Today I’m going to be a curmudgeon. Let’s start with Avatar. I hated it. Before anyone starts: yes, I know the special effects are amazing. Yes, I saw it in 3D. Yes, I know it’s nominated for a Best Film Oscar. I still hated it. The plot was lame and I resented being bashed over the head with the groaningly obviously political message.
While we’re at it, I also didn’t like Lord of the Rings. Fell asleep in the cinema in fact. Hell, as long as I’m bucking conventional wisdom, I may as well really disgrace myself: I find Monty Python terminally unfunny. I don’t get the big deal about Bob Dylan. And I don’t reckon Brad Pitt’s that attractive.
I usually keep these views to myself because of the reaction they provoke. The Monty Python one in particular attracts gasps of disbelief and horror.
It inspires people to recite entire sections of ‘Python’, as they lovingly call it, to see if they can convince me that it really is hilarious after all. If there’s anything less funny than watching a man slap himself with a fish while dancing, it’s listening to somebody in hysterics describing a man slapping himself with a fish while dancing.
This exact thing happened yesterday when I told a friend I was writing this column.
‘But what about the one where John Cleese is a pharmacist and he comes out and says “Okay, who has the pox?”’ he said. ‘And then he goes “Okay, who has diarrhoea?”’
I quickly ended the phone call, lest he start spouting lines from ‘Life of Brian’.
Why am I sharing these scandalous views? I’m inspired by The Times which, over Christmas, asked British arts identities to reveal the classics of film, music or literature that they secretly loath, without fear of shame or humiliation.
There’s the pianist who thinks Bach is overrated, the BBC presenter who thinks Romeo and Juliet is tosh and the opera singer who loathes Bizet’s Carmen.
To see what other classics leave the experts cold, check out the first item on this week’s list of ten interesting things to watch, read or listen to:
1. For those of you who’ve always hidden the fact that you hated ‘Gone with the Wind’, this one’s for you.
2. Two recent articles in The Age gave a rare insight into the workings of the public service. In one a former defence insider spoke out about a culture of ‘excessive spin and unnecessary secrecy’ and in the other, a former health department insider dished the dirt. The federal Health Department issued a furious response which is towards the bottom of this blog.
3. The official White House photographer, Pete Souza, is immensely talented, as his website makes clear. The White House has just released his work covering Barack Obama’s first year in office and it’s sensational. (via @mfullilove on twitter)
4. The hugely popular American comedian John Stewart of ‘The Daily Show’ is a major critic of Fox News. He recently appeared on a program hosted by one of the network’s biggest stars, Bill O’Reilly.
5. If you’re a regular reader of blogs and the sometimes nasty or inane comments that readers make, you’ll enjoy this dissection of a ‘typical incendiary blog’ – and make sure you stick with it through to the comments.
6. The New York Times has interviewed prominent actors, including Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, about what they consider to be the best performances of the past decade.
7. We’ve all had our fill of cats doing crazy things on youtube, but this is actually rather special. A composer has turned his cat’s random walking on the piano into a very beautiful piece of music (via @scriveners_fancy on twitter)
8. Even if you’re not interested in the Winter Olympics, they’ve generated some astonishing sports photography. (via @nadine_lee on twitter)
9. How do doctors in emergency rooms really think and prioritise? An excellent, thought-provoking piece in the Sydney Morning Herald by Dr Clare Skinner
10. My colleague, political reporter, Lyndal Curtis, wrote a very moving and sad article about losing one of her children. It’s worth your time.
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