(Not So Guilty) Displeasures

I hate when magazine interviewers ask celebrities about their guilty pleasures, which inevitably are chocolate/tacos/shoes/something else really ordinary. Sorry guys, those aren't guilty pleasures. Those are just things normal people tend to like. Why feel guilty about enjoying that new handbag? Know what you should feel guilty about loving? The Mary-Kate and Ashley straight-to-video movies. That's just weird. Chocolate? Not so much.

But the fine people at A.V. Club have shifted the focus a little. They're looking at the things they don't like that everyone else is gaga over. The guilty displeasures, if you will:

"Maybe you never understood why critics go apeshit for The Velvet Underground and Nico. Or maybe you didn't think that No Country For Old Men was that great. Whatever it is, everyone has at least one work of art that they just don't understand the hype about. What are yours?"

Good question! Two repeat choices were Judd Apatow movies and There Will Be Blood (aww). Others included the Beach Boys, Forrest Gump, and comic books (double aww).

That got me thinking about mine own guilty displeasures. Although generally, I don't feel too guilty about hating things. Take Hemingway--people love this guy. They always list him among the best. Me, I can never find emotional resonance in his books. (Hills Like White Elephants is another matter, probably because it's about a page long.) But I also tell people all the time how much of a hack I think he is.

Other guilty displeasures:

• Southpark. Maybe it's just because every frickin' kid quoted it when I was in middle school. But I think it's also the fact that the voices really grate on my nerves and the animation is poor. And yet somehow I'm the only one (aside from another AV Club writer) who doesn't get what's so funny.
  
• 27 Dresses. Usually I romantic comedies, even the lame ones. They're at least entertaining. But I've never been more upset than when the credits rolled after this movie. I thought I'd start a fire or tear someone's face off. And yet every other girl I've talked to thinks it was at least "cute."
  
• The Beastie Boys. If you were under the age of 15 in the 90s, you probably bounced around to one of their songs. But I think they're kind of obnoxious and (again) grating. "You've gotta fight for your right to party?" No wonder people thought teenagers were nothing but selfish slackers. Fight for your right to not be a drain on society, ass.
• Tom Waits. His "my voice has been soaked in bourbon and lighter fluid" thing seems kind of like a schtick to me. And I don't want to listen to that for over three minutes. Although he does seem like he's pretty funny, so I can't hate him altogether.
• I'm going to go out on a limb here with LOL Cats and FAIL blog. Because sometimes they're absolutely fantastic and will send me into a fit of silent laughter. But it takes a specal kind of person to get it right. Most of the time, people don't. Leave it to the professionals, people.
  

Have your own (maybe not so) guilty displeasures? Disagree with mine? Leave 'em in the comments.