Okay, that was a teaser. What I really want to talk about is women's magazines. Do you read them? Do they drive you mad? Do they make you want to feed them to the dog?

I read Young Miss (now YM, I think) and Seventeen when I was very young. Later I kind of liked Glamour, but now it's awful. Cosmo is good for the dentist's office. One of the pseudo-fitness magazines is okay, but I keep forgetting which one I like and buying the ones that can be summed up as "Anorexia Monthly, or How to Feel Like Crap in Ten Easy Steps!"

Oh, and on that orgasm thing, I'll give you step number one: don't have a dog.

Oh, yeah, that's it ... mmm ... oh, yeah ... hi, Doc! How'd you get in here? Oh, thank you, I really wanted a chew toy. How did you know? Good dog, leave Mommy and Daddy alone for a while now ...

-- Anonymous, April 28, 2000

Answers

Damn. I wanted to talk about orgasms.

In any event, I read Talk, Allure, Town & Country, Vanity Fair, and In Style (my guilty pleasure). I read Seventeen growing up-- I _lived_ for that back-to-school August issue every year. I think most womens' magazines suck, although I've noticed that the mags are getting better about not insulting us.

I save Cosmo for plane flights. It's like reading porn in public.

-Sara http://fauve.cc

-- Anonymous, April 28, 2000

It's all so much prettier in italics...

-- Anonymous, April 28, 2000

I fixed it. That was really embarrassing.

-- Anonymous, April 28, 2000

Batteries!

I have a major magazine addiction and I read 40+ magazines each month. Glamour, Mademoiselle & Marie Claire I don't usually admit to, I simply pick them up at a convenience store then straight to the library incognito. I subscribe to Cosmo, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Elle, (the now defunct) Mirabella, Mode, Self, New Woman, Shape, Fitness, Town & Country, the UK editions of Vogue, Elle & Cosmo, Harper's & Queen, Red and my personal fave In Style.

Yeah I need to get a life...

-- Anonymous, April 28, 2000

Ooh, women's mags. Another great topic!

I've been reading those rags since high school, which was only mumblety-mumble years ago. I've stopped reading Glamour, because, firstly, I'm now out of their demographic, and secondly, it now sucks. I've been reading Mirabella, but, according to today's Salon, they've just tanked. I read Allure and Victoria. I can't bear Cosmo - it makes me crazy. I have a sneaking admiration for Mode - at least they don't show you "flattering swimsuits for full-figured gals" worn by Kate Moss, and, even though I don't wear large-size clothes myself, it's nice to see a magazine that shows attractive clothing for large women.

As for the killer "O": given the current state of my social life, I'll just refer back to the masturbation thread.

-- Anonymous, April 28, 2000

I was a Town and Country fan for years, but I stopped reading it last year because they didn't run my wedding in their weddings section. Then, last month, I was cleaning off my desk and realized that they didn't run it because *we forgot to mail it in*. I have heard sending them the information helps. Now I am back with Town and Country, and as an apology (I like to think) they have a tagline on their cover this month that reads "Kristin Thomas wears couture".

I don't read the American 'women's magazines...cosmo, glamour, et al. They all seem to take this tone that women are really flawed, and in need of fixing, and that bothers me. I get antsy when I read them - like I ought to get a makeover, cut my hair, and buy something in a shocking pink colour.

I do have a secret, guilty addiction to the french Marie Claire, though, and ....Chatelaine. ack. Humiliation.

-- Anonymous, April 28, 2000

Once again, Sara and I are on the same wavelength.

My magazine choices are exactly the same, with the exception of Town & Country, which is too depressing because every time I pick it up I am confronted with the images of a former childhood friend or classmate's fabulous life. And I would add Marie Claire to my list. It's like Cosmo without the ghoulish spectre of Helen Gurley Brown looming over every page. In fact the June issue has a great piece about 4 women's closets and what they've purchased in the last year.

I know it's totally superficial, but who says we aren't allowed to indulge in a little mindless escapism from time to time?

-- Anonymous, April 28, 2000

I got called away...

I don't know why I blow money on these things every month. I haven't a hope in hell of ever looking like these women (well maybe Mode ) nor can I afford to dress like most of them, yet I think it increases my self esteem to read these trashy mags rather then making me feel inadequate. I just received my UK Cosmo for May and the lead story is "How To Touch A Naked Man". My techs and I split a gut! Like if you don't know *that*... (How about *anywhere* and they don't need to be naked.) Then they have the "Cosmo Cleavage Awards"-like I care about some other chicks boobs.

