I just cancelled my subscription to Conde Nast Portfolio (a new business/financial magazine I decided to give a try). Much as I tried to give them 5-6 issues of the benefit of doubt, I couldn’t find more than one or two reasonable capitalist representations — awww, come on, who’d want that in a business/financial magazine? — between the rampant socialist (er, uh, progressive) world view writing that litters the filler folded neatly within the glossy cover. The best I can say for Portfolio in print is, nice graphic design. That said, I’ve found the online version to actually contain some balance, so far. Doesn’t mean I’ll make it daily, or even weekly reading, since the agenda seems to be set from the upper offices and is sure to filter down at some point. Clearly against the level-headed and mostly reasonable financial publications, Conde Nast saw a possibly under-served market in the knowingly undeserving white-guilt democrats in finance (read Jamie Dimon of JPMC and the like), and jumped on it. As an aside, I can never wrap my head around how even the worse white-guilt could sway those who see how the economy works or doesn’t day in and day out. Like a wise man I know always says, there’s a butt for every seat.
I’ve also recently canceled my subscriptions to GQ and Esquire, two magazines that have taken such a blatant and frankly militant dive to the Left, and pushing that agenda, that I don’t even recognize them anymore. As for GQ, only Glen O’Brien remains the bright shining light, but his column isn’t political so it’s hard to go wrong. As an aside, I find it interesting that in 25 years of reading his solutions to our sartorial conundrums, I’ve disagreed with his advice maybe twice. Thanks Glen. Pick up GQ on the newsstand, read The Style Guy column and put it down. GQ went away in the early 1990’s from where I sit.
Men’s Vogue and Best Life are my new straight guy’s style and culture mags (though I’ve already noticed the odd emasculating article starting to surface here and there in Best Life). Men’s Vogue is surprisingly reminiscent of the golden age of GQ back in the 80’s, before they decided that staff metro-sexuals should expand beyond fashion and also run editorial. Growing up in a relatively small town, I loved to read about the far-away places and things that I became determined to grow up and travel to and do, which I have done and more, all mingled with pages and pages of style ideas and great classic graphic design (as opposed to the schizophrenic Wired-wanna-be of late years). Men’s Vogue has all of the old good, with none of the new bad. The random timeless accoutrements that are reviewed in reverence return me to the wide-eyed early materialist dreamer of my childhood, and gadget/destination collector that I am today.
I mourn the passing of the previously classic men’s magazines, but while there remains a market of guys like me to satisfy, I have hope for the future. Men’s Vogue and Best Life are a good start of the revival.