Totally alienated from and disinterested in popular culture

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Tequila
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07 Jul 2013, 5:01 pm

Anyone else like this?

I'm thinking most films, all TV series, all music, and so on and so forth. I hear it, but it doesn't really interest me.

I am starting to think there is something wrong with me. I just have no interest in it at all.



torquemada
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07 Jul 2013, 5:17 pm

I wouldn't say I was totally alienated, because I like to dip in and just check what is current in order to avoid one element of social embarrassment, however having said that:

Most of the music I hear on the radio is pretty much mindless pap, I generally discover music that resonates with me only by chance or through recommendation.

Seeing a new film is like going to that tombola where you win with a percentage of your tickets, but you always end up with the tin of pre-war beans or the old lady soap. The bottles of Scotch are very few and far between.

I will not, under any circumstances watch soap operas or mainstream reality TV. ( I did catch an episode of "The secret life of cats" and regret missing the rest, and I will sometimes guiltily soak up the omnibus of "Come dine with me") but 'stenders, towie and big brother (for example) can all go f**k themselves, along with most of their audiences. And don't get me started on "ghost" programmes!

I find newspapers to be, well - I read Private Eye for political news.

Nope, I guess I'm actually with you. :)


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CockneyRebel
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07 Jul 2013, 5:18 pm

Popular culture has done nothing for me over the past 25 years. I like things that were popular between 1910 and 1985. I can't be bothered with the popular culture of today.


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Tequila
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07 Jul 2013, 5:21 pm

torquemada wrote:
Most of the music I hear on the radio is pretty much mindless pap, I generally discover music that resonates with me only by chance or through recommendation.


This is definitely the case for me too. That's probably the only time I end up listening to anything I actually like.

torquemada wrote:
Seeing a new film is like going to that tombola where you win with a percentage of your tickets, but you always end up with the tin of pre-war beans or the old lady soap.


Empathise with that.

I occasionally go to see new films but if I watch films at all they tend to be low-budget stuff from the 1970s and from Europe.

torquemada wrote:
I will not, under any circumstances watch soap operas or mainstream reality TV. ( I did catch an episode of "The secret life of cats" and regret missing the rest, and I will sometimes guiltily soak up the omnibus of "Come dine with me") but 'stenders, towie and big brother (for example) can all go f**k themselves, along with most of their audiences. And don't get me started on "ghost" programmes!


I can also occasionally admit to watching Come Dine With Me, and I do like the This Is England series but apart from that, it can go to hell.

torquemada wrote:
I find newspapers to be, well - I read Private Eye for political news.


I used to have a subscription to that. Now I tend to read blogs, but even they get tiresome after a while. They're all a bit one-note or the terminology is too complex.



benh72
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07 Jul 2013, 5:44 pm

There's no reason you have to like the same as anyone else; just be yourself and make the most of what YOU enjoy.
I tend to go to my local library and borrow offbeat TV series on DVD - a lot of the stuff from BBC is good.
When you find what you like just follow the trail of the actors, directors, writers and creators, as they tend to work together after doing work they have enjoyed together - think Life on Mars, Hustle, Being Human, Doctor Who, Torchwood etc.

It's not important that others like what you do, what's important is that you find satisfaction, happiness, and self acceptance.
That may come from TV, music, books, your work, or a hobby; just don't worry about if others like what you do, because in time - if you want to - whatever it is that you DO like will turn out to be the same as some others anyway.
There's always someone else out there that likes what you like, and if you think what you like is odd, there's also always someone else out there with odder taste than you!



Tequila
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07 Jul 2013, 5:46 pm

I just think it's that I'm not very interested in watching anything much any more.

I saw Life on Mars and really liked it (the first series anyway), but I simply don't really watch any other TV series. I might watch South Park, but that's it.



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07 Jul 2013, 6:20 pm

After 26 thousand posts on WP, you think there might be something "wrong" with yourself?

Wrong by who's standard, and who's going to bring the smack-down for you being wrong?

As far as TV is concerned, it represents a change of pace for me, a break, a time to sit and do nothing for a bit. So watching television is a rare thing for me. I'll sometimes watch the news of a Saturday morning, that's about the only semi-regular thing I'd watch.

But our area recently (last January) switched to digital signal, and they turned off the old analog.
Now I don't have any TV at all. I miss the news of a Saturday morning, but honestly I've lived without TV quite easily for the last 6 months.

Popular culture is popular by name only. I remember when I went to school, the popular music of the time wasn't universaly liked in school. It's a name only. Like the name "United Nations", it's a sales pitch.



Aprilviolets
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07 Jul 2013, 7:56 pm

I wouldn't even know what was popular as far as music is concerned I lost interest in it since the 80's.



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07 Jul 2013, 8:38 pm

Yes, I'm like that too, can't stand most TV or newer music. Clothes must be comfortable, as I don't care what is stylish, but I am a guy so it's easier. I think maybe a lot of people will like something because it's "the in thing" at the moment. The herd mentality at work.


