Friday Fluff is Overrated
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The folks at Feministing just posted a link to the blog Overrated List, a spectacular illustration of the principle that the most brilliant ideas are often the simplest. Overrated List draws its inspiration from well-known tool Christopher Hitchens, but I forgive it, because it goes on to be both funny and intriguing:
According to a 2006 New Yorker profile, Hitch once declared, apropos of nothing, “that the four most overrated things in life were champagne, lobsters, anal sex, and picnics.” Like all of Hitch’s opinions, this one offends everyone, for different reasons. Still, you can’t help but admit there’s something to it.
Now, thanks to the magic of the internet, we can all disseminate Overrated Lists of our own. The rules are simple. Each List contains exactly four (4) items. You only get one List, so take your time and make it good. While every List should be unique, try not to make yours too idiosyncratic (”the deli on my corner”; “stuff I am allergic to”). And keep in mind: overrated things are not just bad things (global warming and impetigo and Cleveland, for instance, would not make the cut, because they were never rated highly in the first place). In fact, most overrated things are good — just not that good, for crying out loud.
Reading the lists, which are cited only by first name, location, and age, is kind of amazing — they’re not only funny and thought-provoking, but they give insight into people’s minds with surprising clarity. My favorite list so far comes from an 85-year-old New Yorker:
- Open-mindedness
- Baseball
- Mushrooms
- A hot bath
Kate and I were discussing this last night; she said “so far, I’ve only got Cormac McCarthy and olives,” and I busted out laughing. Neither of those is particularly dear to my heart one way or the other, but somehow the combination of the two caused a very “I knew I liked you for a reason” moment. I’ve sent mine in already and since it’ll be credited I don’t want to post it here, but second-stringers included Lord of the Rings, bacon, internet fame, and positive attitudes. I’d love to hear what you guys come up with (and when you’re sure you’re done, send it on to overratedlist at gmail!).
Taking the plunge:
1) Wes Anderson
2) Bill Murray
3) Watermelon
4) Being 18
Yes, 1 and 2 are kind of cheating, because they’re related. But they’re really, really overrated. (IMNSHO, of course)
For reasons of general peace we’ll assume “IMHO” is appended to all of these. :) (Remember, people aren’t necessarily saying they don’t like your favorite thing, just that they don’t think it’s as great as some folks do. I even considered putting Joss Whedon, not because I don’t think he’s brilliant but because I don’t think he’s OMG I WANT TO HAVE YOUR BABIES AND THEN REABSORB THEM SO I CAN HAVE THEM AGAIN brilliant.)
1) Memoirs
2) Lost
3) College
4) Peanut butter
Actually, I agree with lobster too, but mostly because dungeness crab is markedly superior.
Oooh! What fun! Should this be where we work on our lists? Or should we only give our four here when we’re done-done (like on the official overrated blog)?
I’m keeping mine personal, reconsidering my personal loves. I have to admit that even though I absolutely LOVE the following items, they probably are overrated even by me.
1. Chocolate
2. Sushi
3. The Internet
4. Harry Potter
A Sarah, no limit here as far as I’m concerned — post as many lists or musings as you want. You can post your final here or just consider it a dress rehearsal. I needed a surprising amount of feedback when composing mine, and I’m still not 100% happy with it, so I’d love to see ideas getting bounced around!
FJ, I was thinking of putting Joss Whedon on my list, too. I like him, but, let’s face it, all the best eps from his shows have been written by Jane Espenson. Hell, I’m going to put him on it. ;)
And, as an English instructor, I am a fan of good grammar, but the fact is people can be understood perfectly well without it. It’s honestly not that important, in the scheme of things.
1. Joss Whedon
2. Traveling
3. Good grammar
4. Physical beauty
College is a really good one. Definitely overrated.
Okay, these are provisional:
Krispy Kreme
“Walking the walk”
Parenting philosophies
Christopher Hitchens
Haha, I totally wanted to put Hitch on my list too, just to be meta! (And also because I hate him.) Having just had a conversation with Sweet Machine about our mutual desire to punch him in the eye, though, I figured that plenty of people are actually on to his toolishness.
“Physical beauty” is a great one, Lori, and apropos!
This is fun. My list:
1. Guacamole
2. Ivy League Schools
3. Networking
4. “Lost” (Used to love it, but have lost interest recently – am I the only one?)
1. the Huffington Post
2. cut flowers
3. sex
4. ET: the ExtraTerrestrial.
wow. feel like a bit of a freak!
This is definitely a rough draft.
1. The Olympics
2. Good wine
3. Originality
4. William Carlos Williams
1. Being thin
2. Being rich
3. Television
4. Tequila
The brilliance of “being 18″ has finally just sunk in for me. That was a slow roll. But so true!
SM, I agree totally with your first two and Harold Bloom agrees with the rest.
Ha! Harold Bloom is definitely on my next list. I probably should have put John Ashbery, but honestly, WCW comes first.
Here’s my provisional, so far . . .
1. Blog stats
2. Turning the other cheek
3. Sushi
4. Family reunions
Hmmm . . . yeah, this is kind of personal. Also, of course, provisional.
1.) Radiohead
2.) Sushi
3.) Owning a car
4.) Pedicures
1. American Idol
2. Shopping
3. Kanye West
4. Sex
Oh, the English teacher in me really wishes I’d thought of both “originality” (ha!) and “good grammar”
1. California
2. Hot chocolate
3. Christmas
4. Babies
I like all of these things. I just prefer other things (in order: Idaho, chocolate that I can chew, holidays that don’t involve feeling obligated to spend money and overeat, and puppies).
1. Hollandaise sauce
2. Phillip Roth
3. Alcohol
4. Equality
1. Sex
2. Good grammar
3. Lobsters
4. Originality
2. Phillip Roth
Oh man, I hear that! I wish I’d thought of it, actually.
Bravo, antonova.
OMFG, farfalla wins the thread.
Meta: never overrated.
here’s mine –
1. Marijuana
2. Atheism
3. Sleeping around
4. 80’s revival clothes and music
– Kanye west would be on this list as well – but is he really that good to begin with?!?!
BWAH! farfalla, I wish I had a rose I could throw.
fillyjonk, you know, I actually hate Hitchens too, come to think of it, and thus I’m not sure having him on the list is in the spirit of the game. So, on reflection, I think I’m going to make a switch — take out “Christopher Hitchens” and put in the book “Love You Forever.”
But then that makes the rest of the list feel unbalanced, having both a children’s book and parenting philosophies. Hmmm. Stay tuned.
Glad to see Joss Whedon showing up.. that cult has gotten a bit ridiculous of late!
Love this concept!
1) Harvard
2) Loose tea
3) Martin Amis (similar to Philip Roth–actually, can I do a list of overrated male writers? It would be far more than 4 though…)
4) Whole Foods
1. Weddings
2. Spanx
3. Hot Yoga
4. Bread Machines
antonova, big A to the Men on the Hollandaise sauce.
I’m going to make 2 lists, first, overrated in the world of film:
1. Quentin Tarantino
2. Goddard
3. David Lynch
4. Titanic
And in music:
1. Philip Glass
2. The Rolling Stones
3. Aaron Copland
4. Creedance Clearwater Revival
You know what else I wish I’d put? The Fleet Foxes.
I was going to write
sex
drugs
rock n’ roll
cliches
but honestly – I don’t think cocaine is overrated, even though I haven’t done it in over a decade.
what i meant to say is, is kanye west rated that highly to begin with.. sorry, the last sentence didn’t make any sense :S
Jogging
French Food
Christmas
Soccer
OMG I WANT TO HAVE YOUR BABIES AND THEN REABSORB THEM SO I CAN HAVE THEM AGAIN
is now my favorite fanline.
Literary version:
1. Love in the Time of Cholera
2. War and Peace
3. The Prince
4. Proust (all of)
“OMFG, farfalla wins the thread.”
Just so long as my prize isn’t lobster (give me a Chesapeake blue crab, anyday – a beer & a bushel FTW).
Seriously, though, while I actually do find those things overrated, I’m not sure what my real list is. This is as far as I’ve gotten:
1. California
I will hear no word said against Harold Bloom. The man saved my ASS in college, multiple times. All hail the Bloom!
Hmm, my list…
1. Dark chocolate
2. Wes Anderson (I know it’s been said, but I just do. not. get. him.)
3. Law school
4. Facebook
1. broccoli
2. high IQ
3. expert opinions
4. objective truth
1. Coffee
2. Post Secret
3. Pets
4. Star Trek
Yeah Kanye is a kind of critical darling because his hip hop is more listenable than say Flo Rida.
1. Japanese Cars
2. working
3. purebred dogs
4. skinny jeans
Childhood
Youth
Chocolate
Sex
Car – I totally get you on War and Peace. It’s like a 600-page soap opera that does nothing!
Anna Karenina on the other hand…
My list (provisional, of course) is
1. Second Life
2. Facebook & MySpace
3. The movie version of ANY book
4. Being a teenager
1. Random meaningless sexual encounters
2. Drug use in general (but really, just being around marijuana makes me want to hurl)
3. Having a career (ok, sorry – bitter about this one at the moment… can I just have a job where my bosses aren’t dicks and I get off work at a reasonable time and get paid enough to make rent? thx!)
4. Luxury cars (‘coss, when it comes right down to it, that $50K Lexus has the same stuff in it as my $15 K Toyota… Except leather.)
It’s fun to read all of these!
Hey, we can’t actually start getting into arguments about these things, y’all, or the whole thread will go to hell. You accept Harold Bloom and I’ll accept Post Secret, is what I’m saying.
That list is pretty motherfucking hilarious though, Faith.
This is as far as I’ve gotten:
1. California
farfalla, Jonathan Coulton has an anthem for you (and me).
1. Web 2.0
2. Scotch
3. Cadbury Creme Eggs
4. Pantyhose
All I’ve come up with so far is:
1. A woman’s ‘good’ reputation
Which I think I came up with in part because I tend to find both ’sex’ and especially ’sleeping around’ actually *underrated*, in contrast to several posters above. :-)
I’d add:
2. Monogamy
…except that I actually think monogamy is great, for most folks. Just not for me.
Sskipstress, Web 2.0 was on my original list at one point too! High five! Interactivity can suck it!
1. Arthropods for food
2. Professional sports
3. Academia
4. Coffee
1. romance in relationships
2. Hemingway
3. macaroni and cheese
4. Terry Pratchett’s writing (not the dude himself, he seems pretty awesome)
1. Paris
2. Bleu cheese
3. Exercise
4. Leonard Cohen
Oh scotch! And beer! Maybe I should amend my list. I can’t decide!
Oh: WWDTM. That might bump exercise.
Interactivity can suck it!
I hate interacting with you guys!
1. Lists
2. Obscure indie bands
3. Cucumbers
4. Apple’s products (I mean like iPhones, not cider)
Vodka
The version of Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth as Darcy
Macs
Weddings
OH and also: rom coms.
this was my final list
1. freshly cut flowers
2. U2
3. spaghetti
4. cool breezes
Dude, FJ, I need that song (“I Hate California”) STAT.
I also think New York City is overrated, but that’s mostly because I have family members who seem to think that if you don’t either live there or moan constantly about how much you want to live there, you’re a cultural idiot and loser.
OH and also: rom coms.
TOTALLY rom coms.
Stephanie, I believe the song can be had at that site for a dollar! You’re welcome, Jonathan Coulton (mostly not overrated)!
1) French fries
2) Fairy tales
3) Fashion
4) Facebook
but not Friday Fluff.
(Don’t ask me why they all came out under the sixth letter of the alphabet. I don’t know why.)
OMG YES on the Cadbury’s Creme Eggs.
OK, I still haven’t got 4, but in addition to Cormac McCarthy and olives, I’d like to claim “the innocence of children” before anyone else does. Also maybe Birkin bags.
Oh and shit, did anybody say Krispy Kremes yet?
Wait, cereselle, did you go to Yale, then? If so, ES ‘99, baby! Wish I could go to my ten-year reunion but we’re going to be too busy moving to another city.
*waves hand manically* I said Krispy Kremes! I did! Me me me!
romantic love
wellness
alt med
coffee
What a surprise, I agree with A Sarah. :)
(And yes, I had read the thread, just couldn’t remember by the end if I’d seen that already or thought of it myself. Way to sneak into my subconscious, A Sarah.)
Oh, DUDES.
