The other day Aaron Mesh linked his blog Wired Mesh to an interview with Jack White of the White Stripes. This interview was part of the May 2003 print edition of The Believer.
Mesh's link to this magazine piqued my interest.
I go to Border's books almost every day before work for at least an hour. I had been eying the June copy of The Believer for a couple days now, but other things diverted my attention. Today I picked it up for the first time and I'm in love. I bought it at the relatively steep newstand price of $8 without bating an eye.
Without further ado I will give the top five for this gem.
(5) Every Issue has portraits of the four most "attractive" people dealt with in the issue. The portraits are done in a three color pattern, always black and white, but with a third color for additional shading. In the June issue, this shading is done with a light blue.
(4) There are no advertisements. Zero!
(3) One article begins with a relatively lengthy discussion of Baudrillard only to move into an equally long discussion about Joe Millionaire. Genius!
(2) The paper stock is thicker than any, I mean any, monthly publication I've ever seen outside of an academic journal.
(1) Included in this issue is a postcard of a work by an artist interviewed in the last issue. Usually those note-card inserts in a magazine are souless advertisements. Imagine the pure joy of seeing not commercialism but art falling into my lap as I opened the magazine for the first time!
Posted by matt at June 19, 2003 12:45 AMI've been a fan of McSweeney's Literary Quarterly for some time, and now you've sold me on the Believer. $8 is steep, but not unthinkable. McSweeney's usually clocks in around $30 or more, crazy as that seems. Then again, it has been known to be 400 pages of fiction.
Posted by: mesh at June 19, 2003 1:14 AMA twelve issue subscription for the believer is only $65. That's pretty reasonable considering it carries no advertisements whatsoever.
Posted by: matt at June 19, 2003 10:12 AMI'll have to look for Mcweeny's at Borders. Their newstand is suprisingly erudite.
Posted by: matt at June 19, 2003 10:16 AMI've got something erudite for ya right here...
Posted by: JosiahQ at June 19, 2003 11:51 AM