Green Left Weekly

"Green Left Weekly", published by the Democratic Socialist Party, bills itself as "Australia's radical newspaper" and an alternative to the corporate-controlled media.

I have read "Green Left Weekly" both in print and online for over a decade now, though my relatives always try to dissuade me because they feel it angers me. The newspaper is indeed extremely preachy and uncompromising, never allowing the rulers they despise any compromise. The language is often terribly ranty and exaggerated, focusing consistently on the profit system that the paper believes responsible for social and ecological problems. It is also very repetitive because the focus and topics covered are so similar in every issue. It would really be a lot better if the radical left learnt that low-frequency periodicals are the best medium for carrying their messages, because they become less repetitive and preachy without losing the radically uncompromising nature of their message.

Whilst this perspective makes "Green Left Weekly" difficult as regular reading, the paper nonetheless possesses a good deal of useful information, especially about Australia's appalling environmental record, which it has (rightly) attacked ever since being first published. These messages do not fit in with the popular perspective in an extremely socially conservative country especially of its working classes whom "Green Left Weekly" claim to represent but scientifically there is no doubt of their truth.

"Green Left Weekly" also has political problems. Whilst its claims about Cuba's excellent environmental record may be true, claims that Cuba is a democracy are very dubious and are most likely related to the newspaper's tendency to blame the US and its rulers for almost every problem. The paper does not explain why many refugees leave Cuba, nor that Cuba has a powerful secret police (the G2) whose archives have never been touched by outsiders.

Nonetheless, "Green Left Weekly" is worth a read for the information it provides that no-one in Australia or abroad tends to hear. Would undoubtedly be better as a monthly or quarterly periodical that was less repetitive, though not to mention its readers' inability to achieve desperately-needed communication with the mass of Australians.

This one newspaper is a light in Australian news, one of the most restricted and corporate owned in the world. It helps keep alive the independent media. There are some negatives though. It can become become repetitive and uses ranting language occasionally eg. "Reactionary" "Labour Bondage" but overall it takes another perspective and global events that altough important are overlooked by the mainstream media.

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Extra! - the Newsletter of Fair

The newsletter of the non-profit media watchdog organization Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (F.A.I.R.), EXTRA! provides unbiased, trustworthy news reporting criticism. Conglomerates whose interests oppose the people's continue buying broadcast and print news establishments. EXTRA! serves as a CONSUMER REPORTS of the news business, nailing corporate media on the half-truths and lies they report.

Come to think of it, if I could read only two publications, they would be CONSUMER REPORTS and EXTRA!. Along with learning which washing machines to avoid, you need to know when news organizations are defective.

And it's not just FOX NEWS CHANNEL, THE NEW YORK POST and THE WASHINGTON TIMES that get the story wrong. EXTRA! also calls out THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE WASHINGTON POST, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO and P.B.S. TELEVISION for incorrect and misleading reports.

Don't trust corporate media. Subscribe to EXTRA!.

I've been a subscriber to FAIR's "Extra!" for one year now. For a news junkie (such as myself), it provides great progressive-driven analysis and criticism of US mainstream media particularly cable news and major newspapers. They offer a progressive viewpoint, so this of course influences their perspectives on social or economic issues. With this in mind, they do a well-researched job in their critiques, something which CANT be said for the myriad of pundits on TV or right-wing media watch groups such as AIM (Accuracy in Media).

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EXTRA is published bimonthly by FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting, Inc.). Sample article titles in the current issue (June 2004) are "How Public is Public Radio"? and "Nafta's Hung Jury." The magazine offers criticism of media bias and censorship. The favorite targets seem to be members of the media elite such as Rush Limbaugh, Ted Koppel and Bill O'Reilly as well as leading newspapers including the WASHINGTON POST, NEW YORK TIMES, USA TODAY and LOS ANGELES TIMES. Attention is also paid to all major TV and radio outlets. The internet so far gets scant mention.

