Thoughtful Texts

This may at first appear to be an odd idea but if we review books and films, why not newspapers and magazines?

For almost a decade now I have found that the majority of my reading material, day to day and travel-wise is not the hard or soft bound variety of literature, low on images, and often high in intellect. It has instead been the world of glossy pages, technical jargon and eye-wateringly beautiful and envy-invoking images. The first jaunt the world of gaming; demo-discs and pixels, genre specific vocabulary, wish lists and virtual worlds. While still a hobby and an interest I moved on and the more recent subject matter revolve around physical sports, dirt, snow and skate, 'gnarly' documentations of 'sick' tricks, and yes I've spouted my fair share of 'valley-guy' terms to the detriment of my apparent brain-cells.

More recently my eye has been caught by the matte, the uniquely designed and the intellectually thought out. I have been lucky to come across some great publications by accident and in other cases great articles in the still-glossy renditions, intelligent thought provoking articles that encourage my own desire to increase the intelligence of the reading material that fills our newsstands and our hands. I'm sick of people buying the garishly coloured, predictable, fame-fuellers that unnecessarily idolise normal people (perhaps some justly).

This is not a negative piece though and I understand the inherent demand for simply-written material, we are all in need of a great story of plot and convenient understanding occasionally. 

My thoughts began with a cleverly written article discussing the changing world of photography in action sports, more specifically snowboarding and it led me to analyse it after it proved to avoid the pitfalls of typical 'old vs new' debates. The images where clearly in a balance with the words in terms of strength, importance and quality. A film magazine caught and held my attention with a brightly coloured, artistic cover and despite the price, I was sold. The following day my sister presented me with an equally well illustrated edition of Ride.

The article in Little White Lies discusses the horror genre and brings up the 'cult/non-mainstream' side of attraction or consequence and to a certain extent that increases the charm of these publications themselves, they aren't the common appearance and they don't scream everyday, they are something to be read slowly and fully understand.

Ok, so these are expensive reads, but the gorgeous detail, minimal bludgeoning advertising and high quality lends to their longevity, they are read in segments, often without specific order and they take on a role more akin to coffee table books than glossy mags, for one I'd be very disappointed to spill tea on these and I probably wouldn't be comfortable slicing them up to stare at from my bed, despite their gorgeous detail.

They may appear pretencious and 'hipster' or 'trendy' or just too cool for the new alternative but I'm sick of pidgeons and their holes. Lets continue with this high quality of easily accessible writing and penned thought. Hell, scantily clad ladies done in this format would be considered art if viewed on the train, bus or any other public situation, that's as good a reason as any to get behind this idea - the MetArt of the magazine world.