Once upon a time, the internet was delivered monthly. A nostalgic deep dive into the golden age of magazines, what they meant, and how their decline relates to today.
Thank you for this whistle-stop tour of so many periodicals I had forgotten even existed! My sub list before I gave them all up was Car & Driver (‘cuz I loved me some 0-60 tables), National Geographic (‘cuz I loved me some dense serif-font text), and Cosmopolitan (because I… well there’s no good excuse for this one really 🤭).
Reader’s Digest as "Twitter for your grandparents" 😂 . True confession: I too appreciated the "Drama in Real Life" section, people surviving being stuck on mountains, bear attacks, quicksand.
When my husband and I went to New Zealand in the very early 2000s, we were gobsmacked that NZ had so many tiny-circulation niche magazines. Chris bought a copy of "Pig Hunter" and then subscribed for a year for the bizarre-ness (to clarify, he subscribed and had issues of "Pig Hunter" delivered to Bangkok, where we were living).
Haha perfect. You know I read Reader's Digest on account of I've always been part 70 year old. But weirdly, I watched a 45 min podcast of New Zealand magazine people as part of researching this, so I at least got close to Pig Hunter territory.
Thank you for this whistle-stop tour of so many periodicals I had forgotten even existed! My sub list before I gave them all up was Car & Driver (‘cuz I loved me some 0-60 tables), National Geographic (‘cuz I loved me some dense serif-font text), and Cosmopolitan (because I… well there’s no good excuse for this one really 🤭).
Haha love it!! It's amazing to remember how many years we spent flipping through mags. All replaced by scrolling feeds.
We didn't have the internet in prison. Magazines saved my life!
https://fromtheyardtothearthouse.substack.com/p/possessor
I bet! Good to see you here. Gonna check out this piece of yours on movie mags. I I recommend anyone else reading this does the same.
Reader’s Digest as "Twitter for your grandparents" 😂 . True confession: I too appreciated the "Drama in Real Life" section, people surviving being stuck on mountains, bear attacks, quicksand.
When my husband and I went to New Zealand in the very early 2000s, we were gobsmacked that NZ had so many tiny-circulation niche magazines. Chris bought a copy of "Pig Hunter" and then subscribed for a year for the bizarre-ness (to clarify, he subscribed and had issues of "Pig Hunter" delivered to Bangkok, where we were living).
Thanks for the blast from the past.
Haha perfect. You know I read Reader's Digest on account of I've always been part 70 year old. But weirdly, I watched a 45 min podcast of New Zealand magazine people as part of researching this, so I at least got close to Pig Hunter territory.
So much nostalgia!