Pop culture memories
To paraphrase the legendary Rob Gordon from the film High Fidelity...
"It is not who you are, but what you like. Books, music, movies... these things matter"
I was thinking tonight (largely because I cannot sleep) about why I like the things I like. That was far too large a question, so I decided to think about where those likes and dislikes came from.
For example:
I was working as a draftsman my senior year in high school for the City of Ann Arbor Engineering department. There was a college student working there part time too, and he would not stop talking about this band the Cocteau Twins. He made me a mix tape (and he tried to make me a fake ID, but he totally screwed it up and it was later confiscated at a bar in Ludington Michigan called the Tiki Lounge. It was under the Sterns Motor Inn. But I digress). Today I own everything in the official Cocteau Twins discography and then some. And I can't even remember his name. I remember what he looked like, but not his name.
So how do we get into this stuff? Where do our obsessions come from? And how do they stick? Why do I still love U2, but cooled on my relationship with the Talking Heads? What, as Thomas Disch once titled a book, are the dreams our stuff is made of?
- Lord of the Rings? My friend Hutch's dad used to read it to us when we were 9 years old. He even took us to see the Ralph Bakshi movie (which I am staunch defender of).
- U2? My uncle sent me two records (that would be LPs, or Long Playing records, for those of you under the age of 30) for my birthday in 1983. He meant it as a fun bit of word play. The two albums were Under Blood Red Sky by U2, and Under a Big Black Sun by X. I still have them both. I have another X record, but I have dozens of U2 albums and singles.
- Comic Books? My dad used to get me Fantastic Four comics when I was a kid... but it was in the 7th grade when my friend Jon Z had a whole room dedicated to comics in his house. I was hooked.
- Beth Orton? I picked up Central Reservation on a lark at my friend Matt's record store. He even tried to talk me out of it.
- Paul Auster? I picked up City of Glass in a used book store in Boston because I liked the cover.
- Martin Amis? I read about the London Fields in Rolling Stone Magazine (and then I fell out of love with him after Yellow Dog, but I still say The Information is one of the great novels of the last half of the 20th century).
- The New Battlestar Glactica? chaodai told me it was one of the best shows on TV. I was stunned, because it seemed like such a dumb idea.
I could go on... but I won't, because I would rather here your tale.
Please share a heart warming story of fandom, pop culture and obsession. Please?
"It is not who you are, but what you like. Books, music, movies... these things matter"
I was thinking tonight (largely because I cannot sleep) about why I like the things I like. That was far too large a question, so I decided to think about where those likes and dislikes came from.
For example:
I was working as a draftsman my senior year in high school for the City of Ann Arbor Engineering department. There was a college student working there part time too, and he would not stop talking about this band the Cocteau Twins. He made me a mix tape (and he tried to make me a fake ID, but he totally screwed it up and it was later confiscated at a bar in Ludington Michigan called the Tiki Lounge. It was under the Sterns Motor Inn. But I digress). Today I own everything in the official Cocteau Twins discography and then some. And I can't even remember his name. I remember what he looked like, but not his name.
So how do we get into this stuff? Where do our obsessions come from? And how do they stick? Why do I still love U2, but cooled on my relationship with the Talking Heads? What, as Thomas Disch once titled a book, are the dreams our stuff is made of?
- Lord of the Rings? My friend Hutch's dad used to read it to us when we were 9 years old. He even took us to see the Ralph Bakshi movie (which I am staunch defender of).
- U2? My uncle sent me two records (that would be LPs, or Long Playing records, for those of you under the age of 30) for my birthday in 1983. He meant it as a fun bit of word play. The two albums were Under Blood Red Sky by U2, and Under a Big Black Sun by X. I still have them both. I have another X record, but I have dozens of U2 albums and singles.
- Comic Books? My dad used to get me Fantastic Four comics when I was a kid... but it was in the 7th grade when my friend Jon Z had a whole room dedicated to comics in his house. I was hooked.
- Beth Orton? I picked up Central Reservation on a lark at my friend Matt's record store. He even tried to talk me out of it.
- Paul Auster? I picked up City of Glass in a used book store in Boston because I liked the cover.
- Martin Amis? I read about the London Fields in Rolling Stone Magazine (and then I fell out of love with him after Yellow Dog, but I still say The Information is one of the great novels of the last half of the 20th century).
- The New Battlestar Glactica? chaodai told me it was one of the best shows on TV. I was stunned, because it seemed like such a dumb idea.
I could go on... but I won't, because I would rather here your tale.
Please share a heart warming story of fandom, pop culture and obsession. Please?