Thursday, September 26, 2013

Early American Life

Early American LifeThe best magazine choice for those interested in period furnishings, decor, and culture, and wishing to emulate the same today. This is not a magazine about jacuzzis but about history. In addition to interesting and inspiring features, Early American Life is a forum for artisans to advertise their skills and wares, equally valuable to readers.

This magazine never seems to run out of interesting articles with wonderful accompanying pictures. It's always fun and enlightening to pour over its contents.

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My mother subscribed to EAL for years and I recently came across an old copy and realized how much I had enjoyed the magazine. When I discovered that it was still being published I subscribed and the first issue just arrived this week. It is still a delightful magazine for the those interested in by gone ways and antiques.

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Wednesday, September 25, 2013

New York Spaces

New York SpacesNew York Spaces may be a somewhat pricey magazine; but it's got quite a bit to it. The most recent issue features diverse articles that range from how to remodel a townhouse built in the 1850s to homes in "hip" Hoboken, New Jersey and even homes that are located in "the center of the art world." There are briefer articles pointing out new homes in Long Island City, New York, too. Although you might initially mistake this publication for being somewhat pretentious, New York Spaces is a very good home decorating magazine.

The articles are both timely and well written so that people can understand what on Earth the authors are talking about; and they have great graphics and photos as well. The quality of the paper on which the magazine is printed is rather good; and the cover is bound well, too. I was especially impressed with the article entitled "1850s Modern" which displays just how well you can transform a rather old home into something hip, cool and very sophisticated.

There's one minor objection that I do have: The magazine has many, many advertisements. This can be a bother if you're trying to learn from reading articles; but on the other hand the magazine advertisements display furniture and artwork very well. The displays in the advertisements are great for giving you ideas for decorating your own home. In a time when things are financially tough, you could skip hiring a professional decorator and take ideas from the ads themselves to design your home yourself.

Some of these featured homes may be pricey; but don't let that deter you. It's amazing just how much you can accomplish by getting decorating ideas from this magazine and buying very similar but less expensive things that accomplish your decorating goals.

Overall, New York Spaces is a solid decorating magazine for people who want to indulge themselves in trendy, "hip" homes. And why not--after all, you only live once! I recommend this magazine for people who want very sophisticated decorating ideas especially if they want to decorate their homes themselves.

Marine Corps Times

Marine Corps TimesAfter 30 years of service my husband likes to know what is going on in the Corps. And since he is a member of the Marine Corps League of Pierce County, Washington, he passes them on to those who want to see how the Corps is doing. Thank you so much, you have frightened his days.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Decibel

DecibelThis is my favorite magazine right now. This is the magazine that I always get excited about when it comes in the mail. Decibel is obviously written by people who are big music fans in general, but love extreme metal music. These are the people who can see a lot of music journalists for the wankers they are and that bands like Slayer, Carcass, Jesu, and Converge deserve as much, if not more respect than popular bands like Talking Heads, Nirvana, and Radiohead.

One of the best things about this magazine is how it covers all genres and eras. They'll do a profile of some obscure grindcore or doom metal band or a band that is just doing something entirely new. And they do cover stories on popular older bands like Iron Maiden, but then they'll do a cover story on bands that might not be that popular, but are still some of the best out there, like Pig Destroyer and Pelican. So they try to have something for everyone here. There's some good articles for people who aren't huge metalheads and plenty of stuff here for people that want to dig a little deeper. But what they don't do, at least not for a while now, is do cover stories on popular bands that just kinda suck. Their cover story on Trivium has become a joke among the magazine's readers and writers and doesn't look to be something that will be repeated.

Reviews are usually well written. They're not afraid to give out a couple of 9's to the albums that deserve them each month. These, as well as pretty much everything else in the magazine, are usually written with a lot of humor, but you can still tell these are people who genuinely love this music. Also they review a lot of different stuff. You might see Cannibal Corpse, Jesu, Queens of the Stone Age, and even really inventive heavy hip hop like Dalek in the same issue.

The magazine's most popular feature is probably the Hall of Fame. This is an article in each issue where they induct a classic album into their Hall of Fame by interviewing every band member involved in the making of it. The interviews are usually really informative and often include some funny anecdotes.

Another good article is Call and Response where they send seven mp3s labeled only by song title to a different musician and ask for their opinion on them. This usually leads to musicians just totally trashing other bands, sometimes bands they're friends with. Other times, it shows you just how insanely knowledgeable some of these guys are about these bands.

