Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Stepped out the House, Stopped Short, Oh no! I went back in, I Forgot my Indo!

Hey, hey. Baseball season officially ended for me last night. The Cubs were pummeled by the Nats at Wrigley and the White Sox are not doing anything close to what all of my Sox fan friends told me that they would do (win series' at Boston and New York...you know, because they beat the good teams and lose to the bad ones). I guess for me that it's officially Cutler time.

Now baseball has been my favorite sport pretty much my entire life, so it really hurts me to say that I'm looking forward to football when we're still in August, but hey, maybe if Sam Zell didn't hold this team hostage for the last ten months, I'd be singing a different tune. Instead I'm just singing "Let's go Bears." (and to think that I was actually GETTING USED TO making the playoffs every season). Too bad.

I was talking with a friend of mine the other day and our conversation gave me an idea for a "Webby Files" topic to share with you. We were discussing how it seems that there are a ton of things out there that we're all basically told that we're supposed to like. We hear about these things in a positive light so often that they just get engraved into your mind to the point where opinion essentially becomes fact, and you just blindly fall in line and agree with everyone else by liking this stuff as well. Whether you're talking about movies/music/food/activities/etc., there are so many things out there where it's basically just "assumed" that everyone likes them, and feels as strongly about liking them as everyone else. Let's UN-blur that line between someone else's opinion and the facts.

Now obviously these are MY opinions, so please feel free to disagree with me at any time...but I guarantee you that you'll agree with a lot of these even if you didn't realize that you would. Here we go...

"Caddyshack" -No matter who is making the list of the top sports movies of all time, "Caddyshack" will AT LEAST be in the top three (usually numero uno). Maybe I just don't get it, but this movie isn't even remotely funny. I'm a big Chevy Chase fan, I don't mind Rodney Dangerfield and I certainly don't mind Bill Murray...but this movie sucks. Don't say that too loud though, you will be attacked by killer meatballs.

Speaking of overrated movies from that era...

"The Blues Brothers" -Now I really pissed you off didn't I?...but be honest, if that movie came out today, you wouldn't like it. It's a musical for God sakes!!! For some reason it is engraved into Chicago culture as a movie that everyone (young and old) has to love...but guess what? I'm ending the love affair. It's a bad movie, and while we're at it, I don't understand the love for John Belushi either. He is an absolute LEGEND, yet he's never made me laugh one time. Throw ol' Johnny on the list as well.

"Nirvana" -But Matt, they changed the face of music back in the early nineties!!!" That's a bunch of B.S. There was PLENTY of great music in the 80's and early 90's. The problem was that the airwaves were hijacked by grunge from Seattle. If Kurt Cobain didn't kill himself, we wouldn't even be talking about Nirvana. I'm glad that he did though, by him pulling the trigger it helped create the "Foo Fighters." Thanks Kurt.

"Sushi" -I don't mind the raw fish (I'm actually quite fond of sashimi), but the fact that sushi is so much of a trend right now that in the city of Chicago there are 8 sushi restaurants with in a four block radius anywhere on the North side completely disgusts me! Sushi rolls are gross. They're essentially raw fish (which is pretty good) covered in mayonnaise (which is disgusting) and then wrapped with seaweed and rice. Yet they feel that it is reasonable to charge an arm and a leg when you'll immediately have to grab a slice of pizza after your meal just to feel some semblance of being full. Ridiculous.

"Family Guy" -Not funny. South Park made fun of this show best. You can't base an entire show on plugging in random flashbacks as your only jokes. It sucks. Yet, for some reason people can't get enough of this cartoon and it's spin offs ("American Dad" and "Cleveland").

"Bar Sing Along Songs" -There are very few more annoying things then when you're at a bar and any one of the following songs comes on: "Livin' on a Prayer", "Sweet Caroline", "Don't Stop Believing", "Take me Home Tonight", "Sweet Home Alabama", "Brown Eyed Girl", "Paradise City", etc., etc. It's frat boy and drunk girl sing along time. I will actually get up and leave an establishment when one of these songs comes on and the entire bar starts singing. These are bad songs by themselves, please don't throw gasoline on the fire.

"Snoop Dogg" -Didn't see this one coming did you? Don't get me wrong, Snoop was a legend back in the early nineties, but guess what? It's 2009, and in my opinion that honeymoon has finally wore off. S-N-double O-P needs to G-O A to the Way. Sorry Dogg Pound Gangstas, I'm not just going to love someone because everyone else does.

How about another unpopular choice...

"Al Pacino" -Yes, every one's FAVORITE actor of all time. I used to love Al Pacino. The "Godfather" movies, "Dog Day Afternoon", "Scent of a Woman"...all great movies. My problem with Pacino is "Where the hell have you been since 1992?!!!" The way I see it, ol' Al has been Mr. Irrelevant going on 18 years. "Heat" was solid, but how about these great releases: "Two Bits", "City Hall", "The Insider", "Any Given Sunday" (Oliver Stone sucks too), "Chinese Coffee", "Insomnia", "People I know", "The Recruit", "Gigli", "The Merchant of Venice", "Two for the Money", "88 Minutes", my God!!! Bad, bad, bad. I recently saw his movie that he did with Robert DeNiro last year called "Righteous Kill." This movie was so unimaginably terrible, that I actually felt sorry for the guy. Did you ever think that you would feel sorry for Michael Corleone? I didn't either. BTW...you can put "Scarface" on the list as well. One of the most overrated movies that I've ever seen (Sorry EVERY rap artist).

"Parades" -Why do people like parades? It's like what comedian Daniel Tosh said, "After you go to a parade you must immediately wash the gay off of you." Hundreds of thousands of people go to Thanksgiving Day parades and St. Patrick's Day parades, and millions more watch this crap on TV. It's people walking in a line, or riding on floats down the middle of the street. It's usually cold outside, and you just stand there and watch. I'd like to meet the individual that started this rumor (that parades are actually fun and everyone should stand on the sidewalks and watch them go by). He/She could probably convince you to do anything!

"UFC/MMA" -This is the absolute HOTTEST thing going right now...and I couldn't be more disinterested. Call me a prude if you must, but I don't really understand the enjoyment that people feel in watching two steroid-induced mongoloids beat the living daylights out of each other. I find it boring, and I find the fans to be just a slight step above NASCAR fans (except you Tim). I CAN'T WAIT for this little trend to go away (and it will).

There are MANY more of these people/movies/activities/etc. that everyone seems to love for some reason. I think that if we all just opened our eyes to how ridiculous a lot of it is, this world would be a MUCH more interesting place to live in. That's all I'm sayin'...

Honorable Mention:
Led Zeppelin
Will Ferrell
Judd Apatow movies
AC/DC
Harry Potter books/Lord of the Rings movies (one in the same)
Joe Namath
Entourage
Twitter
Christmas
Lollapalooza
Yankees vs. Red Sox
The Beach
The Daily Show
Wilco
Dane Cook
Navy Pier
...and so many more.

Let me know what YOU would add to your most overrated things out there. Hit me up on facebook or in the comments section of this blog. While you're at it, you can check out my music at www.myspace.com/theskyfall. Right now I'm listening to Johnny Cash's cover of Bruce Springsteen's "I'm on Fire." Drinks of Choice: semi-warm coffee.

Peace the F.
Webby

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