Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Conversation >

Do you buy magazines?

Page: (1)2

No star here laces

09:30 / 03.05.04

So barbelith, on average are we a Cosmo board or a Bitch board?

Do we read Kerrang or Smash Hits?

Do we buy magazines or is all our free time taken up straining our eyes reading 8point blogs?

You must read some, otherwise how do you while away the minutes when sitting on the loo.

Me, I read XXL every month and subscribe to the Economist. It's essential to get ahead, dontchaknow.

09:57 / 03.05.04

I shelve them all day (sigh), so I end up reading way too many. I like The Economist, as well as THIS magazine, In These Times, and The Nation. All the computer game ones too... and I usually flip through Adbusters, but it annoys me more often than not.... Oh, and a lot of the travel magazines, but there aren't many decent ones out there.

10:28 / 03.05.04

I am a magazine junkie. At this moment I am *subscribed* to(ie. not counting 'let loose on borders' purchases):

Bust
Bitch
Adbusters
Ms
The New Left Review
Index
International Socialist Review

I'm sure there are more, actually... Admittadly, some of those are journals, do they count?

10:56 / 03.05.04

Currently, I only subscribe to Private Eye and Sound on Sound. I tend to read Hotdog a lot, even if I don't buy it; have been reading since about issue 6, and have lots of back issues. I buy GamesTM quite regularly atm, because it's surprisingly good. I stopped buying Word yonks ago. I also appear to have a copy of GQ here, which I rather like, and am probably going to end up buying more of. Oh, and I usually end up with a copy of New Statesman in my bag at the end of the week. I tend to like the arts pages.

10:59 / 03.05.04

The main magazines I buy (or pinch off my housemate) are New Scientist, Private Eye, NME and Empire. Occasionally SFX (I love Dave Langford), Scientific American, Total Film or similar will have an article that catches my attention and persuade me to hand over cash. If I don't have to do the purchasing I'll read pretty much anything; I love women's magazines like Cosmo and Marie Claire (as my friends have repeatedly noted), fashion magazines like Vogue and Glamour, I'll read the lad-mags, I'll even read the celebrity chasers like Heat and Hello. And I have absolutely no idea why.

Scrubb is on a downward spiral

11:19 / 03.05.04

Currently have subscriptions to Bitch, AVN (work), Bi Community News and Bust.

Train reading is The Face (have been reading it for about 12 years now, and now is a habit despite downward progress of editorial),Vanity Fair, Take a Break and That's Life (pays for itself in the Tightwad Tips).

Hairdresser reading is In Style: one of the few fashion magazines with pages of clothesmake-upshoesshoesshoes, but no other crappy weight-loss/find a husband articles

Scrambled Password Bogus Email

11:24 / 03.05.04

Paleface, are you on the SOS BB? What's your ficsuit there?

11:39 / 03.05.04

Been getting Edge for absolutely years - it's really on peak form at the moment - and just recently started picking up gamesTM after hearing so many people say good things about it.

And that's it as far as buying goes.

Cheap. Easy. Cruel.

11:52 / 03.05.04

Popular Science, Design News, and a few other industry magazines. I will pick up the occasional Motor Trend or Car and Driver.

12:03 / 03.05.04

On my train ride yesterday I read:

Macuser
2000AD
The Guardian
Private Eye

Outside of that, not much - The recent issue of bust lured me in with an article on librarian chic.

The magazine I stole my name from relaunched this year and is still just a shadow of its former self - the best bits could have easily appeared in the twat while the worst bits could have appeared anywhere...

12:05 / 03.05.04

Fuck yeah I buy magazines. One of my jobs is fixing watches in a mall, so I get superbored 2000 and spend way too much on magazines. There's a Waldenbooks in the mall so my selection is limited.
Rolling Stone, AP, Spin, Writer's Digest, XXL, The Source, GQ, and Details mostly.

12:28 / 03.05.04

bitch, bust and real simple magazines (yes, the last is as bad as it looks. but I love it, you hear? LOVE IT!).

I'm planning on getting a subscription to discover, because I'm developing a science itch and I need something akin to a "science for dummies" guide - this looks like it could be my ticket.

I'd like more, though, because my attention span is getting shorter by the moment and I really could use some edamucation on news events, too. any suggestions?

12:29 / 03.05.04

I subscribe to Cook's Illustrated, The New Yorker, and Real Simple.

For plane rides, I buy InStyle for the flight out and Vogue for the flight back.

When I'm depressed, I buy Shape. That may not be smart. I may have to rethink that strategy.

