in talking about books recently, a friend said to me, “it feels like oatbran, when i could be eating nachos”. i love that line, particularly because it so aptly describes the guilty pleasures that everyone indulges in from time to time, all the while chastising ourselves for not devoting our brain to more highbrow pursuits.

we all know someone who claims to never watch television, or who only reads the most convoluted and obtuse novels. someone who consciously cultivates an air of pretension because it makes them feel superior. hell, in england, people even judge your social class by the newpaper you read on the tube – that copy of “the sun” says more about your economic status and educational background than anything you could convey in words.

and i know there are people who would judge me because i read and enjoy the “harry potter” series. i know there are people who would think less of me for admitting that i actually like to watch “america’s next top model”. and i have acquaintances who would look down their noses at some of the fluffier selections on my ipod. never mind that i can debate the latest foreign policy matters, love thought-provoking modern art, and regularly play chess – i’d still be considered an intellectual lightweight for reading anything that happened to be on the “oprah’s book club” list.

now sure, you can just chalk some of this up to bad taste if you like (and some of it definitely is!) but i have to admit that i don’t fully trust people who say they can find no redeeming features in the well-crafted candy hook of a catchy pop tune. i don’t trust people who feel that things like entertainment news are somehow beneath them. i don’t trust people who won’t admit taking special pleasure in some engaging lite literary escapism.

i don’t trust them, because i don’t believe them. we all have our guilty pleasures – the cultural equivalent to tasty, indulgent fast food. some people just won’t own up to them. i once had a neighbour who was a poet by profession. he didn’t own a television or a computer – but whose door do you think he came knocking on to watch the football game, or play the latest release of “doom”?

i am, of course, not advocating a steady diet of mainstream pablum. as in everything in nutrition, a balanced approach is best. but life is not all self-abnegation either – there is pleasure to be had, and it’s an important facet of being a well-rounded individual. after all, if we’re not here on earth as sensory beings to experience pleasure, then what the hell is the point, really? and if you can’t delight in the pure joy of a few of life’s more basic indulgences, if you’re so elitist that you can’t relate to the commonality of participating in a pop culture climate – well then, i’m not sure that i want to know you.

you can have your “james joyce’s complete works” and bowl of gruel. me? i’ll be over here with my “harry potter” and nachos.

song of the day (speaking of pop candy – this song is so inane, but it always makes me want to dance my ass off, and i listened to it on endless repeat all the way through china. and yes this is my one nod of deference to brit pop.) Orson – No Tomorrow

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