Cormac McCarthy
The innocence of children
PERMANENT LIFESTYLE CHANGES
olives
NO-POO :-D heehee
I’m going to get more specific:
Most Overrated Alchoholic Beverages:
1. Chocolate Martinis
2. Sex on A Beach
3. Cosmopolitans
4. All Beer
(Counterpoint, most Underrated:
1. Brandy Alexander (made with real Ice Cream)
2. Capiriniahs (sp?)
3. Chocolate Cake Shots
4. Bellinis )
1) High heels
2) Los Angeles
3) Childhood
4) Bootstraps
Mary Anne Mohanraj –
“…Which I think I came up with in part because I tend to find both ’sex’ and especially ’sleeping around’ actually *underrated*, in contrast to several posters above. :-)”
– When I was single, my numerous sexual daliances were mostly goofy, awkward, a bit cringeworthy and either I was embarrassed about getting with them or visa versa – I don’t have the panache or emotional stability to carry off one night stands with style but I unreservedly applaude anyone who can and does :)
(sitting around in my granny pants with husband is as glamorous as i get)
on that note..
Thongs
Sex and the City
brazilian waxing
perez hilton
Okay, my amended list:
1. Paris
2. Wait wait… don’t tell me
3. Bleu cheese
4. Rom coms
I don’t get the Krispy Kreme love, either. When we moved to the Midwest everybody said we had to try them, and I think they’re just okay. If I’m hungry and somebody offers me one I’m not going to pass it up, but I’ll take a Dunkin Donuts donut over a Krispy Kreme one any day.
A shocking number of my students had never eaten a Cadbury Creme Egg, so I brought a bunch into my class one day, and I think the majority agreed, much to my disappointment, that they are indeed overrated.
oh thongs! totally! man, 4 is not enough.
Oh, and my final submitted list was
1. Traveling
2. “This American Life”
3. Good grammar
4. Physical beauty
Most Overrated things to own:
1. Flat Screen TVs
2. A Smartphone
3. Puppies/Kittens
4. A Kitchen Aid Mixer
Cormac McCarthy
YEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSS
I am finding this list very hard. Everything I come up with is either something all my friends also think is overrated (e.g. The Daily Show), or something that will make me sound like an insane curmudgeon (e.g. using song lyrics to name your photo albums in Facebook.)
1. Frank Sinatra
2. The Matrix
3. olives
4. Birthdays
e.g. using song lyrics to name your photo albums in Facebook.
That doesn’t make you sound insane. If I had any friends who did this I would de friend them immediately.
Hmmm. Shinobi – pets is a big one for me. I think I may have to swap out ET for pets. I’m also willing to swap HuffPo.
But then… I may be the quintessential insane curmudgeon, so you may not want to take my word on that.
1. Coffee
2. Being in a relationship
3. Being single
4. Tom Hanks
(This is my current working draft.)
Not Pets faith, BABY pets. Kittens and Puppies grow into annoying adolescent animals very quickly. Adult dogs and cats are amazing. Puppies and Kittens are cute when they are someone else’s.
Okay, I have mine.
1. Prison rape humor
2. Fat humor
3. “I tried to have sex with that woman but she turned out to be a man” humor
4. Jasper Fforde
My five-year-old son gave me his list:
1. Hot air balloons
2. Battlestar Galactica
3. Underwear
4. Socks
1. Fifteen minute naps
2. Quentin Tarantino
3. Meta
4. English
I could actually tack “movies” onto that. Even things that I love love love are only sound/background to me doing and thinking something else. Too bad about #4 being the only language which I speak and write fluently.
I can kinda get how sex is overrated, but sushi?! I’ve been living without sushi for almost 3 years now and I miss it. I could eat it every single day, if I weren’t concerned about mercury in fish and going completely broke.
Thank you Lori!! I had “Ira Glass” on my next list, but then feared the possible backlash. :)
My boys would agree with yours on the underwear and socks. WRT the socks, my younger just this morning said “Mom, it’s getting to be sandal season, don’t you think?”
Not Pets faith, BABY pets. Kittens and Puppies grow into annoying adolescent animals very quickly.
Hah, my adolescent kitty is driving me INSANE. I wasn’t sure if it was just me and we had a disfunctional relationships or if that’s standard for cats of that age, though.
Oh crap, I forgot to add: Kate, my husband’s store only got about 3 copies of your book! It sold out yesterday! I’m going to have to order it, oh noes! Any fatospherians who shop at The Greene in Kettering, please order a copy at Books & Co. so the store knows to keep more in stock!
Chicago Specific:
1. Garrett’s Popcorn
2. steakhouses
3. Pitchfork Music Festival
4. 4th of July fireworks
I have no doubt that Ira Glass is a kind and decent human being, and that if I were to have a conversation with him in real life, I’d like him quite a bit.
However, every single time I hear him on “This American Life,” I want nothing more than to punch him.
I can kinda get how sex is overrated, but sushi?
NO ARGUING
;)
Also Lori, I really like TAL and I would totally eat sushi with Ira Glass but I can completely see where you’re coming from. (That’s part of what’s so great about the OLs… they make you get perspective on the things you enjoy. Which doesn’t necessarily mean enjoying them any less!)
Cupcakes
Arugula
“Great” fiction which invariably includes the gang rape and torture of a young girl
Twitter
Food Edition:
1) Greek yogurt.
2) Swiss chard.
3) Cereal of any sort.
4) Pancakes.
1. Alcohol
2. Sex
3. Shakespeare
4. Owning a home/car/investments/credit/etc.
Oh crap, I forgot to add: Kate, my husband’s store only got about 3 copies of your book! It sold out yesterday!
Woohoo! Thanks for letting me know.
And sorry, but I totally almost put sushi on my list. Technically, sushi fits the assignment better than olives for me, because it’s something I feel is all right, just nowhere near as good as people make it out to be. Olives, I actively hate (except for their usefulness in producing oil, which I don’t hate), so I sort of cheated. But I decided olives sounded funnier.
OTM, agreed on your Chicago-specific list. I would also add:
-Cafe Iberico
-sports fanaticism
-Wicker Park*
-(don’t anybody shoot me) Wilco
(FWIW, my Ontario-specific list would have The Tragically Hip as number one. Decent band, yes. OMG NATIONAL FUCKING TREASURE PANT PANT PANT, no.)
*Though I ate dinner there last night, and damn if Al and I weren’t looking around like, “Yeah, as much as we hate to admit it, we are in many ways the target demographic and would probably enjoy living here.”
1. Kobe Beef
2. Chanel Lipstick
3. Wolfgang Puck
4. The “69″ Position
1. Milk chocolate
2. Owning a home
3. Tequila
4. Expensive dinners at exclusive restaurants
1. Convenience
2. Cellos
3. The za za zoo
4. private school
I don’t have a list, exactly, but I know at least one thing that’s going on it.
Twitter.
Here’s my tentative list:
Chocolate chip cookies
Red roses
Norah Jones
Mercedes Lackey
And here’s my Things-I-Hate-That-Everybody-Else-Loves-So-SHUT-UP-About-That List:
Moonstruck
Seinfeld
Baseball
Wuthering Heights
Really, both lists could be a mile long.
Somehow, this makes my sad day a little brighter. My non-arty list:
1. Driving
2. blogging (I mean with me as author)
3. cosmetics
4. lingerie
The Beatles
Andy Warhol
Beer
having a career
I also must agree with both Ira Glass and champagne.
Eh, I hate some of the things on my list; I think “people love this and I hate it,” “people love this and I just don’t get it,” and “people love this and I merely like it” are all perfectly valid.
Ooh, I forgot about Twitter. That’s a good one. I also forgot about running. Damn, I wish i could have two lists. Cause I’ve also got the Detroit-specific “coney dog” and foofy whipped-cream laden over-sweetened iced coffee drinks. So that’s four more right there.
1. Being Drunk
2. Grade Point Average
3. Tattoos
4. Going “Organic”
1. Keira Knightley
2. the iphone
3.”taking a year off”
4. organic chain supermarkets (aka. Whole Foods)
1. Going Green (Not that we shouldn’t preserve the environment, but what about the people who have been recycling and using reusable bags and doing this stuff for years before it was considered “trendy”?)
2. Lonely Island (“On the Boat” is funny, but is it THAT funny?)
3. Oprah
4. Red Bull (you can probably interchange “beer” with this one too)
Kate, I am so with you on Cormac McCarthy. I have a friend who wrote her thesis on Cormac, and has given me several of his books, and I’m always like, “Um.”
1. expensive cars
2. being thin
3. nightclubs (not necessarily bars, just BIG crowded clubs)
4. giant televisions
1. Getting your High School Diploma
2. Steak
3. The Grateful Dead
4. Picasso
1. Brad Pitt
2. The beach
3. All alcoholic beverages
4. Guacamole
Every time I’ve said I don’t care much for guacamole, ZOMG people have reacted as though I’d just cursed in church. Then they inevitably tell me, “you’ve just never had GOOD guacamole.” Uh, yeah…I’ve had guacamole that everyone else was raving about and I still thought it was tasteless green gunge.
Way to sneak into my subconscious, A Sarah.)
Is THAT where I’ve been all morning? I was really confused.
1. Veganism
2. Belly dancing (sure it’s fun but, Good Lord ladies.)
3. Going out on the weekends (all about midweek drinks and Friday cooking and TV)
4. Romanticizing any former iteration of yourself
Can we add “Taste of Chicago” to the Chicago List?
1. Twitter, SO HARD
2. Walks on the beach
3. American Idol
4. California (and I live in California.)
1. Degrees
2. Reality Television
3. Oprah
4. Coffee
I want to share an off topic story related to my #4.
An old friend just posted some pictures from summer camp (when I was about 15, 10 years ago) on Facebook.
Pre-Kate Harding, I would’ve looked at those and immediately beat myself up for not being as slender and long-legged as 10 years ago, and spent the rest of the day mentally and food-ly punishing myself.
Post-Kate Harding, I thought “Aww, what an adorable teenager. Isn’t it sick that our culture would seriously expect a grown woman to still resemble herself at an age when her male counterparts look hilariously skinny and gawky?”
And then I went back to laughing at my choker and the guys’ hilariously oversized shirts.
WIN
Can we add “Taste of Chicago” to the Chicago List?
TWICE.
Okay, here is, I think, my overall list:
1. Books that are “good” but not enjoyable.
2. Fashion
3. Knitting/Crocheting
4. The Olympics
My Chicago Overrated List:
1. Taste of Chicago
2. Wrigley Field
3. Taste of Chicago
4. Lincoln Park
Here’s my basic list (my dress rehearsal, if you will; my apologies to littlem, Pet~, Stephanie* and Damanique**):
1. Social networking sites as a whole (including twitter)
2. New York City (*no further explanation needed)
3. Apple [i]ANYTHING (**I like cider, though)
4. Donna Karan (I hate her with the heat of a thousand suns and almost as much as many of you hate Christopher Hitchens)
Another list will arrive shortly.
Christine, I totally don’t get guacamole either.
Filly,
That’s because you’ve never had REALLY GOOD guacamole.
1) Michael Ondaatje
2)Tankinis
3) Alaskan King Crab
4) Righteous anger
- Raising awareness
- Bilbo Baggins
- Supporting opinions
- Anger
And again (geez, I’m full of these today and am enjoying this exercise):
1. Being green/organic/”arty”
2. The Beckhams
3. Raw foodism
4. the Ivy League
I’m adding “The Cohen Brothers” to my list.
Literary specific:
1. John Ashbery
2. Paul de Man
3. Ezra Pound
4. Prose
Bilbo Baggins
Hee, my fiancee is reading the LotR trilogy to me now. With a running “making of” sort of commentary, since he is a geek and knows all that stuff. Did you know Frodo was originally named Bingo Baggins? And Aragorn was originally a hobbit named Trotter who wore wooden shoes?
Heh, perhaps “fun facts” are overrated. ^_^
Fun! Let me try out a list:
1. The BlogHer conference
2. Oprah’s Book Club
3. “Eating local”.
4. Etsy
Bingo Baggins! Awesome.
It would great to see a cross-section of these lists with a list of “Stuff Want People Like”.
1. Mozart
2. Princess Bride (the movie,
not the book)
3. Fuckbuddies
4. Business school
1. Shakespeare
2. High School
3. “the good ol’ days”
4. Starbucks
1: Football
2: Jim Carey
3: First Person Shooter games
4: Joss Whedon (because while I will always have a soft spot in my heart for him for creating Buffy, really, people, WTF?????)
And because I’m fickle, a second list, so there:
1: Baseball
2: edible fungus (though edible mold RULES!!!)
