions are available for next to nothing.

posted by box 08 June | 15:36

my faves:

-Adbusters
-No Depression
-Dwell
-Giant Robot
-Bust
-The Baffler
-The Believer
-Zzzyva (lit mag)
-Paris Review
-Tricycle
-Found Magazine
-Utne Reader
-The Sun
-Bark (litmag for dog lovers!)
-DoubleTake

posted by Lipstick Thespian 08 June | 15:41

HAHA, I LIKE THE BEST MAGAZINES!

Also there's a great litry/artsy rag called Esopus I can recommend.

posted by Hugh Janus 08 June | 15:51

1. The London Review of Books.
2. W Magazine.
3. ??? :)

I'm with jonmc, the New Yorker and Harper's Bazaar aren't my style.

posted by halonine 08 June | 15:56

Dang, I forgot The Baffler, too.

And halonine, The New Yorker's not your style, but W is? Are you in the fashion biz?

posted by box 08 June | 16:16

My mag pix (many seconds):

NYer
Paste
No Depression
BUST
Budget Travel
Surf Life for Women
Saveur
Cook's Illustrated
Smithsonian
...and what I believe to be the single best American literary magazine, the Oxford American. I wish there were 10 more magazines like it (about different regions).

posted by Miko 08 June | 16:48

Ditto on the The Sun; great mag. Also, The Writer's Chronicle is a must have for any writer (better than an MFA). Poets & Writer's isn't bad, though it's not as good as it used to be, when it still had the black-and-white, saddle-stitched cover. I like Bust, but I don't know Bitches (so to speak); I'll have to check it out.

posted by Pips 08 June | 17:03

Lilith (Jewish feminist mag). I gave subcriptions to Ms. and Bitch to my then 15-year-old cousins, but they told me they didn't want them renewed when the year was up. I wish Bitch had been around when I was that age.

posted by brujita 09 June | 00:29

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