Sometimes I feel kinda weird about hating on Pitchfork so much, but then I read that some people really, really, really hate Entertainment Weekly, which seems, amazingly, even more trivial, so I don't feel as bad.

Speaking of the 'Fork, what's up with that top 50 list, eh? OK, the no Yeah Yeah Yeahs makes sense, as they hated the album (although I didn't see "Maps" in the Singles list, which is inexplicable), and of course there's no Liz Phair or Fountains of Wayne. But the White Stripes thing is objectively weird, even if they did give it a negative-in-tone review (which I had a few things to say about). But the real oddity is the omission of the New Pornographers album. They liked it, we liked it, and it just sounded better over time. Surely they could've found one album to bump to make room for Electric Version? I mean, what happened? Did you guys just forget it was put out in 2003 or what? I'm not going to even get into the ones you do continue to hump...

That said, William Bowers' entry on Radiohead is probably the best thing I've ever read about Hail to the Thief (although why they didn't let Bowers write the My Morning Jacket Entry is a mystery to me). But seriously, even if you've sworn off PF, go read that Bowers thing. It just nails it.

Incidentally, I once coughed all the way through a production of Krapp's Last Tape featuring John Hurt in the titular role. Presumably it was very good.

CORRECTION: The folks in question, in fact, like Entertainment Weekly. They just hate three particuarly writers, especially this one guy, which is, amazingly, even more creepy.

One of the writers in question is named Jessica Shaw. They suggest you write her editors and complain about her apparently unfunny column. Coincidentally, she has published a selection of her hate mail on McSweeneys, a page which for no good reason is no longer on the interweb. (See the link on the bottom of the page here for "Hate Mail To A Writer For A National Magazine." The feature is also referenced here, and other McSweeneys-EW conspiracy theories are noted.)
posted by Mike B. at 5:28 PM 0 comments