Magazine Subscriptions

[Gavin]

I have recently secured a job with a steady paycheck and a small amount of disposable income.

I have not had a magazine subscription in years. I have not had the money, and most magazines are shit anyway, right? But I want some now. Good ones. I would like your suggestions for Dissensian-type magazines -- music, art, culture, politics (left pretty much), etc. Especially music, I don't really know what doesn't suck any more. The Wire is ok, except I don't like most of the music they write about and it's waaay too expensive.

Academic journals count too, although they can get pricey (and boring).

Oh yes, I am in the U.S. which makes a difference.

Subscriptions I am considering:
-London Review of Books
-The Nation
-New Left Review
-Some stupid rap rag like the Source (actually I would probably do XXL instead)

 

[mos dan]

i was thinking about this recently too.. cos i never read mags these days (my employers aside hehe).. i want something with a different perspective to the one i'm used to though.. ideally a foreign perspective. am considering the new yorker or something.. any thoughts on the new yorker?

 

[Dusty]

I subscribe to the Wire, subscription saves you a bit of money off the cover price, plus the CDs they release every now and then make it feel more worthwhile.

I'm thinking about the National Geographic as another one. I used to read it as a kid when my parents had a massive shelf full of them, covering most of the 70's. Amazing photography - it showed me how cool the world was, far better than school did at the time.

 

[stelfox]

I get the new yorker and the atlantic monthly. i wish it was possible to get harpers here in the uk. luckily my girlfriend has an electronic subscription, but it's still not quite the same as the paper version. i'm at a bit of a loss as far as mags are concerned. i'd really like it if someone would launch something that i want to read. seems like ages since there's been a magazine in the uk that i feel anything for. in fact, i can't remember the last time there was.

 

[simon silverdollar]

i'm tempted to get a subscription to the Economist: i don't share their politics, but if you ignore the "...and things would be so much better for them if they reduced taxes and privatised their public services" conclusions to just about all their articles, they give the kind of comprehensive account of what's going on in world politics that's very rare these days.

 

[crackerjack]

i'm tempted to get a subscription to the Economist: i don't share their politics, but if you ignore the "...and things would be so much better for them if they reduced taxes and privatised their public services" conclusions to just about all their articles, they give the kind of comprehensive account of what's going on in world politics that's very rare these days.

i've heard a few people echo that.

I really like Vanity Fair. You have to skip the fashion/society shit (which is usually the cover story too) but the rest of it is great and I love how the articles go on and on and on.

 

[Gavin]

Maybe I will cave in to the Wire. I have a couple of their CDs, but it's mostly minimal/drone stuff... I can only do it in small doses. Anybody read the UR cover story (by K-punk innit?) -- wondering if they mentioned Footwars, their diss to Chicago.

Are music mags basically dead? Is it all on the internet now?

 

[Guybrush]

i'm tempted to get a subscription to the Economist: i don't share their politics, but if you ignore the "...and things would be so much better for them if they reduced taxes and privatised their public services" conclusions to just about all their articles, they give the kind of comprehensive account of what's going on in world politics that's very rare these days.

Since I’m a tight-fisted bastard, I have to make do with reading it in the library once a week, but I very much agree with that — it’s probably the most informative magazine around. Foreign Affairs is a bit more recondite, but also great in this respect. Also, Foreign Policy. Of the other magazines mentioned, The New Yorker is very good (duh) and The Atlantic is good. I would also contemplate New York Review of Books and Harvard Business Review. I prefer entertainment/gossip writing in small doses, online, so I don’t have any magazine in particular to recommend for that, although Vanity Fair comes close. Stop Smiling?

 

[Gavin]

Obviously the Economist is too expensive for mere mortals, but is it really that objective?: here are some unfair and unbalanced thoughts from The Exile. They are pretty pro-Iraq-War, or at least were when I last read it.

 

[Guybrush]

Obviously the Economist is too expensive for mere mortals, but is it really that objective?: here are some unfair and unbalanced thoughts from The Exile. They are pretty pro-Iraq-War, or at least were when I last read it.

No, they are far from objective. However, despite this, I stand by that they have the best weekly coverage of what goes on in the world. Back in the 80s, the Kremlinologists used to say that Pravda was actually quite a useful source once you learned to read between the lines, and I think you have to treat The Economist similarly. The Russia/Central Asia coverage, in particular, I find highly ideologically driven, but nonetheless useful for that. Also, I’m kind of glad they give weekly updates of the situation in Central Asia (or Southern Africa, or Latin America, or India) at all.

 

[mind_philip]

I subscribe to the new yorker - when I started my subscription about 2 years ago, it was insanely cheap, at about 70 quid a year for (I think) 45+ issues, delivered.

 

[nomos]

I'd probably get Sight & Sound if it were cheaper for overseas subscribers.

If you happen to read French (or need practice) Le Monde Diplomatique is quite good for political analysis.

I was getting the London Review of Books for a while on a gift subscription. It often had very good stuff but usually I ended up just reading the outrageously pompous personal ads (my fault not theirs).

Harper's and The Atlantic are a good idea. I might consider that.

Collapse looks like an interesting theory journal.

 

[gek-opel]

I subscribe to "Collapse" actually, its excellent.

And "The Wire", but I'm still waiting for the Dissensoid/Blogeratti takeover. (which has kind of happened a bit with Derek Walmsley now editing reviews and Mark K-punk getting 2 cover articles this year...)

I'd probably subscribe to "The Economist" and "Sight and Sound" also if I had the dosh lying about.

 

[nomos]

the Dissensoid/Blogeratti takeover

Woofah

 

[gek-opel]

Yeah I'm all over that shit too!

 

[adruu]

Definitely Harper's...that's the only one I currently get. I am waiting on my copy of Lapham's Quarterly, which was steep but I am sure it's worth it.

New York Review of Books would be worth it. So would Artforum...