Anyway, this review is already going on pretty long, but there are so many things I like about this magazine. There's always some interesting articles and it's always turning me onto good music. And it's pretty funny too. Check it out.

This Mag is the best out there in my opinion for extreme metal lovers. The deal I recieved for suscribing was awesome! money well spent.

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Love the reviews and different suggestions for bands they have in the magazine. I like reading about the album reviews because it helps me get a view about new bands and bands I've never heard of before. Flexidiscs are cool if you have a player for them, nice add-on that makes this magazine unique. Basically if you like metal and lots of it, your $30 a year is safe with these guys.

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I've been looking for a good music magazine for a long time and i've finally found it! Decibel features awesome bands on a monthly basis. Just been warned you won't find any Velvet revolver or slipknot in its contents, and that's a good thing! Decibel writes about bands worth finding more about and who aren't just the flavour of the week. It has good articles and it's also very well put together and visually pleasing. I eagerly await getting the new issues every month. If you're a music lover you need to buy a copy of decibel, because you won't be dissapointed.

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Decibel has made me believe in magazine again. I'm like a 3 year old that just got home from the toy store when my new issue of Decibel comes. I can't wait to read it and see what obscure bands I've never heard about will be in there, and also interested in the cover stories on some of the best in Metal. Along with in-depth interviews, Decibel Hall of Fame, reviews that are of great quality, and what seems to be an unstoppable writing output, I will subscribe to this magazine as long as its around.

Charlotte Magazine (1-year auto-renewal)

Charlotte MagazineCharlotte Magazine has improved greatly during the 4 years I've lived in Charlotte. My impression 4 years ago was that the articles didn't have much depth and covered the local area with an almost marketing like view of Charlotte (everything's great here!). It just didn't present balanced and critical content as you would find in a great city magazine such as the Washingtonian. Fortunately, during the last 4 years the magazine has improved and now the articles have depth and demonstrate critical thinking and balanced views; which you won't find in the shallow and barely literate Charlotte Observer. The still have a little way to go, but they've made great progress in the quality of the publication, which is why I subscribed. The "event's" section is good for mainstream actives and covers quite a large number of events. Their coverage of unique, local retail shops and restaurants is also very good. If you live in Charlotte or plan to move here, I recommend you subscribe.

I only gave the magazine 4-stars because I wasn't sure what constituted a 5-star magazine. I bought the magazine because I am interested in learning about Charlotte and the State of North Carolina in general. For that, the magazine is great. Plenty of articles of information, and the pictures are fantastic. This is a very high quality magazine and if you're interested in learning about the culture of Charlotte, this is a great place to start. I've only had one issue delivered so far, but it was chock full of info, including a listing of DRs. in the are that you might need. Of course, the emphasis is on "what to do and see in Charlotte", but the magazine goes way deeper than that and provided just about everything you need to learn about the area.

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This magazine always has great content and covers what I'm looking to stay informed about. I reccomend this magazine to anyone looking to stay informed in the Charlotte, NC area.

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Great magazine for those who live in the CLT and surrounding areas. Local info and great music event listing and restaurant reviews

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Love this magazine. This is a great way to buy a magazine and at a good price.

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Log Home Living (1-year automatic renewal)

Log Home LivingI have seen the magazine before and I liked it so much. I love the houses and the decor, it is very nice. Designers are very profesional. I love the magazine!..Congratulations!

Here is a magazine about log cabins. Log Homes. The lifestyle many of us city dwellers dream of, and NOW we have our new magazine , I will have mine for 2 years.

ANd everytime I get it from my mailbox, the dreaming begins again. For Someday I may finally get my dream log home here in Northern Arizona. My Dream.

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If you own a log home this magazine gives you many great ideas. I ordered it for my brother and sister-in-law before they bought their home. At this time it gave them important features and qualities of a well constructed log home. Now that they have bought their new home it is not unusual for them to show me an idea they have seen in this magazine which they would like to change or add in their home. I ordered this for them last year and have reordered it again for this next year. It is definitely a must have if you own a log home or plan to buy one in the near future.

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STILL WAITING!!! Purchased it over a month ago and haven't gotten it yet. Is everything done by hand in these companies? Why is it taking so long??? Oh, well, I'll let you know when I know.

