Dreamwatch...

[fajrdrako]

There is a news item that the magazine Dreamwatch is ceasing publication.

My first reaction was disappointment. Now, it isn't easy to find Dreamwatch in Ottawa, but it's possible, and I've always enjoyed it. I love glossy sci-fi magazines, I really do.

But then it turns out that the magazine will reappear as a website at http://www.dwscifi.com/. This puzzles and interests me. Certainly websites have filled a place in my life that used to be taken by newsstand periodicals - though I still read magazines too. Seems to me there's something a little surreal there, something a little out of whack, when the electronic and the print media dance back and forth and change one into the other. It's such a fluid world now.

Comments

[cyberducks.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I read that last week - can't say I am surprised - there are just too many of these kind of magazines around, while a lot of the potential readership can get the same info on-line, and usually a lot faster.

I haven't bought one of those mags in years.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Since I have something of a weakness for that kind of magazine, I have bought them recently - well, not Dreamwatch specifically, but others with similar topics. These days I tend to choose them by (a) the quality of the pictures and (b) the inclusion of Doctor Who and/or Torchwood. Which means, basically, going for the (expensive) British magazines rather than the also expensive, but not quite so bad, American ones.

As far as I know there really are no Canadian equivalents, though the closest I've seen - a Canadian magazine with David Tennant as the Doctor on the cover - I bought.

[femme-slash-fan.livejournal.com]

I read a lot of those... but again... not surprised. The sci-fi peeps tend to be Techno-geeks.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Sure, and being a Techno-geek isn't a bad thing. It will be fun to see what they do with it.

[femme-slash-fan.livejournal.com]

It should be good...

[dewline.livejournal.com]

Yes, it is. Sometimes not fluid enough and at others, too much so.

I'm not inclined to believe that print should or will be totally superseded by online for our various media needs, though.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

No. An obvious example: reading comics online isn't nearly as much fun, or as satisfying, as reading the print versions. For many reasins.

Very true

[dewline.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's going to stop my experimentation with web comics - with an eye towards eventual print-media exploitation of the results, of course. ;-)

Yes, that's a blatant hint to my plans. Both on my own stuff, and in collaborations.

Re: Very true

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Web comics? Okay, I look forward to seeing this!

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

This is the second such that I've heard of. The first was, I believe, the lesbian magazine Curve, which started out life as Deneuve until that actress spoke up about it. About a year and a half ago, it vanished, and said in the last issue, "We've been acquired by another company which decided to publish it not in print, but online." I actually have not gone to that website, not once. My way of buying magazines is to walk by the shelves and pick the ones that look interesting to me that day!

(That could also have been the magazine Girlfriends instead of Curve, as my memory is grey on the matter.)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Well, it's a development that in its way, makes sense. But I have mixed feelings about it. Much as I love many websites, they aren't the same as a physical magazine. There's a lot to be said for physicality. But then, there's a lot to be said for immediacy, too. Trade-off... just one of many.

[benbenberi.livejournal.com]

Pity about the magazine, though I haven't actually seen a copy of it in years. I was a regular reader back in the 80's... back then it had a very distinctive personality, which got smoothed away when it went glossy & pro. Maybe the online version will regain the freedom to have a voice of its own.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes, having a voice of its own is a good thing. I look forward to seeing what it becomes.

When I buy a magazine, it's for fairly specific reasons. For one thing, I like to put things in a scrapbook. For another, I like to frame really good pictures and put them on my walls. Currently having beautiful pictures of the the Doctor (both Ecclestong and Tennant), Rose, Martha, and Captain Jack on my bathroom wall, and treasuring them. I love that. Can't do that from a website. Well... one can, but I get better pictures and better results from magazine pictures.

But the information on websites is more up to date. I've noticed that the magazines that feature Torchwood are still working on pre-production photographs or items from the first few episodes, and the series is over now. There's a time-lag there... makes the new old. I still haven't found a really good magazine picture of Captain Jack in his greatcoat and/or braces.