I just keep reading and flatter myself that I have so much more important issues in my life then those mentioned in these magazines. But notice I read these types of magazines as soon as they arrive, while Veterinary Medicine and Veterinary Economics are back logged on my desk for months.

-- Anonymous, April 28, 2000

I'm still looking for the magazine that's going to give me the real inside information about surviving as a woman.

I tried to find out the truth from a) Young Miss, which had only recently been renamed from Calling All Girls! and stopped mailing new subscribers copies of Jacqueline Kennedy: A Portrait in Courage b) Seventeen c) Mademoiselle d) Cosmo. In each case I read for a year or two, came to the conclusion that they were leaving out the real dope, and moved on to the next.

I might have been the oldest Sassy reader in existence. Now I get my big-sister advice from this forum and others like it. I really wonder how much longer these tamely edited women's lifestyle magazines can survive.

Never went for fashion magazines but I did like New York Woman and the recently departed Mirabella.

These days I'll only read women's magazines if they're foreign ones so I'll at least learn something about other countries' TV stars. For instance:

New Idea (Australian), which my mother's family has sent her all my life so she could keep in touch with the Old Country. Includes the incredibly offensive Mere Male column (readers' letters on the theme "Aren't men stupid?"), lots of royalty and celebrity news, and local dingoes-ate-my-baby features along the lines of "Wedded bliss for soapie stars Maeve and Darin" and "Mum raises koala at home." The health column used to be written by a woman in what looked like a nun's headdress, but I think it was just the local version of a nurse's cap.

Tatler and Harper's and Queen (British), which have beautiful photography and lots of culture/society/celebrity news. The gossip writing makes the Internet look like a Tupperware party. They are not afraid to print unflattering pictures of royalty.

16 ans (French) is another one where I think I might be the oldest reader. Extremely candid sex, body, and relationship talk. Great styles. A sense of joy about the whole thing. Why oh why wasn't I born French?

I wish I could read Japanese. I bet they have cool women's magazines.

-- Anonymous, April 28, 2000

I read Sassy as a teenager and loved it.

I have a subscription to Cosmo but I haven't read one of them in at least 6 months. I read it mostly for the laughs, cause I don't buy into their advice or fashion.

The rest of the magazines I get (and dont' read) are Today's Homeowner, Better Homes and Gardens, Yahoo Internet Life, and Time Out New York. I guess I'm just not a girly girl magazine reader.

I am gettind Modern Bride and Brides, but that'll stop after I get married in September.

Oh, and Beth is completely right about the dog and orgasm. It wouldn't be so bad if they didn't watch, or try to get on the bed (ewwwwww), or nudge me to pet them, or bring me their toys, or bark, or whine.

-- Anonymous, April 28, 2000

I currently read Vogue, Allure, and Vanity Fair (which I don't think of as a woman's magazine but Sarah mentioned it). I used to read Glamour but it's completely gone to hell since they got a new editor - they even use a font now that's the one Cosmopolitan uses. Not that there's anything wrong with Cosmo, I read it on planes or when I'm sick. It's just more of a guilty pleasure.

Someone got me subscription to Mademoiselle and Working Woman but I can't find out who. It must be some mistake. I toss them both without reading them.

At the dentist, I always read Redbook. It's sort of racy and fascinates me as a look at an alien world.

I used to read Seventeen, Mademoisell, Cosmo, British & French Vogue, and a Brit magazine called Nova.

-- Anonymous, April 28, 2000

I bought a copy of Glamour last month and instantly regretted it. It was supposed to feature bathing suits for every body type -- yeah, every type of skinny! I read Jane, Victoria, Parenting (not technically a women's mag, but it may as well be given the content). I also read -- Bust, Ms., Vanity Fair, Brill's Content, Martha Stewart Living, Nylon, Shift and Equinox. I spend way too much money on magazines.

As for how to have an orgasm -- not only no dogs, but no kids either.

-- Anonymous, April 28, 2000

I read way more women's magazines than I should. I subscribe to Cosmo, Mademoiselle, Glamour, Marie Claire, Jane, Woman's World, Woman's Day, Family Circle, First for Women, Good Housekeeping, Redbook, McCall, and there are probably more I can't think of. I don't even know why I subscribe to Mademoiselle, 'cause it's total crap these days, and I don't spend much time reading Family Circle, Woman's Day, Woman's World, or First, but just flip through them quickly looking for topics of interest (the one and only thing I read in Good Housekeeping anymore is the "My Problem and How I Solved it" section). Everything else I pretty much like, except for those pages and pages of "fashion."

