"You know what really grinds my gears?"
Henry:
Remember that episode of Family Guy? I do, and it makes me think: You know what really grinds my gears? So I came up with a list of some topics I wanted to discuss or if nothing else, get out there in a space more appropriate than facebook. As an added bonus I decided to bring my lovely wife along to keep me in check, give counterpoints, and additional insight; pretty much to give anyone who reads this an extra voice of reason to quell the ravings of a mad man.
Warning: This may devolve into a rant
I thought that I'd keep things simple this first go around and not jump into some of the greater controversies just yet. With that I wanna talk zombies. I love me some zombie genre. I can go on about why, but rather I'd like to talk about how everybody else all of a sudden has taken an interest in the undead. At the core of the matter I want to address the phenomenon of when something creeps from cult status to a more mainstream one.
The reason I chose the zombie example is because I like to dabble in fiction from time to time and lately I've been toying with a zombie themed tale. In writing it I began to imagine how such a tale would be received (yes, I am fully aware that I'm getting ahead of myself). I thought to myself how the zombie genre has become more mainstream lately and that anyone who did not know me would most likely attribute my choice of subject matter to a simple act of jumping on the bandwagon or trying to "cash in" on its burgeoning popularity. At this point (while I continue to get ahead of myself), I became frustrated that I now had to justify myself. I imagined that this is what people who were into vampires must have felt like once Twilight and all its clones put vampires in vogue. I mean, every time I see some new vamp/romance book at the store, I can't help but roll my eyes. I feel the same way about the influx of stories involving a boy who learns he is some chosen one with special abilities in the vein of Harry Potter.
Conversely, I can't completely be against the sudden popularity of a beloved subject matter. For all the half baked cash-ins that the marketing machines manufacture we also get more love for the genre in that it becomes legitimized and the way is paved for quality products as well. Going back to the zombie example, as of late there have been (in my opinion anyways) some great new additions to the zombieverse (yeah I just made that word up, big whup, wanna fight about it!). Before I hadn't many places to get my z fix aside from Romero's classics
and the old Resident Evil games. Now we have Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead
, Shawn of the Dead
, and Zombieland
to name a few pluses in the movie column. For literature, Max Brooks' Zombie Survival Guide
and World War Z (buy this book right now, seriously its the bees knees people!) are now best sellers and widely praised. On the video game side of things we have the Left 4 Dead
and Dead Rising
franchises. Lastly I get to look forward to AMC's 6 episode adaptation of the comic series The Walking Dead 
(which looks awesome). Honestly it's hard to complain about all that comes with the popularization without also appreciating all the potential as well.
Henry:
Remember that episode of Family Guy? I do, and it makes me think: You know what really grinds my gears? So I came up with a list of some topics I wanted to discuss or if nothing else, get out there in a space more appropriate than facebook. As an added bonus I decided to bring my lovely wife along to keep me in check, give counterpoints, and additional insight; pretty much to give anyone who reads this an extra voice of reason to quell the ravings of a mad man.
Warning: This may devolve into a rant
I thought that I'd keep things simple this first go around and not jump into some of the greater controversies just yet. With that I wanna talk zombies. I love me some zombie genre. I can go on about why, but rather I'd like to talk about how everybody else all of a sudden has taken an interest in the undead. At the core of the matter I want to address the phenomenon of when something creeps from cult status to a more mainstream one.
The reason I chose the zombie example is because I like to dabble in fiction from time to time and lately I've been toying with a zombie themed tale. In writing it I began to imagine how such a tale would be received (yes, I am fully aware that I'm getting ahead of myself). I thought to myself how the zombie genre has become more mainstream lately and that anyone who did not know me would most likely attribute my choice of subject matter to a simple act of jumping on the bandwagon or trying to "cash in" on its burgeoning popularity. At this point (while I continue to get ahead of myself), I became frustrated that I now had to justify myself. I imagined that this is what people who were into vampires must have felt like once Twilight and all its clones put vampires in vogue. I mean, every time I see some new vamp/romance book at the store, I can't help but roll my eyes. I feel the same way about the influx of stories involving a boy who learns he is some chosen one with special abilities in the vein of Harry Potter.
Conversely, I can't completely be against the sudden popularity of a beloved subject matter. For all the half baked cash-ins that the marketing machines manufacture we also get more love for the genre in that it becomes legitimized and the way is paved for quality products as well. Going back to the zombie example, as of late there have been (in my opinion anyways) some great new additions to the zombieverse (yeah I just made that word up, big whup, wanna fight about it!). Before I hadn't many places to get my z fix aside from Romero's classics
and the old Resident Evil games. Now we have Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead, Shawn of the Dead, and Zombieland to name a few pluses in the movie column. For literature, Max Brooks' Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z (buy this book right now, seriously its the bees knees people!) are now best sellers and widely praised. On the video game side of things we have the Left 4 Dead and Dead Rising franchises. Lastly I get to look forward to AMC's 6 episode adaptation of the comic series The Walking Dead (which looks awesome). Honestly it's hard to complain about all that comes with the popularization without also appreciating all the potential as well. 
