A Prelude

I sometimes get a lot of shit for reading Entertainment Weekly. I realize that its canned opinions and enthusiasms for all pop culture mediums are pretty fucking ridiculous, but since when wasn't pop culture itself pretty fucking ridiculous? Besides, its much easier to read EW while taking a shit than actually having to watch, listen, and read everything they summarize for me in brief, glossy segments.

However, for every criticism the magazine receives, there often is a look-the-other-way angle taken when they do get something right. Perhaps I'm just a glass-half-full kinda guy, but I take notice when quality reviews and column space are devoted to deserving films like Pan's Labyrinth and Crazy Love, or when they go out of their way to remind their readers that Arrested Development was one hell of a masterpiece and that we should all be ashamed of ourselves for letting FOX cancel it. Then there's the music section, a pretty turgid couple of pages usually, but that's because the music industry is a pretty turgid industry as well. Give the folks at EW something to work with, however, and sometimes they surprise you. Tomorrow, some big name albums are going to be released, three of which will soon see some space devoted to here. While these three albums may have received minimal column space in the most recent EW, the mag at least gave the most deserving group its prestigious (ahem) "EW Pick", the same group I was planning on awarding Album of the Week to. Should I be concerned when I'm agreeing with Entertainment Weekly, or should I find it refreshing that they agree with me?