In order to fully appreciate EXTRA it helps if you are a news junky. I think I qualify on that score but I am probably somewhat to the right of the editors of this publication. It appears to me that EXTRA has a decidedly liberal slant. That judgement no doubt in influenced by my vantage point.

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Outdoor Life (1-year auto-renewal)

Outdoor life is a nice magazine. There are some very interesting articles and the writers are certainly educated on hunting, fishing, camping, and outdoor survival. This magazine is a must for the outdoorsman. I'm only giving it 4 stars because some of the articles seem to be recycled from month to month and I'd like to see some more interesting content/ideas. Nonetheless I plan to re-up my subscription for another year.

I doubt I'll renew my subscription to this magazine. It seems like there were a lot of real bad articles in the magazine and all the better writers that they used to have are no longer writing for them like Jim Zumbo, Pat McManus and others.

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This magazine is for the normal Joe Blow. If you want to read about some guy who hunted on a ranch and killed a 200+ inch steroid fed beast, stay away. If you want tips on how to hunt pressured public land or to see pictures of readers' deer, then this is what you need to be reading.

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Overall the magazine is pretty good. Easy reading. Gives me something to do for about 15 min's a month. Came during the time advertised.

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Outdoor Life was once a classy outdoor magazine with good writing and a conservation bent. It has descended to the lowest rung of the genre. Small snippets of trite advice and a heavy heaping of red-neck philosophy. Sad.

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Saveur (1-year auto-renewal)

I say "fun" because food should

be a pleasure, as well as an

exploration of the new and

different. One of the great strengths

of this magazine is that you

can get most of the ingredients

without having to visit a particular

store somewhere in the depths of

New York City. The people creating

the recipes are making the effort

to make preparing the food easier

for American cooks.

"Coffee table" magazine? I don't

think so... "Food and Wine": now that

is a magazine more devoted to showing

breathless closeups of beautiful

food. You can't eat it, and you can't

find the ingredients, but it looks

lovely. Yes, the photography in

Saveur is very nice, but that

just enhances the experience for me.

I am a former subscriber to a LOT

of food magazines. Gourmet lost it

when they went PC, and you can never

find the very special ingredients

they mention, unless you live

on a particular street in NYC. F&W

already mentioned. Williams/Sonoma had a

nice magazine, but now sadly gone.

I also like the travel aspect to

the articles, which is generally

much more "real" travel than you get

in other food magazines. As an

example, Gourmet will send a reporter

to the most expensive hotel/restaurant

in Italy, while Saveur will explore the

wonderful food and drinks to be found in

the Italian countryside.

I think the best compliment is that

other food magazines are stealing

ideas from Saveur, in hopes of grabbing

the same audience. A theme shows

up in Saveur, only to be repeated

a month or two later in Food and

Wine.

Perfect? No, but Saveur is working

on it, having had some ups and

downs in the last few years. I

think that the patient is recovering

nicely at this time (6/03).

To me, Saveur is almost more about travel than it is about food. The articles tend to be about cuisines set in the context of their geographic and cultural origins. Rich photography and personal stories give you a flavor of the people and places behind familiar and new dishes. Articles in Saveur have inspired me to take several trips, to places I would not have otherwise considered, and seek out amazing little hole in the wall shops and restaurants.

If you love to travel, cook, and eat, you will love Saveur!

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I have received almost all of the cooking and travel magazines out there and have to say that Saveur is by far one of the best. Not only are the recipes unique and delicious, the beautifully written articles on the cities and countries where the recipes are from are mesmerizing. The photo essays capture the food and culture of the city of focus, bringing the reader closer to the experience of the recipes shared. Some months focus on a particular region, while others pick out an ingredient of the season (such as apples in the most recent addition). After living in Japan for many years, a recent article on Sumo brought back to life the exquisite culture and cuisine I once shared.