3: Survivor
4: Torchwood
My List of Geek Things That Are Overrated
1. Lord of the Rings novels
2. The new Battlestar Galactica
3. The Matrix
4. Heroes
5. Lost
Wait, cereselle, did you go to Yale, then?
HAH. Um, no. Bloom saved me via his compilations of critical essays, because I was a bad student and didn’t do my homework until the last minute. I could get all kinds of perspectives on a work from just one book, read the essays on my way to class, and be ready to present my opinion by the time we started. :)
As a librarian, I now know what I did was wrong. But I will always look back on Bloom with fondness.
And, my overrated-Los Angeles list:
1. The Lakers
2. The Grove
3. Pink’s Hot Dogs
4. The Governator
1. Breastfeeding
2. Brand Name -anything-
3. Dane Cook (ugh)
4. College
Like you mentioned earlier, not that these things are bad, they’re just not all they’re cracked up to be. Except Dane Cook. He’s a dumbass and he’s not funny. At. All.
Bingo Baggins
Often to be found falling in love with lady hobbits at the drop of a hat and having to be rescued from difficult situations.
But wait! There’s more!
1) Beyonce
2) Judd Apatow
3) [here's your cosign] Lost
4) [cosign, continued] Perez Hilton.
(I also cosign with the Chicago-edition lists. Granted, I lurvs the Garrett, but yeah…a tad overrated.) more after the break…
I’m tempted, after agreeing with every single author or book mentioned, to just put The Novel on my list, but I’m still having residual reactionary responses from my time in graduate school. Which I think is also why coffee, David Sedaris, multilingualism, and intellectualism would make my long list.
FJ, no, I believe that’s his younger cousin, Bingo Littlebaggins.
And Aragorn was originally a hobbit named Trotter who wore wooden shoes?
Wow, apparently editing is NOT overrated.
1. Telling the truth (e.g saying something rude/nasty which is your own opinion and then boldly asserting that it is “the truth”
2. The Wire. Its pretty good, but it is no Sopranos.
3. Radiohead.
4. Most pizza. I have seldom come across a really really good pizza.
1. California
2. carefully selected unique music collections
3. going out to bars to be ’social’
4. little dogs
4. Most pizza. I have seldom come across a really really good pizza.
Next time you are in central New Jersey, go to any of those little family-owned pizza places located in a small strip mall. It will more than likely be the best pizza you’ve ever had.
I was ruined for life growing up there, and have pretty much given up on finding a great pizza since moving.
I think some of these have already been used, but:
1. Big breasts
2. Drinking alcohol
3. Firefly (especially River)
4. Mac computers
:)
1. The Twilight series
2. Britney Spears – gyrating your hips while wearing next to nothing and lip synching to your own computerized vocals does not equal talent.
3. “BEST SEX EVAH!” tips
4. Organic foods
Hmmm…
big breasts
organic produce
Tarantino
brand names
This is my list:
1)Youth
2) Beauty
3)Marriage
4)Twitter
work in progress
1. Wholewheat
2. Gender norms
3. Talent
4. Youth
1. Heroes.
2. On the Road (I love Dharma Bums, I’ve loved some of Kerouac’s other stuff, but for some reason this one just left me cold).
3. London (I worked there for almost a decade and after that long, you know whether you like London or not…and I don’t).
4. Growing up.
I also like sannanina’s answers :)
Ok…so..I want to explain the “High School Diploma” thing. I’ve been sitting here kicking myself for putting it on my list since I am a big believer in educating yourself and it also dawned on me that maybe, just maybe there were people on here that were not mind readers.. That was really a statement on the whole “your life will suck and you fail if you don’t do things in a particular order and at the time society tells you you should” thing.
AlDente, brilliant.
4. Most pizza. I have seldom come across a really really good pizza.
YOU JUST HAVEN’T HAD REALLY GOOD GUACAMOLE
1. Telling the truth
2. Being nice
3. Being well-liked (this includes looking pretty, being smarter or dumber depending on the crowd, and using good manners)
4. Reading intellectual articles and books that are over my head, just to say I did.
guacamole and pizza? I’ve always been more of a coleslaw and pizza kinda person myself.
my list is still a draft:
1) outdoor music festivals
2) raisin bread
3) Dane Cook
4) camping
i guess i really hate the outdoors right now.
Oh, I think I’m going to need to find a way to work “wearing green if you’re a redhead” in there.
Also the heady rush of new love.
And possibly the G spot?
So many choices.
FTR, I didn’t even see Sarah’s list when I hit post. I had the comment window open for like 20 minutes while I tried to decide whether I found him more overrated than raisin bread!
A friend of mine put “Ronald Reagan” on his list, which I thought was pretty funny (though I don’t necessarily agree.)
1. Red Sox Nation
2. Obscure bands
3. Literary fiction
4. The United States of America
A Sarah: I’m with you on the G spot.
A friend of mine put “Ronald Reagan” on his list, which I thought was pretty funny (though I don’t necessarily agree.)
That makes me want to put Abraham Lincoln on my list, not because I have anything against Lincoln, but because I am so tired of hearing about him everywhere I turn the last six months.
Anything written by Ernest Hemingway
London
Steak
Dane Cook
1. Tolkien
2. NARS blush
3. Commuting on a bicycle
4. Cheesecake Factory
1. Correct grammar
2. Mystery Science Theater (I say this as a fan.)
3. Graduate degrees
4. Science, as portrayed by pop culture
thanks geekgirlsrule, i totally agree about the “69″ position!
alternative list:
romanticism
alcohol
the “69″ position
being conventionally attractive
This is great! I was just starting to think “hmm, I wonder if I could get away with ‘This American Life’,” then I scrolled and 2 posts down was Lori’s list. Excellent!
I fear my list will mostly be a reaction to my two best friends, whom I love dearly but who lately seem to have no problem denigrating my taste in just about everything (but mostly music) while uncritically jumping on whatever bandwagon our newer “cool kid” acquaintances are on, even if I know that it would never fly coming from me.
Draft:
1) Vampire Weekend
2) The Mafia (as a romanticized subject of books, movies, or television; I have no opinion on whether it is overrated in other ways)
3) Summer
4) Makeup
Hey, only a small part of that was bitter backlash against my friends! Not bad! :)
Other possibilities: watching movies, ska-style pop music, gladiator sandals (OK, that falls more into the category of “things I unreservedly hate”), yoga, the Zingerman’s conglomerate of Ann Arbor (everything they put out is excellent but always costs more than it should even considering the quality… of course I just keep going to the Roadhouse anyway and giving them my money like a sucker because I can’t stay away), professional football, fantasy sports, “really good” whiskey, sandwiches, doing it yourself, and having a nice lawn.
Oh, and pie. (dun dun dun)
Oh, I really should have put Zombies on my list. I’ve really had it with the zombie (or anti-zombie) fad, even though I still find myself laughing at some zombie-related stuff.
There definitely is a saturation point though.
In no particular order:
Indie (inclusive of music, film, and culture)
“being outdoorsey”
my 20’s
“buying green”
De-lurking just for this:
1. “Beach” Books
2. Doughnuts
3. Oral sex (receiving)
4. Dogs
It’s entirely possible that I’ve never had really good oral sex.
the Zingerman’s conglomerate of Ann Arbor (everything they put out is excellent but always costs more than it should even considering the quality… of course I just keep going to the Roadhouse anyway and giving them my money like a sucker because I can’t stay away)
Oh my gosh, yes! Zingerman’s has good food. But, IMO their sides and entrees can be kind of hit-or-miss, and for the price, it’s not OMG The Best Food in the World!
They may, however, have The Best Chocolate Pudding in the World. If you’ve never tried it, I highly recommend it.
See, and I’m half tempted now to tell my husband we’re heading to Ann Arbor for dinner for Mother’s Day, but then I think of what the bill would be, and what our budget it, and I realize even their creamed corn and chocolate pudding aren’t quite worth it. ;)
My old movies list:
Screwball Comedy
Gone With the Wind
Charlie Chaplin
Val Lewton
My scifi list:
Isaac Asimov
Robert H. Heinlein
Frank Herbert
Robert Silverberg
My fantasy list:
J.R.R. Tolkien
Jonathan Carroll
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Ursula K. LeGuin
Oh, and definitely the G-spot.
Off the top of my head, though I am sure I will be changing this later:
1. Bleu cheese
2. “The Secret”
3. Yoga
4. Scrapbooking
Okay okay okay, new draft:
1. The G spot
2. Thomas Aquinas
3. Wearing green if you’re a redhead
4. Krispy Kreme
Still doesn’t feel just right, but getting closer…
1. Baths
2. Shellfish (including lobster and crab)
3. Live music
4. French mani/pedicures
PS: spacecowgirl – I’m from A2 too, and totally agree on the overpriced insanity that is Zing… except for their tomato soup because ZOMGDELICIOUS.
(/delurk)
I totally need to swap in Crime and Punishment for camping. Gee, is Raskalnikov’s room coffin-like? Is his state of mind tortured? Tell me again, Dostoyevsky!
or maybe i’d rather put Deus ex machina endings.
Deus ex machina endings ought to be on a Loathly List. And I think all of the classic Russian authors are overrated, though if I were to choose a single overrated novel from that list, it’d probably be War and Peace. Or Anna Karenina.
(Hey, and since I mentioned “wearing green if you’re a redhead,” thus remembering my project of a new work wardrobe…. does anyone here happen know how Banana Republic fits curvy in-betweenies in the US size 12/14 range? More curvy in hips/butt than in boob, in my case.)
4. Prose
Hey, them’s fightin’ words! Or rather, that is a lone fightin’ word, but I also agree with those who have included “good grammar” on their lists. And I do agree with Philippa about literary fiction — I’ll give you that.
Ooh, the chocolate pudding is really good. And I had vanilla bean cheesecake deep-fried in beignet batter (true story) there a couple of months ago that was so good that I don’t even remember how much it cost. Which I’m sure was a lot.
On the other hand, if you can’t enjoy delicious overpriced food on Mother’s Day, when can you? I say go for it! [/devil's advocate] :)
(the above directed at Lori, of course…)
Oh, also, Italian restaurants/food. It can be nice and all, especially the light sort, but I’d take a good Indian or Thai dish over Italian just about any day of the week.
There should also be an Overused List, IMO. And number one on there for me would be the phrase “Faith Matters.” (GEDDIT? Faith MATTERS? Sigh. Yes, yes I do. )
Stupendousness, I completely agree with you about zombies, though I feel pretty silly saying that zombies are overrated.
totally agree on the overpriced insanity that is Zing… except for their tomato soup because ZOMGDELICIOUS.
erin, there are several items on the menu that (like the tomato soup in your case) are so good they cause me to do the happy food dance. So whenever someone suggests we go, I seem powerless to resist. And then I look at the menu and am reminded of the prices and there is this shellshocked moment where I’m like “Seriously?! For MACARONI?!” but it doesn’t really stop me from eating there. I guess in that respect it must be worth it to me. :)
Also, A Sarah, I’m ES ‘06. :)
WAAAAAAAHHHH!!! EMILYMORGAN IS ES ‘06! *waves happily*
teevee
youth
“rural living”
wine
With a ++ on the wine.
does anyone here happen know how Banana Republic fits curvy in-betweenies in the US size 12/14 range? More curvy in hips/butt than in boob, in my case.)
I think BR is pretty good for curvy in betweenies. I can’t really shop at J Crew but BR will usually do me. Ann Taylor I find in between.
Late to the party doesn’t even describe it, I’ve read about halfway, and if I don’t write down my provisional list I’m going to forget them:
1. Baths of any sort
2. Massages
3. Online social networking (Facebook/MySpace/Twitter)
4. Cheesecake
But oh, you guys have hit SO many others – and if I start in with movies and books there’s no way I’m going to be able to keep it down to four.
Oooh, thanks LilahMorgan! I shall check it out then! Ann Taylor usually works okay on me in the sense that if I can find stuff to fit my ass it usually requires not-terribly-complicated tailoring to get the waist and length right. Maybe BR will entail even less tailoring.
I’m trying to do the “capsule wardrobe” thing and spend more on a bunch of stuff that can all go together and be cleverly accessorized to look like different outfits. This is not my strong point. But, Lilli from frocksandfroufrou.blogspot.com is helping me out. :) (And, you know, speaking of fatospheroines with style… I tried to get in touch with Jane Bonbon to have her just MAKE me a bunch of stuff, but haven’t heard back. Jane Bonbon, if you’re reading this, check your convos! I want to give you lots of business!) :)
1. Portland
2. remaining childless
3. having children
4. sunny days
Totally underrated: 5-year olds
Let’s see, my list as of right now is:
1. The ocean
2. Summer
3. Pie
4. Shakespeare
And I say #4 as a huge fan of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I <3 Puck.
