Goal of the day: 682 words. Written: 533.
"Kaunas is full of culture". It's not a book - it's a magazine. And, let me tell you right now, it's a really cool magazine!
It is published by the Kaunas Talent Garden community, which is apparently mainly led by such an active Kaunas hero Artūras Bulota. The publication is sponsored by the newly revived Kaunas municipality.
Issued once a month. That's twelve issues a year. And mostly about... Well, yes, Kaunas. But, funnily enough, it's not a tourist brochure about sightseeing.
Every issue of this magazine brings me something new. It's about the ideas of interwar fantasists about the Lithuania of 2017, it's about national bands and what makes them unique, it's about small architectural details in cities - rubbish bins and pavement pavers. Well, and more.
I like to put different and new knowledge in my head. And this magazine delivers.
In each of them, half of the magazine is about Kaunas, and the other half is about Lithuania and the world. Combine... and you get that feeling that you're really in a city full of culture. Talking about art, science, communities and more.
How do I feel about it?
That's about right:
Price: 10/10. Completely free.
Availability: 10/10. Printed in 10,000 copies, available in all cafes in Kaunas city centre and Old Town and even halfway through the month - still no shortage! You can't compare it with "Ozone", which talks about ecology, or "Njuspeipis" by KTU students, which disappear so quickly.
Design: 10/10. Yep, it's free and widely printed. Of course, it's going to be like the shit-paper of election ads, isn't it? NO. "Kaunas full of culture" is not just good, it's bloody fantastic! Even magazines like "Moteris" with its circulation of 100 thousand can learn.
Visually - modern, clean, easy to read and distinctive. Where else can you find diagonal (non-distracting) lines or top-quality artwork turned into covers or article illustrations? The team behind this magazine has put countless hours into the visuals, or if they haven't, they're fantastic at it. The photos, the illustrations, the lettering, the fonts - everything is top quality.
Printed from - on strong, thick paper. It is flexible, pleasant to the fingers, and the corners are rounded at ~0.75mm, so it does not cut the fingers. Stapled with two rivets in the middle of the magazine (which, by the way, is about 50 pages thick, 25 pages). The format is similar to A5, which is also quite handy!
By the way, honestly, if I were to publish my own magazine - I'd look for a "Kaunas full of culture" team and pay them a lot of money.
Content: 9/10. Serious, detailed, finding something new. While other magazines *look at "She" or "Laima "* print the same thing over the same-damn-thing, in this one I find new topics, interlocutors, ideas, quotes every time. And not just pulled out of the Internet, but Lithuanian, Lithuanian, Kaunas and Kaunas people.
Advertising in the magazine: 10/10. None is cursed.
I would probably be happy to take the authors of this magazine out on a date and kiss them warmly.
This magazine is so good that I would pay for it.
Maybe it's not much, I'm not very wasteful anyway, and maybe it's a pity about its length - it's a rather short publication. But 3-6 euros a month for sure.
It is a publication that at first glance may look like a cheap tourist magazine. Well, the kind you throw around at bus stations with an advertisement on every other page.
But it's a publication that no city should be ashamed of. I am proud that it is produced and published in Kaunas, our capital of culture.
"Kaunas Full of Culture is the magazine I put on my shelf and save for the future. Because 30 years from now, today's issues will still be interesting, visually and tactilely pleasing, and sharpening the cultural senses like the finest sharpeners.
This is the magazine I am looking for specifically. Not just when I have nothing to do. One of the best Lithuanian magazines today.
Impressed,
Daniel
P.S Are there better magazines in Lithuania? Yes, there may be. But regardless, Kaunas full of culture should be at the top of the list.