I also subscribe to People, Entertainment Weekly, US Weekly, Reader's Digest, and TV Guide. It's pretty obvious I have a problem, isn't it?

http://www.bitchypoo.com/bitchypoo.html

-- Anonymous, April 28, 2000

I don't subscribe to ANY magazines (I think my last was National Geographic but a large part was that I was in it for the free maps) but I am quite the little magazine hoarder at the office. As soon as a new issue comes in I sneak into the lobby and hide it until lunch so my co- workers don't one-up me on the current issue.

Up here at work I read People (I feel like I lose I.Q. points everytime I read it but it is nice to turn the noggin off), Nat'l Geographic, Better Homes & Gardens (which usually just ends up irritating me because MY GARDEN DOESN'T LOOK LIKE THAT), Discovery, Science, and Reader's Digest. One of my favorites is Discovery--it always lists neat links to websites, etc. I work for a psychologist so we don't subscribe to Cosmo, Glamour, etc. I've never asked but my thinking is that it's probably bad business to display magazines that can make women who are semi-well-adjusted feel inadequate. No need to press the issue when they're already in for therapy, I suppose.

I don't read many (well, any, I guess) women's magazines largely because I really don't care about anything they put in them. Sure, they do have SOME useful articles in them. And I do remember that I liked all of the little Q and A sections. For the most part they never really had anything to do with me. I was a tomboy when I was younger and now I have sort of grown up into an older tomboy. I still don't care about makeup. I still don't care about what my hair is up to and I certainly don't want to read a magazine that makes me feel schmucky because I am not concerned with those things.

They are good filler--doctor's ofc., dentist's ofc but I just hope women who read them regularly read them for the right reasons--and don't take them too seriously.

-- Anonymous, April 28, 2000

I subscribe to Sunset and American Homestyle & Gardening. I used to get all the fou-fou mags...but reached a point where I thought I'd gag if I read one more wedding planner/tight ass in 30 days/celebrity Oscar fashion review. Most of the time, I feel like the fashion mags are either trying to sell me something or make me feel hopelessly inferior so they can sell me something. After reading an article in Ms. a while back about how advertisers have some editorial control, I lost patience once and for all. Now, I'll pick up something totally trashy (InStyle, Glamour) if I'm flying and leave it on the plane.

-- Anonymous, April 28, 2000

i read sassy and seventeen when i was in middle school. i actually collected back issues of sassy rather voraciously for a while...until that fateful day when, in a fit of insanity, i sold them all to a used magazine shop.

i don't read any women's magazines. they don't interest me in the least. i have been skimming through people recently, because they always have a new copy at one of the places i frequent for lunch, and it's good for 15 minutes of brainless midday entertainment.

-- Anonymous, April 28, 2000

ok, i don't subscribe to any magazine's and i don't believe that woman's magazines are good for the soul. when i do read one, i feel empty inside because i can never live up to what the women in the magazines are like. i don't look like them, i don't act like them, my boyfriend does not act like their boyfriends, i don't make as much money as them, etc., etc. so after reading one, i always feel like a failure.

so answer me this, why then, everytime i'm grocery shopping and waiting in the checkout line do i automatically reach for the devil toys themselves????!!!!!!

-- Anonymous, April 28, 2000

I used to get US Shape in Britain, but now it's not available anymore - we have a crappy British version, which is far more diet/how-to-get-your-man obsessed than the American one ever was. Very disappointing.

I sometimes buy Elle (UK version) but it's been annoying me recently with its articles about the end of the urban/utility look, and how we should all dress like 'ladies' again. Fine for the funky fifties style clothes, but I don't like the demure, submissive ethos that they seem to feel should go hand-in-hand with dressing like this.

I'm always very intrigued by American magazines. Part of the reason I used to enjoy US Shape was reading about strangely named products that I couldn't get in the UK. Do you people in the US (or anywhere else) feel that about British magazines, or am I just really sad? Do you get UK magazines on your shelves or do you have to subscribe?

-- Anonymous, April 28, 2000

That's an interesting point, Jess. It's never occurred to me that I should feel I need to live up to the women in the magazines and their perfect lives.

