Let’s not kid ourselves here: even in the geek world, there are guilty pleasures, and then there are guilty pleasures. Or, perhaps I could put it another way: there are geek pleasures, and then there are guilty pleasures.
You see, I’m pretty comfortable in the geek world. To me, being a fan of Mythbusters or Firefly or Lord of the Rings is, frankly, mainstream. And I’ve noticed that some things that geeks will list as guilty pleasures – like singing along to Dr. Horrible or building a theremin – are not their guilty pleasures at all. They might not bring it up at work, but for one, they don’t really feel guilty talking about it, and for another, they know it will earn them geek cred.
On the other hand, if I bring up Dancing With the Stars on my Twitter, I get a few crickets and a tumbleweed blowing by.
Yes, somehow, entertainment designed for the masses has become my guilty pleasure. It always has been, really. When I was in high school and my friends were listening to Atari Teenage Riot, I had a Savage Garden CD. I always seem to have one foot in several countercultures, but I never jump all the way into any one of them, and my love for pop culture (call me a modern history buff) has endured.
So here I am, coming out of the closet. I’m a musician that can go on for hours about Rachmaninoff or Cursive, but when I turn on Pandora it’s usually on the channel for Madonna’s “Like a Prayer.” I’m excited on Wednesday mornings because I can go on Hulu and watch the previous night’s episode of Make It or Break It. I know that these things aren’t cool, in the mainstream world or the geek one, but it’s the kind of nerd I really am.
And I want to know, really – what are your guilty pleasures?
About j
I find my guilty pleasures run along the lines of un-cool television and music. Big Brother, Survivor, the Great Race and other reality shows make up a large portion of my television diet. For music I love one hit wonders from just about any time period, but especially cross over music from pop bands. One of my favorite songs to date is Dirty Pop by the Backstreet Boys.
Maybe you’re not around normal people much?
I work in a pretty standard place in NYC, and the lunch conversation is pretty much based around sports (football/basketball/baseball) and mainstream entertainment like Dancing with the Stars and the like.
I’ve mentioned Firefly/Serenity and received blank looks. I think we should keep in mind that the ‘normal world’ isn’t who we choose to hang out with, but more the random people that are around.
Nerds being nerds, we tend to hang out with people that share our interests, are close in terms of age, and location.
For example, few people in their 50′s or 60′s would know Dr. Horrible, but there are well, quite a lot of them.
Take a survey of an office building or an apartment complex regarding people’s knowledge on those subjects, and I think your answers would be very different.
My latest guilty pleasure is Glee. I resisted at first, but eventually caved into the pressure. When I saw it for the first time, it felt like a musical version of Freaks and Geeks. It’s gotten a bit saccharine, although the Joss Whedon ep was quite awesome and just right.
messerole – You’re quite right. I’ve embraced my geekiness since I was a child, in a family of geeks, and always had an easy time finding those with similar interests. I work from home. I’m aware that it probably would be easier, in, say, a subway, to find someone knowledgeable about Dancing With the Stars than Firefly, but that’s not my everyday life. And thus, pop culture has become a guilty pleasure and I live in bizarro world.
Chick flicks, I love chick flicks.
JM – Ooh, now see, I had quite the opposite opinion of the Joss Whedon episode of Glee. Perhaps it’s because I only recently saw it – I remember when it aired people were like, “Glee, Joss Whedon and Neil Patrick Harris! A perfect storm!” so I was expecting something epic, and I felt the episode was just so-so and the Neil Patrick Harris role could have been played by anyone (in terms of acting, maybe not singing).
But then AGAIN, I could be biased because Neil Patrick Harris was subsequently nominated for an Emmy for that (in opinion, mediocre) role, when I feel Mike O’Malley, who is nominated in the same category, has consistently done stellar, believable work on the show, to the point where he’s now being upgraded to a regular. To me nominating Neil Patrick Harris is like saying his one little episode is just as good as Mike O’Malley in “Wheels,” which I totally disagree with.
/rant
Hi, my name is Katie and I’m addicted to anything involving teen drama.
I cry during 50% of Dawson’s Creek episodes, I sing Glee in my car, I’m fascinated by the writings of Teens (For example, Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul and most of LiveJournal) and last, but NOT LEAST I am a bit of a connoisseur of teen fiction. I LOVE the brain candy and teen fiction just…delivers in a way other books can’t.
My newest guilty pleasure is… Lady Gaga. I can’t help it! Her songs are so frakking catchy. I grew up on a diet of Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. So I find it a bit puzzling (and a bit shameful) when throughout the day my brain replays “Bad Romance” or “Paparazzi” over and over. ;P
Apocalyptic fiction. No no, not the stuff you’re thinking of. I mean stuff so depressing you end up staring at the wall for a few hours when it’s done. Grave of the Fireflies. 99 Luftballons. On the Beach. The nonfiction Hiroshima Stories. DEFCON. The War Game. Threads.
I can’t say I love them, it would be doing them a disservice. But I keep getting compelled to read/watch/play them again. To watch the soul-crushing horrors unfold and know the entire world came a hairsbreadth from those realities…or crossed into them, in the case of the Japanese media.
None of my friends, geeky or not, understands why I do this. I can’t really say I understand it, myself. I don’t know if it’s quite what you were expecting, but there it is, my guilty pleasure.
Roscoe – Have you ever heard Penderecki’s Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima? Might well be right up your alley.
J – That is one crazy tune, there.