Pop Culture
Feb. 26th, 2013 12:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
storytimewithjoeEhrmigod!!!!! I totes heart Pop Culture! It is my BFF, and on Facebook I “like” it regularly. OK, none of that is really true, but there is something kinda silly and fun about pop culture. Personally, I am not a follower of American Idol. But I can totally understand how some people, at the end of a long hard workday, may want to just unwind in front of the TV. Let’s face it, shows like American Idol don’t require a lot of mental complexity. That doesn’t mean that the audience of the show consists solely of idiots (although I’m sure some are, just like any other random sampling of Americans). Rather, it means, the average person tuning in just wants to be entertained. Who knows? There might very well be a tug-at-the-heartstrings moment where somebody nebbishy and down-on-his-luck happens to blow away the judges with some incredible rendition of “Nessun Dorma”. Or, there might be a cocky singer who is So Totally Awful as to make you, the watcher, feel better about yourself in a total moment of schaudenfraude. And let’s face it – who wouldn’t appreciate seeing a total into-the-mud cat-fight between Mariah and Icky Minaj? (No… not a type-o. I can’t stand her!)
I think everybody has his pop culture favorites. For me, I could crank away on the treadmill for hours watching America’s Next Top Model. And much to my surprise, I have gotten into the complete train-wreck that is RuPaul’s Drag Race. Sure, those shrieking catty fembots are annoying as all crap. But yet, that is part of the entertainment. After a day of biting my tongue, listening to those catty queens lash out at each other puts me in stitches. Heck, even my husbear, who pretends to scorn any and all things Pop Culture will sit there and guffaw at some of the dorkiest stuff. Sure, he will disguise his interest in the Daily Show or the Colbert Report as being his own mature and intellectual sophistication diving (oh-so-slightly) into pop-culture silliness. But here’s the thing - put him in front of “The Soup”, and he will suddenly guffaw so explosively that even the cat sleeping in the other room jumps off the furniture!
Truly, one of the funniest things I have experienced in several weeks was the other night watching the Oscars. I really enjoyed the production, and thought it was one of the best renditions I have seen in years. But the thing that really made it for me was having my laptop handy and watching all of the snarky, catty, pithy comments coming in from my fellow fellas out there in Facebook land. It was nothing short of a nation-wide snarkfest, as if the writers of Frazier were suddenly reunited in a moment of “Lemme tell ya what I REALLY think!” clarity. Yes, it was silly. Yes, it was dorky. Yes, I was almost kinda embarrassed at times. But I will fully admit that at several moments throughout the evening, I found myself laughing so hard that I was gasping for breath.
Pop Culture. Describe it how you will. Pulp. Fluff. Trendy. Whatever. But at the end of a too-serious or mentally exhausting day, I think it is something that each of us really needs.
I think everybody has his pop culture favorites. For me, I could crank away on the treadmill for hours watching America’s Next Top Model. And much to my surprise, I have gotten into the complete train-wreck that is RuPaul’s Drag Race. Sure, those shrieking catty fembots are annoying as all crap. But yet, that is part of the entertainment. After a day of biting my tongue, listening to those catty queens lash out at each other puts me in stitches. Heck, even my husbear, who pretends to scorn any and all things Pop Culture will sit there and guffaw at some of the dorkiest stuff. Sure, he will disguise his interest in the Daily Show or the Colbert Report as being his own mature and intellectual sophistication diving (oh-so-slightly) into pop-culture silliness. But here’s the thing - put him in front of “The Soup”, and he will suddenly guffaw so explosively that even the cat sleeping in the other room jumps off the furniture!
Truly, one of the funniest things I have experienced in several weeks was the other night watching the Oscars. I really enjoyed the production, and thought it was one of the best renditions I have seen in years. But the thing that really made it for me was having my laptop handy and watching all of the snarky, catty, pithy comments coming in from my fellow fellas out there in Facebook land. It was nothing short of a nation-wide snarkfest, as if the writers of Frazier were suddenly reunited in a moment of “Lemme tell ya what I REALLY think!” clarity. Yes, it was silly. Yes, it was dorky. Yes, I was almost kinda embarrassed at times. But I will fully admit that at several moments throughout the evening, I found myself laughing so hard that I was gasping for breath.
Pop Culture. Describe it how you will. Pulp. Fluff. Trendy. Whatever. But at the end of a too-serious or mentally exhausting day, I think it is something that each of us really needs.
