Every Friday I get a gift in the mail. It's a magazine. Okay, it's Entertainment Weekly. Not exactly high brow reading, but hey - it started out as free for a year, and now I only pay $10 annually for 50 issues!
While I'm not entirely enthralled with anything Hollywood, I do love that I can read it in small bursts: waiting for my coffee to brew, for my computer to boot up, for the bus to arrive. It's no big investment in time or money, and I get to casually say, "Oh I knew that a month ago" when my husband comes home and tells me tidbits he heard on the news on the way home, and I can fill my kids in on all kinds of trivia about their favorite movies and music.
AND, best of all, it has a book section. A pathetic, small, inadequate book section tucked in the very last pages. As soon as I get the mail, this is the thing I turn to and read first. I scan the section for debut books and read their reviews first, then go back through the rest. I find out about a ton of great books I would never otherwise have heard of, and occasionally I hear about books months before the media or agents or bloggers "discover" them and they are big. I love being in the know!
And when I go back, over the course of the week, to work my way through the magazine from front to back, I always secretly hope that this week is the one I forgot to check the book section first and when I get to it I will find it all new to me.
It never is. But I can always hope.
*This quote is from Entertainment Weekly Dec 26,2008 issue. It is written by Rick Moody in a tribute to late great author David Foster Wallace.
I'm totally enthralled by Hollywood. Tab-rags, not so much - but the business side of things. Love EW.
ReplyDeleteI like to know what actors are doing next, await the big premieres when my favorite movies are coming out. I counted down to The Dark Knight coming out for 2 years. I went to the midnight premiere, only to get home and write a review immediately, at 2:55 am. I am on a board that covers Hollywood news - real news and I typically know everything before the news covers it. I correctly predict the winners at awards shows. I lend valuable knowledge to my family when they ask why this or that works that way.
I'm not the least bit embarrassed either.
And I'm a total failed social animal. :P
Me too, Brit! Love it! One of my favorite things about Fridays!
ReplyDeleteNext time I want to wager on upcoming nominations I know who I'm going to for insider info! :)
If we are both failed social animals together, does that make us not failed?
If we are both failed social animals together, does that make us not failed?
ReplyDeleteAh - very good point to ponder.
Great quote. Gah.
ReplyDeleteI'm a bit of a Hollywood-freak, but then you knew that, eh? Love showbiz. Love-hate!
Awards shows.... don't get me started!