Mariah Carey was at the top of the world.

She'd just won Billboard's "Artist of the Decade" award for the 1990s. She had the mega-hit song "Heartbreaker," on which she collaborated with Jay-Z, the best rapper alive. She dated
Derek Jeter, the most beloved New York Yankee of the past 30 years (and probably has herpes because of it, but details, details).

She was the Marilyn Monroe of the music world.

And that's when it happened ... the movie Glitter. (Side note: I can't wait for her Behind the Music moment to be an instance in which she did something that in theory should have made her more popular).

But all of a sudden, after the catastrophe that was Glitter, Mariah was a laughingstock. Her recently signed $80 million record contract, originally a sure bet, was a business blunder for record company EMI. She had a meltdown on TRL in front of the whole teenaged world. Her career was in shambles.

But then, she checked into a hospital and took an extended break from the public eye.

In 2005, she came back, and come back she did. The Emancipation of Mimi was the best-selling album of the year. All it took was a little break, a little fine tuning, and the Marilyn Monroe of the music world was back.

So, what does the rags-to-riches-to-rags-to-riches story of Mariah Carey have to do with anything?

Today, you, the lucky Daily Collegian reader, have the chance to witness The Emancipation of Venues.

I'm not saying Venues, our weekly entertainment tab so conveniently tucked inside your Thursday issue of the Collegian, was the artistic equivalent of Glitter. That would be far too harsh.

But sometime last year, we became a bit dissatisfied with what we were doing. We knew the tab wasn't reaching its full potential, and that we were doing a disservice to both ourselves and the emergent arts community of State College.

So we did a little fine tuning. I think it did us well.

If you've already taken this newspaper and tossed everything inside this section into a recycle bin (or trashcan, you wasteful swine), do an about-face right now and get another one.

Read Venues today, even if you've never read it before.

If you have read it before, you'll notice a few semi-radical changes:

First of all, and most notably, the design and layout are quite different. Travis Larchuk, our managing editor of design, completely revamped our cover design and Venues logo. We now have a bold, bright cover template showcasing the best Venues has to offer. We also gave our table of contents page a face-lift, making it more informative for you, the Venues reader.

Secondly, we added some content. While Venues used to offer between 12 and 20 pages every week, we're now making a commitment to at least 28 pages in every Venues. It's kind of a big deal.

Twenty-eight pages could get you through at least two boring lectures every Thursday.

But that boring lecture wouldn't go any faster if Venues couldn't entertain you.That's why, for our last change, we're having more fun with our content. We're changing the attitude of Venues.

We're making it punchier and edgier. We're making it for everyone.

Are you a music junkie? We've got a huge feature on some up-and-coming local bands.
Fashionista? We've added a weekly fashion feature as part of our big fashion section this week. Art fanatic? We'll have performing arts and visual arts features every Thursday.

Whether you know it yet or not, Venues is for you.

Have fun with it, just like we are. I think you'll agree that a little fine-tuning can go a long way.

Just ask Mariah Carey.

Kevin Doran is a senior majoring in media studies and is The Daily Collegian's Venues editor. His e-mail is kad952@psu.edu.