Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Follow the Leader: Episode 66: Magazines!


Martinex1: Nothing to say... except take it away!  Follow the Leader is up again today!

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do you still read magazines (non comic-related)? Which ones? Are there any magazines you still read today that were you reading as a teenager (that's my crafty link to the Bronze Age)?

Anonymous said...

Where to start - this is a huge subject for me!

Yes, I still love magazines. I'm currently reading the latest issues of TIME and The New Yorker (which I've never read before - it contains fascinating profiles of Jerry Brown, governor of California, and Rachel Carson, author of the book "Silent Spring". I never knew Rachel Carson was dying of cancer when she wrote her hugely influential book).

Every month I regularly buy SFX and Sci-Fi Now which cover everything about sci-fi, fantasy, comics, books, graphic novels, TV shows, films etc.
I also buy Fortean Times which covers the world of weird phenomena - ghosts, UFOs, cryptozoology (Bigfoot, Loch Ness Monster etc) and so on. The magazine also contains a fascinating section about archaeology - the most recent issue revealed that wine-making from grapes is around 1,000 years older than previously thought and began in Georgia in the Urals.

I've been interested in politics since I was 14 in 1980 (I followed the 1980 U.S. presidential election with great interest) and every week I buy New Statesman (a left-wing magazine) and The Spectator, a conservative magazine. I'm on the left but I like to hear the conservative viewpoint too.

I also sporadically buy magazines if the cover-story appeals to me - such as National Geographic, New Scientist, Scientific American, TIME, BBC Sky At Night (astronomy) etc. Last month I bought a magazine devoted solely to the singer Kate Bush on the 40th anniversary of her debut in the UK singles and albums chart.

Every December I buy the Christmas issue of BBC MUSIC magazine (devoted to classical music) so I can get their free Christmas music CD. I also buy the Christmas issues of BBC Sky At Night, BBC Wildlife and BBC Gardener's World so I can get their free calendars (of course, they aren't really free because I have to buy the magazines to get the calendars). That gives me a choice of 3 calendars at the start of every month :D

Are there any magazines I was reading as a teenager that I still read now?
Only two - National Geographic and Radio Times. In school my geography teacher, Mr. Dyke, had a collection of National Geographic on the shelves in his classroom. I asked if I could borrow three of them which had articles about NASA's Voyager probe to Jupiter and Saturn, a subject in which I was very interested. Don't forget to bring them back said Mr. Dyke - but I never did. But I started buying National Geographic myself with the November 1983 issue - I remember it had a painting of The Last Supper on the cover.
Radio Times is the best-selling magazine in Britain. It began in 1923 as a radio listings guide but never changed its' name when TV came along. (Redartz, BBC Genome is just copied from the Radio Times). I've had two letters printed in Radio Times - one in July 1984 when I was 18 and the other more recently in December 2014. I also wrote a letter to RT in 1981 which wasn't printed - so I've had two letters printed out of three attempts!

Phew, thanks for reading this long comment - I said this was a huge subject for me!!

Selenarch said...

I used to read a lot of ArtNews and Artforum back in the Bronze, and I think my last subscription was to the latter a few years ago. I tried to read it, but nowadays I find myself only really perusing magazines when circumstances force it upon me. Usually in airports.

Then I tend to pick up Psychology Today, the Atlantic or Vanity Fair, but my patience is very tried knowing I could be reading something more substantive ... like comics!

In a waiting room I'll pick up National Geographic, Smithsonian or Sports Illustrated (which is fine in small doses).

My girlfriend has a subscription to the New Yorker and we got anonymously gifted a year of People (damn the scaly hide of the fiend who did so) which I can't even abide looking at from a distance.

Charlie Horse 47 said...

Great question Colin.

I still read some! But I don't directly pay for them since I get them from the public library for which I am taxed $350 / year, LOL. Also, I read these when I find interesting articles, not cover-to-cover as they are published.

The Atlantic - though I admit to printing the articles off the www more than bringing home the magazine, any more.

Astronomy - I like to know what stars I may be seeing this month.

Civil War Times - Nice to see that slowly the myths about the US Civil Ware are dying.

The Economist - Quite a breadth of coverage on so many topics and a nice balanced view.

Mother Jones - the left wing reporting makes me think.

Mother Earth - Charlie is always open to new ways to kill garden slugs with mercy.

Nostalgia Digest - Focus is old time radio.

Rolling Stone - Aside from the music stuff, the main article can often be quite thought provoking.

World War 2 - Always something interesting.

And that's that! Because I don't want the items around the house, I find the library to be practical and economical. (Plus I may find a book or DVD, LOL) Also I get a chance to learn what may be happening in the community since local papers have all but disappeared.

libraryguy said...