12:35 / 03.05.04

I don't buy magazines and newspapers only rarely. It'a how I justify my internet bill. But a friend bought me a Private Eye subscription for my birthday (rah!) and another put my name down for a promotional buy-one-get-one-free subscription to the LRB. A damn good read. I do get some junk mail now but that's esaily filed in the appropriate place ...

12:49 / 03.05.04

The Idler, Mute and other semi-annual magazines. I don't have the space. On the train, it's Dutch newspapers and the free expat weeklies.

12:49 / 03.05.04

Because Anglo-American magazines cost ridiculous amounts of money here.

Whisky Priestess

12:51 / 03.05.04

In the Barbehouse toilet we have old copies of:
Vogue
GQ
Arena
Viz
Dazed & Confused (which I just misspelt as Dave & Confused, a much more interesting concept)
Mayfair Times (freebie from work)

In my room we have:
millions of back issues of Viz & Private Eye and Glamour, which I used to subscribe to because it was cheap, but it depressed me because all the beautiful things in it weren't.

I am subscribed to:
Viz
The Chap
Interzone
The Third Alternative
(both it and Interzone subs were bithday presents so haven't received an issue yet but I WILL!)

Oh my God, I'm a bloke.

No star here laces

15:17 / 03.05.04

whisky, i'd'a had you down as an Idler reader
and mike - don't read the fuckin source, those people are evil...

15:59 / 03.05.04

with some regularity:

gastronomicon
cook's illustrated (hi persephone)
giant robot

rec'd sub as gift: wired

every so often I'll pop into a store that sells such things and pick up small handmade items like peko peko (asian-american food), or pick up specific issues of magazines/journal I don't otherwise read which have articles of interest: eat, tofu, xlr8r, granta, readymade

Haus of Mystery

16:42 / 03.05.04

Sometimes the Fortean Times,(though I should read it more)andsometimes The Wire, if I'm in that kind of mood. I do like mags but the Internet seems to serve the same sorta purpose nowadays.
Used to love a British movie mag called Neon but it folded. Shame.

Haus of Mystery

16:43 / 03.05.04

Sorry - cocked up there. It was called 'Neon'. V tired...

18:02 / 03.05.04

I've never been much of a mag reader in the past, as I lack the committment which, coupled with my fear of missing something if I skip an issue keeps me away from them in general. However this year I have taken a turn for the conscientious and have subscribed to 3 (count 'em) poetry mags (Anon, Magma & Poetry London), mostly out of my guilt about not putting something financial into the poetry world, as most of the poems in these are fairly bland. Anon looks promising though.

I have wanted to subscribe to The Ecologist for a while and Ariadne just bought me a subscription for my birthday so I'm enjoying that.

And last month I bought my first issue of Wisden Cricketer, in what I can only assume was some sort of attempt to retain my ever-dwindling Australian identity. And it's actually a good read, so I may buy again.

And on the subject of things Aussie, the loo in my sharehouse in Oz was well stocked in Viz and I devoured them hungrily waiting for my opportunity to go to Britain and see all this for myself. And do you know what, reader? It's all true, every bit of it.

trouser the trouserian

18:31 / 03.05.04

I subscribe to Fortean Times 'n' Time Out, buy Private Eye pretty regularly, occasionally pick up computer-arty type magazines - Computer Arts 'n' that sort of thing. Best though are the mags I either find on trains or stuff I get given, like the very wonderful Salivation Army zine, given to me by Boy in a Suitcase.

19:13 / 03.05.04

That's a point. I used to have a sub to Fortean Times, but didn't bother renewing it because I just wasn't finding the time to read every issue. Might start getting it again now.

Matthew Fluxington

19:16 / 03.05.04

I have only two magazine subscriptions. I've been subscribing to SPIN for about eleven years now, and I keep it because it's always got something at least halfway interesting/funny and it is dirt cheap. The other is Entertainment Weekly, which I love. EW keeps me informed on a pretty broad range of pop culture, and usually has some interesting industry news and analysis. It's just a good pop magazine all around, even when they publish some really dumb stuff.

I appreciate EW's critical point of view - they enjoy pop in general, and they do their best to promote unpopular pop (music, films, books, comics, tv shows, etc) because they want it to be huge too. It's more or less the same critical philosophy that I have in my own writing.

I have a subscription to the Wall Street Journal too, but that's obviously a newspaper and not a magazine. Nevertheless, I read it every day and love it. There is a generally high standard to their journalism, and they cover a lot of interesting things that I often was unaware of before reading the article. I'm especially interested in their articles about China and southeast Asia, and how economic ideas and franchises from the west adapt to those markets.