I was afraid that the ingredients might be difficult to find given that it is based on international locations, but I have not found this to be a problem. They even took the time to create an 'where to order the food' list at the back for ingredients that aren't at the corner store. This would make a perfect gift for the cook in your life who has an interest in international cuisine and culture.

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Saveur got a new Editor-in-Chief in 2006, when Colman Andrews (one of the original founding crew from the magazine's inception) stepped down after long-running battles with the new corporate ownership (World Publications out of Winter Park Florida.) Andrews was a curmudgeon, and a brilliant iconoclast. For years, he refused to run an image of a turkey on the cover of the November issue, to the displeasure of the newsstand sales dept. He was replaced by James Oseland, a contributor and Associate Editor at the magazine (one of his first acts was to run a picture of a turkey on the cover of the November issue get it?) Saveur has fallen on tough times. Since most ad budgets for the food category are gobbled up by Rachel Ray, Gourmet, BonAppetit, Food and Wine and the like, Saveur is left with table scraps, and issues are skinny. Photography and art direction have always been first rate, and Oseland builds on this tradition with his passion for food photos that border on pornography, they are so luscious) But a shift in focus from Andrews' euro-centric vision to Oseland's more pan-asian outlook (he is the author of an excellent book on Indonesian cuisine, "Spice Islands") leaves something in translation as these themes don't resonate as heartily with Saveur's core audience. But he does seem to be attracting some younger, more urban readers. (Somehow, images of sweaty, grimy cooks behind-the-scene in a Bombay restaurant doesn't stir my soul for Indian food, though.) There is one bright spot a greater focus on Asia has lightened up Saveur's previous artery-clogging fare. The editorial staff write for themselves mainly, so if you share their vision, then you'll love Saveur. (A special issue in 2007 was all about Chicago for instance, which happens to be Oseland's home town.) And other reviewers are spot-on about the recipes if you don't live in NYC, you'll have trouble handily finding ingredients such as chicken feet, although they do reference websites for you to source things via mail-order. Wine coverage since Andrews left has been improving but still not back to where it should be Oseland isn't a wine drinker, and wine stories compete for precious editorial space in these lean times for magazine advertising. I give Saveur high marks for uniqueness. If you do subscribe, broaden your palette and pair Saveur's mineral, flinty undertones with a more practical, off-dry recipe holder such as Bon Appetit, Southern Living, or even Everyday with Rachel Ray (especially if you are the type that likes to hit the "Easy" button!)

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I love this magazine because it gives the background and history of food. When I get the magazine each month,I have to read it right then and there. I finally found out where Salisbury Steak originated. In Ohio, by a doctor during the Civil War. Not in England. The photography is beautiful and some of the stories are memories of what the certain food means to them. They make you want to try everything in the magazine. Saveur is not pretentious as "Food and Wine" or "Gourmet." It is nice to read about regular people that make great food at reasonable expenses. Subscribe to this magazine!

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Non-No - Woman

Don't purchase subscriptions from Amazon or Magazine Express.

The following are my experiences with a subscription to Hiragana Times from Amazon.

This page doesn't tell you is that the Japanese magazines subscribed to on Amazon and filled by a company called Magazine Express are shipped SEAMAIL from Japan which mean you'll recieve every issue 8 to 10 after it's released.

I placed my order in January and it to date have not recieved a single issue. After several phone calls, the Magazine Express people (who fill the Amazon subscriptions) said they had to restart my subscription for the May issues which will take 8-10 weeks due to shipping issues. So after ordering in January, I will not receive a single issue of this uncancelable magazine until possibly in late July. Very poor service.

This is unacceptable for a magazine that most US Japanese bookstores can get within a week or that you can order directly from the publisher for ony a few dollars more. If I had known the shipping policy I would not have ordered and the magazine supplier, Magazine Express will not cancel the subscrition.

I advise avoiding ALL Amazon magazine subsriptions due to their poorly stated policies.