HMmmm is this a British blog?
Well at least y'all seem well read (besides comics)! I am a faculty librarian at a college so I of course read a ton. Magazines too many to list but mainly mid to right of center, being a good conservative. Books too many to list and several a week. Blogs like this of course and my daily Fox News, Weasel Zippers, Moonbattery, The Federalist.
Mike in Central Florida

Dr. O said...

The internet has basically made stop buying/reading print magazines. While I still insist on print books, for articles and the like I prefer to just read it on screen since they tend to be short, I don't have loyalty to any particular mag, and magazines tend to be a sloppy mess around the house. (I have enough comics lying around). Online I frequently read things from the Atlantic and the New Yorker.

The last magazine I read regularly was the UTNE Reader, which a former girlfriend got a gift subscription to back when we were together, and I ended up being the one reading it more often and got my own subscription shortly after. For those who don't know from the current site: Utne Reader is a digest of the new ideas and fresh perspectives percolating in arts, culture, politics, and spirituality. A combination of original writing and reprints gleaned from books, journals, and the independent media at large, Utne is published quarterly in print and through monthly digital issues.

Back when I read it it was monthly (or maybe bi-monthly) print issues.

Aside from that, the only other mags I subscribed to regularly were Dragon and Dungeon to supplement my D&D playing jones in the 80s and 90s.

Going back to the Bronze Age, I had a subscription to Dynamite that my older sister got me as gift back then.

Edo Bosnar said...

Like Osvaldo, I don't really buy magazines any more due to the internet.
Before that time, I used to pick up a lot of different magazines, but I usually never followed or regularly read any single one from week to week or month to month, with a few exceptions: National Geographic, to which my godparents subscribed me from about the 6th grade to the end of high school; I also had one year subscriptions to Asimov's Science Fiction and then the New Yorker, the first when I was 7th or 8th grade, and the second when I was in high school.
Outside of that and - keeping with the spirit of this blog - back in the Bronze Age and after, I occasionally read Pizzazz, Omni (usually copies my older sister left around the house), Discover, Rolling Stone and various news magazines (Time, Newsweek, US News & World Report, etc.). Later, when I was in college and afterward, I also starting reading stuff like The Economist, the Atlantic and even, occasionally, journals like Foreign Affairs and Daedalus.

Mike Wilson said...

Hmmm, I guess "non-comics related" would exclude stuff like MAD Crazy, Cracked, or CARtoons? I've read various mags on and off (Readers Digest, Time, National Geographic) over the years, but nothing currently. As a kid, I liked Dynamite and the Electric Company mag; also a magazine called Owl that was big here in Canada ... and of course, the ubiquitous Highlights.

As a teenager I was really into music mags, mostly heavy metal oriented: Hit Parader, Circus, Rip, Metal Hammer. I also went through a phase where I was into military-type mags (Eagle, Combat Illustrated, Soldier of Fortune) and martial arts mags (Inside Karate, Black Belt, Ninja).

libraryguy said...

Yeah good old Black Belt magazine with martial arts was still sort of out there, and gone but not forgotten Soldier of Fortune

William said...

I used to regularly read quite a few magazines, but not so much anymore, mostly because they quit publishing a lot of them.

Some that I used to have monthly subscriptions to:

Tennis Magazine
Tennis Match Magazine
Mac World
Mac Addict
Mac Home
Adobe InDesign Magazine
Game Pro
EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly)
ToyFare

Just to name a few off the top of my head, not counting comic related magazines like Wizard.

Dr. O said...

I totally forgot music mags. At different times I read Rolling Stone, Spin, Vibe and The Source.

Graham said...

I used to read a lot magazines, Rolling Stone, Musician, SI, Sporting News, but I really haven't read many in about twenty years. Now, I read Living Blues because it's something I can't find anywhere else that I'm interested in, and the occasional Oxford American, which is a magazine devoted to southern culture.....music, literature, cooking, etc....

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the comments :)

On the subject of music magazines - the British magazine New Musical Express (more popularly known as the NME) has just ceased publication after 66 years. The first ever UK singles chart (a Top 12) appeared in the NME in November 1952. But the only music magazine I bought regularly was called Smash Hits which I read for a while in the '80s - I mainly liked it because it printed the lyrics of the songs in the Top 40.

Throughout the '70s my father bought Reader's Digest every month and he ordered lots of interesting books exclusively from the magazine.

A correction to my earlier comment - I said Georgia was in the Urals but I meant the Caucusus, d'oh!

Libraryguy, this isn't a British blog - it's an American blog helping to make America great again so I'm sure you'll approve ; )

Charlie Horse 47 said...

Dab gunnit I forgot I used to read "Musician Magazine" monthly back in the 80s.

Also, I do occasionally order Time Magazines from the 1930s and 1940s. I find it quite interesting to read these as one gets a far more nuanced view of the times. The Greatest Generation was by no means of one opinion on the depressions, socialism, WW2...