Finally made it through everyone’s lists, and i’m trying not to a) laugh so loud that my co-workers figure out I’m not working and b) just say “ditto, ditto, ditto” ’cause you all are brilliant!
1. Ambition
2. Having kids/ being a parent
3. Martinis and martini-based drinks
4. Pho
I’ve spent way too much time staring at my list trying to decide if the #4 slot goes to pho or organic baked goods.
1. Maybelline Great Lash Mascara
2. Rachel Ray
3. Porn
4. Twitter
littlem, I’m with you on the French Fries. I like potatoes just fine, but fries, meh. I don’t know why people look at a pile of fries like they’ve just seen heaven, but that’s just me :).
::reads back up::
::high-fives spacedcowgirl::
OH, ALSO:
yoga
the beach
gardening
A Prairie Home Companion
I’m trying to do the “capsule wardrobe” thing and spend more on a bunch of stuff that can all go together and be cleverly accessorized to look like different outfits. This is not my strong point. But, Lilli from frocksandfroufrou.blogspot.com is helping me out. :)
Ooh, how have I never seen that blog before? Duly bookmarked.
ASarah, you might also check out Igigi. Stuff on their Sale of the Century page is 75% off the listed sales price right now. Most of what they have left seems to be size 12s and their sizes run a bit large, so it might work out perfectly for you.
Very personal but…
1. Keith Olbermann
2. Promiscuity
3. Fashion
4. Caviar
Ok..here goes.
1. Bottled Water
2. Obama
3. Music
4. Sudoku
For the record, I voted for Obama (but seriously, he’s just one man), I drink my water from the fride dispenser, I love all kinds of music (it’s just…wow..the hype), and I play sudoku daily.
Funny how some of the things I think a lot about and do ended up on the list….now I must ponder.
1. Starbucks
2. Splenda
3. Shakespeare
4. Freud
5. Using turn signals
My bf constantly berates me for not using my signal…but i figure me slowing down when a turn is coming up is signal enough :D
So now I’m REALLY thinking…
1. Rush Limbaugh
2. NPR
3. The economy
4. Girl Scout Cookies
yinyang–woohoo! Do you think we can pull off that thing where you high-five, continue the arc of the high-five and then low-five on the way back down? :)
French food
jogging
having a job
soccer
75% off? LilahMorgan, thank you! I’m blowing kisses at you…
hehe not trying to steal your thunder yinyang-
perfume’s pretty overrated, especially when people drench themselves in it and suffocate you from 5 feet away.
In the order they popped into my mind:
1) Sex
2) Woody Allen
3) Wedding receptions
4) Blackberry’s, Iphones, etc…
Alright, here’s my second list:
1. Shoes
2. Religion
3. Non-religion
4. Red hair (especially natural)
Again, with #4, I am a natural redhead, and while I know how great it is, it’s not like THE BEST THING EVAR OMG IT IS SO PRETTY! Because, seriously, I am so glad to have grown up so strangers stop asking me, “Where’d you get your red hair from?” And it’s still the thing everyone comments on when it seems like they have nothing else good to say about me.
P.S. I’ll probably keep doing this until my laptop battery runs out. :)
ALSO-
Matthew McConaughey!
Recently saw Ghosts of Girlfriend Past and I want a refund of my life. Keep the money.
Oh God..here I go again
1. Designer Purses
2. Manicures/Pedicures
3. A good bra*
4. IPODS
*commando just feels so goooooooood!
1. “Organic” food
It’s made out of C, H, O and sometimes N. No food is inorganic.
2. Being ladylike
When people gawk at me for cussing or laughing at a dirty joke (to say nothing of telling one!) it’s like “you may not have fun because you do not have outie genitals”
3. Reality television
‘Nuff said.
4. Popularity
Anybody who doesn’t like your authentic self isn’t worth your time. I’d rather have a few good friends than a flock of fairweather ones.
Spacedcowgirl: Oh, probably not, but it’d be funny to try anyway. Although maybe if we practiced a lot that would make up for my lousy coordination.
And, you know, speaking of fatospheroines with style… I tried to get in touch with Jane Bonbon to have her just MAKE me a bunch of stuff, but haven’t heard back. Jane Bonbon, if you’re reading this, check your convos! I want to give you lots of business!)
Try e-mailing jane@bonbonplus. But I believe she’s hella busy right now, and she’d better not start on your wardrobe until she’s done making my awesome wedding reception dress!
@yinyang, whenever my husband and I try it, we end up like banging our wrists together and looking totally stupid, rather than suave and cool. ‘Cause, you know, even when done right, it’s definitely SO suave and cool. :) Doesn’t stop us from continuing to do it though.
Thanks Kate! Will do. And I am most willing to postpone my dream charcoal custom wiggle skirt to further the cause of your awesome wedding reception dress.
It’s fun to see what things on the lists I agree with, and what things I love and yet agree with, and still more things that I just love.
And props to Regina T for mentioning Obama – I’m with her… he’s only one person, and I’m concerned people won’t give him the space to make mistakes (which he will do, because, well… he’s a person. We all do it.).
1. T.S. Eliot
2. Unrealistic romantic expectations based on unrealistic books and movies
3. Orson Welles
4. Big weddings
Here’s my four:
indie music
American Apparel
Social Networking
Arrested Development
Sports Related:
The hotness of David Beckham
The hotness of Christian Ronaldo
All Major Leagues
Women in sports (I’m all for it, I’m just not watching it.)
1. post-modernism
2. Isabel Allende’s books
3. the smell of new babies’ heads (seriously, what’s up with that?)
4. the Three Tenors
I have not read this entire list so I apologize if things have been said. My first thoughts:
1. Facebook
2. Romance
3. Summer
4. M-A-C
re: Catherine
3. Oral sex (receiving)
It’s entirely possible that I’ve never had really good oral sex.
___________
I’m pretty sure I’ve had what can be considered “really good oral sex” and I still think it’s overrated. The most positive reaction I’ve ever been able to muster was, “Eh, that’s sort of pleasant.”
Because, seriously, I am so glad to have grown up so strangers stop asking me, “Where’d you get your red hair from?”
You know, nobody asks me this in so many words, and the answer would be so easy (“I think it’s Revlon”). I feel you on people commenting on how pretty your hair is and asking whether it’s your natural color (and, my case, protesting when I say no), but having had purple hair, the red hair chatter is just a blip to me. :)
Sniper, yours is one of my favorites so far.
April, I’m with you on summer. I would like the seasons to go from Spring to Fall.
I actually think Spring is overrated.
(and, in fact, sunny weather generally. This is what happens when you grow up in Oregon.)
Spacedcowgirl: Maybe fancy high-fives should go on the list, then. :P
I love the sunny weather, in fact I thrive in it. I just absolutely cannot stand all the HOT and the humidity here in the midwest is lethal. So I could do without that. :-)
Ok…dare I say it?
1. Jesus (yep…i dared to say it)
2. The Bible (going to hell now)
3. Salvation (yep…done deal)
4. Satan (he’s the one typing)
But not Fat Satan!
Just to momentarily hijack Friday fluff: I finished my finals today they are DONE they are DONE I will NEVER EVER HAVE TO DO AN EXAM EVER EVER EVER EVER AGAIN.
I do not yet believe in this freedom. But I think it will be glorious.
My list:
1. monogamy
2. casual sex
3. the brass ring*
4. coconut crabs
*in any form really, though specifcally having a good degree and/or a high status/high-paying job.
Being a student also nearly made the list. You have no money that’s actually your own and there’s this endless pressure to OMG EXPERIENCE LIFE, as if you can’t do that for the whole rest of your existence too — why would the years I’m figuring out who the fuck I am be the best years of my life? Why wouldn’t some of the years after I’ve, you know, figured it be pretty awesome too? Plus there’s the fact that you ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS SHOULD BE STUDYING. I’ll miss that least of all.
Also, Taste of Chicago is the best thing that happened to me as a 14-year-old. But then, I am from Fucksticks, Northern Ireland, so. We barely had McDonalds at that point.
Good one, Regina. I thought about putting “organized religion” on my list… and then chickened out at the last second.
Ah well.
Also, I have never posted on here before, and I have to say that I am a bit in love with my “square with wiggly arms” icon. I wish I looked that good irl!
yinyang: Ha! It’s so obvious! :)
Molecular gastronomy
“Urban Homesteading”
Irony
Penises
1. Travel, particularly uncomfortable travel that is intended to be the “real” experience of the place
2. Almost anything marketed as “indulgent”
3. Statistics
4. Receiving oral sex–with the girls above on this one….
However, I shall never accept that grammar is overrated. Or guacamole.
1. Sunshine
2. Gyms
3. CSA shares
4. Reducing one’s “carbon footprint.”
#3 has been on my mind a lot lately. I signed up for a large share with my roommate under the pretense of #4. Maybe it’s decreased our carbon footprints, but it has definitely increased the amount of moldy uneaten veggies in the fridge! And given me a lifelong hatred of sweet potatoes because we get so damn many of them every week!
Spacedcowgirl: I know! I r so smart.
The 69 Position is my favorite so far, and I wish I’d thought of that. My second favorite is “prose” but only because SM posted it. Also wish I’d thought of Ronald Reagan because holyfuckingshit come on.
(Oh, and I think the comments with my third list aren’t showing up. I’d try to post it again, but I’ve already done it twice.)
3. Statistics
Heeeeyyyyyy!
This took me sooooo long to compose, such pressure!!
1. religions that prostelytize
2. monogamous sexual relationships, also, living with other people
3. Texas
4. job titles
Okay here’s a Portland specific one
1. Stumptown coffee roasters
2. The Pearl District
3. McMenamins (any, I like them, but really…)
4. Merrett Paulson (or however you spell his name)
@OTM
Oh hell yes, re: penises. My list is now:
1. California
2. Penises
And I think I’m going to add:
3. Ambition
You know what isn’t overrated? Napping
And I want one right now.
@Abbi: I’m not saying you’re wrong, but T.S. Eliot is quite literally the only poet I can stand. Bleh, poetry . . .
The 69 Position is my favorite so far
When I first read that, I thought you were telling us that it’s your favorite position so far.
A specific list – Top Overrated Authors…
1. Charles Dickens
2. Dan Brown
3. Elizabeth Gilbert
4. Ayn Rand
@ bellacoker – to each their own likes and dislikes. :)
Oh, I’m with you on McMinamins, Lexy. My PDX list:
1) Hawthorne.
2) Vita Cafe (and, in fact, much of Alberta).
3) biking in the rain
4) microbrews
And props to Regina T for mentioning Obama – I’m with her… he’s only one person, and I’m concerned people won’t give him the space to make mistakes (which he will do, because, well… he’s a person. We all do it.).
Yeah, I brought him up while talking to FJ last night but decided it could be too easily misinterpreted if I submitted it to the site. Then I considered variations like “Obama’s supposed progressiveness” but eventually decided to give up.
3. the smell of new babies’ heads (seriously, what’s up with that?)
OMG, high five, Calli. Maybe the babies in my family just sweat an unusual amount, but I can recall actually being grossed out by the smell of every one of their heads, especially after a nap. (Of course, right-out-of-the-bath baby smell is pretty darn good, but that, too, falls under the category of Things That Are Good But Not As Amazingly Fucking Great as Everyone Claims. I mean, I smell nice after a bath, too.)
Lilah, I considered Hawthorne and microbrews on my list, so yay :)
[i]When I first read that, I thought you were telling us that it’s your favorite position so far.[/i]
It really reads like that, doesn’t it?
Also I could do a list of like twenty overrated Portland restaurants… Vita would probably be on it :)
Christine, fillyjonk –
Can I have your guacamole?
Man, there are so, so many good lists that I’m nodding my head at here. Here’s mine, rapid-fire before I reconsider:
1. Seinfeld
2. brownies
3. classic literature
4. Star Wars
Runners up: Twitter; the beach; beer.
lessee….
1. bread
2. “literature”
3. parties
4. the kentucky derby
i say the last one as a louisvillian.
having a right wrist that cooperates with you is definitely not overrated, though :(
Oh, SO MANY things to agree with here!