I consider the magazines I read to be mindless entertainment for the most part.

Redbook has a section of their magazine called "My most embarrassing moment" (or something similar), and that is hands-down my favorite part of any magazine. Someone needs to have a magazine of just embarrassing stories.

-- Anonymous, April 28, 2000

Ohhh... I completely forgot British Marie Claire. I used to be able to buy it at Penn Station, when I lived in NYC and would take the train out to Long Island to visit Mum.

It had articles like "Sold into White Slavery!" and "I was Flogged by my Husband in Public!" But the best part was, it actually had the prices for the clothes featured in the editorial.

I haven't seen in on the stands since American Marie Claire was launched.

Sara http://fauve.cc

-- Anonymous, April 28, 2000

Robyn: you've given me an idea ... I think when I launch the new message board here (early May, I hope and pray), we'll have a whole section just for embarrassing stories. Nothin' but. Maybe I can make it a special anonymous posting area.

-- Anonymous, April 28, 2000

Beth:

Oh. My. God. I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

Embarrassing stories are my favorite thing EVER.

-- Anonymous, April 28, 2000

I've got one, Robyn, only you may need to be Catholic to get it (I'm not sure). I swear this story is true and happened to me. When I was studying for the priesthood, in my early twenties, I snuck out one night shortly after Easter to see the movie 9 1/2 Weeks. I had a major Kim Basinger crush back then . . .

Anyway, about two weeks later, I went to confession as I did every month, at a fairly anonymous location in downtown Boston. It's a big chapel where people can go to daily mass on their lunch hour, and there are some old-fashioned confessionals with heavy curtains built into one wall of the chapel. At lunch hour you just slip into a line, and when your turn comes you pop into the box, close the curtain, and no one ever knows who you are. Usually.

When my turn came, I got into the box, closed the curtain and explained to the 80 year old Franciscan friar who was on duty that day that I was a seminarian, was making my first confession after Good Friday, and that I had, among other things, climbed out of my dorm room to see Kim Basinger reveal more than her feelings on screen (didn't even bother to pretend mixed motive, which I thought was pretty honest and evidence of true contrition).

The friar, perhaps a bit deaf, got my story all mixed up. He wound up shouting his judgment in a very clear voice, and started out with a real attention-grabber: "Any seminarian who would go to a pornographic movie on Good Friday . . ." He told me to say a rosary as penance, which is like three consecutive life terms in the world of Roman Catholic confessional penance.

When he was done with me, I slunk out of the box. As the curtain dragged back with a small, audible "whoosh," every head on my side of the chapel snapped in my direction. There I was, momentarily on stage as Tom, the Incredible Horny Seminarian. (I could hear the synapses of all those good Boston folks: "On Good Friday, no less!")

That, my friends was one of my two most embarrassing moments on this planet. I would rather be dragged naked down 5th Avenue in a rainstorm than go through THAT again.

-- Anonymous, April 28, 2000

Tom, that was an excellent example of a good embarrassing story - one that makes me cringe in sympathy while I'm laughing my butt off.

-- Anonymous, April 28, 2000

Oh i live for the monthly release of In Style. I love it so much, especially the parts with celebrity homes because it's like i get to legally feed my pleasure of peeping in windows at night when people leave the lights on and the curtains open.

And i only needed one step for the killer orgasm: find my boyfriend.

;)

-- Anonymous, April 28, 2000

I am a such a non-girl.

The Industry Standard; MacWorld; MacAddict; Print; Publish; National Geographic; Emigre. I'm considering adding *Wallpaper just because it's gorgeous. Last July, I found a magazine called Black Book which I quite liked but haven't seen it since.

I subscribed to Entertainment Weekly two years ago just so I could get the 80s CDs.

I read and buy TV Guide religiously. I should really just subscribe.

Magazines which are no longer around: Sassy (moment of silence), In Style (this was around in the mid-80s and was a precursor to the cool version of Details) - the covers always featured pairs of cover models - Cindy Crawford and some dude, Tina Turner and David Bowie, etc. Then it was bought out and destroyed circa 1990; and finally, Details, when it was happy being a lifestyle magazine whose focus was articles.

When I was younger, I too lived for the August Back to School issue of Seventeen.

Anyone remember the ad for the "Miami Vice" inspired apparel?

Nery Vice.

Oh yeah.

