Stop Smiling

I just discovered this magazine. Where have I been? Touted as "The magazine for High-Minded lowlifes" it was just prententious enough to perk my interest. This particular issue (no. 25) is all about Documentaries. There are great interviews with Errol Morris, D.A. Pennebaker and Albert Maysles. It's well written (better than it needs to be) and it's got a minimalist layout. Far better than Res Magazine, which was trying to be the coolest magazine in the world, only they forgot to put in the all important ingredient known as substance. A friend of mine bought me a subscription a few years back and I held out hope for that rag for the longest time since every issue came with a DVD. More often than not the DVD had only one or two interesting things on it. Nowadays I only flip throught it halfheartedly as I pass by the magazine rack. Stop Smiling is more of a lifestyle magazine as far as I could figure as they don't really focus on just film and music but art, politics, books and humor. I noticed Vince Vaughn was on one of the back issues so they aren't afraid to go mass market as long as it's the best of the A-listers (Vince still has some street cred). It's more accesible than The Believer which I find a little too elitest but still in the same stylistic vein.

In the music section I found a spot-on and somewhat lenghty review of Cat Power's The Greatest CD. This issue had a lot of what I crave and reminded me that it's not all about the internet, print still has it's strengths. Hopefully the next issue will be as good.