As with so many of my diary topics these days, it started with a question to some friends on Facebook... and led me to musing on my relationship with pop culture. Follow me below the dingledoodle squigglie dKosagnocchi dividerthingie fold after a word from our sponsor...
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Yesterday morning, my Facebook and twitter feeds were chock-full of comments, discussions, spoilers, and the like about a TV show. Immediately, my dear Top Comments reader, you fell into one of two groups. Either you knew without a shadow of a doubt I'm talking about Downton Abbey, or you had no clue what the hell show I meant.
I've never seen the show but it's all the rage among my local friends and approximately 8 million others based on the ratings info for the last episode, so I queried my Facebook friends as to whether they were fans. At present, the count among respondents is 30 who haven't seen it and 9 who have to varying degrees of interest (from watch but it's in the background to I'm hooked and OMG you should be too!).
On the one hand I was gratified that I was not, contrary to my previous impression, the lone non-viewer in the English-speaking world. It made me think about other fads, trends, social crazes and other pop culture moments I have not experienced personally:
I did not see Home Alone until a year or so ago. I have yet to see Shawshank Redemption or the Green Mile, and I am woefully behind on my classic movies.
I do not know how to do the Achy Breaky Heart dance, the Electric Slide, or most other line dances. In case you're wondering how I survived my wedding, (a) The Chicken Dance happened. Suffice it to say Mr. Brillig was Not Amused and I am still surprised he didn't leave me at the reception; and (b) the ubiquitous song Celebration was not played. In fact, the DJ was told they weren't getting paid if it did.
I have never tried the Cabbage Soup, Grapefruit, 3-Day, or any other diet hinging its success on one food or time frame.
I have not worn low-rise or skinny jeans, a fact your eyes should all be thankful for. Harem/Hammerpants did not ever make an appearance on either me, or anyone I dated/married. I also wore my sweatshirts WITH their necks intact, and ON my shoulders. They were not accessorized by Madonna-style jelly bracelets.
I have not seen Honey Boo Boo. I didn't even KNOW there was a genre of reality TV shows following the "let's laugh at people we derogatorily call white trash" model. Hell, I never intentionally watched The Real World, although I saw it occasionally and DO know who Pedro Zamora was.
I have never had a yellow ribbon magnet on my car.
However, I wasn't always a model of trendy indifference:
I had a Pet Rock and at least several mood rings. Ditto for flared jeans, permed hair and a leather jacket.
I knew how to hula hoop. Not well, mind you, but I did :).
I watched the last episode of M.A.S.H. And all of the other ones, too.
I used to know all of the audience participation parts of RHPS. And once saw it at midnight on Halloween in a college town movie theatre.
I'm sure there's more, but the interesting thing to me is that it's FAR harder to remember the societal groupthink moments I participated in than the ones I did not. How about you- from fashion to television and music to movies, what were your hits and misses?
Brillig's ObDisclaimer: The decision to publish each nomination lies with the evening's Diarist and/or Comment Formatter. My evenings at the helm, I try reeeeallllyy hard to publish everything
without regard to content. I really do, even when I disagree personally with any given nomination. "TopCommentness" lies in the eyes of the nominator and of you, the reader - I leave the decision to you. I do
not publish self-nominations (ie your own comments) and if I ruled the world, we'd all build community, supporting and uplifting instead of tearing our fellow Kossacks down.
From Noddy:
left my heart works out the implications of Kaili Joy Gray's diary, Alabama Republican says a baby 'is the largest organ in a body' because she's a moron.
From tmservo433:
limpidglass sets up the line, and it gets knocked right out of the park by entlord.
From cskendrick:
I went looking for the reason the cops even by Eileen B, because beating up law abiding citizens isn't cool, not even when cops do it.
I think there was thoughtful planning by Hugh Jim Bissell, on how the oft-excoriated Bushies were anything but disorganized fools. They had a plan and they worked it.
You have no clue about what happened in Wisconsin by Mark E Andersen who, feeling some provocation, sticks up for Wisconsin as a state.
I'm still waiting on my $5M from Nigeria by tmservo433. Yeah, Tom. Me, too.
The 'American Spectator' is outraged
by Scarce. Are they ever NOT so? :)
From Yours Truly, brillig:
Want a scary working poor statistic that isn't in Laura Clawson's 'No one who works full-time should have to live in poverty,' but at $7.25, they do? Horace Boothroyd III has one.
Dave in Northridge succinctly describes why Permanent GOP minority status has arrived, kos' diary.
So the Tea Party Patriots just sent out this email, diaries Scarce. ColoTim explains why we need popcorn.
Top Mojo for yesterday, February 18th, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you
mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary
FAQing Top Mojo.
1) Drunk, obnoxious, stupid, and racist by cap76 — 214
2) Just how long is McCain going to keep at this? by Shelley99 — 149
3) I would think so. But the only time I was... by Meteor Blades — 112
4) My dad's in ICU as I type- Last Monday he had PCP by roseeriter — 111
5) Geez, when you put it like that, kos, by sp0t — 104
6) They want to destroy the proper functions of by Ray Pensador — 103
7) Something must be done about police by coquiero — 100
8) wouldn't that be assault and battery? by JMcDonald — 95
9) remind me of the first public reaction by entlord — 88
10) The Story Continues by JekyllnHyde — 87
11) Also a Kansan by rfhusker — 86
12) Thanks for the Diary, erratic by JekyllnHyde — 84
13) It truly is ridiculous. But what else do they have by mrsgoo — 81
14) Zing! by jpmassar — 79
15) Luckily for him... by Trix — 78
16) Amended... by DerAmi — 77
17) The drumbeat to protect the MIC is pretty much by ontheleftcoast — 74
18) Over the last ten years, one of my reasons for by Truedelphi — 67
19) Damn this is well researched by Blazehawkins — 65
20) Paranoia by KansasLib — 65
21) He has a future by Bourbaki — 65
22) The gerrymandering in States is keeping them alive by Los Diablo — 64
23) It's like Westboro is everywhere. I lived in KS 3 by 88kathy — 63
24) The Rolling Stone had a great take on it: by Pluto — 63
25) Rudyard Kipling, 1918 by BOHICA — 63
26) For your viewing pleasure by cap76 — 62
27) will this complicate his Second Amendment rights? by el vasco — 62
28) Commendable diary. by Miniaussiefan — 61
29) I am happy and joyful to hear tales by xxdr zombiexx — 60
30) life is still unfair by mollyd — 60
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Pooties Pictures for yesterday, February 18th. Click any image to be taken to the full comment. Thank you
jotter for the image magic!