Approving of the Approval Matrix

This week, I wanted to showcase my favorite part of New York Magazine...

The Approval Matrix!

Each week NY Mag plots stories that have made the news (local and global) on their graph, categorizing them as lowbrow despicable, high brow despicable, lowbrow brilliant, and highbrow brilliant. Each blurb is accompanied by a photo.

The Approval Matrix is my favorite part of New York Magazine because it's so entertaining and usually pretty funny. They don't hold back their opinions and it's a great way to discover cool new things.

The Approval Matrix can feature anything from an interesting (and amusing) new fact, like the new wasp named after Lady Gaga in Thailand, to a short quip about something in the news, like Newsweek's Muslim Rage  cover. It also acts as a jumping off point for researching into what's happening. If you're not sure about something they refer to, you could always google it and learn something new or something more about an important issue or debate.

The Matrix takes very little time to read and with every point illustrated with a photo, readers are more likely to actually read the whole thing. There is a new Matrix every Monday as the new issue of the magazine is published.

Cheating and Politics

Last month, a cheating scandal at Harvard came to light. This week, New York Magazine's cover exposes another cheating scandal, but this time it's at New York City's prestigious Stuyvesant High School.

In terms of news value, the Harvard story had closer proximity for us, but NY Mag's article is rather timely and it chronicles another cheating scandal at another prominent school.

While the cheating article was an interesting read, the magazine also posted an article titled My Embed in Red about the Republican Party, which is also a timely and prominent story. 

I think New York Magazine did a fairly good job of mixing local stories with political coverage this week, especially since the election is fast approaching. 

I also enjoy how they don't always have such serious articles. Sometimes there are humorous articles,  including one about President Obama's amusing interactions with voters. The article is complete with images and videos of the incidents such as this one...

Overall, NY Mag's coverage of local and political news this week was informative yet entertaining and I think they struck a good balance between the two. 

Tracking New York Magazine

New York Magazine features global and US news, blogs, restaurant reviews, pop culture news, and much more with a focus on New York City. This week, the magazine is taking on Fashion Week.

Fashion Week runs from September 6th until September 13th this year and NY Mag is keeping its readers updated on runway and backstage happenings.

There are an abundance of videos from the shows, including runway clips, like this one from Diane Von Furstenberg's Spring 2013 Collection and videos featuring backstage interviews with designers like Derek Lam.

Videos and photos are the most effective ways to report from Fashion Week and I like that most of the runway and backstage clips are under three minutes. It's enough to give me a taste of what's happening, but it's not so long that it can't keep my attention.

However, if I don't feel like watching a video, there are plenty of articles chronicling Fashion Week news including some favorite moments from Fashion Week so far. It's nice to have such varied content with links to other articles and videos and more interactive features such as celebrity look books, like this one of Blake Lively which allow you to click through photos and text.

Overall, I think NY magazine is successfully varying its content to appeal to all readers, even if, like me, they don't have the biggest interest in fashion.