Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Talking About Magazines I Like--Part One

I like to pick up/subscribe to various magazines about a variety topics, from video-games and technology, to politics or music. I thought I would post a review of what I think of the magazines overall--note that I am not reviewing an individual issue--and we would otherwise have a grand time sharing. Shall we?

Games TM
This is a big magazine from the UK that focuses on--what else?--video-games. I find it often has succinct reviews, interesting previews, and good articles, making it a magazine I quite enjoy and usually pick up an new issue of even if it can be a bit pricey what with the currency exchange of pounds-to-cash.
4 out of 5 stars.

Rolling Stone
Funny story, I have a lifetime subscription to this magazine. Seriously, they had a promotion where for 99 dollars (plus tax, I think) you could subscribe for the rest of your natural life. It was a limited time offer and I was a bit younger when I did it. I had picked the issue up on the newsstands and had been doing so for awhile, and showed my mother the ad, we got a kick out of it and showed my pop. I halfheartedly asked him if I could do it as an early present (we were near a holiday or my birthday). To my surprise, I guess he was in a zany mood and said yes. We called, did it, and now I get the magazine until I die. Weirdly it still lists an expiration date of 2056. Rolling Stone has predicted when I'm going to die. How is the magazine though? I'll cover that.
This is a good magazine, it often has very good articles about a variety of topics, with the current events articles being very intriguing and sometimes stirring up controversy (General McChrystal being fired/resigning, anyone?). Plus, the reviews of music and movies can be interesting. The main articles are where its usually at though.
3.5 out of 5 stars

Time Magazine
My folks have subscribed to this since before I can remember and still do, so I myself got hooked on it. I like the objective reporting and variety of topics covered. It's just a good and solid news magazine that I'd recommend to people who want to keep up on their news without a political slant.
4.5 out of 5 stars.

The Nation
Now, if you want your news with a political slant, an editorial news magazine such as this one is where you could turn. The Nation is a super-liberal publication that I don't always agree with because despite being left-leaning on a variety of issues I'm not always a lefty on everything. Still, I find the opinions very interesting and appreciate their writing about certain topics that I do agree with them on that other publications may not have the nerve to put to paper. If you always vote Republican though, don't pick this up or you'll probably become enraged.
4 out of 5 stars.

PC Gamer
My laptop is horribly outdated and I no longer live with my folks so I can't play their decent PC, but I still like to keep up with the news about what's hot in computer-gaming, and this magazine is great for that. It is funny, has excellent reviews, great articles on games, and a good tech section for gear-minded folk. A great publication.
4.5 out of 5 stars.

CLiNT
The magazine made by Mark Millar with various writers and artists that contains comics and some editorial content. If we are honest, the editorial/magazine content tends to be terrible but the comic stuff can be pretty good. Often drawing from Millar's work, it uses some of his lame stuff, like Kick Ass 2 and Nemesis, but also has his good works like American Jesus and the so-far pretty good Superior. There are also other contributors with fun stories such as The Pro being shown here along with the sublime Turf, and the apparently awesome, "Who is Jake Ellis," also coming to this magazine soon. Yeah, so this can be a real grab-bag. My favorite comic was Rex Royd but that has been missing for a bit, so oh well. Overall this is a decent read though.
3 out of 5 stars (but skip anything that isn't comics).

There we go, keep an eye out for another batch of magazines I enjoy sometime later today, probably at noon.

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