There is a great bit in High Fidelity - I'm talking about the movie, but presuming it's in the book, but have never read any Nick Hornby (overwhelmingly put off by his Goonerness which is, weirdly enough, relevant to this post) - where Jack Black's character points out that what is important in a person is not what they're like, but what they like. This is a prejudice I share - hence refusing to read Nick Hornby, it seems. If his judgment about a football team is so wrong, how could I trust him on other things?
This little bit was brought to mind by the flight back to NYC after a couple of weeks in Europe (more on that later, possibly). The gentleman in front of TOH was alternating between doing work, and watching movies. The work appeared to be some sort of presentation on encouraging adults to learn and participate in education (their own, I think). The problem was, I could not take that work truly seriously, because I'd seen him voluntarily watch and laugh at American Reunion, the latest installment in the American Pie series, and pretty bad, according to a wide variety of pretty reliable sources. Then, however, he chose to watch Battleship, and all his credibility leached out - why on earth would you voluntarily watch that?
On the other hand, I should be a tad generous, because I am a subscriber to the belief that the usual rules about what one should watch moviewise are shifted while in the air. For example, although I would never usually watch anything with her in while on the ground, Sandra Bullock movies are not only fair game but welcome while aboard. So, really, I can't talk. But given that I watched a Danish thriller (total schlock, but whatever, subtitles, and it's not Battleship) and a gritty, surprisingly good slice of an ex-con's life in Wild Bill, I could at least feel morally superior on that one flight.
This little bit was brought to mind by the flight back to NYC after a couple of weeks in Europe (more on that later, possibly). The gentleman in front of TOH was alternating between doing work, and watching movies. The work appeared to be some sort of presentation on encouraging adults to learn and participate in education (their own, I think). The problem was, I could not take that work truly seriously, because I'd seen him voluntarily watch and laugh at American Reunion, the latest installment in the American Pie series, and pretty bad, according to a wide variety of pretty reliable sources. Then, however, he chose to watch Battleship, and all his credibility leached out - why on earth would you voluntarily watch that?
On the other hand, I should be a tad generous, because I am a subscriber to the belief that the usual rules about what one should watch moviewise are shifted while in the air. For example, although I would never usually watch anything with her in while on the ground, Sandra Bullock movies are not only fair game but welcome while aboard. So, really, I can't talk. But given that I watched a Danish thriller (total schlock, but whatever, subtitles, and it's not Battleship) and a gritty, surprisingly good slice of an ex-con's life in Wild Bill, I could at least feel morally superior on that one flight.
No comments:
Post a Comment