Radio Lab’s Sonic Gallery and the NYT Sunday Magazine
I have to admit, the new New York Times Sunday Magazine is very disappointing so far — it now contains lots of fluff designed to get readers to “interact” online, a publishing trick I find grating and counterproductive. When I lay in bed to read the magazine, I’m done with the computer and set to read some quality print journalism. Instead, I’m confronted with reproduced Twitter posts and snarky online comments, with little or no attribution, and picture-heavy “articles” designed to look like blog posts or cartoons.
How is this stuff enlightening anyone? It’s not exactly entertaining, either. And some of it is positively infuriating: one recent page featured — apropos of nothing — only purse pistols. (Yes, pretty guns that fit in your pocketbook.) Another dumb example: the 2011 Easter-Egg Audit. Seriously? When The Washington Post magazine went in a similar direction a few years ago, I stopped reading it and, soon after, stopped subscribing.
Have said all that, this feature with “Radiolab,” from last Sunday’s edition, is pretty cool.
But it’s really taking a lot of patience to give this darn thing a chance. Grumble.