I subscribed to my first 2 magazines (that I'm paying for) today. It was quite exciting.
1. The New Yorker
I'm a liberal and I'm an English major (redundancy rocks), so having a script to one of the most clever, erudite, and all around high-falootin' magazines in America is almost a degree requirement. Honestly I'd argue that the cartoons are reason enough to dish out the cash. The New Yorker does have a pretty sturdy reputation as one of the best literary magazines in the history of the genre. J.D. Salinger, John Updike, Margaret Atwood, Truman Capote, Raymond Carver, Anne Sexton, David Sedaris, Milan Kundera, Stephen King, Seamus Heaney, Sylvia Plath and Vladimir Nabokov all contributed to the magazine, so it can't be that bad. If you've never picked up a New Yorker and read a little, you should. The fiction is good, the editorials are cutting, and the cartoons are clever (sometimes too clever).
2. Playboy
I firmly believe that every American male should both own a Corvette and have a subscription to Playboy at least once in his life. Sadly enough much of society still views Playboy as smut magazine, which it is absolutely not. Are there pictures of naked women? Yes. Good. I like looking at naked women, I'm normal. But that's not why one buys a Playboy. You buy a playboy because it probably has one of the highest journalistic standards in printed journalism today. You buy a Playboy because you will learn from every edition. Writers like Arthur C. Clarke, Ian Fleming, Vladimir Nabokov, and Margaret Atwood have all been published in Playboy, and the fiction is pretty top notch still. My dad has his collection of Playboys from college, including the first issue with a certain Marilyn Monroe, and I could spend hours reading the interviews with people who I learn about in history classes today.
I'm hoping both of these magazines will expand my outlook a little.
Now it's off to buy that Corvette...
Hubert Humphrey talks so fast that listening to him is like trying to read Playboy magazine with your wife turning the pages.
-Barry Goldwater
Comments (8)
i subscribe to the new yorker too!!! it is the BEST magazine out there, and i aspire to one day be published by it.
as for playboy... good call, but i'm a girl so... haha! :P
For some reason, I just can't take Playboy seriously. Sure, I'll take your word on it that it has some damn good writing literature in there, but I really doubt the majority of males (excluding you) subscribe to it solely for that reason. I mean, let's be honest!
Check out Harper's Magazine. You'll dig it. Now THAT'LL test your noggin intellectually!
You can have the New Yorker cartoons sent to your inbox for free.
One of my favorites is The Economist. It's hilarious in a dry, yankee-ish way, kinda like the New Yorker, except The Economist covers news. Contributers are never named for the sake of the collective voice of the magazine, or something like that. And their obituaries are very unforgiving.
I LOVE THE NEW YORKER. My dad has been a subscriber for 20 years and for my birthday last year he gifted me a six year subscription. I read it cover to cover.
Nothing goes better with the "Shouts & Murmurs" section in the NY like a little bit of T&A. Excellent combination.
i think i'll be subscribing to the new yorker soon. =]
@hopeful_mrs_lysacek - They do make Playgirl =).
@MidnightExotica - I think you're right, 10 years ago. But now that everyone and their dog has the internet (which was pretty much designed, it seems, for blogging and porn) pictures of topless women in magazines have kind of lost their umph with most men. But who knows? I enjoy all aspects of Playboy =).
@Umnenga - I know! It's fantastic. Actually on my coffee table sits a big red book with most of the cartoons since the New Yorker started. It's pretty interesting to go back and see the ones from the 20s and the 40s and what not.
@what_a_scarlet_woman - I do enjoy unforgiving obituaries! I'll look into it. There are so many great magazines out there, I wish there was enough time/money to get them all.
@irishgrrl690 - Ahahaha, that is very, very true. I try to be a varied individual.
@Pawleeen - You should! It's actually fairly cheap (considering).
I heard the articles in playboy are well written