The title is as intriguing as the tagline -- "Life through an Eastern lens." I view mine through the prism of a jaded urban cynic, but I'm open. East West smartly positions each section -- news, features, food -- with a decidedly Eastern flair. And most of the writers, save a few, are of Asian heritage, too. Even the horoscope is via your Chinese astrological sign. In short, the 3-year-old EW works, neatly blending East/West experiences for a targeted readership.

JazzTimes' March issue doesn't extend an olive branch to newbies, nor does it offer much in the way of visual flash. That said, it reads as well as any arts or entertainment publication out there. Skillful writers, ranging from civil-liberties gadfly Nat Hentoff to jazz critic of record Gary Giddins, abound in its pages. You might not know much about what they're saying, but you'll be transfixed by the way they say it.

While paging through Time, I often think to myself, "Hmm, I'm really enjoying the dispatches from Damascus, but what really makes this magazine sing is its trimonthly style and design coverage." Remember the story about that fashion guy, the one with the hair? Of course you don't, because you no more read Time for such effluvia than you do Vogue for its foreign-affairs exposition or Architectural Digest for Joel Stein's peppy wit. And thus the new issue of Time Style & Design arrives with the deck stacked against it. Just who is this magazine for?