I'm surprised that people would be so dismissive of this. Good design should obviously result in something usable, but there's nothing wrong with presenting it in such a way so as to take advantage of the medium.
The best way to present information is not always text on plain background. This should be obvious for anybody who has had to visualize data to make it understandable. The blogazine idea carries data visualization forward from quantitative to something more qualitative.
I don't think people are being dismissive of the concept of cool visualization but the idea that it will replace typical blogpost (The death of blogpost). I can consume this once in a while - but if they this every single post or frequently I will be quite turned off to read the content.
The best way to present information is not always text on plain background. This should be obvious for anybody who has had to visualize data to make it understandable. The blogazine idea carries data visualization forward from quantitative to something more qualitative.