I think at the end of the day I can't help but support the trend. I do, however, have some things I wanna say about this type of thing.
1. Don't be a dick.
It's so easy for people to judge harshly when it comes to something they hold so dear. People can easily become possessive of ideas and subject matters that are held with fondness and admiration. As a result I've seen folks become defensive of their interests and being quick to judge others who hope to also partake in similar interests. Maybe they've invested so much in whatever it is they're "defending", that the idea of another who may not be as invested, can be seen almost offensive. Kinda like someone who loves the Star Wars movies but hasn't really gotten into the extended universe through the hundreds of books and other various media. I could see such a person looked upon as a "poseur"by the superfans, which brings me to my next point....
2. Just be glad someone out there has a common interest.
Don't give me some emo/goth BS about conformity (by the way emo/goth kids, take a look at yourselves and each other. You all dress and act alike and have been known to shun those who don't. Hence you are by definition, conformists). What I mean by this is that it's okay if others (even many others) share your interests. Even if someone may not be as well versed as you, that doesn't make them the enemy. It's always a boon to share common ground, it helps us coexist as a society, so why bash it? Do you know how lonely it is for a geek like me to be living here in the south? My particular brand of nerd is hard to come by out here compared to how it was growing up in Arizona. I would love to find more people who share my interests. Right now I'd easily settle for someone who is not as versed in sci-fi/fantasy or video games but still holds an interest, which then leads to my last piece of advice....
3. Don't hate, collaborate.
If the interest is there and common ground can be made, rather than dwell on someone's short comings, why not engage the person in conversation and activity in order to gain more level footing. I was far more into comic books than my friends when I was in high school. This is not to say that they didn't share the interest but they weren't as "hardcore" about it as I was. Still we went to comic shops, had conversations, compared notes, shared stories, etc. I lent friends books I liked, made suggestions, and in turn I did discover a few good things that I myself hadn't been exposed to and wouldn't have otherwise if not for some friendly collaboration. With that being said, don't think you know everything or that someone who appears less versed won't be able to contribute.
The bandwagon gets a bad rap. Now, I do recognize that there will be people who jump on a band wagon for reasons that make the above pointless. Bad books, bad movies, bad games and other similar examples of shallow cash-ins will be unavoidable by-products of the bandwagon's journey through society. Similarly, fair weather fans will leap and leach to each new fad as it comes along and abandon it just as fast when the next one surfaces. Still I'd like to hope that with the bandwagon's passing some new fans will stay past the expiration date and wanna hang out, existing fans will find each other easier through the societal popularization, and maybe if we can all just get along we just might win one of those fair weather fans over to the real thing. Whose to say how many people never continued on with an interest because we made the price of admission to high in the long run.
Mandy:
Even if you hadn't liked zombies until recently, there's nothing wrong with liking something that is popular. The reason why many things are popular, and the band-wagon gets started to begin with, is because they are good! I.e. good music, good food, good stories, etc. The negative implication of "jumping on the bandwagon" comes from, I think, those people who like things because they are popular. They don't really have a taste of their own, they just conform to the common consensus. (hello alliteration!)
Henry:
That last bit is a separate subject all its own. I think this modern society of ours' contains far too many people whose entire identity and self image comes exclusively from the cues of others. Their interests and values stem from what Hollywood and other popular culture venues tell them, ultimately leaving them devoid of independent thought and incapable of critical thinking (especially if it's involving something contradictory to what they've been told). Aqua Teen Hunger Force (number one in the hood G) has a great example of this phenomena when Master Shake, annoyed with Frylock for having to visit a museum, defiantly argues, "Egypt doesn't even exist! I mean, you don't hear DMX rap about it!" I could go on but this material looks ripe for a future blog so I'll leave it at that and hopefully leave you with something to look forward to.
Henry:
That last bit is a separate subject all its own. I think this modern society of ours' contains far too many people whose entire identity and self image comes exclusively from the cues of others. Their interests and values stem from what Hollywood and other popular culture venues tell them, ultimately leaving them devoid of independent thought and incapable of critical thinking (especially if it's involving something contradictory to what they've been told). Aqua Teen Hunger Force (number one in the hood G) has a great example of this phenomena when Master Shake, annoyed with Frylock for having to visit a museum, defiantly argues, "Egypt doesn't even exist! I mean, you don't hear DMX rap about it!" I could go on but this material looks ripe for a future blog so I'll leave it at that and hopefully leave you with something to look forward to.
