Rebel without a cause: Part Two

When I wrote the last blog, I did not know what would happen today. I couldn't have planned better timing.

I really didn't realize this until it was brought to my attention, but I take a certain pride in the fact that I've never watched the Simpsons. I've seen about five minutes of the show in my life. I was once going to watch the movie with some friends, but I fell asleep before five minutes had passed, and I really remember nothing about those five minutes. So I essentially have never seen the show.

My professor walked into the classroom today just before my survey of pop culture class was set to begin and started writing our homework assignment for today on the board. Pretty much everything is already laid out in the syllabus, so I was looking at it as he was writing and shaking my head, because I already knew it. I knew we were scheduled to be reading some articles about the Simpsons, so that was old news. But then he wrote something else. He wrote that he wants us to watch at least one episode of the Simpsons, and do some character analysis, to see if the characters match up with how they are described in the articles we're reading.

What? I did a double take. Does it really say that? I guess it does. I have to watch the Simpsons? Really? I've made it through the entire life of the television show without watching it so far. Why?

I was slightly taken aback by my reaction. It's just a TV show. One to which I don't remember having given much thought. But apparently I've given enough thought to subconsciously determine that ever watching it would be unacceptable.

But, knowing myself as I do, one would, I would, think that that kind of thing wouldn't surprise me. There have been several things in my life that I have not done or experienced that I thought I had no opinion on, but then the idea of doing or experiencing them would be presented to me, and I would shoot it down immediately. No! That can't happen!

Why? That's the question of the hour.

It's because I like being different. I like being able to say that I've never seen the Simpsons, even though it's been on TV almost as long as I've been alive. I like being able to say that I know nothing about The Office, or Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Thus I'm not thrilled about my next homework assignment. Looks like I'm going to be visiting Hulu for the first time. (That's something else I haven't done yet, watched anything on Hulu, that I was sort of beginning to appreciate about myself. How ridiculous is that? Oh well.)


Note: Despite how disconnected I feel from pop culture, when it comes to playing pop culture trivia games, I'm not the worst person to have on your team. I'm like a sponge, and I retain a lot of information. For example, although I've never seen a full episode of the Simpsons or seen the movie, I can still name all of the main characters. So keep that in mind the next time we're playing a game and you're wondering who you want for your team. I don't want to be picked last.