This Week in Magazines

• The latest issue of BRUTUS (573) has a cover feature on ceramic containers/bowls, and the people that love them (and collect them — you should see some of the insane collections that are pictured in the article, often taking over entire homes).
• PEN (155) dedicates its new issue to design in Brazil. It’s an attractive feature, and one that certainly makes you wish it would be easy (and cheap) to hop on a flight to Sao Paolo and see some of the things covered first-hand!
• SWITCH (July, Vol. 23 No. 7) couldn’t really hold my interest this month with their huge feature (takes up most of the issue) on the Japanese rock band Mr. Children. Also, their advertorials are getting a bit out of hand. There are huge sections sponsored by (dedicated to) Pocari Sweat, Nissin Cup Noodle, and Microsoft (for Windows XP). Later in the issue you then get a rather long article on the recent unveiling of the Xbox 360, that stinks of sponsorship. It also doesn’t really fit with the type of content you usually find in the magazine.
• The bulk of the new IDEA (311) is dedicated to stunning examples of CD cover art (often in the form of collections), under the banner “Sound Cosmography.”
• This month’s TITLE (August) is all about Star Wars, pretty much from cover to cover.

Update: Relating to my comments on the latest issue of SWITCH, Marxy is on the case.