What passes as celebrity ...

And that's fine. I don't care for Snooki either. But I care more about the Bachelor than I do about the Washington Capitals.

 

In sports, there are games, statistics, records, playoff positoning ... in celeb gossip rags, you can read about how two Housewives wore the same dress, but who wore it better? Clearly I'm in the minority here, but because these blogs and mags are growing with each passing day. I just think it's silly, personally, but whatever gets a person through the day, I guess.

And I'll be honest, this kind of activity is starting to venture into the sports world, especially with the WWL. A few weeks back, SC did a breakdown of Sam Bradford, who wore high white socks with his all-white uniform. Ugh.

 

Oh, come on. There have been fashion critiques for decades. That's not "celebrity gossip," it's fashion. Sounds like you just don't like anything flippant at all.

shottie, I think where my disconnect comes with you is that you've always been one person who agreed with me and voiced about movies/tv that it doesn't all have to be high art. Sometimes you just want to shut your brain off and disengage and laugh a little. So does it come down to how much "unplug" time each person is allowed to have? Does how they choose to unplug get graded on a sliding scale? Is Jersey Shore worse than ignoring your family for four hours so you can go to your buddy's house and watch the Raiders game?

 

That makes sense. Although, yes, Jersey Shore is worse.

(Disclaimer: I watch "Mob Wives.")

 

I think the battle between Jersey Shore watchers and Raiders fans is a tossup, personally.

 

I hope there's a way we can make this happen in real-life. And that lots of dangerous weapons are involved.

 

My money's on Piotr.

 

The funny thing is that I'd be willing to wager that a large portion of the reality show haters and reality show lovers are working from the same thesis: I am better than the idiots around me.

Based on absolutely anecdotal evidence, people who watch reality shows often do so because they feel insulated in their comfort zones, knowing they haven't dropped to the level of performing whatever action is forming the foundation for the given show. I'd NEVER let all that crap accumulate in MY house. I'd KNOW if I were pregnant. You'd never catch ME whoring myself out with a bunch of guidos at a beach house. Meanwhile, the people who abhor reality shows often (whether they admit it or not) do so because it reassures them that they're enjoying entertainment the right way. None of that lowest common denominator stuff for me. The world is crumbling around me, but unlike those shoe-sniffing Mongoloids, at least I enjoy life The Right Way.

We're all unaware hipster snobs about something. Multiple somethings, I'd bet. We're all to varying degrees a bunch of insecure assholes looking to justify ourselves, and the shortest road to Rome is by not doing something we don't like, then letting everyone know about it. Of course, if everyone else is doing the same thing you are, then it's nothing gained. So you need those lesser lights, be they real or abstract, against which to rage. You WANT them on that wall, listening to the Nickelback or eating their Olive Garden.

And it's not just entertainment. There's a handful of threads on this very board that try to define superior intellect by the richest vocabulary. Foodies tell us how dim we are for eating at chains or because the food at our favorite Chinese takeout joint isn't the Real Thing. How dare you mix that decent bourbon with Coke! Pop music is for imbeciles! You don't shop at Approved Stores! You're not watching good enough sports! You're not as good as me, goddamn it, you aren't!

What's funny is when someone tries to drop the LCD card, only to have someone who ranks higher by that standard pick it up and Sandusky them with it. Blue Moon drinker talks about how he doesn't lower himself to drinking Coors Light, only to have his rightenousness set ablaze by a Molotov cocktail made using an empty Pliny the Elder bottle. The thrower exalts in HIS righteousness, only to choke to death on the bottle cap of an undecipherable Eastern European beer slung by a guy who tells his victim "if the label's in English, it's PISS!"

So if you feel the need to pat yourself on the back or throw a contemptuous sneer down on those who don't do life as you do, that's fine. You're all grown ass men and women. Just remember that there's something you do, say, read, eat, drink, watch, listen to, enjoy or otherwise experience that will earn you that same treatment -- quite possibly from someone you were just dismissing.

We're all insufferable pricks. The key is knowing how to keep it in check. Otherwise, fuck you. And fuck me too.

 

It's kind of funny. For years, my brother has accused me of listening to non-mainstream music, mostly indie rock or alt-country, for show.

"If it's good, why isn't it popular?"

Same with movies, according to him.

But the fucker won't touch a Miller Lite if you held a gun to his head. He lives on Beer Advocate.com. Brews his own mixes at home even.

"If Three Floyds and Stone are so amazing," I jokingly asked him, "why does Miller Lite outsell them?"

 

That being said, I absolutely refuse to acknowledge that "Jersey Shore" is objectively as good as "Mad Men." That's not for sure. I don't care who knows which I watch. That's the truth.

I also absolutely refuse to acknowledge that Nicholas Sparks is as good as F. Scott Fitzgerald.

I know art is subjective. But that doesn't mean anything goes. Not to me.

 

That's fine. Just so long as you know that while you might be comfortable in your Mad Men embrace, there's someone who'll be there to tell you that you're no better because you're wasting time on the opiate of the masses and not more legitimate performance arts. Then someone will be along to bust on them for their plebian opera or ballet tastes, and then someone will dress down THAT person for not devoting more time on the world's problems than they do entertainment in ANY form. At which point someone ELSE will swoop in to criticize them for not focusing on the right problems.

 

Indeed.