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07 Jul 2013, 9:04 pm

Yes , I can relate to this. The novels I read are old fantasy series and not the current , popular ones. The music I listen to is usually outdated and uncool. I listen to children's folk songs like Waltzing Matilda and Strolling through the Park one day, some Hebrew folk songs, some country music from the 90's and show tunes. In terms of TV all I watch are The Simpsons and The Big Bang Theory. I hardly ever go to movies. I don't have much interest in current events and I have zero interest in sports or in celebrity gossip or fashion. When I go out with my one friend and her friends (which is very infrequently) I have no idea what they're talking about when they reference any of these things, which is a lot.



rapidroy
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08 Jul 2013, 12:26 am

I have felt this way my whole life about popular culture and to be honest i have always been proud that I could never usually be roped in to loving garbage for just becouse reasons even though it did create meny social issues and isolated me from sociaty starting with kindergarden and I honestly thought I was more inteligent then the other kids in some way becouse of it. The fact is though that garbage is garbage and should be viewed as such, I think this is an advantage of AS and a flaw in the NT brain, I highly value independent thinking. In order to rid the world of trash first people have to have to be able to see its existance and thats what we do.

I suggest looking for independent and local music and TV programs, films, art etc. thats what I do, theres a whole underground vibrent world to explore and although smaller there are groups of people into these things who may want to be social with you.

I just find it so funny when now and then I do or like something and soon(or perhaps a long time) after everyone then joins in, you know someone has to start these trends and it likely won't be someone following the herd completely, the problem is I will have already moved on the next thing.



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08 Jul 2013, 11:37 am

I'm not interested in celebrities, only very few that I can count on one hand. So otherwise I know nothing about the vast majority of celebrities like most people around me seem to. People often tell me that they don't know about or aren't interested in celebrities, but then 9 times out of 10 a celebrity will appear on the telly and they can shout out their whole name very easily within just half a second of viewing their face. I'll probably be able to spot about 1 in 200, if that. Then when I say I don't know a celebrity, people criticise and go, ''you must have heard of [name of celebrity]!'' It makes me feel compelled to have to know, because people can seem to be able to memorize facts about celebrities and other areas of pop culture. I don't think my brain has an extra ''drawer'' in it's file cabinet to store all of that. Totally not interested.


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Tequila
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08 Jul 2013, 11:41 am

Joe90 wrote:
I'm not interested in celebrities, only very few that I can count on one hand. So otherwise I know nothing about the vast majority of celebrities like most people around me seem to. People often tell me that they don't know about or aren't interested in celebrities, but then 9 times out of 10 a celebrity will appear on the telly and they can shout out their whole name very easily within just half a second of viewing their face. I'll probably be able to spot about 1 in 200, if that. Then when I say I don't know a celebrity, people criticise and go, ''you must have heard of [name of celebrity]!'' It makes me feel compelled to have to know, because people can seem to be able to memorize facts about celebrities and other areas of pop culture. I don't think my brain has an extra ''drawer'' in it's file cabinet to store all of that. Totally not interested.


I'm a bit like that, but it depends who the sleb happens to be.



neilson_wheels
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08 Jul 2013, 1:25 pm

Being as we are outside the normal it's not a surprise that pop culture designed for the masses is hard to swallow.

I struggle to find anything to watch on the 500 odd TV channels that we have here.
If I can pick out obviously wrong details or plot faults then it is consigned to the scrap pile.
Decent documentaries seem to have mostly been made extinct in favour of the docutainment style that treats the audience like they are at primary school.
Films need to be either accurate or surreal, well constructed and have decent acting to be enjoyable.
My sense of humour is pretty much off the wall so most comedy misses me completely.
Sport, meh.

Music is very important to me but limited in choice.
The only radio stations I listen to now are BBC6 and FIP which is french and plays non-stop music without DJ waffle or adverts. FIP has a free form jazz hour in the early evening which is best avoided in my opinion.



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08 Jul 2013, 4:36 pm

Join the club. I stopped bothering with television so I'm in the dark. I can't stand advertisements. I can't stand listening to the television in the background when I'm visiting my parents house. I dread going to a movie and being bored, so I don't watch movies much. Oh, and I'm also clueless when it comes to sports. Meh.



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08 Jul 2013, 4:44 pm

I do sorta halfway follow sports, just because I like sports and I like knowing who's doing what. But most sports journalism these days is more about the latest drug scandal or what Hollywood starlet Alex Rodriguez is dating or who Tiger Woods is screwing. Do people actually care about that stuff?????

I'm often semi-embarrassed because I have no clue who got kicked off the island or who's dancing with who. And I seriously have no idea at all why Kim Kardashian is famous. I know the name, obviously, because you can't escape it. But I have no idea what she does or who she does it with.