personal pop culture rules

[clockworkjoe]

http://www.avclub.com/articles/personal-popculture-rules,38614/

What are your pop-culture rules? That is, the up-front guidelines that will prevent you from seeing/reading/listening to something, or that will guarantee that you’ll see/read/listen to it even if reviews or word of mouth or past experience with the creators have been negative?

I don't have any hard and fast rules - I have preferences obviously but I try to get as much media exposure as possible so I can stay current with trends and popular shit. That said:

I tend to avoid all sci-fi and fantasy mega-franchises: I have not beaten any Halo game (I've played a few of them at other peoples' houses). I have not read any Harry Potter novel or seen any of the movies without rifftrax. I've only seen about half of the Star Trek movies and very few of the various shows and while I have seen all the Star Wars movies I have not kept up with the side shit like the cartoons or comics. 

DC universe continuity bores me: Ever since Identity Crisis, it's just gotten silly. I don't care about the green lanterns or any of that shit.

I am a horror movie snob: Torture porn movies are all horrible. Slashers are almost as bad.

I am absolutely horrible at following TV shows with ongoing storylines: I know there are some great TV shows out there but I am just too scatterbrained to find the time to sit down and catch up on several seasons of those 1 hour shows. Lost and 24 are the only shows I'm current on and this is the first season of 24 I've followed since the first. I watched the first four seasons of Lost in a month and that's the only time I've ever done that.

Conversely, I love shows that don't have ongoing storylines: Daily Show, Colbert, animated sitcoms and Law and Order.

Other than that, I try to remain open because you never know what you're missing until you try it.

[Kroack]

I am a horror movie snob: Torture porn movies are all horrible. Slashers are almost as bad.

Ross, do you want to play a game?

[clockworkjoe]

I am a horror movie snob: Torture porn movies are all horrible. Slashers are almost as bad.

Ross, do you want to play a game?

[Wooberman]

I try to keep my head above water with ongoing trends but to a certain degree.

I tend to watch some TV shows with ongoing storylines, provided they are well written and consistent (high standards indeed). Lost was good but you'll have to look back to one of my previous posts to find out my opinion of that. Heroes until the season 3 clusterfuck. I've been getting into Battlestar Galactice more out of necessity but its becoming easier to watch, this was because it was one of the constant topics that my current gaming group liked to chat at length about. Also True Blood but Lately i've become jaded and personally pissed at the 'Girl with survival skills of a bipolar lemming loves tortured sensitive but ultimately homicidal monster' plotline of any recent vampire media (see Twilight)... Its just a fancified abusive relationship. I feel a rant coming on...

DC universe barring Batman bores me to be honest - Superman... C'mon... just Superman. His only weakness is a crystal so rare that it appears on practically every episode of Smallville and 1/5 comics. Maybe i'm exaggerating  so sue me.

Marvel I enjoy but its like looking into a vast mile long library, I'll never be able to read it all.

Classic off-the-wall-comedy - Airplane, Top Secret, Hot Shots, Naked Gun all tickle my funny bone but the 'Movie' franchise (scary, epic, date, teen) faceplant in my opinion.
Family guy, American Dad, South park, Drawn Together, Venture brothers are all great, but Aqua Teen Hunger force leave me a little confused.

I agree with Ross, Torture porn movies are pretty crap and pointless. Slashers are too obvious. Psychological or Paranormal Horror is the way to go. I mean i guess the first SAW was good because it was interesting. It had a wealth of backstory that it freely offered up and the ending twist was just fantastic. After Jigsaw died in the franchise it turned to crap, there was no method behind the machines and no way to survive (see Angel trap). Hostel? don't get me started.

I can go on record for saying that "X-files was best when there was no ongoing plot, the stand alone episodes were the best it could offer. When it came to 'Mulder's sister' or 'Scully's abduction' i nearly fell asleep."

This is basically turning into a list of personal comparisons and i might have missed the point but its really early and a Sunday.

I am a horror movie snob: Torture porn movies are all horrible. Slashers are almost as bad.

Ross, do you want to play a game?

Oh Snap!

[rayner23]

I refuse to watch the following things:

1) Anything with George Clooney. I haven't watched a movie he has made since Batman and Robin. (I will make exceptions for Fantastic Mr. Fox and Up in the Air due to the power of Wes Anderson and Jason Reitman)

2) Anything Joel Schumacher makes.

3) Anything with Angelina Jolie (unless it is geek related such as Wanted).

These are just a few of my rules, but I know I've got a lot more.

[clockworkjoe]

goddamnt cody you need to watch Michael Clayton.

[sarendt]

I tend to dislike anything British, movies and books only, music seems to transend.  There are a few exceptions that I know of, so its not a hard and fast rule... 

