New York Dog is what we in the judgment business call precious. This isn't a magazine committed to the health and well-being of man's best friend, unless you call your dog Cartier and consider a $225 wool bed by Jonathan Adler essential. There are the requisite Q&As, but on balance, this mag is akin to a society rag for canines -- it takes affectation to a whole new level.

Generally, I find it difficult to evaluate bridal/wedding magazines, as each resembles the next topically (prepping, primping, preening) and design-wise (lotsa pix of chicks in dresses). Imagine my astonishment, then, when I came across Wedding Dresses, perhaps the only bridal title on the planet with a true editorial hook. The mag emphasizes multicultural weddings and the way brides with a strong ethnic identity can showcase it in their wedding-day regalia. It's a smart hook and one largely ignored by other titles. It figures, then, that Wedding Dresses would dilute this differentiation in about 35 different ways, starting with its blander-than-bread …

Let's jump right into things today, shall we? I have seven questions about Se7en, a mag best described as a sleek wanna-be mashup of GQ, Maxim and ESPN The Magazine with a gambling problem. 1. Why do I dislike it as much as I do? I am, after all, the target audience for this publication. I dig sports and the occasional casino jag. I wear clothes and I feed myself multiple times daily. Yet outside of the Floyd Mayweather Jr. interview, nothing in the April/May issue of Se7en piques my interest even slightly.

Before even writing a word about Conde Nast Portfolio, the new business magazine, I feel compelled to disclose that I'm a charter member of the Schadenfreude club. Allowing for my worst instincts, I tried to bring a cruelty-free mind and less jaundiced eyes to the job. But the reading experience was far worse than I expected, in so many infuriating -- and even cheesy -- ways that I lost count.

Outside of the eight pages devoted to the "sizzlingest power couples," the May Washington Monthly engages the intellect in a way that few other publications do. The "Tilting at Windmills" and "Ten Miles Square" columns touch on politics and media and scandal and the attendant hypocrisy, and do so without resorting to the shrill tones that often plague such discussions. Better still is the profile of Rep. Tim Ryan, which not only outlines where the guy stands but also how his beliefs were shaped. If there has been a more thorough, balanced profile of a somewhat polarizing politician written in …