-- Anonymous, April 28, 2000

Aren't there already sites to relate your embarassing incidents? Many of them? I always called them "on-line journals".--Al of NOVA NOTES.

-- Anonymous, April 28, 2000

I don't subscribe to any, but from time to time (usually when I have a clothing assignment due) I go round up a bunch of them. They're all pretty much the same kind of crap, really, though Jane has a few Sassy-esque traits still left. At the moment the only magazine that feels satisfying to me is Vanity Fair- at least it's a bit more intellectual. I'm fairly sick of constant makeup tips.

And as for the sex tips- don't get me started. As a pure young thing wanting to impress a boyfriend, I bought the Cosmo on the male G-spot area (and other things). When I er, made my move, he was not happy...wouldn't you know I find the one guy this stuff does not work on. (This an embarrassing story enough for you?)

-- Anonymous, April 29, 2000

I've tried hard to restrict my magazine habit to three a month - British Vogue, British Elle, and an interiors magazine called Living Etc - it's cool because it mixes in a lot of Ikea and doesn't assume we all want to spend #500 on a bath mat.

I've noticed a really big difference between UK and USA magazines ... yours are more serious about issues, whereas over here everything is a little more mocking. It's been really interesting working on the launch of a UK version of one of the big USA womens' sites over the last couple of months, because we've had to go over this again and again with the USA staff relocating to London - it's part of the UK national pysche to poke fun at themselves and everything else, and if you want to discuss something serious in an article you need to be ironic for the first couple of paragraphs before getting to the nitty- gritty.

I don't really buy any other magazines unless I've got to travel home and don't have anything to read. Then it's open season - She, New Woman, Cosmo, Marie Claire (it's pretty good, that one) ... anything is fair game. But I try and throw away anything but the Big Three once I've read them - when we moved into our flat I had over 100 magazines to sort through!

-- Anonymous, April 29, 2000

I had a subscription to Seventeen when I was growing up, but thankfully it lapsed a few years ago. The only magazines I'm currently subscribed to are Ms., The Advocate, Bust, and Bitch. Pretty much the typical good-little-bisexual-feminist-woman listing, I suppose. But I'll confess to picking up a copy of Cosmo every now and then if I'm going on a plane or train trip. For entertainment value. Really. But I think some voice in the back of my head still thinks I'm going to find all the secrets to success as a girl hiding in one of these magazines.

-- Anonymous, April 29, 2000

Used to read Seventeen as a child... then read Glamour as a young woman... then read Mirabella as a grown-up. It figures they went bust, it was the most intelligent in a sea of dreck. Redbook was pretty good until they quit publishing short fiction. Jane's okay, but too young for me. I hate Martha Stewart but her magazine's got the best art direction, I think. And I like when she runs those articles about 27 varieties of tomatoes, or whatever, with a poster illustration. Gourmet is an old classic, still living up to its past. Vanity Fair has great writing & an eclectic subject matter. Rolling Stone & Sports Illustrated also win for good writing that crosses subject lines. I find I don't have enough time to read all that I subscribe to -- they languish in piles. W is nice just for the outsized format but their writing is negligible.

-- Anonymous, April 30, 2000

I used to read every Cosmo and Glamour that came out. I still have some Cosmos that date back to the early '80's. (my moms)

Now my reading speed is: Reader's Digest, Rolling Stone, Spin, Horticulture, Organic Gardening, Woman's Day and the like, Our Daily Bread and Carolina Gardener.

Yeah I am just so not cool and hip. But I'm having fresh strawberry shortcake in just a little while so I guess I can live with that!

-- Anonymous, April 30, 2000

I subscribed to Sassy back in the day, when I was a dorky little hip girl, and Seventeen just wasn't doing it for me. I don't know why I ever stopped reading it, and then I heard it was gone. Boy did I want to be the Sassy girl, in that weird contest they ran. Didn't entrants have to submit paper mache busts of major presidents, and write about what tattoos they wanted, in order to qualify? I could be misremembering my own plans. God, I hope not.

So I hear about Jane, the new hip and groovy adult incarnation of the Sassy girl. And I bought that, and I bought it, and it just grates. It has this bouncy, we're so hip and frsh and rockin' vibe that is like biting into tinfoil. Plus, Monica Lewinsky was on the cover recently, wasn't she? Her and that awful shade of lipstick they went on about, back when Babs Walters was interviewing her. Ugh.

My newest thing is the Utne Reader and AdBusters because they make me feel counter-cultural.

