Here’s a funny thing… I don’t really like movies. Shock! Horror! Burn the infidel! I mean, it’s not that I don’t like them, they’re just not that high on my list of… enjoyments. The same goes for movie theaters. Most people I know seem to really love movie theaters. Sitting in the big chairs, big screen, big popcorn, basically like watching a movie in a room where everything is really big. I think movie theaters always gave me some anxiety. I often felt sick when I was younger, so being in a row of people where if I want to get out I have to awkwardly manoeuvre past them all was not ideal. And the sound is always so loud, and I always come out blinking like I’ve never seen bright light before. I’m weird!
However, it was pointed out to me by Al that it may be just because I haven’t seen most of the “good” movies out there that I say I don’t like them. Just like if someone were to say “yeah I just don’t really like music” when all they had ever heard was Eiffel 65. I have the same problem with cheese. Not only do I not eat cheese due to being somewhat intolerant and now being vegan, but I just really hate the taste of it. I realised just how unpopular a point of view this was when once, out of curiosity, and maybe out of a longing for camaraderie, I searched the internet for “people who don’t love cheese” and all I could find were articles about “how much people love cheese” and “the science behind why people love cheese”.
I’ve recently discovered Paul Westerberg’s (of the Replacements) solo albums. In particular Suicaine Gratification. I’d never been much of a Replacements fan. This was fuelled in part by a high school English teacher whom I found intolerable declaring them, repeatedly, to be “the best band in the world”. Having avoided them for this reason, I was surprised when I found this album of Paul’s. It is quite raw, and “intensely personal” as it says online. But I like it… I like that the songs sound so rough and, I don’t know, ramshackle. But if the production is unpolished, the emotion is not. That’s the thing that gets me… You just can’t hide true creativity when it’s flowing out.
