Friday, July 25, 2008

Secret Cultural Shame and Other Stories

Len needed to clean out The Ladies' house yesterday, so he shooed them out, blocked the entrance and shoveled out the grossness (reason #1 I didn't want anything to do with the Chicken Project).

Doorstep

Then he got distracted by other projects, dinner and bad TV. It was after 10:00 that he got back out to give them clean bedding. The Ladies were Not Pleased. They have a bedtime, it had long passed, and they yelled at him the whole time. Len said he had never heard such barking before, a combination of growling and "bock-bock".

Secret Cultural Shame

This comes from a blog I've been reading recently (pretty to think so), who found it by way of New York Magazine and the London Times. I, myself, think it would be a pretty good Meme. I'm not going to tag anyone specifically, but if I tell you my secret shames, I'd love to hear your's.

Books: I've never read Wuthering Heights (I have read Jane Eyre and I hated it). I haven't read very many of the Modern Library list of 100 Best Novels (then again, that list is suspect, since it does not include Beloved by Toni Morrison, which is a truly Great American Novel). I am embarrassed to admit that I hated A Catcher in the Rye.

Movies: I have never seen (but should have) "Raging Bull", "Taxi Driver", "The Godfather" (1, 2, or 3), "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", and "Schindler's List". I've seen and not liked "Saving Private Ryan" (first 15 minutes are great, the rest is pedestrian), "2001: A Space Odyssey", "Gone With the Wind" and "The Silence of the Lambs". I am not embarrassed to say that I hated "Titanic". And for very personal reasons, I hate "When Harry Met Sally".

Television: I've never seen The Honeymooners. Or Alf.

4 comments:

Helen said...

You haven't missed much by not reading Wuthering Heights, I would say. I can't stand the Brontes, all that emotional weltering. And of course the 100 Greatest Novels should include Beloved. I agree with you about most of the films too; the ones you mention that I have seen, I wouldn't want to see again. I've never seen the end of any of the Godfather films.

I would say that you're a person of rare distinction and taste, something like myself.

Anonymous said...

Same thing happened to us with our ducks once or twice, poor things.

I'd say go ahead and read Wuthering Heights, for the very reason that you hated Jane Eyre. It's one of those things: Like Muriel Spark vs Iris Murdoch, mayonnaise vs. butter as sandwich moistener. I'm a Jane Eyre girl myself.

Sharon said...

Haven't seen any of the movies - I have quit apologizing. I don't watch them. It's not on principle, but when I do have some time, other things suck it up. As for books, this is a Bronte-free zone, though I have to say that the third time I read Cather in the Rye was after I had teenagers of my own, and then I laughed my head off. I still think that that the book has to be the right book at the right time.

@ said...

I have secret shames (now made public) n the things I have done, not so much what I have not done. For example, I spent a great deal of my formative years watching horrible television: Montel Williams, Sally Jesse Raphael, Oprah, Ricki Lake, Mauri Povich for Christ's Sake!!. Also, saved by the Bell (I was watching re-runs and MISSED the initial terrorist attacks on 9-11-01), I am embarrassed to admit that I HAVE seen Alf. And I've not just seen Alf, I WATCHED Alf. I have also watched the following sit-coms to much embarrassment: Full House, Growing Pains, and that one with Alex P. Keaton (Michael J. Fox). I am truly astounded that I grown to be a semi-interesting person. As for Wuthering Heights, the semaphore version of it from Monty Python is much better that the actual book. I don't know what it is to "Wuther" let alone be "Wuthering."

In reply to trapunto - I'm reading my first Muriel Spark right now: - "The Prime of Ms. Jean Brodie."