"Awful" things that I love

Tonight I worked the Ke$ha concert sponsored by our programming board.  Her concert was certainly entertaining.  I don't have a gauge on how talented or not she is based on this concert BUT I do know that I really like her music.  It is completely auto-tuned.  The lyrics are questionable at best.  Stepping back and observing myself singing along to EVERY lyric, I know that I should not enjoy it...and yet, I do.  It is how I feel about a lot of pop music.  I can't really articulate why I like it so much, I just do.  This got me thinking about other "awful" things that I like.  These are things that I have questioned my enjoyment of on many different levels - personally, professionally, culturally, sociologically, societally.  I can articulate the reasons that perhaps enjoying the thing is "wrong" or "strange" yet I love it anyways.  Some of the things I thought of were:

1) Slim Jims & other processed meats - I don't want to know what kind of meat is in these things.  I really like slim jims.  I enjoy Spam.  I have eaten many sandwiches made from "potted ham".  Vienna sausages are delicious.  This could be a remnant left from childhood.  The processed meats were cheap and filling, so we always had some on hand.  Vienna sausages were a cheap stand in for breakfast sausages.  Spam made excellent burgers and a can of potted ham could make a few sandwiches.  While, my financial situation is somewhat better, I have never lost the taste for these processed meats regardless of the nutritional hazards.  I also really enjoy those Macho Man Randy Savage commercials about Slim Jims - "step into a Slim Jim"  - HAHAH



2) The movie Showgirls - I really shouldn't admit this in a public forum but sitting here in my apartment at 2:47am, the idea of the movie Showgirls is cracking me up.  It is absolutely the worst movie ever created but really the best movie for that very reason.  When I was a teenager my friends and I would watch this movie over and over and over again.  Sometimes we would turn off the volume and we would make up our own dialogue.  There are so many ridiculous scenes in the film.  Poor Jesse Spano...this movie ruined her career

3) Trashy romance novels - Love them!  They are predictable and gendered but I love them.  I particularly love the ones set in Regency England.  Give me a naughty lord and a randy duchess and I am hooked.  There is something slightly more subtle about the romance novels set in regency england. I love a good double entendre and these books are full of them.  While equally ridiculous to me it feels like there is a little more subtlety than in contemporary romance novels.

4) Pop culture tv shows - One of my secret desires has always been to be a commentator on one of those pop culture shows.  I wanted to be on any number of the Vh1 shows - "I love the 80s, 90s, 00s....part 1 and part deux! or Greatest One Hit Wonders or Greatest celebrity quotes or Worst celebrity baby names (seriously Pilot Inspektor or Jermajesty).  I wanted to be on these shows and wanted to say snarky comments.  I still do... I would spend endless hours watching the marathons.  Ah, one of the things I truly miss about not having cable television any more.

5) Food Network Challenge shows - I am obsessed with the pastry chef and their ability to design and decorate a cake, sugar sculpture or fruit tower in 8 hours.  I love it.  I am amazed at their talent.  I think they are so creative.  Admittedly, there is a small part of me that also wonders if they will be able to transport their masterpiece from the kitchen to the table without it breaking.  Ah the suspense...the drama....the cake!