Behind the Blogger: Pop Culture Potholes

I like to consider myself a pop culture guru. I have a talent for remembering the minutia of cast lists, TV schedules, the years movies or songs came out, third or fourth hits from bands people think are one-hit wonders. . . the lot. It's something of a useless talent, now that we have the Googles on the internets. I've been replaced by a smart phone these days.

But it's always been something of a sham, anyway. There is a huge list of pop culture that I've never sampled. Some of it proudly (oddly), and some I've just either never gotten around to, or never had any interest in. So here, in brief, is a list of pop culture that I've never taken part in.

Movies

- Any Godfather movie
- Citizen Kane
- Any Twilight movie
- Enter the Dragon, or anything from the martial arts ouvre
- Rudy or almost any other sports-themed movie
- Any Rocky or Rambo movie
- Annie Hall
- Any Acadamy Award Best Picture movie from 1976 to 1989, including The Deer Hunter, Amadeus, Platoon, Terms of Endearment and Gandhi 

Television

- The King of Queens
- The Nanny
- According to Jim
- The Sopranos
- Game of Thrones
- Madmen
- Monk 
- Walker, Texas Ranger
- Sons of Anarchy
- Breaking Bad- The Vampire Diaries
- And oddly for me, Smallville, Arrow, Charmed and Supernatural 

Books


- Any The Gunslinger Stephen King story (though I've read everything else)
- The Red Badge of Courage
- The Grapes of Wrath
- Gone With the Wind
- W.E.B. Griffitn, Tom Clancy or almost any other military-themed work
- Fifty Shades of Grey
- The Book of Mormon (I tried, but then "it came to pass. . ." 10,000 times)
- The Scarlet Letter
- The Catcher in the Rye
-  Diary of Anne Frank

Ermahgerd! Stephen King's Under the Dome Set for CBS

Squee! I will admit with no shame that I'm an unabashed, unrepentant Stephen King fan. I like Dean Koontz too, though I prefer King's subtle liberal politics over Koontz's slightly more obvious conservative allusions. And I don't give a flying fig that "serious readers" consider this type of author to be substandard, or somehow lacking. I have ravenously gobbled up almost every King and Koontz book released in the last 25 years or so (except The Dark Tower series, which I seriously don't get).

So, when I really enjoy a particular book, it's always a thrill to see it optioned as a movie or miniseries. The actual results are more scattershot. For every good adaptation, there are several bad ones (sometimes even with the authors' input). When it comes to King, the best live action adaptations (in my opinion) are Misery, the miniseries The Stand, Pet Sematary and Carrie. There have been other good ones too (Creepshow, Stand By Me), but more often than not (Maximum Overdrive, Creepshow 2, the miniseries The Shining) they kind of stink on ice. So, I have high hopes for Under the Dome, a ridiculously thick page-turner I read in a frenzy. But my optimism is guarded with experience.

Under the Dome is a story about a small town that suddenly finds itself cut off from society, with a mysterious--seemingly impenetrable--barrier put around it. The aftermath of the event, and the efforts to thwart it take up hundreds and hundreds of pages. But I didn't care. It was an enthralling book. Can a broadcast television adaptation do it justice? I'll be watching to find out.

[Excerpt]

'Under The Dome': CBS Announces Premiere Date For Stephen King Drama, 'Unforgettable,' 'Big Brother'

Stephen King and Steven Spielberg's adaptation of "Under the Dome" will premiere on CBS at 10 p.m. on Monday, June 24, the network announced Saturday.   At the network's presentation for reporters at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour, CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler expressed enthusiasm for the concept, hoping that it will become a "big summer event" for the number one broadcast network. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

Olbermann's WTF? Moment: Bush the Bookworm?

I remember when we heard about George W. Bush's voracious reading habit, and thought they must be lying about it. Bush didn't seem like much of a reader, and was in fact known for having little patience for briefings and such. But what if it were true? That he really read hundreds of books during his tenure? How could a man as busy as the President of the United States have enough time to read that much?

The theory that Dick Cheney was the real President for the last eight years is getting more and more credible.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Right-wingers Not Into Heavy Reading

Image from Ugly Republicans

A reader sent me a link to his blog, noticing a common thread on the right-wing blogs, regarding the Supreme Court decision on habeas corpus today. It would seem that George W. Bush isn't the only conservative with an aversion to heavy reading.

Check it out. And thanks, Simon!

[Excerpt]

Right wing bloggers employ investigative journalism skills to “skim” documents

I felt sympathy for right wing bloggers today after the Supreme Court ruled that habeas corpus would be restored to Guantanamo detainees. I knew that they not only had to disagree with the justices but they also had to declare their rulings unconstitutional and the work of “judicial activism.” But to make those claims right wing bloggers would actually have to read the court opinions, and those opinions are just so gosh darn long.

Well, luckily they employed their Woodward/Bernstein investigative journalism skills to speed up the process. . .

Read on (unless you'd rather skim) at: Bloggasm