November 23, 2009

I subscribe to crappy magazines, part deux


I have subscribed to Entertainment Weekly pretty much since it began in 1990. And I still do. That my friends is the blessing and the curse of automatic credit card renewal.

Truth is, I used to love this magazine, it was smart and literary, and pointed me towards books and movies I would never otherwise have heard of. The pop culture stuff was fast and smart and irreverent. And I still skim EW when it arrives, occasionally latching on to an article or section, though with much less enthusiasm and involvement than I used to.

So what has changed? Entertainment Weekly has changed, and the world has changed faster. The magazine itself is thinner and safer and less "wow". And in our world when high-speed Internet connections don't seem fast enough, pop culture news becomes stale fast, and weekly subscriptions just don't cut it as news. There are entertainment TV shows all over the tube, and there are tons of of entertainment news and gossip sites included EW's own site which is updated continually.

The magazine should be going more in-depth or unexpected or controversial or investigative or something, and it's not.

This recession is a bitch, and so far this year we have seen lots of magazines bite the dust, including Gourmet, Metropolitan Home, The Advocate, and Modern Bride, and according to the website magazinedeathpool.com (didn't know that existed, did you?), EW is likely next. Their prediction is that it will be folded into sister publication People magazine.

So EW is on its death bed. Do I mourn it? Well I still love love love pop culture news, trivia, reviews, opinions, fluff and crappola in general. But I can get all that online, so other than being able to carry a magazine around, why do I need it? EW needs to do more. Or I should get off my ass and cancel my subscription.

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