General Magazine Nuttiness

[Lynn2000]

Magazines that I like: Entertainment Weekly, Vanity Fair, Science (the hardcore one by AAAS), Smithsonian, National Geographic. I currently subscribe to the first three and I would like to subscribe again to the latter two one of these days. I subscribed to Smithsonian and NatGeo years ago and let them pile up, so finally I cancelled my subscriptions. Now I am reading down my issues from 2006 and they must be GONE before I can subscribe again.

If I had to choose between the two, I would pick NatGeo, but I'd much rather get both. At least with the 2006 issues, I sometimes get annoyed with the tons of ads in Smithsonian, and with how they often pick stories based on some movie that is coming out or something like that. I mean, the story itself will be decent and in-depth, but I wouldn't have even remembered Oliver Stone's ridiculous movie about Alexander the Great (Colin Farrell in a Doris Day wig... why??) if the actual magazine article about Alexander the Great hadn't mentioned it was coming out soon. Plus, I've noticed that the NatGeo and Smithsonian for the same month, or nearby months, will often have the same subject as the cover story--which is just weird.

I got NatGeo Traveler for a while. It was okay. Most of the features were quite short--frequently, even a story advertised on the cover would turn out to be less than a page long. I thought that was a bit nutty. The longer stories were invariably "travel writer seeks personal redemption by returning to hometown" or something along those lines. I just don't get who the target audience is. Not enough details to be useful to a serious traveler, not enough sense of place for an armchair traveler like me.

ETA: I am always looking for more magazine recommendations, though, so if anyone else has magazines they like, please suggest them.

[GlitterIsMyDrug]

As for good magazines, I started reading Bust in high school and still love it. It's a feminist magazine, it's frank, it's honest, it has dirty words sometimes. I somehow got a free subscription to Brides and Details, I actually like reading Details, Brides has nice pictures. And if there's someone interesting on it, I'll pick up GQ. Partner gets The Advocate and Curve. And I do in fact subscribe to Playboy...for the articles! They actually can be really interesting. Well, my subscription lapsed and I never got around to renewing it. I probably will but I'll wait for a "special deal" like around the holidays.

[TaterTot]

Not advice but I remember some women's magazine  years ago stating that if you haven't been in at least one serious relationship by the time you're 25 you are severely mentally ill.

My ex-sister-in-law must have read that article!  She told me once that there must be something horribly wrong with me because, at the age of 48, I hadn't had a serious relationship and that if I wasn't married by the time I was sixty, there must be something mentally wrong with me.

Because getting married over and over again is a healthy thing to do, I guess.

It is for the lawyers.

[TaterTot]

My "favorite" idiotic idea was from Cosmo or such type mag that had an article on what a gal could do to be "sexy for her man."  One suggestion was take her post-scrabble panties and use it as a ponytail holder to the office -- I think I might've posted about this idiotic suggestion before.  It was at that point that I finally realized that some of these writers must purposely come up with the stupidest and most bizarre "advice" and bet each other how many people are going to bite.

I admit, I don't know much about turning men on. But I can't imagine a single one of my female friends calling up their male partner and saying "So I'm wearing panties in my hair as a ponytail holder" and the guy saying "That's hot". That's crazy, why'd you do that, and oh, do you need me to bring you a pony tail holder, sure. But getting turned on by it, I don't see that. Plus, you'll be the girl with dirty panties in her hair all day. Not a reputation I'd want.

And I don't even see how this idea could work. There is no way my panties, clean or otherwise, could be twisted around enough that they would actually be able to hold my hair in any kind of a ponytail.

But then, I need one of those little, tiny, little girl ponytail holders and it goes around all my hair three times, so maybe other women just have more hair?

I have a lot of hair but I still don't think I could make it work. And I can tell you Partner would not be turned on. She'd probably be trying to have me committed for wearing underwear in my hair.

I know I'd be giving you a wide berth

[TeamBhakta]

I know they're widely mocked, but I loved the RD Condensed Books.  My grandparents used to get them, and I would spend many hours reading away while on summertime visits.  You got enough of the story to follow the plot, and if you really liked it, you could get the 'real' book from the library and fill in the details.  I remember reading Jaws as a condensed book the summer before 7th grade, then finding a paperback copy of the novel which was then passed around to all the  girls in the class.  Everyone was most interested in Chapter 7, where Ellen Brody and Matt Hooper have a romantic interlude.  90% of the chapter is spent on the logistics of the meeting, and the actual scrabble gets a one sentence flashback, but it was very racy stuff to us then.

