July 11, 2008 • Uncategorized •

Weekly Geeks #10 – The Magazine Rack


This week’s Weekly Geeks theme is to talk about the magazines we read, and Dewey even provided a handy little meme to get it going.

I almost feel like an impostor participating in this one, since my magazine reading has really dwindled since I got involved with blogging, especially since several of my preferred magazines also offer a lot of their content online. There’s only so much time for off-line reading, and given the choice, I’ll devote most of it to books. However, I will acknowledge that when it comes to portable reading, magazines often have the advantage over books – and since I don’t leave the house without bringing along something to read, you’d think I’d be more into magazines. But right now, there’s only one magazine that I bring into the house regularly, and since my husband reads it too, I think it will remain a fixture, along with his car magazines.

1. Name of magazine: Entertainment Weekly

2. Do you subscribe or just buy it now and then? Subscribe
3. What’s your favorite regular feature in the magazine? There are several, including the movie, TV, book, and music review sections and the Must List.
4. What do you think your interest in this magazine says about you? I’ve always been interested in keeping up with numerous facets of pop culture, and even if I don’t read, watch, or listen to it myself, I do like knowing what’s “in” and being talked about.
5. How long have you been reading this magazine? About 15 years, I think (!)
6. Is there any unique or quirky aspect to the magazine that keeps you reading? I’ve always liked the punny headlines, but the reporting is frequently very good. Also, their Lost coverage is excellent!

I’ve really never subscribed to a lot of magazines. After nearly twenty years, I let my Newsweek subscription lapse last year, since i just didn’t have time to keep up with it – it requires a little more concentration and time than EW.

I also let my subscription to More magazine lapse this year. I started reading that one, which targets women 40 and over, about a month before my 40th birthday (four years ago, but who’s counting?) It really hit the mark with me for awhile, but I just started having less and less time for it. I’ll occasionally pick up a copy of O Magazine if its theme and cover lines grab me, and I’ve found much of its content to be well-written and resonant. Overall, though, it seems to me that most of the women’s magazines I’ve tried start to repeat themselves, at least in general topics, after about a year or so, so there’s really not a need to subscribe for much longer than that. Also, I’ve never figured out who can actually afford the things in the fashion layouts…

It’s been interesting to see which magazines are popular among other Weekly Geeks participants, and reading their posts has actually inspired me – I’m re-subscribing to Bookmarks magazine.

Are you much of a magazine reader? Which ones do you prefer – and which ones are you willing to acknowlege? (Hey, I owned up to O – you can admit to People!)

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4 comments

  1. I subscribe to Golf Digest, Automobile, and recently to Astronomy. So I guess I’m a geeky, colored pants wearing geek. 🙂 Okay, I don’t really wear odd colored pants, but some funky shirst on the course!

  2. Mike – I didn’t need your magazine preferences to know you were a geeky geek :-D. My husband gets Automobile too – is that the official geek car magazine or something?

    I’m glad to know you don’t wear odd colored pants, though. And golf is one of those activities where strange clothing is acceptable – reference those Caddyshack quotes from Paul’s movie-character post earlier this week :-).

  3. EW is one of the only magazines I have no trouble reading in a timely manner. Or close to it. I think it helps that the content is rather light in fare.

    I can’t keep up with the weekly news magazines and so I gave up on those. Sometimes I miss them though.

  4. Literary Feline – I agree with you about what makes EW easier to keep up with than some other weeklies. I do miss my Newsweek at times, but something had to give…