Stack: June

June's Stack delivery isn't a magazine; it's Amuseum! Hilarious.

I am slightly at a loss as to how to describe this one, (this is starting to feel like a running theme with this year's selection), but I suppose that a museum isn't a bad comparison. It's a selection of essays and articles that are based around objects: lightbulbs; IKEA bags; Vitsœ furniture; Kibbo Kift totems. It's energetic and odd – bouncing from one subject to the next without anything to connect them. The letter from Stack that accompanied it described it as "ideal toilet reading", which is very accurate. You can drop in and out easily, the writing is very accessible, and you'll probably learn something along the way.

Somehow I feel like I'm damning it with faint praise though. While I liked it, I did not love it, and I think the main problem was that it felt very lightweight after last month's New Philosopher. Had it arrived after January's delivery of The Lifted Brow I might have enjoyed it a lot more.

Would I buy it again? Maybe? Not as a regular thing, but maybe if there was an issue with something particularly interesting in?

Stack: May

I loved this month's delivery! It was a magazine called New Philosopher, which is released quarterly with each issue focused on a different topic. This issue is about education, but previous issues have included health, travel, technology, fame and work to name just a few. There's no overarching thesis to an issue – just different writers exploring the topic, interspersed with quotes and excerpts from the works of famous philosophers and theorists.

If I had to make a complaint it would be that the writing is fairly shallow; two or three pages just don't provide enough space to really dig deeply into a topic. I don't really think that's the aim of New Philosopher though. It feels more like it's offering food for thought, not making any pronouncements on its subjects. Overall it was such a fun, accessible read and it left me wanting more!

Would I buy it again? Yes!

Stack: April

April's Stack delivery was a bit of a struggle for me. The magazing was PYLOT, which is "a bi-annual, all-analogue, fashion and photography magazine". This statement actualy comes from their website though, the magazine itself doesn't really tell you what it's about. When asked what I was reading my description was "a fashion magazine for people who want you to know that they're too cool for fashion", a description that I stand by.

The mixture of fashion, art and photography is interesting – it includes interviews with cosmetics company founder Bobbi Brown and photographer Arthur Tress – and it has a policy of not digitally retouching models. Still, it all comes across as very considered and manufactured rather than conveying any real enthusiasm for its subject matter. Also all of the clothes are hideous, but I don't really read high-end fashion magazines so maybe that's normal.

Would I buy it again? No. It's not smart enough to be interesting and the clothes aren't pretty enough for someone with no interest in fashion.

Dragon on Cloud, aka Crushing Disappointment

While clearing out the office my boss found this:

It's a kit to make a wooden dragon automaton! Awesome! I took it home intending to make it over the weekend, rather optimistically perhaps, considering that the instructions are only in Chinese.

Except that 18 of the 64 pieces are missing. (The kit was open when my boss found it.)

I'm going to double-check the office tomorrow, but I'm not very confident that I'll find anything further. I had a quick look online and the only seller I could find that stocked this kit was based in Taiwan and charged a lot for international shipping. I have found out that a paper version of this kit was produced as well, although this seems to be sold out. How disappointing!

Stack: March

This is more like it! After a weak start Stack has now delivered The Gourmand, which was excellent

Stack held its first award ceremony in December and they actually awarded The Gourmand "Magazing of the Year" so it comes well-recommended! It's a gorgeous item – really hefty with great colour photography and thick, glossy paper. According to The Gourmand's website it's printed by specialist art book printers and I can believe it.

And the contents are fun. The articles cover all sorts of topics related, even if only tangentially, to food. Amongst other things there's a history of Weight Watchers, jewellery inspired by fruit and vegetables, an article about Alexandre Dumas's cookbook and an interview with a DJ-turned-sake brewer. At the end of the magazine are recipes related to the articles, so you can read about Vincent Price's dinner parties and then flick to the back for his recipe for stuffed frankfurters. The quality of the writing does let it down in a couple of places, (the Weight Watchers article is a particularly great example of why you souldn't use five-dollar word when a fifty-cent word will do), but overall this was so much fun to read. 

Would I buy it again? Yes, I think I might. It's expensive – £12 an issue – but it's such a high-quality product that I don't really begrudge the price tag.

Stack: February

February's Stack delivery was a double-whammy: Print Isn't Dead and Posterzine, both from People of Print and both about artist Anthony Burrill!
 

It would be fairer to say that Burrill is more of a starting point for this issue of Print Isn't Dead. This magazine is intended as a tribute to printing and this issue has a big focus on letterpress printing, which Burrill is known for. It starts off with Burrill writing short pieces about printers he's worked with and artists he admires, and then moves on to recommendations from those people. It's a good way to explore the subject.

It's also beautifully designed. Whereas The Lifted Brow felt overwhelming every time I opened it up, Print Isn't Dead was clean. I always knew where I was supposed to be looking on the page. The text was clear and the images had room to breathe. It was easy to dip in and out of and I really enjoyed reading it.

Posterzine is, as I suppose its name suggests, a poster-magazine. It's an A1 sheet of paper and it can be unfolded to show a poster on one side. The other side has text that is read in order as you unfold it. It's a pretty neat idea and the issue that I have is a lovely object. It's printed with just two colours, blue and pink, and is a quick, fun read. It apparently costs £5.99 though, which is pretty steep if you're not going to display it as a poster.

Would I buy it again? Maybe the magazine. I liked it, but it's also £10. I could buy a whole book for that!

Stack: January

New year, new Stack subscription!

January opened with The Lifted Brow, "a quarterly attack journal from Australia and the world". Looking back through my 2014 Stack entries, I can't find any magazines that I really disliked. There were quite a few about subjects I had no interest in, and a couple that were mediocre, but nothing I really had any trouble reading. The Lifted Brow has now changed that! I found it both boring and pretentious, and spent the last three weeks carrying it around, opening it, reading one page, and then abandoning it in irritation.

Its focus seems to be contemporary art and it features a mixture of essays, photographs, art, comics and poetry. I can't really say much beyond that though. I actually feel like I can't review this magazine as I read so little of it. I can say that it is the first magazine I've received through Stack that I've seen someone else reading though! My fellow commuter seemed engrossed in it so I can confidently say it appeals to someone.

Would I buy it again? No. This is one I never want to see again.