That's Al Sensu, Esquire, to You

Esquire has long been one of my favorite magazines*. I've been reading it on and off for years. It would be worth getting just for A. J. Jacobs' pieces. There are plenty of great tips on how to be a man in today's world, incisive articles on politics, and of course, Women We Love.

It's the Sex advice column that annoys me. It's written by Stacey Grenrock Woods, a comedic actor and writer. Her responses and so flippant and trying so hard to be funny that they are rarely useful. The Advice area is where Playboy shines. I understand that Esquire wants to differentiate itself from Playboy, but this is not the way. A little humor as an aid to delivering good information, sure. But telling a guy who wants to know how to please a woman, "Try rooting around [her clit], see what happens" is not helpful.

* To our younger readers: You may not be familiar with magazines. They're kinda like blogs and web sites, except they're 1/written by professionals and 2/printed on paper. And thanks to the dive in circulations because younger folks aren't buying them, they're exceedingly inexpensive if you subscribe. As a way to consume a mix of long and short form articles, columns and photos, they actually have a damn good user interface. And you don't need to be connected to enjoy them. And for subscribers it's sorta like RSS -- it comes to you. Beats taking your laptop to the john.