Sailing the Seas of Cheese

Alright, it's confession time. I'm someone who seems to be pretty set in his ways as far as what he likes and doesn't like; at least that's what you might infer from reading this blog on a regular basis. At the same time, friends of mine have made mention of a couple of things I've said recently that threw them a little, such as: "You LIKE that Fergie song? Or ANY song by Fergie for that matter?"

Yes. "Clumsy" is pretty catchy too.

You see, I'm not above having a guilty pleasure or two, not when it comes to music. Among all the classic and alternative rock you'll find in my iTunes library, I also admit to having 3 Michael Jackson songs, 1 Madonna song, and yes, even a BEE GEES song. Once in a while you hear a song absent-mindedly, like it, and it sticks with you. Or you hear an older song, it reminds you of your childhood, and even though it's something like "We Don't Need Another Hero" by Tina Turner, you still like it for the memories it conjures up.

If you haven't figured it out by now, I make NO apologies for liking this stuff. Nobody should, nor should we hide it. The same goes for movies. I admit to having a celebrity crush on Julia Stiles, so I like pretty much any movie she's ever been in... which includes "Save the Last Dance", "A Guy Thing", and yes, even "10 Things I Hate About You". Plus she's a Mets fan, which will always score brownie points with me.

(On a very serious note, bringing up "10 Things" of course brings up Heath Ledger, another case of a good young actor taken from us too soon. While we don't know a lot of the details yet, it was definitely shocking news to hear today...)

Then of course, there's TV. From my "State of the Tube" addresses of the past, you've seen that my appreciation of well-written shows makes for some uncomfortable faves. I watched every single episode of "The O.C." during its run on Fox (although I will not watch reruns on SoapNet, I mean, I've gotta have my limits). I liked "American Dreams" because it was a good family show and I'm a sucker for TV history like "American Bandstand". I watched "7th Heaven" faithfully (no pun intended) until it jumped the shark. And of course, in this space I have previously admitted to being a fan of all incarnations of "Degrassi", past and present. If Kevin Smith can be a big fan (big enough fan, in fact, to appear in 4 episodes of "Degrassi: The Next Generation" as himself), that's good enough for me. To quote Banky Edwards in "Chasing Amy", "I got a weird thing for girls who say, 'Aboot.'"

And then there's my recently-acquired habit of watching the Game Show Network. My old PD down in Chambersburg used to be into that, and I fell into the trap during my week of recuperation from having my wisdom teeth out last summer. You'll enjoy the craziest things when you're on pain meds; the crazy part is when they wear off and you STILL enjoy reruns of "Press Your Luck" and "Tic Tac Dough". But again, it's all about remembering those sublime childhood days of the 1980s, and how can you not like Wink Martindale? It's just not possible...

So there you go... guilty pleasures. We all have them, and we shouldn't feel weird about having them. I'm not gonna give everything away, but suffice to say I'm sure you now think me even more of a nutjob than before. But to that, I just bask in the knowledge that some of you out there like watching "A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila", and with that I would call us even.

Oh, and bonus points for anyone who recognized that the title of this entry is the name of a Primus album...