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Vancouver (September)
Fresh from its sad-state-of-what's-controversial gay influentials issue -- the big talk round town being who didn't pose for the cover -- Vanmag returns to the safety of turf talk with its annual realty package. This year Lila MacLellan and gang stomp further afield (hello, South Surrey!) out to find the next big burgs. A particularly readable, quirky piece asks whether the Starbucks-free zone of Fraser Street can become the new Main. Anonymous contributor Alan S. continues his own urban narrative, tracking front businesses that dispense crack cocaine. Elsewhere, Alisa Smith takes a hard look at another definition of life between the cracks: the new plight for B.C.-bound refugees. Vancouvermagazine.com
HoBo (#4)
The much ballyhooed HoBo is the sober hipster bible you can take home to the parents. Instead of scanning your pockets for syringes, however, they'll want to know exactly when you got your ache on for European cinema. HoBo is what happens if Wallpaper and National Geographic had a love child. Don't let the matte finish fool you, this is a glossy mag endeared to international culture, fashion and, especially, photography. But notably absent is Wallpaper's shlocky consumerism. Also absent are signs of long life, such as ad pages (you'll find half a dozen out of the 140 total), and a coherent through-line. The editor's note, a sort of compilation of epigrams and koans, is no more explicable. Being internationalist isn't about compiling datelines (from Afghanistan to Seattle this issue); it should be about common themes or a shared relevance. Here the hipster leitmotifs are first-rate photographic essays and Continental culture (Tarkovsky! Gainsbourg! Pontification!). Is it too much to ask of an obviously cultivated magazine that it transcend the chin stroke? Hobomagazine.com
Western Living (September)
The shelter mag of note keeps pace with fresh instalments on living la vida left coast, but it's a feature story description that's truly attention-grabbing: "Tom Poole was a big-living, attention-seeking, hell-raising young man who started to build Kelowna's most contentious bachelor lair, then died." Luckily for us, the story refuses any metaphorical links to Citizen Kane's Kubla Khan or overreaching architectural ambitions gone awry. Poole was, it seems, just a goofball. Westernliving.ca
Ion (August)
Alongside requisite nods to trends in music, fashion and local hipster fare such as Richard Kidd's new boutique, Ion sports a nice expose on the state of the slurpee drink. Author Douglas Ko discovers a 36-year-old slushie machine hidden away in a Vancouver grocer's and pronounces it "murda!" on delivery. Ionmagazine.ca
Around the Rack
Look for the latest issue of Front, the Western Front's house rag, out this month. This subject line is "expectations" and the cover is a clever tableau of other magazine cover mock-ups, including familiar faces like Vanmag. Cute!
Jeff MacIntyre (jeffmacintyre.com) writes on ideas, pop culture and the media from Vancouver. ![[Tyee]](/design-article.thetyee.ca/ui/img/yellowblob.png){kind=small}
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