Bonsai Today Magazine - looking for editors

ianb

I'm definately with you Howard, I noticed a decline in article quality soon after the change over, put up with it until the end of last year then cancelled my subscription. Its Bonsai Europe all the way for me now.

Cheers
Ian

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malhomme

After 17 years in bonsai I FINALLY feel like I understand how to wire soundly and that only now I can BEGIN truly learning.

This didn't come about by pretty pictures of before-and-after trees. It came about by first observing Kathy Shaner doing something odd with her wire, and secondly reading a technical article on wiring... so technical as to be presented as a proof of a theorem. This article confirmed what I thought I was observing.

An article like this wouldn't make it into BT despite it's value, but I made sure it made it into our club's April newsletter!

--Jim

The resume for Richard Wagner, the gentleman that put so much into developing this proof, can be found here: http://iris.usc.edu/home/iris/rwagner/resume.html. I prefer this kind of advertising to the other!

zoot

I agree with those that say BT has reduced in quality of content. These days we are getting repeats of articles from earlier editions. I understand and agree that some of it has to do with the arrival of the 100th edition but even so there does seem to be a lot of it.

When the quality of the articles deteriorated I stopped my subscription. I now buy only those editions that I find useful.
When I started to seriously strive within the hobby I found the hand-drawn 'how to' cartoons very useful. They seem to have been dropped. That's a shame because beginners would gain much information from them. I'm not suggesting that the old ones be repeated but a resumption of that type of article would be beginner friendly, lighthearted and very, very useful to us all.

On the other hand Bonsai Europe has gone from strength to strength and I advise those who do not read this excellent magazine to give it a try.

Nevertheless, BT has be a tremendous force in the hobby and I sincerely hope that it improves and becomes once again the flagship of bonsai reading.

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Best regards

Zoot

'You got to be original, man...' Lester Young 1909-1959

rockm

"On the other hand Bonsai Europe has gone from strength to strength and I advise those who do not read this excellent magazine to give it a try."

I've subscribed to both BT (for ten years now) and to Bonsai Europe. Iv'e found that Bonsai Europe has its share of crap. It's just flashy graphically designed crap. Some of the trees in there are substandard and the articles tend to worship a few people a little too much for me. There are great articles in there, too. Don't get me wrong.

BT hasn't really declined in quality, as much as it has changed from wrote translation of (sometimes inpenetrable) Japanese articles, to a more readable magazine. It still retains technical info (As much as before--by the way, the technical details have ALWAYS been in the photos, not the text of the articles --If you want to learn get out a magnifying glass and go over the photos in detail..)

Vance Wood

Not meaning to be argumentative but where is the proof of this statement? Often worth while items don't make it into one source or another simply because they were not submitted.

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The only finished bonsai is a dead one; me 1992 MABA Des Moines Iowa

Vonsgardens

I really miss the Japanese articles. If you want technical articles go to the source KinBon Bonsai.....

Jphn

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"Wiring is simple; However, it is not easy to do it right" Boon

Joanie

I like all of the magazines, they all are different. Each has its strengths. The only problem is that they aren't long enough, eventually you've read them through twice or five times, and wrung everything you can understand from them.

Then, in a few months, you read them again and get a little more meat off the bones, because your knowledge is improving. When you know something that you didn't know before, the pieces just begin to fall into place.

Joanie

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"You can say any foolish thing to a dog, and the dog will give you a look that says,
'Wow, you're right! I never would've thought of that!'" ~ Dave Barry

PatArizona

G'day all...

Good on ya', Joanie...

...

By the way...please note the location change in my sig below...20 miles closer to medical and other services.

Pat

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BONSAI isn't about surviving in a storm, rather, how to dance in the rain.
THE ONLY WAY: Always remember, and don't ever forget, that whatever you read here is not cast in concrete... the intent of any advice is to help. In no way should you feel that I’m saying that my way is the only way…heaven forbid! I've seen far too much of the "my way or the highway" attitude in bonsai as well as in other areas of life.

zen

I recently read that BT was being bought out by Maxim,...was this article an April fool's thing ? As much as I am a man and do enjoy seeing the occasional scantilly clad woman, I hope that BT doesn't gp the way of Maxim with pretty girls all over the place,...I think this might cheapen bonsai. I will be entering the contest, and hope that I do well.

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"Although profoundly "inconsequential," the Zen experience has consequences in the sense that it may be applied in any direction, to any conceivable human activity, and that wherever it is so applied it lends an unmistakable quality to the work."

~ Alan Watts (1915-1973)

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