It is, indeed, a useful thing to remember that Cory (and Mark too, for that matter) tends to reserve his mentions of new pop culture items like books and movies and TV shows for those about which he feels enough enthusiasm to want to recommend. These guys consume media and know their stuff, but since they’re not technically paid critics, they’re under no obligation to critique things they don’t like or don’t want to be bothered with, So yeah, a fairly good rule of thumb is, if it’s new and they mention it here (unless it’s actually newsworthily awful), then they probably recommend it.
But I treat most of Cory’s and Mark’s recommendations in a manner somewhat like I treat most critics’ reviews. I’ve bought many things that they’ve raved over, and many of the things they’ve loved I’ve enjoyed as well, whereas a few of them missed the mark with me. By now, I’ve come to know their tastes well enough to have a pretty good idea when I’m going to like what they like, and when I’m going to disagree. And reaching that point has made their recommendations more valuable to me. I’ve had to learn that no critic is a useful predictor of how you’ll like anything until you’ve had time and opportunity enough to compare your tastes.
So. Through this site I’ve learned that I like John Scalzi and Richard Kadrey’s Sandman Slim books. But I’ve also learned that Ryan North is very hit-or-miss with me, and I’m just never going to appreciate Amanda Palmer’s work.
Years ago I found that David Elliott (the movie critic for the San Diego Union-Tribune) was a useful “anti-critic” for me, in that most movies that I really loved he tended to really hate, and vice-versa. Once I realized that, I could put his opinions to good use.