Can I add Pinkberry?
farfalla I am loving your list. “Ambition” was a serious contender for me, though not quite as serious as “positive attitude.”
Can I add Pinkberry?
I can’t believe you’re the first!
I’m in a mood:
1. productivity
2. organization
3. exercise
4. career planning
1. Quentin Tarantino
2. high school
3. poker
4. Ernest Hemingway
OH, and word to Seinfeld. What is THE DEAL with that guy/show? gag
guacamole is too good (bad) to not put on my list, too.
which makes it:
New York City
live music
cold rationality
guacamole
*peering around corner after rereading comments policy*
Ah yes, I have another one (all mentioned before, but these are personal):
1. Marriage*
2. Weddings*
3. Shoes with heels — stiletto or otherwise — higher than 4″
4. False eyelashes (I just.don’t.get.it. Or them.)
*my oldest brother’s getting married [ahem, for the third time] next month; I’m not going to be bothered. /threadjack.
Well, if we’re including runner-ups:
Oprah’s obsession with her weight and everyone else’s
Female pop singers with breathy, stream-of-consiousness vocals and lyrics that sound like someone’s therapy sessions. Examples of this would be Lily Allen, Sara “I’m Not Going to Write You a Love Song” Barseilles, and Anna Nalick.
Extreme American patriotism
Multiple births—so, someone popped out enough kids to have their own football team. We’re supposed to celebrate this with TV reality shows and free stuff?
Women in sports (I’m all for it, I’m just not watching it.)
I know, I know, no arguing, but I… hm. Overrated, really? Okay, sorry, no arguing.
Alright, one last try on this third list. ::crosses fingers and hopes it posts this time::
1. Shaving
2. Disney movies
3. Holidays
4. Patriotism
OMG other people dislike the way babies smell?? Yay! I mean, I love babies, but that baby head smell really bothers me for some reason. Maybe it will be different if I ever have babies myself.
I feel like I should make two lists; one of overrated things I hate, and one of things that I actually like or am indifferent about.
The overrated hates are easy:
1. William Faulkner
2. Fight Club (the movie, not an actual club)
3. Baby/wedding showers
4. Anime
Overrated things I like:
1. Neil Gaiman
2. Odd flavors of ice cream (earl grey tea flavored, for example, is fun, but it can’t compete with mint chocolate!)
3. Indie record stores
4. Whimsy
Lois Waller, NARS blush was one of my first thoughts too. :)
Bree-
How about selective morality re: multiple births.
Like it’s not okay to use science to not have a baby, but God wants us to use science to have 37 at a time. Both cannot be true! Argh!
Oh, and speaking of babies, one of my runners-up should be babies eating messy food. It’s not cute or funny, just gross.
Female pop singers with breathy, stream-of-consiousness vocals and lyrics that sound like someone’s therapy sessions. Examples of this would be Lily Allen, Sara “I’m Not Going to Write You a Love Song” Barseilles, and Anna Nalick.
THIS.
1. Being social/friendly
2. Organized religion
3. Youth/looking youthful
4. Chick flicks
career planning
I’m down with careers themselves being overrated.
Also, more things that have occurred to me today: “aging gracefully,” meeting famous people in real life, natural childbirth, going to concerts, and success.
fillyjonk, you know, I actually hate Hitchens too, come to think of it, and thus I’m not sure having him on the list is in the spirit of the game.
I can’t believe it took me all day to come up with the solution to this (which I also discussed with FJ last night): HATING ON Christopher Hitchens. ‘Cause really, the guy is a supreme fucking douche, but A) everybody already knows it, and B) He does have his moments. So bashing him — even though I totally do it and enjoy it — really is kind of an overrated pleasure at this point.
I would also like to add:
-The charm of feisty old ladies
-The comedic value of men wearing women’s clothing
-Busting your ass to have a “non-traditional” wedding
Also, Al would like to add “wedding gifts,” but I can’t remember if that’s already been said. (And my apologies if anything I just added has already been said. It’s hard to keep up!)
1) microbreweries
2) BA & MA degrees
3) having a career
4) staying up late
I can’t believe it took me all day to come up with the solution to this (which I also discussed with FJ last night): HATING ON Christopher Hitchens.
Brilliant! Because you’re right, one does have to give Hitch credit for being a bang-up atheist. Or at least, I do. (And yeah, this interview is incredibly brilliant… it’s also really hard to hate on him while he’s being so awfully British. He should record everything he writes instead of writing it.)
I’ve spent way too much time staring at my list trying to decide if the #4 slot goes to pho or organic baked goods.
Can’t say. I’ve only had my best friend’s mom’s pho, which is highly underrated.
Spacedcowgirl, Erin, and Lori: ITA on Zingerman’s. Actually, ITA on a lot of A2 food places. I wasn’t hugely impressed by either the Prickly Pear or La Dolce Vita. And as much as I love Angelo’s, it’s not OMG THE BEST EVAH.
Word up to those who’ve listed Whole Foods, Apple (which I use since I crash all PCs, but at least I can admit that Apple does not = Second Coming), Christopher Hitchens, David Sedaris, Quentin Tarantino. Did anyone mention Glenn Beck? ‘Cause if not, then totally Glenn Beck. SO sick of hearing about him and his 9/12 project. Oh, and large breasts. I haz them. I’m not impressed.
First, I cannot accept lobster as overrated. It is the yummiest, most perfect food ever. Nom nom, lobster. (Plus, I grew up in Maine.)
That said, here is my list:\
1. Weddings
2. Charles Dickens
3. sushi
4. good time management
I think some, if not all, of those are repeats from others’ lists.
Has anyone said graduate school yet?
(I really really want to watch that Hitchens interview but it sounds pretty full of cringe moments and I’m sure I’d just end up feeling bad for the out-smarted evangelical dude in spite of myself. Is there a transcript?)
B) He does have his moments.
Okay, while I do hate Christopher Hitchens from the bottom of my liberal Episcopalian heart (a hate that lies between the totally inexplicable and unwarranted hatred I feel towards Ira Glass and the deep and well-justified rage Sarah Palin made me feel), but it is enjoyable to hear somebody so deftly taking down an annoying evangelist.
1. Camping
2. Cloth diapers (ok in theory, obnoxiously reeking of eco-hip-mommy status-striving in practice.)
3. Evo-psych (hey, it’s not US shitting on you, it’s NATURE.)
4. Dogs
I’m sure I’d just end up feeling bad for the out-smarted evangelical dude in spite of myself.
I’m not sure about that… the evangelical dude has a pretty unsubtle grasp of theology. And of hypotheticals.
A Sarah, Hitchens come off as a douche at numerous points (shockingly, I know), but I’m the kind of person who feels bad for pretty much everybody (I wanted to hug Charlton Heston at the end of Bowling for Columbine) and I felt absolutely no sympathy for the radio host.
I think that’s the perfect milieu for Hitch… if he’s going to be abrasive and self-important, he should always do it while agreeing with me and at people I have no sympathy for.
aw, crap. I’d actually substitute “camping” with “loathing Sarah Palin.”
Yeah, especially now that she’s kind of a non-entity on the national stage, the utility of despising her has sort of disappearing, and now it mostly seems kind of mean and somewhat classist.
Yeah. To me, Sarah Palin actually makes sense in the cultural context from which she emerged.
Wrong woman for the job, no doubt, but hey, some subcultural personae just don’t translate well into the mainstream. That don’t make ‘em “insane” or whatever.
Anyway, politics, schmolitics.
I dunno–I rather agreed with “camping.” And breastfeeding, and cloth diapers, and organic food, and eco-hipsterism, etc…
I’d go as so far as to go with
1. Nature
I’m actually rather fond of not having to worry about bears.
ooh, I just thought of another one: going barelegged.
Hose covers up a multitude of sins: day-old leg stubble, bug bites, small scars from last year’s bug bites, weird veins, blinding whiteness.
It’s like, damn, does dress-wearing HAVE to be the province of chicks with immaculately groomed and tended leg-skin?
Bring back hose, dammit!!
I don’t hate Sarah Palin, I hate the people who thought we would “Buy” Sarah Palin because she is ostensibly in possession of a working vagina. I just feel sorry for her, it’s like she didn’t know she was just there to appeal to a “Niche Market.”
Can we Add Elections to overrated things? Politics is important all the time, not just for 6 months before we all get to vote.
Yeah, Jen! “Nature!” Hell yes. That pretty much covers it.
Nature: so big you can underrate her AND overrate her, and she’ll kick your ass either way.
Y’all are so smart. Nodding in agreement with many lists here. Mine might be:
1. Manhattan
2. Will Farrell
3. Eating “local”
4. People getting hit in the genitals as “humor” (AKA any of the “funniest videos” shows)
1. Having it all
2. Quality time
3. Being the better person
4. Lost (the tv show)
Ugh! Evo-psych for sure!
prom night
Monty Python
massages
James Bond
I’m not sure about that… the evangelical dude has a pretty unsubtle grasp of theology. And of hypotheticals.
Exactly! Seriously, A Sarah, as a formerly religious person who does not think being religious = being stupid, I don’t think you’d have a problem with it. Put it this way: the evangelical dude is the equivalent of someone aiming to advance the cause of fat acceptance by saying, “Who wants to be a bag of bones anyway? Real women have curves! Just admit you like to eat two whole cakes, LOL!” Even if you agree with the underlying principles, the way he expresses them is so ridiculous, it’s awfully hard to sympathize. I mean, if he can make me appreciate Hitch’s belligerent gasbaggery, he’s got to be pretty awful.
Okay, y’all, I’m gonna put on my big girl panties and watch it… meep! (I might, however, need a blanket to hide under if things get too cringeworthy.) Oh, and let me say also that I don’t reserve any special sympathy for evangelicals. (There’s a prolife religious group flying a banner with pictures of aborted fetuses over my town every day, and I have ZERO sympathy for them.) It’s just that, for example, I often leave the room when I’m watching a movie and can tell that someone’s about to be embarrassed in a major way. (And, like, when John Oliver interviews people on the street? fuggedaboutit. Can’t watch.)
.I mean, if he can make me appreciate Hitch’s belligerent gasbaggery, he’s got to be pretty awful.
So true, could he please remind Hitch that this is “hypothetical” one more time, because I don’t think he understood.
The conversation just boils down to this
Guy: Leading question in hypothetical universe I have carefully concocted so that you will have to agree with me.
Hitch: I disagree with you.
Guy: Remember, this is Hypothetical.
1. Knitting
2. Authenticity
3. In-jokes
4. Soup
Kate, I agree with you 10000% about “busting your ass to have a non-traditional wedding,” but I couldn’t figure out how to make that pithy enough to go on a four-item list. Besides, if I were honest about the depths of my feeling for it, it would probably end up in all four places.
OMG it was hilarious. And even I didn’t manage to work up any sympathy for the evangelical dude. He’s clearly a Man Who Pronounces and as such it was great fun to hear him sputter and flounder.
1) “College Life” ie, the drinky smoky sexy kind
2) Knowledge of obscure band facts
3) Gold
4) Penises
1. Oprah (not just her book club)
2. Turning 21
3. having children
4. getting married
1. Free booze
2. Coffee
3. Intellectual conversations
4. Chinese food
-Busting your ass to have a
“non-traditional”weddingFixed that one for you! ;-)
In progress:
1) virginity
2) Liberal Arts degrees (even though I’m an English major… I love writing, oh well. It’s not the Greatest Thing Ever.)
3) the Executive Branch (Legislative > Executive)
4) tans (I like my skin tyvm.)
It’s just that, for example, I often leave the room when I’m watching a movie and can tell that someone’s about to be embarrassed in a major way.
A Sarah, I have the exact same problem! As a kid it manifested itself as never being able to sit through a whole episode of Three’s Company because I felt so bad Jack Tripper and all the embarassing situations he got himself into (so for me it’s even fictional characters, clearly I O.D. on the empathy).
Commenting for the first time!
1. Marijuana
2. Pink Floyd
3. Cats
4. Exercise
okay that was supposed to say unrealistic characters, not fictional. but whatever.
Better late than never?
1) American Idol
2) Judd Apatow
3) Literature by dead white men
4) Pointless lists about silly things
Oh what? Someone had to say it! *ducks*
DRST
I can’t believe I only just thought of the prom. Classic extremely overrated thing!
I can’t believe I only just thought of the prom. Classic extremely overrated thing!
And the grown-up equivalent – New Years Eve parties.
