Entertainment is one of the essential functions of being a human being. We eat, we sleep, we quibble, we play. But at some point we also need to be taken along for that ride of completely passive entertainment which takes us out of the driver’s seat and allows us the opportunity to just watch, listen, experience, without having to be ‘involved.’ We’ve got enough things to do in a week; it’s difficult enough to pull ourselves away from what it is that we’ve got going to be entertained; when we’re able to we should be able to enjoy it.

Entertainment is something we participate in every day; whether it’s listening to the banter of the DJ’s slanted take on world news while we’re driving to work, the bittersweet poison that is syndicated episodes of Friends or Seinfeld, ducking into a nail salon for a mani/pedi or massage parlor for a quick rub down on lunch break, listening to our iPod while walking to school or working out, or going into chat rooms after all our homework is done before bed, there are things we do every day that are entertaining.

Entertainment centers may be something as simple as the local strip mall or something as vast and impressive as the 55 story AOL/Time Warner Center; whatever the story with these units, what’s included is usually pretty standard: shopping, movies, theatre, dining, or other personal services (like masseuse or manicurist) Entertainment centers are found all across the United States and bring together the idea of one stop shopping. That is, you can get your vacuum cleaner bags, lamps, bird cages, neck rub, lunch meat, and take out all in one stop rather than traveling to multiple locations all over town.

What’s good in the entertainment news, like Entertainment Weekly, is usually pretty bleak. Someone’s father ran his car into some photographer; some couple married then divorced in the same night; Tom Cruise berated Matt Lauer for his suspicion about Scientology; it’s typically pretty juvenile and can usually be found at the check out counter of your local grocery store.

Arts and Entertainment have been the foundation of so much beauty, creativity, and great ideas in this country and around the world for thousands of years. Without our artists, so much of what we call the world just never would have been concaved.

So the next time you stop in to your corner entertainment center, take a step back and sigh a big sigh of relief that the disco era was only a decade long.