OMG… I like crap.
The things the sophisticates, connoisseurs, intellectuals, and hipsters generally decry as lowbrow, superficial, or — how I have come to loathe this word! — cheesy are often the things I most enjoy. And in turn the things that make them gush with enthusiasm and sweet, sticky joy tend to leave me, well, unimpressed.
He then goes on to give a list of crappy things that he likes. Since I tend to think that “crap” is a matter of pure personal definition — I reject the notion of objective standards of “goodness”, pretty much — it’s better to say that he gives a list of things that he likes that are generally perceived out there as being “crap”.
Well, I can play that game too!
:: My adoration for the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy is well established. (Hmmm, I should resume “Fixing the Prequels” one of these days.)
:: I don’t like Two and a Half Men as much as Jason seems to, but I do find it more amusing than most of the “critics” out there.
:: Sure, I admire the music of Bernard Herrmann. But if I’m in the mood to listen to some film music, I will most times choose to listen to Hans Zimmer before I listen to Herrmann.
:: I don’t see Kurt Cobain as a brooding genius; I just see him as a guy who brooded a lot.
:: I’m sure it’s awesome and all, but from looking at the premise, I have less than zero interest in The Wire.
:: I like The Mentalist (although it would be nice if the title character would be stone wrong once in a while).
:: I think LOST is a dull and pretentious bore of a show.
:: I never understood why Homicide was such a touted show.
:: I don’t think that the animated films from Disney after, say, The Lion King are mostly crap. (I also don’t think that The Lion King is as good as most people think.)
:: Recent seasons of The Simpsons still amuse me.
:: I like the series just fine, but George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire is, for me, most certainly not the best thing to hit epic fantasy since The Lord of the Rings. (I was especially disappointed by the most recent volume, and I frankly do not expect this series to ever be completed. I think it will be fantasy’s Mystery of Edwin Drood.)
You get the idea.
Ah, I much prefer how you phrased what I was doing, i.e., "a list of things [I like] that are generally perceived as crap."
FWIW, I agree completely with you re: Kurt Cobain. I've never understood the fuss that was made over him, or over the entire grunge genre, for that matter.
And yes, you should resume "Fixing the Prequels." I believe you still have a movie and a half to go… 🙂
One quick remark on the latest Sentential Links (which don't have comments any longer, it appears):
You wrote: The notion that Red Dawn is what Patrick Swayze should be remembered mostly for strikes me as very, very odd. Me, too… and this is in fact the first place I've seen any evidence that there are people remembering him for such. Everyone I know has spoken first of Ghost, Dirty Dancing, and Road House. If Red Dawn comes up at all, it's usually as an afterthought, mentioned in the same breath as The Outsiders (i.e., one of his early works where he was part of an ensemble). Maybe that says more about my social circle than anything…