did you ever know…? hopefully you did not

-
Last night I tagged along with AK to a fundraiser for foster youth. The entertainment at the benefit included a jazz singer who modified her inspirational standards to fit the event. As in, “Did you ever know that you’re my hero, and everything I would like to be? I can fly higher than an eagle…and so can these kids with a little help from you kind folks tonight. Who wants to enter a raffle to win a free Kia from Glendale Kia?”

When that particular song started, AK’s coworker Jess said, “That’s my favorite song. We need to leave immediately.” Because the P.A. system was so loud that it drowned out all sarcasm and nuance, AK’s other coworker thought she was serious about being a Bette Midler fan and said, “I’ll stay five more minutes, and then we should go.”

But I have to admit…I kind of do like “Wind Beneath My Wings.” It’s not subtle, but it’s pretty, and it doesn’t seem fair that it has been voted Official Representative of Cultural Cheese, when there are so many more worthy candidates.

Which leads me to my informal poll: What are your pop culture guilty pleasures? What music/movies/TV shows/books/musicals/etc. would you never, ever list on your MySpace page for fear that no one would date you?

And they have to be genuinely loathed by a majority of respectable people, and genuinely loved by you. If you love it ironically, or if any hipster PhD student has written a dissertation on it, it’s out of the running, because you know you would and probably do list it on your MySpace page. Basically, you may not list America’s Next Top Model.

But Hair? Kelly Clarkson’s “Break Away”? Those Lisa Frank Trapper Keepers with the airbrushed pictures of rainbows and puppies? (Ahem, just providing a few hypothetical examples here.) All legit.

Comments

the last noel said…
I admit that I'm a huge Bette Midler fan! Anyone who makes fun of her or her music, I hunt down and kill.
August 11, 2006 at 5:30 PM
Tracy Lynn said…
I'll admit that I watch Maury...about four days a week. He's got the best Who's My Baby's Daddy shows on the market.
August 13, 2006 at 8:37 AM
Anonymous said…
I love reality shows: I never miss Laguna Beach, The Hills, Making the Band, etc. I know they're aimed at people a decade or 2 younger than me, but the drama is so fun to watch.
August 13, 2006 at 3:04 PM
Anonymous said…
Movies that involve the whole team freeze-framed in a high-five at the end.
August 14, 2006 at 3:52 AM
Cheryl said…
You are all my people. High fives, everyone!
August 14, 2006 at 9:33 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

there is more in this world than fear and pee

-
Image
I take a walk and do the exercise my therapist taught me: something I can see, something I can hear, something I can smell, something I can feel, something I can taste. At first I can’t remember the fifth sense, and I worry it’s a sign of a problem with my brain (other than the ones I know about: the ruminations, the anxiety, the sadness that touches down like a tornado). Or it’s lack of coffee. I’m walking to a coffee shop. I like this exercise because it’s also a writing exercise, and I like the words that offer themselves: clicking crow, ladies gathered for cafecito, the sugar and oil of cooking pastries on the breeze . I try to taste my tongue and it feels slightly burnt, which is not a taste, and…is that something I should worry about? Dash is worried about my work trip next week. And angry and sad. He says he’s going to miss me so much that he wants a different mom, one who doesn’t ever have to travel for work. I try to explain how that makes no sense, but doesn’t it actually mak...
Read more

every year contains days, but also

-
Image
Every day contains years, like how yesterday was briefly 1985 and Jenessa's dad was right there, his glasses and strawberry blonde mustache and crew socks, groaning "Ness" about something she said. What she said as we stood in the fog watching our children climb rocks forty years later— my god—is that he was okay for a while after treatment, and then he wasn't, but he refused to talk about it. It's almost next year now. This morning at the kids' museum, I watched my toddler climb a contraption made of fiberglass and fisherman's nets, which dredged up from the seafloor another museum— The Museum of Memory is always open, always dusty— in which my older child pined to ride The Red Bikes on the mini track outside. He was the right size for the low yellow four-wheelers, but the red tricycles had the candy apple sheen of the future. (The Museum of the Future only comes in two flavors, shiny and apocalypse, and sometimes it is closed for repairs.) You probably s...
Read more

seasons of love

-
Image
Everything Cheryl does, she’s totally joking and completely serious.             --AK 2,628,000 minutes 2.6 million moments so dear 2,628,000 minutes How do you measure, measure five years? In new jobs , in boob jobs , in blog posts, in cups of coffee In coffee, more coffee, in coffee, and tea In 2,628,000 minutes How do you measure five extra years? How about love? How about love? How about love? Measure in love Seasons of love 2,628,000 minutes 2.6 million plans gone awry 2,628,000 minutes How do you measure public places I’ve cried ? In grants that I wrote, and novels on the side   Facebook rabbit holes are no source of pride It’s time to kiss Dashaboo Though he’s sticky with jam Let’s celebrate, remember five years Of making people deal with who I am Remember the love Remember the love Remember the love Measure in love Rent rent rent rent reeeee...
Read more