Monday, February 18, 2008

Guilty Pleasures.
















One of the many adult beverage-laced conversations had this weekend touched on a subject that I've been ruminating on for a while....and one that I thought would make an interesting subject for a listing post....namely that of guilty pleasures(it began with a story that involves Simply Reg, Hall and Oates' Private Eyes, and a bouncer that laughed so hard... he stopped checking IDs for about 10 minutes). Now...I define a guilty pleasure as something that I take pleasure in...but that also calls into question my ability for discriminating taste...and , in some cases...my person. But I enjoy these things anyway....aspersions be damned. So...here is a list of just some of my guilty pleasures....in no specific order. Feel free to list your personal pecadillos in preference:
1. Grease...the movie.
2. Bread...the musical group.
3. Maury Povich paternity shows.
4. Slim Jim
5. Movies based on Jane Austen novels.
6. Watching Duke basketball teams lose.
7. The Indigo Girls.
8. Donna Reed
9. Doc Hollywood...the movie.
10. Big Brother...the reality show.
*others of note....Yoo-Hoo, Journey, and watching Hillary Clinton cry in public.

2 comments:

spydrz said...

I think #7 should be moved up to #1.

Anonymous said...

As previouslt stated, I would say that any discussion of merit regarding taste is ussually fruitless as taste is, as we all know, entirely subjective.

Having said I completely reject the idea that there are no objective means for assessing the objective merit which doesn not necessarily coincide witht he subjective value to the consumer as, if it did, tyhere would be no guilty pleasures.

That said:

1. Grease - Meritorious if nothing else. Granted it's cheesy now, but was entirely relevant then, and also stands the crucial "otherwise varying tastes but agree on this particular thing" test. That is, I've met people that love metal and grease. I've met people that hate musicals but love grease.

2. Bread - I am actually offended that you would list this as "guilty pleasure". I attribute Bread's lack of acceptance tot wo main things, the average person's flock mentality (they want to be accepted and not feel 'different') and a lack of true education (most peopole would laugh at me for liking Bread but have never heard "Baby I'm-a Want You').

3.Maury Povich - Yeah, you should feel guilty for this. Not that I'm on a moral high-horse or anything but these shows depress me, they you laugh.

4. Slim Jim - No nutritional value...Consumed only for the sake of consumption...

5. Jane Austen Movies - Well, we know women love them so that's half the population. I think it would safe to say that, between gay men and men who actually like movies that require listening in order to follow, at least 10% of men like them, putting square in the majority of the country here.

6. Watching Duke lose - Once again, probably with the ,majority of the counntry here. This is pure speculation, but I've met far more people that detest everything Duke than actually root for them.

7. Indigo Girls - "I still enjoy their songs" = no guilt..."I'll drive two states away to see them long after their peak" = guilt.

8. Donna Reed - No comment

9. Doc Hollywood - This is a great movie...

10. Big Brother - Never seen it.

*****The mild chagrin expressed this weekend has inspired me to re-embrace my forsaken moniker.