Matthew Fluxington

19:21 / 03.05.04

Oh, I forgot - I generally read the New York Times Magazine every week, though I do not have a subscription. They often have great long-form articles, and I like their regular columns, especially The Ethicist. I've soured on the NY Times a bit over the past few years, mostly due to a noticeable dumbing down of their articles, but the Magazine is normally of a higher standard.

I was reading through a big stack of New York magazines the other day, and was reminded of why I used to enjoy that magazine when I had a subscription - they have generally high quality feature articles, though their editorial point of view can be somewhat confusing. A lot of that magazine is geared towards yuppies and rich folks, so that can be somewhat alienating, but occasionally fascinating. The magazine just has a weird vibe to it, all in all.

I'd totally get a subscription to The Economist if I had the money.

19:52 / 03.05.04

Oh dear. My list is not very hip. I read, mainly, Cycling Plus and London Cyclist. And don't tell him but I actually enjoyed reading Loomis's cricket magazine.

If I need something to read on a train I'll usually buy a paper, but otherwise I'll pick up Wired or what's that leftie one - New Statesman, I think. I've tried to like Private Eye but always feel I'm missing the in jokes.

I hate fashion mags. Hate them. I try every now and then but they're evil. I did go through a weird 'home decor' mag fetish but that was when I was buying my first flat. As son as I'd painted the walls I lost interest.

00:59 / 04.05.04

I know its completely out of your lists, but:

macmania
vagabond (manga)
Blade of the immortal (manga)

any other kind of informational paper source comes from my g/fs home, college or office.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

01:28 / 04.05.04

I read The New Statesman, Fortean Times, and Modern Drunkard.

02:04 / 04.05.04

Every issue:
Sound on Sound
The Wire
Viz

Now and again:
Mojo
NME (for the crossword...)
Edge
Time Out
Mac world/user/format (whatever might last the train journey)

Never again:
Q, Empire (for crimes against lists)
Heat (Honest, it was quite good when it first came out...)

Gone but not forgotten:
Neon
Select
Arcade
Cult TV

Time was once there was always something on the newsagent shelf I'd happily buy to while away the hours, but these days I seem to be staring into the abyss. An illusion of choice not unlike a visit to Blockbuster. But I'll flick through any old shit that's lying around at work/in a waiting room etc, if it's free words and pictures to momentarily distract me.

16:11 / 04.05.04

I currently read:

Loose Lips Sink Ships
The Guardian (saturday)
Terrorizer
The Powerpuff Girls Powerzine

19:12 / 04.05.04

i liked bust a lot until i read bitch, which is so amazing that bust just pales in comparison. i still like it, though, just not as much.
whenever i need to fly, or take an extended train ride, i loooove to buy a crappy magazine like cosmo or whatever. it's the best. also i am a sucker for whenever rolling stone does some newsmagazine-esque piece like the one this week about a high school girl who was shot by her goth friends. ooooh! i just read it on the plane, too.

01:19 / 05.05.04

House subscriptions: The New Republic, The New Yorker (me), Outside, Cooking Light, Family Fun (the wife, but I always read 'em).

Newsstand buy nearly every month: Shonen Jump (ostensibly for Claire, but I read it avidly).

Pick up occasionally: Entertainment Weekly (and I'm in total agree with Fluxington on its mightiness), Better Homes & Gardens (best friend is an editor there), The Sun (US tabloid, print home of Barbelith's own grant).

And anything else that catches my eye--for reference, for research, or just cos it looks interesting: men's/fashion magazines (I used to read Esquire a lot, but rarely do any more), Writer's Digest. Craft magazines. ReadyMade.

I don't buy music magazines any more, but I usually leaf through Tracks or Spin at the store.

01:49 / 05.05.04

currently subscribed:

harper's
the new yorker
mcsweeney's (i guess more of a periodical than a magazine...)

frequent buys:

juxtapoz
artforum
readymade

free, sought out whenever i'm in a decent town:

vice
arthur

07:48 / 05.05.04

Golly gosh, I feel so out of place. I don't buy anything, apart from The Guardian on Saturday. Ideal for lounging around in bed and spilling tea over. Though it's really frustrating when someone gets the magazine before you. But someone mentioned Mute upthread, damn that's a fine magazine - econimc weirdness, arty net stuff and theory bitching. Chuffing expensive though

Page: (1)2