Do you embrace or scoff at the popular?--Al

-- Al Schroeder (al.schroeder@nashville.com), July 25, 2000

Answers

I tend to judge or look at something on it's merits, and have to take a long enough look to make an intelligent decision. Popularity or unpopularity does not really rule for me. Sometimes the popularity of something makes the price rise above what I can afford, but I find other things to occupy my time pleasantly.

-- Denver doug (ionoi@webtv.net), July 26, 2000.

I have a friend who scoffs at the popular - and i am forever on his back about it in a fun way.

Anything that is popular (especially games as he is the gamer) are the thorn in his paw.

I found it rather amusing and found years worth of info to give him shit about when I found out that he brought "Perfect Dark".

He was not impressed, but it really was rather amusing.

I dont fully understand why people hate the popular - so its fun to tease when such things happen.

-- nessa (rain@noosa.com.au), July 26, 2000.

I have a very simple answer to this question - I hated Titanic.

Ok, seriously. I would say that I tend to want to go against the grain and do the opposite of what everyone is telling me to do, read, watch, etc. I find this mostly true with film. I have very stong negative opinions on certain movies which the public has fawned over. Titanic is simply the biggest example. When the film first came out, I saw it opening weekend. I was anxious to see it. I walked out with a headache and the dreadful feeling that I would never get that 3+ hours back. When I expressed my feeling to other people, you would have thought I'd said I sided with Hitler during WWII. Response was THAT strong.

However, I will say that I have been motivated to read certain books because of strong public opinion. I was actually upset to find out that a book I absolutely loved from beginning to end was an Oprah book club book (my copy didn't have the little Oprah symbol). Further to my horror I found that the woman recommended some damn good books. I think I read about 3 or 4 Oprah books and all were great. I am glad she is getting people to read, but I can't stand her and I hate to be part of it. Ah well. I also got swept up in Harry Potter because of the hype, and I have to say that the books are wonderful and they keep getting better. "Goblet of Fire" is easily the best.

I also find that as much as I want to be a rebel, I often checkout the big buzz events. Part of it is that I work in TV and I like to know what's on and out there so that I can talk about it when it comes up in conversation. Part is that I do get swept. I miss the carefree days when I didn't watch tv and I didn't care.

However, I went from reading "Goblet of Fire" to reading the first book of the "Earthsea" books by Ursula LeGuin, which is about 30 years old, so I guess I am not that much of a conformist.

ally

-- Ally (ally3223@aol.com), July 26, 2000.

Once a book has become part of Oprah's Book Club, it loses its appeal. Even if the book itself has merit, the mere fact that millions and millions of others are jumping on the band wagon because it has been endorsed is...annoying. So, there's definitely a difference between a book which has won the Pulitizer or the Nobel Prize, and one which was on the NY Times Best Sellers' List for 3 months. (Few will read the former, many the latter.) --Spoken like an elitist snob.

-- Sarah (applecinn@yahoo.com), July 27, 2000.