1. Sports
2. Poetry
3. Religion (including Athiesm)
4. Competition
Non-replication was difficult. Especially since I really, really, really think Hemingway – not just his books, but his entire being – is over-rated.
These are all things that other people find Deeply Inspiring and I find meh.
Re: Embarassing situations
I totally have that too, I had to stop watching UGly Betty because of it. A show I otherwise adored, but the horrible discomforting embarassing stuff… ahhh it hurts me. Why would I watch that for fun when I can experience the same pain every day just being myself?
I like everything on that 85-year-old person’s “overrated” list. More for me, then.
Agree about Stumptown beans, tho. They’re OK, but Zbeanz kicks their beany asses.
Can we assume “fat jokes” are a given for everyone’s lists? That would save me a space.
Anyway, here’s mine:
1) Normalcy
2) Normalcy
3) Normalcy
4) Normalcy
(Maybe I didn’t need the space after all.)
overrated Chicago, take two (I don’t know where my next-to-last ones went either, yinyang):
1. Lincoln Park
2. Wicker Park
3. Millenium Park
4. The Gold Coast
Aaaand…
1. Billy Dec
2. The Bud Billiken Parade (there, I said it)
3. Glamorama (you know what this shindig needs, besides the obvious? Beth Ditto getting her Edina Monsoon on during same. THEN I’d show up.) 4. The “no ketchup on a Chicago-style hot dog” rule (the eff is that about?)
Strike two (whatever it was, sorry ladies)! :(
Okay, that concludes my list programming…
1) Receiving flowers
2) Artichokes
3) Broadway Musicals
4) Getting “wasted”
In no particular order:
-Virginity or lack thereof
-Any event that requires an invitation in calligraphy
-College
-Stand-up comedy
New York, New York edition:
1) Mets
2) Yankees
3) Rockefeller Center tree-lighting ceremony
4) *looks around and whispers* New York Philharmonic
*runs away*
Who quoted La Mohanraj upthread? I took a course with her once.
Her writing is NOT overrated.
1. Pie
2. Ulysses
3. iPods
4. Black beans
Positive thinking (proponents of Positive Thinking so frequently and smugly slide over the line into victim-blaming)
Television
Summer
Starchy food as a HEALTHEE thing to eat
Almost-made-its: living in Ireland (nobody warned me about this before I bloody moved here and now I am stuck!), weddings, soy, alcoholic drinks.
You know what could never ever be overrated? Adam Lambert. The man is FLAWLESS.
Okay, here’s mine (better late than never):
1. Happiness (far too fleeting and ephemeral. Give me comfort or contentment any day)
2. Intelligence (“I, through intelligence having ruined my life, pray my child will be an idiot and end his days as a cabinet minister”)
3. Nightclubbing (If I want to listen to music I don’t like played at a volume I can’t talk over, I can do it at home without paying a $10 cover charge, and the drinks cost less).
4. Eastern Australia (I’ve visited Sydney and Melbourne, and I’ve lived in Canbrrra. Give me Western Australia any day!)
Runners-up: social networking sites; MMORPGs; lavish cakes (I think that one’s a result of decriminalising them); alcohol as recreation (it was on the list, but it dropped off because I want to retain my Australian citizenship); mortgages; careers and career planning; the whole damn rat race; Dickens; writing lists.
The conversation just boils down to this
Guy: Leading question in hypothetical universe I have carefully concocted so that you will have to agree with me.
Hitch: I disagree with you.
Guy: Remember, this is Hypothetical.
The version I was thinking of while watching goes:
Guy: But imagine this were true, then would you agree with me?
Hitch: No, I wouldn’t.
Guy: But imagine you did. Then would you?
1. Clinical Trials
2. Common Sense
3. Tarantino movies
4. Open Source
1: Led Zepplin
2: Grey’s Anatomy
3: The Shipping News
4: Entertainment “news”
God how I hate Robert Plant. If someone else sang those songs? WOULD LOVE the Zepplin, but I get Cramer/Mary Hart coniptions every time I hear a single note sung by that tool.
Oh, okay, you wanted four different things. And BTW, I think the “overrated list” actually originated with Woody Allen’s film Manhattan, in which Diane Keaton and her boyfriend give Allen their list of members in the Academy of the Overrated, all of whom he’s very attached to.
So, I guess if it’s down to four things I’m “meh” about (but don’t actually hate) that huge amounts of people seem to adore, and which aren’t on anyone else’s lists so far, here goes:
1) Technorati ratings
2) Whipped cream
3) Sports talk radio
4) Indie-hipster credibility
The version I was thinking of while watching goes:
Guy: But imagine this were true, then would you agree with me?
Hitch: No, I wouldn’t.
Guy: But imagine you did. Then would you?
That is it exactly.
Has anyone said graduate school yet?</i.
No, but only because at this point I can’t imagine rating it highly. Three more credits and I swear, I’m going to burn my APA style book.
If someone else sang those songs? WOULD LOVE the Zepplin, but I get Cramer/Mary Hart coniptions every time I hear a single note sung by that tool.
Rasputina does a mean cover of Rock and Roll.
I’ll probably repeat someone’s from upthread, but I pinky-swear I read the entire comment thread.
1. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
2. Bruce Springsteen (I’ll be seeing him Tuesday night and I’m sure it’ll be a fun show, but my primary motivation at this point is to get a tee shirt for my Australia-based Kiwi Springsteen fanboy beau)
3. Being bullied and having survived it tagged as a “character-builder” and therefore, no big whoop
4. Chicago-based overrated: the Division & Rush Street bar scenes
Shoulda made its
1) Disneyland
2) The Catcher in the Rye
3) Collecting (stuff — snowglobes, figurines ..)
4) College Degrees
These are all so great. Some I totally agree with, some not and some would have been on my list not too long ago but I finally did have/see/hear really good “X”. Can’t figure out if that means I’m evolving or devolving, though.
The Kite Runner
Pregnancy
Reality TV
Dogs
Dan has so far come up with:
1. Prime rib
2. Homogeneous isotropic turbulence
1. Instrumental jazz
2. English Lit degrees
3. Family dinners
4. Hiking
Strangely enough, these are all things that one or the other of my family members are rather enthused about. Hello, issues.
Dude, Suzanne, I got almost all the way to the end and was like, “Sweet, no one else said Catcher in the Rye”… and then you did. Damn.
But I’m keeping it on my list, because I hate it SO MUCH. And any time anyone anywhere has a conversation about overrated things, I can’t stop myself from jumping in with “You know what’s overrated? CATCHER IN THE RYE IS OVERFUCKINGRATED.” Sometimes I do that when it is totally irrelevant to the conversation. Sometimes I do it when I’m by myself.
1. Catcher in the Fucking Christing Why Is Holden Caulfield Such A Horrible Human Being
2. Cuddling after sex
3. Having “good taste,” especially for the purpose of impressing other people
4. Bras that match your underwear
Runners-up:
Beer
21st birthdays
In & Out Burger
Yoga
Charles Dickens
Tomatoes
Lost
Philosophy
Legalizing marijuana (I’m in favor of it, I’m just also in favor of talking about other things sometimes)
Linz, I swear I typed In & Out Burger and matching bras and panties but hit the backspace button on those.
Who quoted La Mohanraj upthread? I took a course with her once.
Her writing is NOT overrated.
Ha, littlem, she quoted herself first. I took a course with her once, too, and since I moved to Chicago, we’ve gotten to know each other better.
Linz, I swear I typed In & Out Burger and matching bras and panties but hit the backspace button on those.
I forgot matching bras and panties! Nearly added that upthread! And I didn’t think of In & Out Burger until Linz mentioned it, but holy shit, yes. Al forces me to make a pilgrimage there every time we go to Vegas, and I just don’t get it.
In & Out Burger is SO overrated. I know vegetarians who make a pilgrimage there when they go to California to get the grilled cheese animal style. Seriously, guys? You can’t melt cheese on a hamburger bun satisfactorily at home?
Lobster
Going out to bars
Indie music (the type where “indie” means “can’t quite sing on-key)
Babies
Diamonds
Ok here goes:
1. Marijuana
2. Cheesecake
3. Oral sex (either way)
4. High maintenance vacations (having a set schedule/ itinerary that feels like more work than my everyday life)
Ok, delurking…
Food list:
1. Foie gras
2. Most cheeses
3. Beer of all kinds
4. Nose to tail eating
Everything else list:
1. Niche diets (Vegans, raw food, etc)
2. Star Wars (there, I said it)
3. Being a teenager
4. The Kama Sutra
4. Nose to tail eating
Someone already said 69 upthread.
;)
1. being popular
thats all I got right now.
wait
2. being “grown-up”
3. grad-school
4. most of big business driven pop culture
oooh, prime rib. Good one. I don’t really into it, either, and I’m a fairly carnivorous sort of girl.
Here’s another one:
1. Edginess (as in “edgy” humour)
2. Sowing wild oats
3. Being well put together
4. Bottled water
Long thread chain to read but so many things I found myself nodding along to (and some I still like/love even though I’ve now pondered that yes they could be overrated *cough* Bellydance *cough*)
Here’s mine (still kinda in progress):
1. Pulp Fiction
2. Red Sox v. Yankees
3. Skiing
4. Art Museums
1. salad dressing
2. Charles Dickens
3. Daniel Craig (yeah, I said it)
4. gender roles
Overall:
1) high heels
2) oral sex
3) pie
4) baseball
Southern California:
1) Malibu
2) Kobe Bryant
3) raw food
4) bikinis
1. The word “fuck”
2. money
3. chihuahuas
4. therapy
Time for the South to represent!
Atlanta – based:
1. The Varsity
2. Fried Green Tomatoes
3. Collard Greens
4. Buckhead
1. Getting the absolute best possible deal on everything one purchases.
2. Yearbooks
3. Living in the “best” school district.
4. “Date Nights” with your spouse/partner. Can’t I ever just go out to dinner with my husband? Must it be labeled a “date night”?
After posting my initial thoughts ***way*** up there, this has been on my mind all day. My contemplative mood brought me to the “deep thoughts” version:
1. Will power
2. Individualism/’making it on your own’/genius
3. the nuclear family
4. capitalism.
1) Television
2) Dieting
3) Doctors (American variety)
4) “Free-market” economics
Movie List
1. Slumdog Millionaire
2. Gone with the Wind
3. The Godfather (I,II AND III)
4. The Wizare of Oz
1…Romance Novels
1) Looking before you leap
2) Loving the “sinner” and hating the “sin”
3) Doing unto others the way you want it done
4) Not speaking ill of the dead
I want to keep thinking about this (because putting a list of things on the Internet calls, clearly, for SERIOUS THOUGHT), but must say I am so delighted to see Overrateds for both Ann Arbor (where I grew up) and Portland (my current home).
The only one I can come up with that hasn’t already been mentioned: Google.
1. Catcher in the Fucking Christing Why Is Holden Caulfield Such A Horrible Human Being
High five!
And another high five.
I HATE that fucking book. I mean, can’t I just tell the teacher I already read _Hamlet_ and be done with it?
Add me to the Catcher in the Rye hate list…
1. College
2. Chocolate
3. Romantic relationships
4. Anything babies
What a killjoy I am!
The bloooggggg will not let me post my thoooouuuugghts. I have thoooouuuugggghts you guys, and I cannot share them with you. HOW DO YOU MAKE IT THROUGH THE DAY?
Ooh! Oooh! Apparently I am allowed this morning. Yaaaaay!
My list:
1. casual sex
2. monogamy
3. the brass ring
4. having a degree/being a student (can’t decide which is overrrated more)
A Sarah, lane, I am SO WITH YOU. This is why I cannot watch reality tv of any kind (except occasionally The Amazing Race) and/or most sitcoms the whole way through. It used to drive my sisters insane that I would change the channel when Rachel was about to do something stupid on Friends or whatever, because I LITERALLY COULDN’T WATCH.
And then when they got older and more argumentative they would put America’s Next Top Model on while we were eating dinner and my food would go cold because I had to put my fingers in my ears til whatever stupidity was happening was done. I also get it most of the time people are performing, unless they’re really good so I don’t have to be embarrassed for them. It is an affliction, I tell you. It interferes with me watching The Apprentice!
In other news, I FINISHED MY FINALS YESTERDAY DONE they are DONE there are NEVER ANY MORE.