**Update, I wrote this review in June. It is now July 8th and I've just been informed I must wait until August 15th to see if an issue arrives. I ordered the magazine on January 9th and I have had no resolution from either Magazine Express or Amazon who provides no way to contact anyone within Amazon about magazine orders. I reiterate, buying magazines from Amazon if a poor idea.

I've read Non-No now for several years, and I truly recommend it to anyone wanting to expand their fashion outlook-it's true, what the previous review said about wacky fashion! However, they eat this stuff up over there! And apparently I do too or else I wouldn't have bought the magazine! My earliest Non-No mag is from may of 1995, and the fashion in that magazine didn't really catch on in America until 1997 or 1998. I promise! So if you want a two-year fashion forecast THIS IS A MUST!!!!

By the way, my brother lived in Japan for some time and he said that a Gap t-shirt was $78.

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This was the first Japanese magazine I had ever perused and I was pretty impressed by all the pretty, yet conservative models. Some of the fashions are wacky and funny to the American reader, but that's what they go for. Some fashions, however, find their way into the US scene years later. Keep that in mind. The Japanese are, for the most part, trendsetters. Hong Kong and Taiwan just copy them. Most of the magazine is in color but the black and white section is probably just horoscopes, advice and interviews. I don't know. I can't read Japanese. It's alright because the pictures are entertaining enough. By the way, the Japanese have a ravenous obsession with shoes. Whatever nobody else is really wearing, they'll wear it. I hear that their fashion changes each week. I wonder how much money they spend on clothes...

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The styles and trends shown in Non-No magazine are always at least 3 years ahead of the American's. I received my first Non-No magazine in June of 2001, and it is only now (in late 2006) that I'm seeing those styles here in the United States. Back in 2001, while we were still wearing regular-rise/high-rise bellbottoms, hip huggers or flare jeans, Non-No was already featuring low-waisted hip huggers, modified skinny jeans (lower-waisted, more flattering fit), and designer brands that were still relatively unknown here (Seven For All Mankind, Juicy Couture). Definitely give this magazine a shot if you want to stay aead of the trends here.

Not only is Non-No several years ahead, but it is also ahead when it comes to beauty, cosmetics and makeup application.

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Blaze Magazine

I have been getting Blaze magazine for the last 2 years. It is totally awesome and I love it. I have learned so much about horses. The contests are great too, I have won some prizes. I recommend you read Blaze if you love horses like I do. They also have a really cool website and I've found penpals there.

I bought this for my 11 year old granddaughter and she reads it cover to cover. Sometimes, she shares things she has read with me and she gets so excited! Informing, entertaining and just FUN for her.

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I live with 3 horse obsessed little girls. My 8 year old has already decided she want to train horses for a career and knows which college she wants to attend. The first time she saw one of these magazines, she had to have it. The articles are interesting and at a solid 3rd to 5th grade level. The pictures are amazing. Horse themed activities throughout make for an entertaining read. The only downside to this magazine is that it is not a monthly publication. However, there are newsletters with information and activities on the months that a full magazine isn't published. Any horse lover of elementary school age would love this magazine. I enjoy paging through it myself.

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I subscribed to BLAZE for my second grade niece, who lives in the country on 35 wooded acres. She (compliments of her grandfather and dad) has four horses and is TOTALLY in love with anything equine. She enjoys BLAZE, its stories, and its activities. I will renew the subscription for at least another year.

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American Spectator

The American Spectator offers an eloquent and often humorous conservative viewpoint on the more pressing political and cultural issues facing the world today. The emphasis here is "conservatism", not "Republicanism" as TAS is often highly critical of GOP politics and policies that stray from conservative ideals.

Publications like TAS counter the insidious, tendentious underpinings of the mainstream media, hollywood, and the mistake that is the United Nations. I recommend you at least give it a look. Samples of its content can be found at

The American Spectator is a must read for anyone considering themselves an intellectual. Not only are the articles witty and well-researched, they also provide well-articulated arguments to the most pressing (if sometimes slighlty out of date) controversies of the times. Well worth the subscription price, or even the cover price.

