must-have magazines

any gaming magazines?

 

I [heart] magazines. I won't go into my full subscribe-to list, but two I recommend:

For your inner feminist, Bitch www.bitchmagazine.com

Look past the "women's magazine" label and check out Glamour. Sure, there's the fluffy fashion-and-makeup stuff, but the back-section writing has been amazing in the last two years, very well reported and written. Several solid articles on women's health, and non-partisan looks at how Bush administration policy is affecting young women.

 

Mrs. Editude swears by Card Player. New Yorker, of course, and Outside. In between the ads and flowers, Sunset has some nice reads.

 

Do you have time to read all those each month? I'm doing to just suscribing to Esquire now, which means I have time to devour it from cover to cover while also keeping up with whatever book I'm reading.

 

For music magazines I recommend the following:
No Depression
Paste
Mojo (UK import)
Uncut (UK import)

 

Does it still have a centerfold each month? (Not kidding.)

 

Give Esquire money.

They need it.

They've needed it, for years and years.

They need it, badly.

Give, what you can . . . but give.

 

Seconded. It's expensive as hell, but it comes with a CD each month.

 

I know we -- OK, I -- sometimes have fun at Sports Illustrated's expense, but in this week's issue there is a beautiful photo of the Colts' Harrison and a Pokes' safety (or corner, don't remember the name) after Harrison fumbled the ball. The look of eyes bulging as the ball crawls away is nothing short of priceless. There's also a really good breakdown of the Cover Two "Tampa Two" defense and what it all means and how it came to be and why it's the most effective defense everyone's using, especially the Bears. Good job, SI folk.

But the best baseball story I've read in a long time -- maybe ever -- was by Roger Angell in the latest New Yorker. Poetic waxation of the 2006 World Series, the season and playoffs leading up to it, and the dual magnatism each of the New York teams provided (offering a great Reyes-Jeter comparison; he all but predicted Jeter would win MVP). I don't believe I've ever read anything baseball by him but now I'm going to search. In my wildest wet dream I doubt I can achieve in 50 words what he penned in 5,000. This was a Picasso translated into words. The only -- only -- criticism is the ending, although good, not the way I thought this baseball journey would end. But it's worth the read for anyone who loves baseball.

 

Sports Illustrated
Outside
Business Week
Men's Health
New Yorker
Flying
Food and Wine

I've been trying to prune the list down lately, because I don't have time to read everything. But I'm also thinking about reshuffling the lineup, especially after this thread.

SI would be the most likely to go. It's been an annual gift from my grandmother. But aside from a handful of features every year, it is the most irrelevant. I loathe the way it has seemingly become People magazine over the last few years with all its celebrity gossip crap. I almost always find the SI players section to be fluff. Reilly has been mailing it in for a long time.

I enjoy Men's Health, but someone said it earlier on here. It is the same every month. It's a cookie-cutter format, and some of the features are written for the third-grade level. I might mix it up and try Men's Journal or Esquire in its place.

Outside has been my favorite magazine for about two years now. The last couple issues, however, have gone way downhill. Maybe it's just that I have such high expectations for it, but it's been a long while since they had a story that has made me have one of those "Yes, this is why I love writing!" moments.

 

As do Mojo and Paste

 

I don't love baseball by a long stretch, but that was a great, great article. I bought the latest New Yorker because of the recommendations in this thread. It's the annual cartoon issue, so it was pretty enjoyable. I'll have to check out a few more months' worth of issues before deciding to subscribe or not, however.