Things that are not overrated:
1. the sweet beautiful freedom
Someone said “indie-hipster cred”. Can I make a new list and put that at the very tippy-top? Please? I’m so effing sick of going to parties and finding that all there is to drink is Pabst Blue Ribbon. I don’t care if you think it’s “so working class, it’s cool”. 1) It sucks. 2) Unlike you, I actually grew up in the working class. It’s not some cool trendy thing, I promise.
Sheesh. A four-thing limit is not enough. I’ve got like three or four lists here already. I also need to add:
Cake frosting. People always make a big deal out of getting the frosting rosettes or whatever. I’m always like “you’re voluntarily eating a big chunk of whipped crisco with gritty sugar? No no, you can DEFINITELY have the piece with all the frosting. Here, I’m scraping off my frosting. Want it?”
Costco. Yeah, some of it’s convenient, but good lord that place is a pain in the ass, especially trying to maneuver those giant carts around the hordes of people who show up to make lunch out of the free food samples.
Crime and Punishment- the Dostoyevsky novel, not the justice system (what I think about the justice system needs its own rant thread). Every time I tell people that it was okay, but I wasn’t blown away, they look like I’ve just told them that I kill puppies for fun.
1. Lists that rank things
2. Retirement
3. Mexican food
4. American Idol
While life itself remains underated !
1. Lost.
2. Gabriel García Márquez.
3. Teenage years.
4. Owning a house.
Hey, everybody, guess what? I haven’t read Catcher in the Rye OR Hamlet–and I don’t intend to!
Hehe I’m going to cheat a bit by aligning myself with three already mentioned above: (“youth”, “beauty”, “summer”) and adding my official four:…
1) The Royal College of Art
2) Rock concerts
3) Backpacking/seeing the world
4) Fish
Hi Caitlin! *waves* Nice to see you this morning! We should totally watch TV together some time; it would be fun to have someone running out of the room with me, LOL.
Hey, I want to make pie for everyone here who put pie on their lists. Not that I think it would change your minds, but because you’d probably give me more honest constructive criticism than more appreciative pie audiences.
Whew, nice to see other Catcher hater/overraters. I had a high school English teacher who had read it in HS when it came out in the ’50s and he just built it up and built it up to us by talking about how insanely great it was. He and his classmates had mimeographed stapled together copies that they secretly passed around to each other under desks because it was so controversial and verboten. Then I read it, and y’know, WTF? Then recently, a good friend of mine whose opinions and taste I really respect asked me if I’d ever read CITR. So I offered up my brilliant criticism, “Yeah! Holden’s such a fucking whiner!” And my friend kind of blinked and gulped and talked about how he got sent away to military school as a young lad and that the book saved his life. I felt bad, but I still hate that book.
Caitlin, we’ve missed you while you’ve been kicking academic ass!
A Sarah, my mother in law makes the best pie I’ve ever had, and it’s totally fucking good, and it’s still just pie. Pie over cake has become kind of a fad (especially in the indie wedding community — about which see others’ thoughts above) and it’s not that I don’t like pie; I just don’t get it. So personally I don’t think I’d be able to offer criticism beyond “it’s totally fucking good, it’s just pie.” (Also “dissolve the tapioca beads first.” But that’s more advice than criticism, because I doubt you’ll be as dumb as we were.)
Wow, a lot of these have been falling into the spam trap… shoulda seen that coming. I’ve freed a couple, sorry to anyone who now has duplicates (if you posted it a bunch of times I only freed one), but I want to train Akismet not to eat you.
Aww, thank you FJ! It is so nice to be able to read whole threads at a decent speed and not continually feel like I am STEALING FROM MY FUTURE, etc. Yay!
Not that I think it would change your minds, but because you’d probably give me more honest constructive criticism than more appreciative pie audiences.
See, I would have thought it would be the other way round. As FJ says, to people who don’t like pie, it is just pie. You can make a pie that is more awesome and a pie that is less awesome, and to them it will just be different versions of a food they don’t like.
Whereas people who like pie (*cough* me!) can see how this pie is just a bit less awesome than that one, and why, because they know what pie can beeee *mystical music, wavey arms* They see The Potential of Pie, if you will.
1 Wine, especially red wine
2 The nintendo wii
3 Ice cream esp overpriced luxury brands like ben and jerrys
4 sex and the city
1. Chocolate.
2. Friends.
3. Blogging.
4. Honesty
Seriously, wedding pie is a thing? *boggles* Why? (I’m very square.) It just seems like cake makes so much more logistical sense! It can be made ahead, and in stages. And you can build a bigger one out of smaller pieces. Whereas pie… I mean, is the idea to make a really big pie? I went to an apple festival once where they had the world’s biggest apple pie, and of course the middle was a thin slurry and the edges were rock hard. Is it that it’s not as fussily done-up or something? Or do you make a lot of little pies? I could see a lot of little pies, I suppose… But even there, it just seems like cobbler would make a lot more sense for a wedding if you were set on some kind of gooey-filling-plus-flour-based-crusty-substance combo. Hey, there you go: wedding cobbler! The next big hipster wedding thing. I just called it. (Unless, of course, it actually IS already a thing. In which case I’ll be the one over here feeling like an ass.)
Caitlin, I totally see your point, though, that the best constructive criticism comes from people who see the potential of pie. I was just thinking, many people seem to imagine a from-scratch pie crust to be very difficult and time-consuming (which I don’t find it to be, personally). So when they’re served one, they very graciously don’t go looking for ways to improve it. But meanwhile I am looking for ways to improve my pie. I think the vodka technique from Cooks Illustrated goes a long way, but I’d love some independent feedback. Any volunteers? Isn’t there a Michiana Shapelings meetup in the works?
1. being in one’s twenties
2. movies that are too thinky and don’t give me enough pretty things to look at
3. single serving food items whose packaging features “0″… as in, they have 0% something or other, which is supposed to be some sort of selling point. Also, 100 calorie snack packs of anything.
4. (still thinking)
Like, and I could give you constructive pie criticism, because I know pie. But I wouldn’t. Because I’m too much of a wimp to risk hurting people’s feelings with criticism.
For instance, I once ate pie that made me sick to my stomach. And I said it was the best pie ever, and I took some home with me.
But I am respectfully neutral in the pie vs. cake debate. Why? They are both freaking awesome.
4. fitness
5. striving for fulfillment in all areas of life with a sense of entitlement, and, conversely, failure when we don’t acheive it. Ah. Lack of humility. Humility (not be confused with humiliation) is UNDERrated.
Tru Blu xx, yes!
1, the royal college of art (a 2 year lesson in how an institution can perpetuate its reputation without any interest in the substance of that repuataion).
2, honesty.
3, internships.
4, burlesque.
h.x
Speaking of cakes and pies, how about cupcake cakes? I know they’re popular, especially for kids’ parties, because it allows you to get “kr8tiv” and it’s easy to serve, but isn’t it just simpler to bake a couple dozen cupcakes, decorate them, arrange them on a plate and say “OK, have it?” Individual decorated cupcakes, or ones that aren’t glued together with 25 pounds of frosting, are so much nicer and cleaner.
Not to mention, if you read Cakewrecks like I do, there are some really BAD CCC’s out there. I thought some of the mishaps I made while frosting were bad, but I’m a friggin’ Ace of Cakes compared to some of those horrors.
sex
chocolate
babies
happiness
Bree, TOTALLY. And I’d put cupcakes themselves on the list. In fact, my overrated in NY list would have to include Magnolia bakery along with burlesque and Jr.s cheesecake. They’re good cupcakes, but you can make cupcakes just as good at home that don’t cost $2 a pop, with flavors beyond chocolate and vanilla, and without waiting in line around the block. Jesus.
Ok, so today is my birthday so I’m giving myself an extra list.
Overrated:
1) child-bearing years
2) football (American; think soccer is da bomb)
3) losing weight
4) makeovers
Underrated:
1) aging
2) intuition
3) emotional intimacy with partner
4) compassion
actually edit that:
sex
chocolate
soap operas
babies
Also, I was one of the earlier pie-is-overrated posters. Why is pie equated with Americana? I really tried to like it and it didn’t work. I wish that at Thanksgiving everyone would serve cake. I had THE BEST lemon layer cake last night. I was in ecstasy.Mmmmmmmm . . . cake.
1. The Sopranos
2. Intelligence
3. Being “The Best!!!!”
4. Sex and the City
Because I am ornery, I’m gonna throw down here and say that cake is super-overrated. I do not get the appeal of cake. It’s just sweet and soft and bland. I’d rather have pie, ice cream, cheesecake, brownies… pretty much any other form of dessert.
A Sarah, were I ever going to get married I would fully have a wedding cobbler in your honor!
Actually, I change #1 to monkeys. They way people always talk about how cute baby monkeys are makes me go “…bwah?” And, I change #4 to “not stooping to their level.”
Here goes on a list that is somewhat specific to me living in Washington State:
1. Indoor tanning (not that I’ve tried it)
2. Costco
3. The food co-op
4. Brewed coffee
It was hard to put this list together — I think my list changes day to day, probably moment to moment. I am at the age and stage in my life where I think most things that are popular are in fact overrated.
One exception to the general “if it’s popular, it’s overrated” rule, when I moved to WA state from Cali, I saw these little drive up espresso shacks everywhere and I thought, “that’s ridiculous! Why would anyone drive up to a place like that!” And then I had my first winter here, and now, years later, I’m a huge convert to the drive-up espresso stand. I love to go to ones with the silliest names. If I ever became someone who rode a bike instead of driving a car (I don’t know how this would work for me with daycare and all — oh and get a bike and learn to ride it again) but I would need to ride my bike up to the espresso stand and get my soy latte with sugar-free caramel in a travel mug, which I would stick in the spot where the water bottle is supposed to go. I don’t do it every day, but when I need a treat and caffeine, that’s my favorite thing.
5. Commuting to work by bike (not that I’ve ever tried it)
Oh, and I used to totally think summer was overrated until I moved here, too.
Just got back from my 9 yr old’s volleyball game, and while there, I pondered the following list. (This is for all the mom’s out there)
1. “Good Job!”
2. “You can do it”
3. “That’s ok”
4. “Applause-at EVERY MOTHERFUCKING THING”
Oooh, Regina T, I call that “Good Clapping”!
I mean, I’m hugely for positive reinforcement. But it gets to the point where folks aren’t actually positively reinforcing anything because their phasers are set to ConstantlyChirpy!
Uh, mine for now:
1. The Protestant Work Ethic
2. Fashion rules
3. Hating on the likes of the Jonas Brothers or other cheesy and admittedly bad pop acts
4. “I like every kind of music”
Re Magnolia Bakery: Two years ago when my mom and I were in NYC, we did go there and while there wasn’t a line around the block, it was crowded and the cupcakes were overpriced. But, it was a one-time thing for us and we’re not big cupcake eaters, so we treated ourselves. And while they were good, they weren’t super-special. They were so sweet that I ended up throwing two out because I couldn’t finish them.
Ooh! I have more! I bet people have already posted some of mine somewhere, but meh.
5. “How are you?”
6. “I’m good, how are you?”
7. Internet/4chan-esque lingo
8. Cats
9. Dogs
10. Making the bed
11. Neatness/Organization
12. Perfect health
Ahahahaha I could go on forever.
1. beer pong
2. “authentic” vacations
3. Giant Invisible Schlongs
4. pepper
Seriously, I cannot STAND pepper. I cannot have food that is even a little spicy. This is terrible, because I adore thai food. But I’m always surprised by how everyone freaks out every time I don’t eat hot food. I have to explicitly list chili peppers, red and yellow peppers, green peppers, and black pepper individually, at every restaurant. They’re never listed on the goddamn menu! And then half the time I end up with something I can’t eat anyway. “Oh, I’m sorry– you said no peppers, but I didn’t realize that meant no yellow peppers! They’re not spicy!” Maybe not to you… why is it that just because I haven’t burnt off half my taste buds I’m some kind of aberration??
I nearly fainted in India. Spice in the main dishes, spice in the rice, spice in the fruit salad, chili oil in the yoghurt “to cut the spice”…! It was very “authentic” (I was visiting friends of the family who lived in Chennai) but I was hungry.
Apparently I am angry about this than I had realized.
wellroundedtype2, I don’t know whereabouts in WA you live, but here’s a Seattle-specific one – Dick’s. The burger chain, that is. I (and my hubby) really cannot understand why people form such long lines for the things. There are way better burgers in town. But maybe that’s just us being British.
Uh, make that more angry than I realized. Or perhaps angrier. Sorry!
Reading over this thread, it’s interesting to note both the commonality of some themes and the disagreement on others. It’s fascinating.