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I have been reading this magazine for the past year. This is a great magazine through and through. Their contributors are as good as those who do contribute to first rate Conservative magazines like the NR and WS. I like the simplicity of the articles and it is not so philosophical or hard to understand. A great read if you're interested in learning the points of views of the Conservatives. Moreover, their book reviews and recommendations are awesome. I always open this magazine where they have book reviews first and then I read other stuff. It's a good read!

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This magazine contains common sense in an age(and country) that is dire need of it. A stark contrast to the socialist tracts put out by the mainstream press.

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I used to subscribe to TAS, back in the 1980s and 90s when it was a lively Journal that had a good deal of exciting writing and reporting. Granted it was, and continues to be, much more socalially conservative than I ever was, but I do try to read a wide spectrum of publications; I'm not one who reads just to reinforce my own prejudices. And there was plenty I did likeP.J. O'Rourke on Washington, DC; the annual Christmas book recommendations; and Ben Stein's whiny, self-pitying column from Hollywood.

Some years ago TAS fell under new ownership and new editorship and rapidly became a dull and uninteresting magazine that devoted increasing amounts of space to some rather bizarre pseudo-scientific areasthe kids of things you'd expect to see in a Lyndon LaRouche magazine. I not only quit subscribing, I quit looking through it on newsstands.

In recent years the new editors have made a real effort to restore the magazine that R. Emmet Tyrell made into the most talked-about (and hated) of the Clinton years, but the spark is no longer there, perhaps becasue the Clintons aren't either; time seems to have left TAS in its wake.

Grit - National Edition

Grit is one of my favorite bimonthly country living magazines. It's a magazine that celebrates the rural community. There are always a wonderful variety of articles. Just some of the article subjects are on gardening, fruit growing, food preservation, farm lifestyle, tips on farming & animal caretaking, cooking and short stories. One of my favorite sections of Grit is the 'Looking For...' section, where readers send in requests looking for pen pals, patterns, food recipes or anything else they are looking for. The advertisements don't swamp out the features, so that's a plus as well.

I love Grit and I'd recommend it to anyone.

With so much trash out there these days, it's refreshing to read "Grit" magazine. It has down home country articles... for example: articles about firewood, farm animals, farm equipment articles,uplifting stories.

A pleasant magazine.

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A family magazine with good values and valuable information. This magazine is a joy to read and is WHOLESOME, what you rarely find in magazines today. It is a wise investment. Thank You Grit for making a product I'm happy to have on my shelves.

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I bought this as a gift and they love it! They are very much into the country lifestyle so this magazine was perfect for them. It has great articles about farming, livestock, recipes, and much more.

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If you are looking for back to basics this is the primer magazine for you. It provides nice, small, manageable articles to give you a taste of the simple, basic way of living. A stress free, pleasant read, informative, and a delight.

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Shopnotes

I've been subscribing to this magazine for years. Although I don't have time to make all of the great things that they show, I can pick and choose the projects that I like and they are always well written and easy to understand.

I subscribed, again, to ShopNotes to make sure I can achieve some skill working on the different wood related projects I take on. Good information here for those so inclined. Each issue is bound later in a notebook style reference on my shelves to refer to as needed.

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Other woodworking magazines have profuse prose with background and explanations of design and construction of furniture, and that's great. But for top value per page you can't beat Shopnotes. It consistently delivers excellent articles and projects that are clear and concise. it is very focused on "how to do it", with generous diagrams that clearly and comprehensively illustrate all aspects of the project. Whether a shop jig or a piece of furniture, their presentation is great. Oh, and the magazine itself is well suited to the shop environment since it is printed on heavy stock paper that makes for a durable, repeated reference.

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