National Geographic is in a world unto its own, no? I mean, what other magazine could take such beautiful photos that you would want to live next to Chernobyl and get leukemia?

Redartz said...

Late to the discussion today, a bit under the weather (nothing serious, fear not). Fine topic Colin! And may I express admiration for your reading choices- taking in a range of viewpoints is something I try to do as well. Oh, and it's a good thing you, Steve DC and Colin J tipped me off to BBC Genome. It's invaluable as a resource for this Yank trying hard to keep it accurate for our UK pals!

To answer your question: like many here today, I don't read many magazines these days. Most of my reading comes from the net. Like noted above, I try to get a variety of sources: daily perusals of CNN, Fox News and the BBC World Service (my personal favorite). I also frequent the National Geographic site, several comic sites, and the local newspaper. That said, I do from time to time pick up actual magazines. Sometimes I'll grab Billboard, to catch up with the music biz (their site is another great research source- the archived "Hot 100" Charts are a gold mine.

Another one I'll pick up sometimes is Back Issue, courtesy of the folks at TwoMorrows. Great publications.

Oh, and like Charlie, I enjoy reading old Time and Newsweek magazines. I still have several actual issues; having subscribed to Newsweek for many years.



Redartz said...

Aargh, that should read ..."you, Steve DC and Colin B". Mea Culpa...

Anonymous said...

From Terry in Virginia:

Some that I've subscribed to up until a few months ago:

Harpers Monthly
Rolling Stone (good political feature stories and music news that sometimes even appeals to my aging demographic)
The New Yorker (often bores me to tears, but sometimes they'll run a 10,000 word article that covers a topic in depth)
Guitar Player (often too heavy-metal oriented for my tastes, but lots of good tips and tricks for us wanna-be players)
National Geographic

I usually go for Time magazine when I'm waiting in a doctor's office. It's nowhere near as good or as in-depth as it used to be.

As others have said, the internet can be a great source of information on topics that interest me (ancient civilizations, archeology, anthropology, space physics (popular science for the non-specialist), and music.

Some that I might try soon:

Sky and Telescope (I do have a telescope and use it several times each year)
Archeology
Skeptical Inquirer

And of course, back in the Bronze Age, I read those excellent academic journals: Savage Sword of Conan, Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, Omni (science and sci-fi, if I recall correctly) and Heavy Metal (the adult-oriented comics magazine that featured Mobius and Corben, among others).

I was surprised to discover that I still own the 2nd issue of Heavy Metal (from about 1976 or '77) when I recently updated my comics collection.



Edo Bosnar said...

On the topic of music magazines, I should note that after about 1995, it became easier to get a hold of foreign periodicals here in Zagreb, as one particular English-language bookstore began stocking a ton of magazines from the US and UK, so besides Rolling Stone I also occasionally picked up issues of Spin, Vibe, NME and Melody Maker. Besides that, I also read Wired pretty frequently.
Charlie, interesting that you mentioned getting old issues of Time; I think I mentioned once at the BAB that back when I was in college (majoring in history) I did a lot of research in the periodicals section and I used to love going through old issues of Time, Newsweek, National Geographic, etc. from the 1930s and 1940s. I often found the advertisements more fascinating than the actual articles. A few examples: a picture of a nurse carrying a tray of Coca-Cola bottles, with a big caption reading, "Served at finer hospitals everywhere!" Or a Lucky Strike cigarette ad that has testimonials from, apparently, actual physicians who claim that they "aid digestion."

Charlie Horse 47 said...

Edo - interestingly, while reading the old Times at Xmas, I was surprised how many ads there were, from makers of hard spirits (rum?), for "the world's best egg nog." I guess at the time we didn't buy it ready-made in quarts and half gallons!

And, unfortunately, that piece of trivia combined with Red's column on Saturday, about lunch-time memories, has triggered the memory banks and made me recall of the joke that took the 6th grade by storm at lunch: "What comes in quarts?" The answer was not egg nog!

Perhaps it's the power of suggestion, but I seem to recall the cigarette ad about "aiding digestion" and thinking, "Well that's a new claim I had not read before!"

ColinBray said...

Very quickly - these days I'll dip into New Scientist and the Times Literary Supplement (both in the library I happen to work in)

Also the occasional music magazine, esp. if David Bowie is covered. Uncut and MOJO in particular.

During the later Bronze Age I subscribed to Astronomy magazine and a cricket magazine called Wisden.

During the mid/late 80s I was all over punk magazines like Maximum Rock'n'Roll, Punk Planet and Problem Child.

Cheers!

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Killraven said...

Well, no magazines anymore. Would love to find something monthly to interest me again though.

From back in the day at one time or another I had subscriptions to;
Starlog
Omni
Discover
Sports Illustrated
Baseball Digest
Readers Digest
Nat Geo
Fangoria
Probably a few more out there I.m not remembering.
Thanks for bringing back the memories Colin!

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