Zing!

Tim Lee micturates upon Nick Gillespie’s semi-autobiographical work of armchair demography.

What do you think about Reason’s “cultural turn.” Personally, I enjoy reading Nick’s Reason better than Virginia’s, although Virginia’s did seem more like a serious magazine for serious people with serious thoughts, and thus I guess I found her version more intellectually edifying. But what I think may be most interesting is the fact that, oh I don’t know, I guess maybe 70% of the writers are the same. So the actual substantive differences aren’t that great. It’s basically the same magazine with a few fewer pieces on privatizing x, a few more pieces on drugs, rock, and burning things in the desert, a reliably unfunny but fun-to-look-at cartoon, and lots more willfully obscure pop culture references. Overall, I like it. I think the formula’s got maybe two years left before its played.