Single rainbow.
What
interests people always interests me. I always
want to know what is going on inside a person’s head when they enjoy something;
especially if I cannot figure out why anyone would care about it. There is no accounting for taste. That is understood. There is no reason why we all prefer
different things. But there is a reason
why that specific person likes that specific thing, even if it that the person
has never thought about a specific reason.
It is in there. I am willing to
bet if those reasons were collected, patterns would emerge.
When
I turn the camera on myself I run into a few stumbling blocks. There are nostalgic reasons, and intellectual
curiosities, artic respect and then there is just goofy shit that makes me
laugh. One aspect of something I tend to
reject has always confused me. I like to
think of myself as a person who does not take life too seriously, and even has
trouble doing so when the situation demands.
When it comes to the art and media with which I decorate my life, there
is one pattern that is certain. I do not
like disposable entertainment.
This
applies to a few categories. I do not
like pop music, or specifically, one hit wonder stuff that is on pop
radio. I never have. I do not like trendy speech, or memes, or latest
craze in anything. If there is a TV show that is “hot”, I usually back
away. I do not have a ridiculous need to
buck trends or be a permanent outsider. In fact, I have been burned a few times
by turning away from a popular piece of entertainment and loving it later. (The
Simpsons comes to mind). This is not based on a belief that pop culture is
shallow or hollow or without any merit at all.
There is something inside me that just does not want to get sucked into
a thing that will be gone in a few weeks.
I prefer the long term relationship. I am a committer.
This
does not leave room for spontaneity and fun.
Also understood. I am trying to
be honest. If you inspect my iTunes
music list, my Netflix queue or my collection of DVD’s, there is a reason for
all of that to be there. I like to fall
in love with stuff. It is difficult to
understand unless you have the same affliction.
Either I want it to be a part of me or I usually don’t give a shit. The same goes for comedy. I have a higher bar than a lot of
people. Yeah, it needs to be funny. But I have seen so much in my life that the
threshold is tougher to harder to determine, and some run of the mill Vince
Vaughn/Owen Wilson flick won’t cut it.
But what does it need to be? Not
sure. I just know it when I see it.
YouTube
videos do next to nothing for me. I have
giggled at a few babies and laughed at the dog running in his sleep. But I never troll the site clicking on
everything to get another piece of bite-size piece of input. Maybe my brain is conditioned to engage in
hourly purges of extraneous information.
A lifetime of having sharp memory and a million hours of commercials
flash in front of your face may do that.
The experience is of little interest and is almost always
forgettable. I like silliness for sure. I like dumb physical comedy and fart jokes
now and then. I like it all, but apparently
I will not accept it unless there is some kind of context other than “Hey, look
at this dumb guy.”
This
has recently spilled over into watching TV.
My wife and I were adrift for years with what was out there. There was a long time where I thought my way
of sticking with something would have to be abandoned. All of TV was reality-based, jobs shows,
competition shows, family life. None of it was based on a story and the quality
and commitment level did not interest me at all. About four or five years ago, genuinely fine
programming reappeared and pulled me in.
I love to have a continuing story my wife and I can check in with every
season. In the last year or so though,
with so many options, I have to cut a few cords. My standards have gone up and I have to kick
a few shows to the curb. They had plenty
of time to hook me, but something went wrong.
It
is not the art or the entertainment, but the delivery system. Maybe I have an innate protection system against what I think will be a waste of my time. It could be ego; it could be that I am lame. I am wired to ignore extraneous information
unless it is in a framework that I take seriously. I shy away from snacks. I like meals.
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