“oops,” says area Pride.

For the record, I try really hard not to be a pretentious ass. Assery is the dominate currency of our generation and, being the good lil Marxist that I am, I see it as prohibitive of our true potential.  That said, there’s only so much a girl can do avoid the conditioning of 6 years in the cloistered halls of L’Academie (that was for Meredith), investing herself in indie music and film, and reading — READING! of all things — the classics and their critics.  I’m just starting to watch Flight of the Concords because “I knew about them, like, forever ago” and people I don’t think are very funny think it’s hilarious. So, I put it off. But then someone I do think is funny had the DVDs from Netflix. And you know what? It is hilarious.

Even though I’m conscious of it, I put much too high a premium on being the first to be into something.  And once I’m into it, I’m only into it as long as not too many other people are.  Even typing that hurt, but it’s true. I’ve allowed myself little deviations (see the entry on the unironic awesomeness of the Ghostbusters franchise, for one), but even then, I wonder if I allow those for myself because it’s always cool to be a little uncool.

I became aware of this flaw sometime ago and I like to think I’ve made some considerable strides in repairing it, but it takes just as long to uncondition as it did to condition. I have noticed that when it comes to discussions on taste, I am more comfortable in my opinions — namely because they are my opinions.  Deciding to abandon a beloved subject just because it has become too popular is just as bad as becoming a fan for the same reason. In fact, it might be worse –  at least bandwagoneers have the excuse of recent exposure. 

So, all in all, I’ve been quite pleased with my de-elitizing. I’m chillaxin’ at work, listening to whatever I loaded onto my iTunes here a couple of years ago, and suddenly I hear this song I really, really like. And I begin to think, “Wait..is that? Is that THE SHINS?” And of course it’s The Shins, I just didn’t recognize it right away because it’s off Wincing the Night Away, which I hardly listened to because, I’d been “into The Shins for, like, ever” by that point. I was so over it. Consequently, I’d been missing out on a good spin for, what, a couple of years? Way to prove your point to…no one. Including yourself. Woooo!

However, I stand by my assertion that Zack Braff is not so great. And Garden State sucked. That’s not the hipster vitriol talking, that’s just aesthetic discernment.

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