I am obsessed with reading reviews of books, movies, and music.  I could literally spend an entire afternoon clicking on various links from Metacritic to “read full review” of almost anything.  I read them passively, with no agreement or disagreement of my own, just paragraph after paragraph of other people’s ideas seeping into my mind.  And what is most interesting to me is how separate this activity is from my own listening, watching, or reading of the items being reviewed.  My own appreciation is totally visceral, simply a flood of sensation as I swallow someone else’s work of art.  And then I go off and read what the critics thought about what I just experienced.  Is this some need I have for dialogue that I have no other way to satisfy?  Or perhaps a great way to procrastinate?  My most recent theory is that I just have a latent need to fulfill my own role as a critic, but I am too timid to put out my own opinions in case they aren’t really developed or insightful.  Damn this insecurity.  And now back to Metacritic.