Cultural reference points

I tend to be suspicious of popular things, be they movies, musicians, books, or whatever. Sooner or later, though, I get curious about what all the fuss was about, and I investigate simply out of curiosity. Some things I will never get--the popularity of Nicholas Sparks or Mitch Albom, the cult following of Napoleon Dynamite, or the smashing success of a series of blonde bubble-headed pop princesses who sound increasingly alike. The point is, contrary to popular belief (heh), I make an effort to watch/read/listen before I criticize; one thing I absolutely can't stand is when people speak authoritatively on the merits or flaws of something without having actually investigated.

I'm not a huge movie buff to begin with, and I also get the majority of movies from the library (no rental fee :)), so it takes a while before I see huge box office hits on DVD. Recently, I watched Kill Bill for the first time. Not bad. Wouldn't go out of my way for it, but it was a darkly entertaining way to pass a couple hours. The whole time, though, I kept thinking, Man, Monty Python could foresee Quentin Tarantino:



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