Stack: October

This month's Stack was an interesting experience: two magazines, one of which I enjoyed more than the other, but in answering the question "would I buy it again" I realised that I'm more likely to pick up the one I liked less in future.

hello mr.
hello mr.'s strapline is "about men who date men". I love a subtitle that explains exactly what you're getting and hello mr. is perfectly encapsulated by its subtitle. It's a collection of writings – personal essays, interviews, poems, etc. – by gay men, and while sexuality is a huge part of the content, it can also be entirely incidental to the experiences being described, for example, "Scarred" and "Libra with Cancer" are both about dealing with serious illness at a young age. The writing styles and topics are hugely varied, (understandably, as the authors' main point of commonality is their sexuality), and it's beautifully designed and well-edited. Overall, it's a lovely product, although I'm keenly aware that I'm not the right demographic for it.

Would I buy it again? I really enjoyed reading hello mr., but ultimately I'm not the intended audience for this magazine and I felt like a tourist reading it. I'm not going to buy it again, but I hope it does well.

Root + Bone
Root + Bone is a free London-based food magazine, the content of which is a mixture of restaurant reviews, recipes and articles about food, cooking and eating. At its best the writing was enthusiastic and genuine, if unpolished, but too often it veered into a laddishness that irritated me. It might have been a problem with this particular issue, which focused on unconventional ingredients and methods of cooking and at times gave me the distinct impression the writers wanted me to know just how "crazy" they were. That said, the restaurant reviews made me want to try a number of new places and some of the recipes look amazing. I really wanted to like this, but overall I found it frustratingly hit and miss.

Would I buy it again? Because it's free I'd probably pick it up again for the restaurant reviews and the recipes despite not particularly enjoying its editorial style.

Life-drawing at Candid Arts, Islington

White jacket

About a year ago I bought this white linen jacket from asos.

 
I bought it for my wedding as I realised that I had a sleeveless wedding dress and a wedding that would be taking place largely outdoors in England in October. The weather actually ended up being really good, although I was glad of the jacket at the end of the day.

Stack: September

September's Stack delivery is boat, a travel magazine. Each issue of boat focuses exclusively on a single city and this issue is about Los Angeles. Of course, this is Stack so boat isn't a typical travel magazine. There's no guide to the best places to eat or the top 10 attractions to visit. Instead, boat is a series of articles by, and interviews with, residents of Los Angeles in which they ruminate on aspects of life in the city.

And it was a great read. It needed some better copy-editing, but the actual articles were compelling and gave a great sense of L.A. as a city. I previously had no interest in going to L.A., but boat made me want to visit so that seems like a solid endorsement for a travel magazine.

Would I buy it again? Yes, if there was an issue on a city I was going to. I actually looked to see if they had a past issue on Berlin as I might be there next month, but sadly they've not gone there yet.

Curtain

I live in a first floor flat. It's a nice place, but when we moved in it was cold. This was mostly due to the hilarious lack of insulation in the loft. That was sorted out pretty quickly and things improved a lot. However, on particularly cold days there was still a draft coming up the stairs and straight into the main bedroom.

Graffiti

Found on the pavement of Snowsfields by London Bridge.

Stack: August

It's taken me a while to sit down and write something about IdN, this month's Stack delivery. Usually I try and read about 75% of the magazine before I post something, but with IdN every time I open it I get completely overwhelmed, flick through it for a bit and then close it without making any progress.

It's a design magazine, although compared to Printed Pages it's such a different beast that it seems strange to put them in the same category. IdN is a blur of product design, street art, graphic design, and installations; images fill the pages, swamping the tiny paragraphs of tiny text. As a reading experience it's pretty terrible, but as a design showcase it's great.

My favourite part of IdN is that it also showcases animation. Apparently it used to come with a DVD, but this material has now moved online and is accessed with a password provided by the magazine. This issue's theme is Geometry in Motion Graphics Design and there's a lot of fantastic videos to watch, although my favourite is a music video that can also be seen here.

Would I buy it again? No. But I recommend it as a source of inspiration to designers and animators everywhere.