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American Scientist

American ScientistThis bimonthly magazine contains science articles written by scientists for the scientifically literate reader (primarily other scientists). W Boudville's review is, in my view, incorrect on most points. His/her claim that the American Scientist is simply the American equivalent of Nature is totally wrong. Nature is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that contains (tersely written) professional articles at the cutting edge of modern research. The American Scientist contains articles that are written by scientists but for a much wider audience, it is certainly not meant to publish latest/greatest scientific results. It is not a peer reviewed journal, and the articles are not research papers and are meant to be accessible to a wider audience. Virtually all areas of the natural and physical sciences are covered in this publication including physics, astrophysics, biology, chemistry, mathematics, geology, paleontology, psychology, neuro-chemistry and many others. There are also occassionally contributions in the fields of enginerring and architecture as well. This may sound like a real hodge-podge, but the articles are generally well written and informative. There are typically 10 or so articles in each issue as well as 10-15 book reviews. I've been a subscriber for 10+ years. Some of the articles that have been most memorable include one on the complex chemistry of the iron in African rocks and how difficult it was for ancient Africans to smelt iron, a recent article on the complex geology of the Moon and what it tells us about it's formation and early evolution, and some surprising results about the Riemann Zeta function. The level (and amount of technical detail) of the articles is well above Scientific American or Sky and Telescope for example, and it is typically assumed that the reader has at least a batchelor's degree in science or engineering. If you are broadly interested in science and want to read a wide range of interesting, technical detailed articles, this is the magazine for you.

I was a Scientific American (SA) subscriber since the early seventies but for the last eight years I have switched to American Scientist.

The writing, content, and timeliness of American Scientist is what SA used to be. I have nothing against SA but for the money I get better value with American Scientist. To sustain market share SA has had to make some compromises which may be a good thing IF it reaches a wider audience. But if you are even marginally literate in matters of science my choice would be American Scientist.

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Giving this magazine such a lofty epithet may seem a bit presumptuous, but for a non scientifically trained outsider this magazine offers a fresh and challenging look at the fast paced world of science that doesn't shy away from humor and the use of terms and ideas that may require its readers to go online and define a term. And in some cases it may inspire the reader to pick up a book on science by such greats as Hawking and Greene in order to better grasp some of the concepts dealing with time, space and atoms. This magazine isn't dumbed down. It includes well placed and efficient illustrations to help explain some of the more abstract points. It is not designed in the way popular magazinea are, in so much as they only touch upon a topic in the simplest manner and then move on before the audience is lost. Yet this magazine keeps the attention of the reader by combining explanatory notes that help people with no background knowledge have some grasp of the topic and by using humor and well written articles to clearly make their points.

For a magazine with a serious and well researched list of topics having small cartoons the likes of the New Yorker shows how comfortable this magazine is with itself. From the moment I picked up this magazine for the first time I felt like every word I read mattered and was worth my time to read. (Not true of many other magazines) American Scientist may not have the audience of Discover or National Geographic, nor is it as accessible as said titles, but for those with a true interest in science willing to challenge themselves and commit to real learning this magazine may be a perfect fit. At $4.95 it is certainly worth it to pick a copy on the news stand and try it out.

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After years of growing disgust with Scientific American (I've been a subscriber to Sci Am since 1975), I vented my frustration with SciAm by writing a scathing review on Amazon tonight. After writing the review, I perused the numerous other reviews from frustrated former SciAm lovers. Several of them recommended AmSci. I spent an hour checking out the AmSci website and I was hooked. I gave them my credit card and I am now a proud subscriber! Long live AmSci, good riddance to SciAm.

Will update this review as often as needed. The only reason I gave it 4 out of 5 stars is because AmSci has only 6 issues a year not enough! Make it a monthly and I will raise my rating to 5 stars!

[Update Feb 27, 2011]

Now that my first print copy has arrived, I am glad to report that I am very, very pleased. Sci Am could learn a lot by looking at Am Sci. The magazine is dense! There is hardly any whitespace. Photos and illustrations are not full-page, but they add essential information. The articles are satisfying, thought-provoking and rigorous. Each one is written by a real, working scientist or full professor. I actually LEARNED things from this issue, instead of (as in the case of Sci Am), fuming about errors. And the book reviews! What a delight about 6 pages of reviews! Each review was thorough, detailed, and nearly a page long.

Instead of stupid politics, there was a great essay on ethics in science.

I still wish this was a monthly! I would gladly pay twice as much for 12 issues a year.

The contrast between AmSci and SciAm is extreme. My March issue of SciAm went largely unread; I have put it on the shelf without finishing it. When my current SciAm subscription lapses, I will not renew. Instead, I plan to donate what I would have spend on SciAm to AmSci!

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American Scientist is to Scientific American as polished gold is to golden polish. The former stands out for its quality, the latter for its shine.

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