I recently gave up on Glamour,, because that idiot new woman is editing. Forgot her damn name. But they went and added an astrology column the very first month she was there, and I quit. I'm a snob, snob snob! Sing it with me.

-- Anonymous, April 30, 2000

and look at that. I also forgot to close a tag. ubba duh. I knew that would happen, what with all the italics I was tossing around so freely.

-- Anonymous, April 30, 2000

I read Glamour for a hundred years, even when I was way out of their demographic. Since the former editor of Cosmopolitan now edits it, it sucks. The cover looks like Cosmo (surprise, surprise). Frankly, I get sick of reading about sex, sex, sex, and every little thing is tied to sex as if it's all that exists in the world. Women aren't quite that shallow, I don't think.

I used to read Cosmo religiously but haven't touched it in a lot of years. I loved it when I was about 19, but that's been a long time ago. It's rather depressing to me now, as is Helen Gurley Brown and her take on life.

Now, I read Good Housekeeping, Woman's Day, Family Circle, Ladies Home Journal, McCalls, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, and I'm looking for a substitute for Glamour, which I haven't entirely given up yet. I may try Marie Claire--it sounds good from what I've read above. The huge glossies like Town & Country kind of overwhelm me.

-- Anonymous, May 01, 2000

Wow, I dont't like Redbook's "my most embarassing moment" thing at all. When I read it I was thinking, so this is such an embarassing moment, why are you telling everyone in America about it?? I just don't get this.

What I find annoying about women's magazines at this point in time is that they are all so focussed on celebrities. It's not enough to have an article on concealers or something, there has to be a sidebar listing what concealers Madonna and Jennifer Lopez use. I'm interested in fashion and decor and stuff on their own - I don't particularly care about seeing a house just because it belongs to some TV star. There are plenty of interesting houses that un-famous people live in.

This seems to be cyclical and I can't wait for this cycle to end.

-- Anonymous, May 01, 2000

My favorite magazine, bar none, is the New Yorker -- I can't wait for it to arrive every week. I even liked it when Tina Brown was editor, though I must admit, I don't buy the New Yorker for pornography and I'd rather not find it there. It's back to staid and safe, but I fear the days of three-part, 60,000-word articles on, say, California's geology are long gone.

I also subscribe to Family Circle and Country Journal. I read Glamour and Cosmo in line at the grocery store, and I usually buy Woman's Day off the rack. I keep the Country Journals (everything from how to build a cistern to the joys of wildflowers), and I used to keep odd FCs and WDs, until they got too damn heavy (I move a lot), so now I just cut out articles I think I'll use, like craft patterns and recipes. Not that I've ever used any of them...

I used to subscribe to all kinds of things -- Natural History, Smithsonian, National Geographic, Cross Stitch and Country Crafts and some of its many cousins, even McCalls one year. I finally had to give those up, because I'm just not rich, damn it. Plus those crafty things, God, I'd keep them becuase they had these cute things I wanted to make but I never made them. I just gave away a dozen cross stitch or quilting books, too.

-- Anonymous, May 01, 2000

I'm delighted to see that so many of us agree about Glamour. It used to be a fairly enjoyable magazine, for its type (it got a bunch of awards for its reporting on women's health issues). Now, ever since the former Cosmo editor took over, it's SO DREADFULLY, HORRIBLY BAD. I read it for twenty years and I'll never read it again.

Has anyone heard, has their circulation suffered in the last year?

-- Anonymous, May 01, 2000

Rags I subscribe to that were given to me as gifts: Glamour, Cosmo and US. Everyone is so right on about Cosmo and Glamour. I haven't picked up the Cosmo since October 1999 and I'm 3 months behind on reading Glamour. The issues are still in my magazine basket making me feel guilty. I'm glad that the Cosmo has just expired. I don't hate Glamour but I agree that it has gone way down in quality since the old Cosmo editor took over. US? Well, I love that piece of trash.

Magazines I subscribe to: Biography, Discover and Fitness. All I enjoy very much. Fitness has great information on exercise and eating right and they bash all the dangerous fads immediately but the models they use are in desperate need of a sandwich.

Magazines I've cancelled over the years: Vanity Fair, I really loved this magazine but many of the articles are so in depth I found them piling up for lack of reading time. Rolling Stone, I just got bored with it. Shape, it was ok but I preferred Fitness. Self, I just didn't like at all.

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2000