Where Do You Diverge from the Pop Culture Consensus?

From time to time I find myself swimming against the current of accepted wisdom. Below are just some of places where I diverge from the pop culture consensus. I’ll add to this list as items occur to me.

Where do you diverge from the pop culture consensus?

—- MOVIES —-

Jar Jar Binks

I liked Jar Jar Binks. What else is there to say. I thought he was an amusing character. I was happy to see him return in Attack of the Clones and the Clone Wars.

  Gigli

I didn’t think Gigli sucked. It was far from great. It would probably rate 2 out of 5 Dale-heads if I were to review it formally. But it doesn’t deserve to be the butt of all jokes and one of the most lambasted movies of all time.

The English Patient

If there ever was a more boring, self-indulgent, overly-hyped movie, than The English Patient, I don’t know  what it is. It was cathartic to see the fictional Seinfeld character Elaine Benes hate on the movie in the English Patient episode!   This is probably the only thing I ever agreed with the Elaine character on.

Citizen Kane

I’m a classic movie fan. Citizen Kane is consistently at the top of the AFI 100 and other top movie lists. I vehemently disagree. While Orson Wells had some interesting moments, not only should it not belong on any ‘best movie’ lists, I consider it to be in the bottom 20% of all the movies I’ve seen – and I’ve seen a lot. I’ve sat down to review it twice. If/when I complete it, I’ll post my review and link it here.

 —- MUSIC —-

Michael Jackson

Yes, he’s a little wacky. Aren’t most geniuses? If he molested boys, that cannot be condoned.Whether or not he ‘did it’, he’s still one of the most dynamic and interesting performers I’ve ever witnessed.

Beatles

I have never thought the Beatles were any better than your average band. I have never understood why they are so beloved. I don’t like many of their songs.

 —- TV —- 

The Office

The few times I watched this show, it made me cringe. It’s one uncomfortable moment after the other. You couldn’t pay me to watch this show.

 —- SPORTS —-

Sharapova and Kournikova

Tennis is my favourite professional sport to watch. It drives me to distraction to see the media focus so much attention on Maria Sharapova and her predecessor to the tennis beauty-queen crown, Anna Kournikova. It particularly disturbs me that the networks will cover the tennis matches of the cuties over the better player matches. I want to watch quality tennis – not pretty faces and accentuated curves at the expense of the sport.  I’m concerned that Ana Ivanovic may be falling into the same beauty before athletics trap.

3 Set Matches in Women’s Grand Slam Tennis

Sticking to my belief that tennis should be about fitness and athletics, I can’t understand why women’s grand slam tennis matches are limited to 3 sets when the men’s matches are 5 set matches. Women’s hockey, soccer, basketball, baseball etc. teams do not play on smaller courts or for shorter amounts of time. Fitness and endurance should play as much a role in deciding who the best women players are as they do on the  men’s side. The recently retired Justine Henin is the poster girl for fit and athletic women tennis players. I want to see more players like her. We need 5 set women’s matches for them to rise to the top. I firmly believe that one of the reasons women’s tennis matches are typically not of the quality of the men’s matches is because 3 set matches hold women to a lower standard.

Hockey

I’m a Canadian and I don’t like hockey. There I said it. If there was anything that American’s found surprising about me when I lived in California, this is it. My opinion would change somewhat if fighting was removed from the sport. But not by much. In my opinion, any player that starts a fight should be banned from hockey for 1 year. If he does it again he should be banned for life – period!

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