I’m not sure how I first learned about The Week. I think I received a trial issue in the mail. But after just one or two issues we were hooked. The Week is a comprehensive newsweekly, although it offers virtually no original reporting. It collates news stories and offers opinions from a variety of sources: newspapers, online magazines, political journals etc. And it provides opinions from across the political spectrum.
Each issue has the same set up (although they recently had an image makeover: a new cover design and some unexpected font changes in a few sections, which I suppose does lend to an easier read).
Each issue starts with The main stories… …and how they were covered. The first article is a look at whatever major story captivated the editorials that week. (The growing gloom in Afghanistan). And in a general sense of what you get for long articles (the long articles are about 3/4 of a page) You get WHAT HAPPENED, WHAT THE EDITORIALS SAID, and WHAT THE COLUMNISTS SAID. The What Happened section is a paragraph or two summary of the story. The editorials offer a one or two sentence summary from sources like USA Today, L.A. Times and The Financial Times, while The Columnists are from The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and Time.com, for example. (more…)
Mental Floss
Next comes the ubiquitous letters. This also contains the occasional feature of Readers and Their Famous Friends, which shows pictures of readers celebrities (pretty much the only celebrities they ever talk about). This is followed by the letter from the editor. Neely Harris (I have yet to determine if Neely is a boy or a girl and I’m not going to look it up either, somehow it’s more fun trying to imagine) is very funny and always sets a good tone for the magazine. 
SOUNDTRACK: GARBAGE-Garbage (1995).
I was thinking about how IJ reminds me so specifically of a place and time (I instantly think of the apartment I was in when I started reading it). And there are also some discs that I was crazy about at the time too.
It is incredible serendipity that I did the JOI filmography during this week as this week’s readings actually count on knowing a bit about it. And since I had just reevaluated it, I was aware of a thing or two during Hal’s viewing scene.
Week 10 starts off seeming like a lot of nothing is happening. There’s a few post-Event scenarios. Until we get to November 14th, and a whole lot goes on. A whole lot! 
Many many years ago (1995), while I was in Boston, I bought my first copy of 
SOUNDTRACK: MOXY FRÜVOUS-Live Noise (1998).
Live albums usually work as a “best of” and so, with Live Noise you get the crème de la crème of the Früvous catalog. But, more than that, Früvous were amazing live. I had the opportunity to see them once, and it was a fantastic show.
I don’t recall why I started getting 
SOUNDTRACK: THE CARS-Greatest Hits (2002).
SOUNDTRACK: LUTHER WRIGHT AND THE WRONGS-Rebuild the Wall (2001).
I first heard Luther Wright on an episode of 
SOUNDTRACK: WEAKERTHANS–Reconstruction Site (2003) & Watermark (single) (2001).
I heard about the Weakerthans in, I think Esquire, of all places, in their Canadian Bands You Must Listen To article. They were described as more literate than The Decemberists, and even thought I have not actually included a Decemberists album yet, my love for them is pure. So I thought I’d check them out. Turns out the main Weakerthan used to be the main guy in Propagandhi, a fun, overly political punk band that I enjoyed when I was feeling overly political myself. I was very pleasantly surprised to see that the Weakerthans keep a similar musical sensibility: catchy pop punk stylings, yet they are less angry and more introspective. The music is not as brash as other pop punk bands, in fact there are even some quiet parts! 
I Just Read About That... 