-Scott

[Tadanori Oyama]

I have a pretty good list of actors I avoid the works of, in particular Jude Law. Any popular culture icon applies but at the forefront are people who are stars without being part of any actual media.

Paul Anderson is a black flag. Uwe Boll is a black flag.

Anything with Bruce Campbell automatically becomes attention worthy and can temporarily override other rules.

I avoid major trends in pop culture who I first experience them as trends. If I discover it "on my own" and enjoy it than I will continue to do so whatever the mass populus does.

Action, comedy, science fiction, and fantasy are all attractive concepts and will make something more appealing.

Horror, true to life, 'base on a true story', sports, and any mention of film festivals are unattractive concepts and will make something less appealing.

These concepts are not fixed because I have watched/played/read horror based on a true story things and enjoyed them, and action comedies which I loathed.

If it has quicktime events I am automatically skeptical (but not always against it, I love Indigo Prophecy).

Crossovers are a major red flag.

I love vampires and it saddens me that I automatically dismiss most new things I hear include them because I don't like most of the "new" concepts or because they are repeats of what I've already seen.

Werewolves always get my attention yet sadly, again, it normally sucks. I haven't seen anything awesome with werewolves in years. Operation Darkness comes closest, sadly. Werewolves deal more damage with machine guns, apparently, because they are just that awesome.

The color blue attracts my attention.

[Order66]

i watch everything star wars

star trek is good but i am not a trekie or even a devoted fan i just watch it when its on

i love the alien and predetor movies but most of the avp movies are crap

I HATE MICHEL BAY he ruined transformers for me

i love the old trans formers cartoons

i dont follow the harry potter movies

i want to like the lord of the rings but they dont make sense to me

i love marvel comics and DC is good to also image is a great company
EDIT: also the termanator rocks but i have not seen the newest one
 i like animated sitcoms but most of the ones on adult swim is shit

[clockworkjoe]

I tend to dislike anything British, movies and books only, music seems to transend.  There are a few exceptions that I know of, so its not a hard and fast rule... 

-Scott

Speaking of brit music

The BBC Essential Mix is fucking amazing.

2 hour mixes from great DJ acts like Justice or Digitalism. You can download them here http://www.freshclubbing.net/ipb/index.php?showforum=74

I recommend Four Tet, Justice, Digitalism, Flying Lotus, Mr. Scruff and Felix da Housecat.

[Wooberman]

I tend to dislike anything British, movies and books only, music seems to transend.  There are a few exceptions that I know of, so its not a hard and fast rule...  

-Scott

Speaking of brit music

The BBC Essential Mix is fucking amazing.

2 hour mixes from great DJ acts like Justice or Digitalism. You can download them here http://www.freshclubbing.net/ipb/index.php?showforum=74

I recommend Four Tet, Justice, Digitalism, Flying Lotus, Mr. Scruff and Felix da Housecat.

Ross I knew you would say that! Essential mix and its like are advertised during every ad break on every music channel 24/7. Personally I'm more for Tom's music... the fact he SAW a GWAR show is awesome to me. I really want to go but alas not in the UK.

BTW fire free on the British. I'm not saying i don't love my country, its just the stereotype that annoys me to no end... along with natives who propagate that stereotype.

Edit: Note- not flaming

[rayner23]

Uwe Boll films are must watches for me so I can still be amazed at what can be made.

[Setherick]

Uwe Boll films are must watches for me so I can still be amazed at what can be made.

Is there a video game he hasn't ripped off?

His next movie should be about when he challenged an internet poster to a boxing match.

[Tadanori Oyama]

Uwe Boll films are must watches for me so I can still be amazed at what can be made.

Is there a video game he hasn't ripped off?

His next movie should be about when he challenged an internet poster to a boxing match.

And them beat the shit out of him during the match.

That should be the whole movie: Uwe Boll just beating the shit out of one internet nerd after another, Andrew Ryan style.

[clockworkjoe]

I remember he beat up a few nerds

but to me the funniest thing about that event was this:

Electronic Gaming Monthly's November 2006 edition's "The Rest of the Crap" section, written by critic Seanbaby, described Seanbaby's own involvement. Apparently Uwe was going to appear on G4's Attack of the Show! to promote this fight by sparring with one of the hosts. He claims that, "Again, he's Uwe Boll, a matchmaking genius, because everyone on TV is 3-feet tall. If you were watching Attack of the Show! during the time I co-hosted, you might have noticed that I could have leaned over, eating host Kevin Pereira." A producer of the show then asked if Seanbaby would come and spar in the host's place for the event. Seanbaby says that he trains in Muay Thai and jujutsu, stating that, "Boxing is to real fighting, as Hungry Hungry Hippos is to real fighting..." When Uwe heard of this, he wanted to know Seanbaby's age, height, weight and fighting experience since he "learned he wasn't fighting a midget". After receiving said information, Boll chose not to appear on the program.[citation needed]