Here is a mini-dialogue that Seth Roberts and I worked up; it is about Entertainment Weekly, arguably my favorite magazine. Seth starts off:
When my friends look puzzled that I subscribe to EW I say “entertainment” means art. It’s about art. They could have called it Art Weekly but they didn’t want to scare people.
Later, I wrote this:
I find the grades for books are the least reliable section of EW.
Which for me means they are the most reliable section. If they like a
book, I know to stay away. How could a critic be better or more
trustworthy than that? Too many readers are too concerned about
affiliating themselves with prestigious magazines, rather than learning
something.
I enjoyed experimenting with the dialog format. Seth and I often think alike, while having different things to say, which I think makes us suitable partners in such a venture.
It’s probably the one magazine my wife and I can agree on. I loves the reviews, she likes the celeb news. We’re both happy.
And you’re right; they have a certain editorial point-of-view that often seems in tune with my own. I remember one of the little blurbs nestled near the bottom margin said “Alvin and the Chipmunks has reached $176 million domestically. For shame, America.” We laughed about that. Out loud. I won’t exaggerate, but we laughed a lot.
I don’t quite see how reliable information about what books to stay away from helps pick the books you actually want to read.
My local newspaper is similarly reliable on “blockbusters” to avoid; but that does not help me select movies to watch.
“arguably my favorite magazine”
Is that status arguable?
They could have called it Art Weekly but they didn’t want to scare people.
I’ve long felt that way about “art films” and “art [movie] theaters”. I strongly suspect they could get more viewers for their films if they were framed as “alternative films”.
I could be wrong.
Entertainment Weekly on The Water’s Lovely: “Rendell writes marvelously here about what draws people together and drives them apart… Rendell has crafted for each a cruelly perfect fate, one that reflects, sometimes humorously and sometimes tragically, the kinds of lives they have lived. A-”
Tyler Cowen on The Water’s Lovely: “I used to think she was past her peak, but the first third of this is superb and the rest stays pretty good.”
Entertainment Weekly on Harlot’s Ghost: The prose can be beautiful: ”Now, in March, the fields are dun, and the snow, half-gone, will be stained in the morning with the stirring of the mud.” It can also be taut, but it periodically sinks under the weight of Mailer’s accumulated research. Still, you can savor the tonic moments, skim through the rest, and go over the edge when you come across, on page 1,282, the vertigo-inducing words ”To Be Continued.” B+
Tyler Cowen on Harlot’s Ghost: His best book, 1168 pages of panache and joy. One of the most underrated and underread of the important American novels.
You are right, calling it “Art Weekly” wouldn’t have been a very good marketing choice. Most people are seeking for plain entertainment, something to pass the time and not require their brain functions too much.
herbal legal buds
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