Magazines offer a window into the world that windows covered in newspaper and glass molds of Anderson Cooper fail to provide. Reflect on the state of local affairs with today's Groupon: for $8, you get a two-year subscription to Brooklyn Magazine. Issues are delivered to subscriber’s doorstep four times a year.

Brooklyn Magazine’s quarterly dispatches profile local notables and investigate issues through well-written features and crisp, colorful photography. The publication's talented wordsmiths blend pop culture and social critique like a DJ giving props to Bernard Shaw, interviewing blogosphere Brooklynite Theopoulis London on one page and espousing the challenges Muslim youth face post- 9/11 on the next. Many articles arrive flanked by luminous photographic supplements capturing the borough and its population with clarity and artistry. Though subscriptions will start with future issues, the magazine’s website features a browseable archive of articles past, allowing subscribers to soak up knowledge like a sponge recognized by Mensa.