In addition to being a source of crucial information, magazines can also be fanned across a coffee table to conceal almond butter stains or rolled into a handy bopping device to stun tarantulas. Get a steady supply of spider-boppers with today's Groupon. For $13, you get a one-year subscription (a total of six issues) to This Magazine (a $30.13 value) mailed directly to your doorstep.

Nominated for more than 70 National Magazine awards and named this year's small magazine of the year by Canadian Editors, This Magazine continually proves its commitment to covering the most progressive topics in politics, culture, ideas, and art. A team of dedicated, emerging writers outfits the bi-monthly publication with alternative analysis of current events, providing award-winning investigative journalism, provocative commentary, and suitable lettering for a ransom note. Recent articles include an in-depth look at the die-off of the honeybee and three poems written by Ottawa poet Pearl Pirie.

This Magazine will celebrate its 45th birthday in 2011, marking nearly a half-century of smart, edgy writing and excusing any motorcycle impulse buys. A group of school activists began the magazine, originally called This Magazine is About Schools, and allowed it to evolve into the pop culture, politics, and arts based publication it is today. Over the years, This Magazine has showcased the early works of Canadian writers such as Margaret Atwood, Dionne Brand, and Naomi Klein, and has been named one of the most influential Canadian magazines of all time by Masthead Magazine.

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The Canadian Society of Magazine Editors named This Magazine "Small Magazine of the Year" in 2010. Masthead Magazine called the publication one of Canada's most influential magazines of all time. This Magazine has won a total of five gold and ten silver awards in the National Magazine Awards since 1977.