March 1999
s m u g
and such and such
by Shauna Wright & Leslie Harpold

*

Mainstream or Outré?

Swimming With the Tide Running Against the Wind
I confess: I am a part of "Mainstream America."

It's funny though. I never thought I was. I thought I was above being spoonfed what the media thinks I should or shouldn't find cool. Although I certainly do make my own decisions regarding such things, it just so happens that my decisions are often what "the masses" seem to like as well.

But it isn't my fault! When I first developed an affection for many of these things, they weren't well-known. So rather than thinking of myself as someone who follows trends, I like to think of myself as someone who sets them (hey, it lets me sleep at night).

It's a deep, private shame, you know ... trying to be different while at the same time being the exact demographic advertisers adore.

In spite of this, I suppose it could always be worse ... I could be an "Ally McBeal" fan.

Are you too afflicted with this ailment?

I used to think I was outre, but now I just think I'm quirky. I'm my own kind of stereotype, I confess: the media jaded, thinks she knows a lot about music, boots over shoes, dress all in black, urban, single income no kids poster child. I have a hard time liking things I think are cliche, pushing me even deeper into being my own kind of cliche.

I think my mom summed it up best when I was about 8 years old and all my friends were doing one thing, and I wanted to do something which I thought was a lot cooler at the time. "You always have to be special, don't you?" with a heavy emphasis on the special meaning "different".

I try to stay under advertisers radar although I occasionally find myself hit square between the eyes, and I take pride in being able to trade obscure references with my noise rock loving black glasses sporting peers who also fancy themselves quite the connoisseur of culture and arbiters of taste. Truth be told, though, we all know we're not setting any trends, we're just our own kind of lemmings. At least it's a "special" kind though.. Isn't it?

"FRIENDS"
Oh, go ahead. Mock me. I've been watching the show since it first premiered back in 1995 -- at least a year before the mighty, all-consuming force that is the NBC Media Machine™ spun out of control promoting it. Yes, it's silly. No, it isn't grounded even a little bit in reality. But that's the whole point. It's mindless, escapist television.
"TALES OF THE CITY"
I don't have a TV but when I'm elsewhere and this comes on, I'm glued. Of course it's mostly because I like to repeat the name "Armistead Maupin" over and over again in my best Ricardo Montalban accent
HOOTIE AND THE BLOWFISH
Right after Cracked Rear View came out in 1994, a group of us went to see Hootie at a tiny little club in Memphis. A few months later, they were everywhere. The second album wasn't as good. I didn't even buy the third. Does that grant me any redemption?
MISSION OF BURMA
Almost 20 years later, their records still sound like they could have come out yesterday. If I have to pick a personality match for Hootie, though, I pick Iggy, who has been declared, if memory serves, the anti-Hootie.
TITANIC
I didn't lust after Leonardo DiCaprio when he was a junkie in The Basketball Diaries or blowing snot-bubbles in What's Eating Gilbert Grape?. But put him in a tuxedo on a sinking ship with a tragic love-story (not to mention sappy music) and I was just beside myself.
WINGS OF DESIRE
When I want my tragic romance bone tickled, nothing beats a good arty German film. Nick Cave is on the soundtrack, and his skinny self could kick Celine Dion's skinnier French-Canadian ass.
SOUTH PARK
Initially, I was sure that my affection for this show on Comedy Central would give me at least one thing with which I could refute my mainstream status. I mean, we've got bad animation, a horny Chef, and a pack of foul-mouthed eight- year-olds. And then they had to go and ruin it for me with the t-shirts and keychains and shotglasses, thus making the show mainstream. Foiled again, dammit.
KIDS IN THE HALL
See? I'm not anti-Canadian. The superior source for all your scatological humor needs and their subtle loathing for "Marketing Guys" and nice suits holding up empty heads appeals to my anti-establishment streak.
MARK McGWIRE
I like sports but didn't like baseball before last summer's much-ballyhooed Homerun Chase. But there he was, all big and cute and sensitive and buddies with his rival and reverent to the former record-holder and he's close friends with his ex-wife and he's been through therapy to deal with his "issues" and he adores his son and he founded a children's charity and ... jesus, people, I'm not made of stone here.
--
I don't even have a sports guy. I like watching snowboarding videos though. "Snow Porn" is what I call it, because the snow is pretty. Hmm, I guess Todd Richards is cute.

ed note: there is strong evidence to suggest leslie actually has a thing for NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon, however effete he may be.

PRINCESS DIANA
I was 12, I think, when she married Prince Chuckles, and I got up at whatever the ungodly hour it was to watch the wedding (I still have a commemorative candy tin from the nuptials, which is probably worth more than a share of Yahoo! stock these days). Yeah, I cried during her funeral. So sue me.
MALCOM McLAREN
Sure he's not Royalty, but he is British and he invented the Sex Pistols, who sang God Save the Queen. So that has to almost count, right?
YAHOO!
And speaking of Yahoo! ... ok, fine, so I Yahoo. I also use AltaVista and all those other less-cliche search engines, but when you're trying to find a giant category of sites all devoted to Must See TV, nothing beats the tried and true.
MAMMA
Mamma searches search engines and gives back the best matches. Usenet, web, news, stock quotes and MP3s make Mamma one-stop-shopping and lightening fast.
HARRISON FORD
I saw Star Wars when I was 10 and developed my very first celebrity crush, which remains even to this day. Nevermind the fact that I usually go for younger men and he's old enough to be my father. When he played the President in Airforce One, I had a sudden (and rather disturbing) glimpse into what makes Monica tick.
JAMES LeGROS
Indie flim flick staple actor James LeGros appeals to me because he looks like someone I might actually know ... not too shiny, vaguely interesting and he usually plays fairly quirky characters, which is exactly how I describe my friends. Oh, and I think he's really cute.
ELTON JOHN
Big fan. Huge. His self-titled debut in 1970 was one of the very first recordings I ever owned, and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is still one of my all-time favorite albums. If it's any consolation to you, I do NOT own the Lion King soundtrack.
THURSTON MOORE
What do you mean Sonic Youth isn't classic rock? Sure, he doesn't wear funny glasses and all, or have a questionable but non-threatening sexual past, but I'm one to reward monogamy anyway. Go Thurston!
THE COCA-COLA POLAR BEARS
Because they're cute and fuzzy and make me go "awwww!" every time I see one of those commercials. Shut up.
HELLO KITTY
I love Hello Kitty, and I don't care what you say. I can't help it. I don't think I want to.
shauna@smug.com leslie@smug.com



*

featurecar
net
worth
chair
ac/dcgun
smoking
jacket
barcode
ear
candy
pie
feed
hollywood
lock
target
audience
scissors
back
issues
dice
compulsionvise
posedowncheese
the
biswick
files
toothbrush
mystery
date
wheelbarrow
and such
and such
hat
blabfan
kissing
booth
martini






     
·feature· ·net worth· ·ac/dc· ·smoking jacket· ·ear candy· ·feed hollywood· ·target audience· ·back issues· ·compulsion· ·posedown· ·the biswick files· ·mystery date· ·and such and such· ·blab· ·kissing booth·


·contents· ·freakshow· ·fan club· ·archive·



???

copyright © 1996 - 1999 fearless media