Two more ideas for Friday Fluffs seem to be falling out: things that are underrated, and the Great Cake Vs. Pie Debate. (Cake for me. One of the reasons I don’t like Thanksgiving much is that there’s nothing but pie for dessert and it doesn’t even have the decency to be chocolate pie, which sometimes is good enough to be given the status of Honorary Cake.)
And as long as I’m here, I offer my Colorado List Of Things Overrated:
1. Pikes Peak
2. Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper
3. The outdoorsy, rugged lifestyle
4. Coors Beer (flushed from the finest Colorado urinals)
I can’t believe I didn’t think of this until today: “Living up to your potential” should TOTALLY have been on my list.
A Sarah, yeah, it’s a lot of little pies. Like a pie buffet. Which, again, sounds fine. But I’d rather have cake. (And I did. In fact I had several little cakes, which was a mistake, because one of them was CLEARLY SUPERIOR and it was not the one we got to take home. So I only got one bite of it when we did the cake cutting. Boo. That’s what happens when you can’t be bothered to do cake tastings and just say “eh, here’s some flavors we like, go to town.”)
FJ, would they not give you the recipe for the CLEARLY SUPERIOR cake?
Our Nation’s Capital Edition
1) the Mall
2) working on The Hill as an LA/LC
3) a lovely Chesapeake cruise, complete with mosquitoes
4) referent power
Bahstahn Edition:
1) Commons cobblestones
2) the Brahmin accent and its deliberately non-Brahmin counterpart
3) “Which side of the Charles?”
4) the Big Dig (OY!!!!)
Arwen wrote: “Oooh, Regina T, I call that “Good Clapping”!
I mean, I’m hugely for positive reinforcement. But it gets to the point where folks aren’t actually positively reinforcing anything because their phasers are set to ConstantlyChirpy!”
The Good Clapping line will now forever go thru my head as I suffer thru these games…thanks Arwen :)
I totally hear you on the positive reinforcement thing. It’s so overrated it needs it’s on special day! What’s wrong with a little disappointment now and then? If EVERYTHING is “good job!” then tell me how is a kid supposed to know when they screw things up? Of course I’m not going to beat them over the head about it, but come on….Just saying.
Emerald wrote:
“wellroundedtype2, I don’t know whereabouts in WA you live, but here’s a Seattle-specific one – Dick’s. The burger chain, that is. I (and my hubby) really cannot understand why people form such long lines for the things. There are way better burgers in town. But maybe that’s just us being British.”
On no Emerald, it’s not just because you’re British. Dick’s is a fallacy way overdue in need of being exposed. It’s a burger for god’s sake! Nothing special. But oh the lines! Reminds me of Krispy Kreme in it’s heyday….lines so long cops had to direct traffic.
Emerald — I don’t live in Seattle but in the “greater Puget Sound” area. Cryptic, I know. But I’ve heard of Dick’s, and I don’t doubt for one moment that it is overrated.
Maybe the reason it’s hard for me to think of local things that are overrated is because people here tend not to gush about things they love the way that people where I come from (Greater L.A. area) do.
Fillyjonk wrote:
“(And I did. In fact I had several little cakes, which was a mistake, because one of them was CLEARLY SUPERIOR and it was not the one we got to take home. So I only got one bite of it when we did the cake cutting. Boo. That’s what happens when you can’t be bothered to do cake tastings and just say “eh, here’s some flavors we like, go to town.”)”
Speaking of wedding cakes….my 23 yrd old daughter is getting married May 22nd and we had a very cool cake tasting. The four flavors we chose are:
1. Pink Champagne (totally NOT gross..in fact quite enjoyable)
2. Almond (so full of yum you will want a whole cake made out of it)
3. Key Lime (not overpowering at all)
4. Spice (better than grandmas but very subtle)
We cringe at the thought of all of these flavors, but once the samples came out, they were to die for! On top of it all, each level of the tiered cake is all wonky, almost like the Mad Hatter’s cake Alice in Wonderland….so the flavors even compliment the cake!
Sorry…Im just getting so excited about the wedding!
Also, New York City. Especially Manhattan.
Mine:
Cheesecake
Babies
College
Matthew McConaughey
My friend’s:
RV’s
Small town living
Suburban living
Babies
Regina T, emerald, wellroundedtype2:
Nuh uh, can’t let that stand – Dick’s is exactly correctly rated; highly by some, lowly by others. My guess is the highlies are those who grew up in Seattle. When I was in high school, every weekend night’s activities began and ended at your neighborhood Dicks. A real Seattle institution that engenders/ed a lot of good will by paying better than any other teenager-employing job, and offering college scholarships to their employees (still do). I get why adult transplants may not like their burgers, but they’re seriously one of the things I miss most about not living in Seattle anymore. Whenever I go back I totally stand in line for a Deluxe AND a cheeseburger, and the BEST fries around. I imagine it’s like White Castle for some – THAT I don’t get.
Also, Magnolia Bakery cupcakes TOTALLY overrated, but Magnolia Bakery banana pudding? Mmmmhmmm!.
Hi… Newbie here. Thought I’d join in even though I’m a day late.
1. Twilight
2. Religion
3. Myspace
4. Small talk
I’m totally impressed by the number of comments on this thread. Is it approaching the “Don’t You Know Fat is Unhealthy?” one yet?
OK, if I’m going to make it specific to PDX, Lexy already beat me to the Stumptown beans, but here’s four others:
1) Riding bikes in the rain (ice, sleet, hail, snow, etc.)
2) Pizza places so trendy you have to wait TWO HOURS to get in (I mean, Apizza Scholls is good and everything, but get outta here)
3) All yuppie yarn palaces other than Yarn Garden (the only one with stuff I can afford)
4) Keep Portland Weird bumperstickers (come on, folks, we can do better than a stolen slogan from Austin)
1) Black tie occasions
2) Vacations
3) Any prize-winning novel
4) Having a career
1. Being an extrovert
2. Books on tape
3. Getting revenge
4. Europe
Runners up: Harry Potter, marijuana, sushi, Valentine’s Day, time management, California, meeting famous people, classic literature.
My four most overrated things…
Being cool
Being clever
Growing up
Andrew Lloyd-Webber
Also my four most underrated things…
Being happy
Being independent
Kid’s TV (and books!)
Really cheesy pop music.
1. Thai food (I like it, but Vietnamese is far, far better)
2. A full social calendar
3. Roseanne
4. “You’ll find someone when you’re not looking”.
I tried to stick with things people haven’t said – I agree with LoTR (so, so overrated, though I do like The Hobbit), steak, organic food, The Varsity (this one made me laugh – that place goes beyond ‘overrated’ to plain old disgusting).
Citizen Kane
Travelling, (as opposed to taking a vacation abroad and staying somewhere with flushing toilets and drinkable water). Call me unadventurous but I just don’t want to eat porridge made with rancid yak fat, encounter insects bigger than my cats, get amoebic dysentery, or have to take a dump with my arse hanging off a bridge over a 300 foot ravine in the name of “authenticity”, thanks.
Truffles (They charge serious money for something that tastes that much like mould? Really
Led sodding Zepellin
Regina T: 4. Spice (better than grandmas but very subtle)
My husband and I chose a super-moist spice cake (with bavarian creme filling) for our wedding cake. It narrowly beat out carrot cake with cream cheese frosting (in fact, I can’t remember why we didn’t do both in different tiers). Both of them left the standard chocolate in the dust. Pretty much everyone raved over our cake since it was both delicious and unusual. I’m guessing your daughter’s wedding cakes will get much the same response, and I’m a little jealous that I don’t get to taste all of them.
Oh right- we didn’t do the carrot-cream cheese because we didn’t know if the end of May would be cool or blazing hot (it goes either way here) and the baker was worried that the frosting would melt.
1) College
2) Fitting into a niche
3) Traditions, specifically traditional relationships
4) Caffiene
1: Pedicures
2: Wolverine
3: Playing the lottery
4: Poetry
Meowser, this thread has a ways to go before it catches up with DYRFIU at 602 comments currently… but the amoeboid Zingat-Ularians thread went to 621!
So late to party, but party so fun.
1. Gawker
2. The troops
3. John Updike
4. Hot tubs
Meowser,
I’m totally with you on the pizza places. A pizza joint should not be an exclusive eatery, these are the rules Portland, I’m sorry for the inconvenience.
LOVE this! late to the party too, but here is my list:
1. family guy
2. dave matthews band
3. mushrooms
4. the twilight series
Another Atlanta based version:
1. The Varsity (I so agree with that one)
2. Mary Macs
3. Little Five Points
4. The Ying yang twins
5. The Fox
And an Austin version:
1. 6th street
2. being weird
3. barton springs
4. alamo drafthouse
5. austin radio
My (provisional) list:
1. Margaret Atwood.
2. Honey.
3. Arrested Development.
4. Hockey finals.
I hear you guys on the overrated burger place thing. I don’t know Dick’s from dick, but in Vancouver there’s Vera’s. Admittedly, Vera’s makes a pretty good burger, but I can do as well at home. And it can’t even touch a little diner I know that makes an burger that is as big as a PLATE and has everything imaginable and tasty on it, all while costing a fraction of the itty-bitty Vera burger’s price.
1. going out
2. sex
3. Jesus
4. sports
1. The Shawshank Redemption
2. The Secret
3. “What about the children? Hasn’t anyone thought about the kids?”
4. Soul Mates
Ok I have several.
Actors (Female):
- Angelina Jolie
- Julia Roberts
- Catherine Zeta Jones
- Renee Zellwegger
Actors (Male):
- Samuel L Jackson
- Al Pacino
- Marlon Brando
- Ian Mckellan (the wise elder with the grave posh voice is getting a more than a little stale)
Musicians (Female):
- Mariah Carey
- Katie Melua
- Celine Dion
- Alicia Keys
Musicians (Male):
- P. Diddy (or whatever he calls himself these days)
- Josh Groban
- Jamie Cullen
- Any of the new breed of tenors (three, ten, eleventy hundred)
Movies:
- Lost in Translation
- Any Quentin Tarantino movie
- Titanic
- Last of the Mohicans
Books/Authors:
- Anything by Zadie Smith
- Anything by Donna Tartt
- AA Gill (the tone of his writing grates on my nerves)
- Dan Brown
Looks like most of my picks have been suggested by others, such as organized religion and Lord of the Rings, but I did not see this one:
Dave Matthews or The Dave Matthews band. Everyone loves them, but I just don’t get it.
Thanks for giving me a place where I feel safe enough to say that :)
1. Literature
2. Stephen Spielberg
3. Organic produce
4. Intelligence
I’m way late, but I had to join in.
1. Rough sex
2. College/university
3. “Comfortable” shoes (they just aren’t comfortable for me! I feel way better with 2-3″ heels than I do with ugly, fuzzy, supposedly ergonomic flats.)
4. Mood music
Also: Obama, the concept of virginity, that weird long shirt with short shorts/skirt look that makes girls look deformed, “finding yourself”, the idea that the teen/early 20s years are the best years of one’s life, Heath Ledger’s Joker, disposable tissues, watermelon, and “raising awareness”.
1. Fashion
2. Toni Morrison
3. 4chan
4. Gift giving
California
Coffee
Careers
Travel
1. Breakfast in bed
2. Vegetarianism
3. Charles Dickens
4. Home-grown tomatoes
Location Specific:
1. Essenhaus
2. Babcock Hall Ice Cream
3. Brett Favre
4. Coming to work while sick because it makes you look like a trooper even if you’re infecting everyone around you with death plague
Too easy.
1. Sex
2. Sunsets
3. Cuddling
4. Friendship
Right off the top of my head. So many possibilities! I love this idea. :)
Has anyone said graduate school yet?
HELL to the YES! That’s definitely on my shortlist, although I think my specific field wins out: Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging in research. Just because there’s a picture of a brain doesn’t mean it isn’t bullshit science.
1. Nightclubs
2. Leggings
3. Anna Faris
4. fMRI
Way, way late to the game, but I wanted to do this… Only things that I can’t remember mentioned made it to my list:
1. “taking care of yourself”
2. Kafka
3. allium for food (especially onion and garlic)
4. The Notebook (the movie, haven’t read the book)
Runner up: Coldplay
Things that I thought of but were then mentioned on the thread: red wine, owning your home, leggings, sunny weather, the sea.
Also there are tons of things I totally agree with, like oral sex (receiving, never felt so great).
1. hummus
2. orgasms
3. Gayatri Spivak
4. Brooklyn