What's Hot What's New

The good, the bad and the ugly. You'll find them all here. Each week you'll get my take on the intriguing, and sometimes peculiar, titles to recently hit the newsstand.

Dispatches www.rethink-dispatches.com $15 In short, Dispatches is the answer to anyone who thinks that print is dead. The magazine is designed “to reach a solid base of young people who must reshape a world that they will inherit. Virtually every major crisis they face requires a long-term approach, with nuanced action rooted in an understanding of larger issues and of societies different from our own. Our goal is not only to help inform this fresh generation on vital world affairs but also to train students and young professionals who want to pursue careers in international journalism.” From the outside, this new mook (Part magazine, part book) looks like a file with a stiff cover and a pocket in the back for a poster and the subscription cards, and, on the inside, it offers four great essays and a wonderful collection of photography. All themed and dedicated to a new subject in each issue. “The first issue of Dispatches looks at America from the inside out and the outside in, it is harsh in places. In others, it is inspiring. Our purpose is observation, not opinion. In this and subsequent issues, we ask articulate people to look hard at a subject and reflect what they see. Some are reporters and photographers, freed from the exigencies of their regular medium. Others are authors, artists, essayists, or experts in their field. ” The $15 price tag of the quarterly magazine may seem like a lot of money, but Dispatches is worth ever penny.

Dossier www.dossierjournal.com $15 “The name Dossier comes from the French word for file. That was our inspiration for this magazine: a file or a bunch of random papers, bound together. Our idea was to offer an open forum in which to bring together fashion, art, literature, photography, design and food.” In keeping with the file theme, Dossier is not just a file, but also a filing cabinet with a lot of good folders thrown in randomly. While articles and pictures provide for great journalism, the thread uniting all of the content isn't there. This is expected for the first issue. I hope that Dossier will find a better way to organize their files, because it is definitely a filing cabinet to keep. Published twice a year, the folks at Dossier will have plenty of time to fix their next filing cabinet.

Runway Beauty Magazine www.runwaybeauty.com $3.99 For those of you who remember the fictitious Runway Magazine from the movie “The Devil Wears Prada,” Runway Beauty Magazine is sure to disappoint. Unlike Dossier or Dispatches, Runway Beauty Magazine should be on the list of what's not hot. It looks and feels like pages of catalogues put together with no rhyme or reason. Runway Beauty seems to be new to the magazine publishing business. There is no letter from the editor introducing the magazine, and the masthead of the staff running the magazine is hidden on the lower half of page 26. For those who love to flip through the pages of a catalogue, this one is for you, but, unlike a catalogue, you have to pay for it. Runway Beauty promises to publish quarterly, but from the looks of the first issue they will need much more than a quarter to produce a better second issue. I do believe in miracles, but they are few and far between, yet for the sake of Runway Beauty's entrepreneur spirit, I hope to see one with their next issue.