I have a soft spot for those, too. My favorites were The Man Who Rode Midnight, Spencer's Mountain, The Camerons and Mrs 'Arris Goes To Paris.

[Morrigan]

I love love love the magazine Mental Floss.  Trivia buffs should be reading it!

Other favorites are Reminisce & Reminisce Extra (stories about 'way back when'), and County & Country Extra (for people who live in or just love the country).

Those 3 (or 5, lol) magazines are all it takes to make my day.

[GlitterIsMyDrug]

I tried the underwear in the hair!!! CLEAN underwear, and not as a turn on just to see if I could. I used the tiniest undies I own, I managed to get a very loose pony tail, it kept falling out and it looked very silly. Then I tried using a regular hair band to tie up my hair and wound them around that. Pony tail stayed in, but it still looked like I was wearing something weird in my hair.

Partner did not report being turned on. She gave me her "You're certifiable, why am I marrying you" look. Perhaps dirty undies are the trick here...but I'm not willing to try that.

[BeagleMommy]

I tried the underwear in the hair!!! CLEAN underwear, and not as a turn on just to see if I could. I used the tiniest undies I own, I managed to get a very loose pony tail, it kept falling out and it looked very silly. Then I tried using a regular hair band to tie up my hair and wound them around that. Pony tail stayed in, but it still looked like I was wearing something weird in my hair.

Partner did not report being turned on. She gave me her "You're certifiable, why am I marrying you" look. Perhaps dirty undies are the trick here...but I'm not willing to try that.

Glitter, Diet Dr. Pepper through ones nose does not feel good!  Thanks.

[Lynn2000]

I tried the underwear in the hair!!! CLEAN underwear, and not as a turn on just to see if I could. I used the tiniest undies I own, I managed to get a very loose pony tail, it kept falling out and it looked very silly. Then I tried using a regular hair band to tie up my hair and wound them around that. Pony tail stayed in, but it still looked like I was wearing something weird in my hair.

Partner did not report being turned on. She gave me her "You're certifiable, why am I marrying you" look. Perhaps dirty undies are the trick here...but I'm not willing to try that.

In the name of SCIENCE, we applaud your efforts.

[Coralreef]

Stand back everyone!!!! Glitter is doing SCIENCE!!!!

[LibraryLady]

I subscribe to the Smithsonian magazine and got a year for $8 I think.  Very few advertisements and most interesting articles.  I am member of the DAughters of the American Revolution and receive their magazine American Spirit and it has great articles on American History.  You don't have to be  a member to subscribe to it.  It is expensive, $18 a year though

[Pioneer]

Add me to the list of E-Hellions who have unsubscribed to most.  It was rather fun to try to guess whether the "Decadent Chocolate Dessert Recipes" would be featured just before or immediately after the "Lose 20# before Major Upoming Holiday" feature.

I still subscribe to Mental Floss paper edition, and Consumer Reports electronic edition. 

(Confession:  In this thread, I've seen some recommended periodicals that I plan to research, and want to flag this thread in case there are more.  Thanks!)

[GlitterIsMyDrug]

I tried the underwear in the hair!!! CLEAN underwear, and not as a turn on just to see if I could. I used the tiniest undies I own, I managed to get a very loose pony tail, it kept falling out and it looked very silly. Then I tried using a regular hair band to tie up my hair and wound them around that. Pony tail stayed in, but it still looked like I was wearing something weird in my hair.

Partner did not report being turned on. She gave me her "You're certifiable, why am I marrying you" look. Perhaps dirty undies are the trick here...but I'm not willing to try that.

Glitter, Diet Dr. Pepper through ones nose does not feel good!  Thanks.

Well that's good to know!

[GlitterIsMyDrug]

Stand back everyone!!!! Glitter is doing SCIENCE!!!!

I need that tattooed on my forehead.

[MummyPumpkin83]

I subscribe to the Smithsonian magazine and got a year for $8 I think.  Very few advertisements and most interesting articles.  I am member of the DAughters of the American Revolution and receive their magazine American Spirit and it has great articles on American History.  You don't have to be  a member to subscribe to it.  It is expensive, $18 a year though

I have to ask, how expensive are magazines in the US? Here in Australia, a "good" magazine can be $6 and up per issue. Subscriptions can be $50 and up per year. My Readers Diget subscription was $50 per year. I've stopped it though. Perhaps this discussion is better in the transatlantic knowledge section...

Edited to add:
I've just had a look and a subscription to Cosmo is currently on special for $59.95 for 12 issues. That's an advertised saving of 37%.