"People" is my guilty pleasure, a rather gossipy magazine that
chronicles celebrities and the various stuff that happens to them
-- but it also does delightful pieces that are genuinely heart-
warming, and reviews for books, movies, CDs, etc by people who
actually seem to like the material.
People usually starts with several pages of colour photos of
celebrities, both in glitz and sweatpants (I'm thinking of one
horrible Julia Robert picture). These are usually pretty
entertaining, ranging from playful to "eww, look at that." Then
we get reviews of books and movies and music, where the reviewers
often seem to acknowledge that "different" does not mean "bad."
Then we get to the Big Stories. Usually there are more than one
of these per magazine, stretching over three pages at minimum.
These can either be celebrity stories (usually pretty gushing) or
stories about... well, real people, ranging from heroic rescues
to "where are the celebrities of the past?" to medical
breakthroughs.
Then come smaller stories: A little boy who inexplicably sets off
store alarms. A nun who used to be a Hollywood actress (and was
once involved with Elvis). Someone who makes anti-man shirts.
There is a crossword puzzle, the fashion gaffe of the week (and
often two people who have eerily similar outfits) and a final
page of excerpts from celebrity interviews.
It all sounds pretty bad, right? Wrong, though People sometimes
delves a little too deep and tells us a little more than we want
to know, they do so with the same sort of gleeful enjoyment that
we all, deep down, have. We want to hear the juicy details of X
and Y's divorce, and we want to dream about wearing Z's wedding
dress (even though deep down we know the marriage will last as
long as her LAST one).
Do they overstep the boundaries sometimes? Yes, but they make up
for that with the real life stories of people who have succeeded.
I find that far more engaging than X and Y's divorce, and that is
why I buy the magazine.
So yes, I'd advise getting this magazine if you enjoy sneering at
celebrities, reading about the "Goat that saved my life," and
watching David Duchovny get carted around on the handlebars of a
nun's bike.
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