Archive for the 'Mags we like' Category

It’s a funny old Spiel

Approaching football in a way that blends whimsy, intelligence, humour and style is nothing new – When Saturday Comes, Nick Hornby and others were doing it decades ago. But the very arty Spiel, sent in our regular lucky bag from Stack Magazines, is taking it to a new level.

A detailed account of the sport’s part in the often bloody history of Algeria is intriguing, though it’s a shame it only takes us up to 2001. There’s a great celebration of Brighton’s revival and an amusing account of an attempt to learn Italian by following a lowly team called Pro Vercelli – though the photos and illustrations facing the latter’s text have no apparent relevance to it.

Any fule kno that football was first played with a pig’s bladder – but Spiel actually tries it, which is rather admirable. Less welcome is a slightly daft poster on how to play conkers – it fails to hit the target.

Weather forecast

TheWeather was sent to me back in September 2010, and I blogged about it then as I was so impressed that a magazine could be created from a subject so British. In fact, it’s us Brits that talk about the weather, but of course it affects the whole world – and that is what gives this magazine such huge appeal. Continue reading ‘Weather forecast’

Scotland Outdoors – Summer 2011 issue

New copies of Scotland Outdoors magazine have just landed and we’re delighted by how this issue has turned out and love the cover image kindly supplied by Woodland Trust Scotland.

If you’re a UK-based fan of the Scottish outdoors – and particularly if you have kids - we strongly recommend you pick up a copy at your nearest stockist.

Delayed Gratification

In the era of the always-on, always-connected, never-sleeping, cloud-syncing, at-your-fingertips media, the one thing all of us print heads can agree on is that a physical magazine – considered, planned and committed to ink and paper – offers a rare opportunity to disconnect and lose oneself in a moment of calm. Nothing is updating live before our very eyes. There are no shifting RSS sands and when you pick it up tomorrow, it will be the same thing it was today.

This unhurried state of affairs is at the heart of Delayed Gratification. Forget the deadlines, forget up-to-the-minute, let’s think about all this for a while. Then let’s think some more and when we’re done, let’s write something about it all.

Continue reading ‘Delayed Gratification’

Pass the Port

I am a sucker for magazine launches (not too many of those around just now), and the hype surrounding this publication promised it to be intelligent, witty and stylish.

The double whammy was I had just taken possession of an iPad the same week, and so was able to flick through the physical magazine and also the free digital version!

Continue reading ‘Pass the Port’

Merry Christmas… y’all

Another lovely vintage magazine from 1960, called Arizona Highways. I guess they don’t get much snow down there, so the cactii (and candles) serve as the festive cover.

What makes this magazine so fascinating though, is not the kitsch photography, but the fact that whoever owned the magazine before us, had been sent it by a friend who had written all over the pages! Serving as a kind of magazine/postcard, each page has a personalised caption scribbled on in fountain pen.

They wish their friends in Scotland a Merry Christmas, and point out things like “our church” and “a Joshua tree – don’t try to climb it!” Above, they mention a “Lost Dutchman Mine” in Superstition Range. Obviously, they were keen for their Scottish friends to visit Arizona. I wonder if they ever did.

The inside back cover reveals “A Cowboy’s Christmas Prayer”. Brilliant stuff.

Merry Christmas everyone!