Monocular

I like Monocle magazine. Which is odd, because they're really not marketing to me. It'd be as if I said that I really like Vanity Fair (is that even still published?), or Chemical Abstracts Quarterly (always good for a laugh), or Great Politicians (which I think actually went out of print about eighty years ago).

Monocle does two things that I like. First, they tackle big issues in an invigorating way, usually with an eye towards design or innovative thought. They'll talk about making cities more livable, and have interviews and expositions with bright young people who are doing striking things. Many times, these BYPs are actually interesting - people that you'd actually like to meet. Sometimes, not so much (someone who, say, is doing Amazing Things With Crushed Walnuts and Shredded Paper); even then, they're creative, just not in a way that I find particularly captivating. But usually, they're spot on. I love reading about ways to improve the subway rider experience (where I live, we don't have subways, unless you count the places that Jared loves) or urban parks (we have some, but most of our greenery comes from the farms) or improved passenger aircraft (I'll never be able to afford to even go to the terminal where these elegant birds reside, let alone ride on them, but I love the way they look). So there's that.

And the other thing is that they sell their own branded handicrafts, or handicrafts that might as well be theirs. These are almost uniformly expensive, but they really look well made and delightful. They're things like a really good fountain pen, or a notebook cover made of fine leather and cloth, suitable for an iPad and that fountain pen, or a piece of crystal with no purpose but to delight the eye. There's something about those items that charms me. I like knowing that they exist. I'd almost certainly never buy one -- a Bic pen works fine for me, or a plastic note book cover, or the glass Mickey Mouse paperweight that my wife gave me about fifteen years ago -- but I like that they're around. In some weird way, they distract me from the grubbiness of life. Not my life, which I like, but the life that includes professional politicians and debt crises - things like that.

Nice mag.