# Slaughtering Sacred Cows of Entertainment **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 9, 2005, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834 "2005-01-09T03:25:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/161 "2005-01-10T22:16:26Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > I agree with this sentiment. There are a LOT of posts in this thread mentioning things that don’t even remotely come close to being sacred cows of entertainment. As someone with fairly plebeian tastes, I’m blind to all but the most egregious examples, e.g. Britney Spears, but seeing Sandler and Kutcher mentioned almost made my head explode, especially together and with no mention of anything or anyone else. Again, no offense intended to **Kythereia**. ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/162 "2005-01-10T22:27:13Z")
As a sci-fi fan, I’d have to go with **Dune**. I’ve read this book twice, the first time expecting to love it, since most everyone else I knew who read sci-fi did. The second time was to figure out why I didn’t catch onto whatever those people were talking about. My opinion of it is about what several people say about Lord of the Rings, good story, but way too long winded. If you have 200 pages worth of story, don’t put it in 500 pages of novel. ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/163 "2005-01-10T22:34:24Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > **Stevie Ray Vaughan:** He was a good guitarist, and he died. I don’t see that as any reason for the posthumous adulation he continues to receive. Best not say that out loud in Dallas or Austin. The real shame is that he had sobered up and was just starting to make his best music when he died. There’s really no telling how good he could have been. I don’t see how you can listen to the emotion in _Little Wing_ or _Lenny_ and not be impressed by his talent. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/164 "2005-01-10T22:35:08Z")
> [@Odinoneeye](#): > > If you have 200 pages worth of story, don’t put it in 500 pages of novel. Permission to send this to Stephen King? ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/165 "2005-01-10T22:58:27Z")
**Bill Murray**. I like him; I like many of the movies he’s in. But has he ever done a role that can’t be described with the words “ironic detachment” or “deadpan delivery”? In defense of the 60s: much of the stuff from the 60s is in the category of Groundbreaking, but not necessarily Good. So from a distance of 40 years you miss the Groundbreaking part. See: _Easy Rider, 2001_. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2005, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/166 "2005-01-10T23:36:51Z")
> [@Homebrew](#): > > Best not say that out loud in Dallas or Austin. The real shame is that he had sobered up and was just starting to make his best music when he died. There’s really no telling how good he could have been. I don’t see how you can listen to the emotion in _Little Wing_ or _Lenny_ and not be impressed by his talent. Folks in Dallas or Austin or any other place can continue to like Vaughan’s music and to be impressed by his talent. It’s just that I’m not terribly impressed by it. Yes, he was certainly skilled, but I don’t find him to be any better than any other well-known guitarist. Just my opinion, that’s all–and I’ll keep my mouth shut if I ever visit Texas. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/167 "2005-01-11T00:33:19Z")
> [@Menocchio](#): > > Yeah, you’re probably right. I hate to be a threadcrapper, but I just wasn’t sure if it was possible to do so in a thread that’s already about crapping all over things. I’ll leave you all to your unbridled negativity. > > Sorry, please continue. Hmm…, I didn’t mean it as snarky as it looks now. What I was trying to say thru the lines is this, Just because someone doesn’t like the same thing that an apparant majority appears to doesn’t mean that that same someone doesn’t like any of the individuals who do like that thing. So, it’s not crapping on anyone’s tastes, simply a statement that they don’t agree. For instance, I like Star Trek. The entire franchise. Even the bad stuff. Now, when someone comes in a Star Trek fan thread and starts to trash it, I invite them to leave. Why trash on a party of like minded people? But, for the several who posted in this thread about their not liking it , I see it as a personal statement of their particlar tastes. No problems. While the first scenario (applied to anything, btw, not just Trek) is indeed rude, the second isn’t. Because we were all invited to share, the snark quotient doesn’t exist for this thread. Damn, that’s a lot of words. I can’t get into _24_. Everyone around me is just sure that it’s exactly the type of show form me, but it just kind of sits there and says, “So…, um…, what’s up?” ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/168 "2005-01-11T00:46:45Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > I agree with Hendrix. Just because you can play notes three times as fast as anyone else and can do things with a guitar no one else can, doesn’t mean your music is actually fun or entertaining to listen to. Me too. I just listened to “Are You Experienced” and I wonder what I was thinking when I liked it, when it came out. He isn’t fast even, just noisy. So he makes funny noises with the guitar. Cool, but someone should have unplugged his amp and forced him to learn how to really play. I like the Simpsons, but I don’t understand the appeal of Futurama. Nothing in any of the episodes I’ve ever seen is either funny, satirical, or insightful. Oh, and opera. Long periods of incidental music, about worthy of your standard soundtrack recording, punctuated with a good song or two every few hours. And on stage it is the unwatchable singing the unintelligible performing the unspeakable. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/169 "2005-01-11T00:51:53Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > I like Star Trek. Even the bad stuff. Mr. Clue, your agonizer, Please. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/170 "2005-01-11T00:54:59Z")
Clue. Clue. What is clue? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/171 "2005-01-11T00:58:10Z")
> [@Windwalker](#): > > It’s a shame about Andie MacDowell, since I think she’s so bloody gorgeous, but yeah, she should stick to modelling… Gorgeous? Yuck. And I’ll throw in Sarah Jessica Parker. Ugly on a stick. Can’t act either. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/172 "2005-01-11T00:59:32Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Mr. Clue, your agonizer, Please. :eek: Wasn’t _Voyager_ enough!? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/173 "2005-01-11T01:02:49Z")
I find that simulpost ironically funny. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_Stimulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Digital\_Stimulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_Stimulus)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/174 "2005-01-11T01:59:32Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Gorgeous? Yuck. And I’ll throw in Sarah Jessica Parker. Ugly on a stick. Can’t act either. Seconded. _Square Pegs_ was kinda cute – in an 80s sorta way – but she never was. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/175 "2005-01-11T02:34:32Z")
Star Wars The Beatles Radiohead Bjork The Great Gatsby The Grapes of Wrath Myst Warcraft Counter-Strike Halo (single player mode) Street Fighter II/Alpha/etc. ---
**Author:** ![dotchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dotchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dotchan)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/176 "2005-01-11T03:51:21Z")
As an anime fan by proxy of my friends, I don’t really get their extended obsessions. I mean, sure, on first view it’s pretty cool, and you drool over your favorite characters, but after the initial rush is gone I look at it and think, _that’s it_? It’s kind of painful to admit that a lot of anime is just as boring and repetitive as American TV, but since Japanese pop culture is a new thing to me, I can still find it amusing more often. (My current least favorite anime character - Vash from **Trigun**. I don’t get how everybody and their brother thinks he’s some sort of Christ figure. No, you get to be a Christ figure by actually **saving** people by some sort of meaningful sacrifice, not letting them die in horribly stupid ways because you’re too much of a wuss to kill. :mad: ) ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/177 "2005-01-11T03:52:12Z")
Marlon Brando–I don’t get it, really. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/178 "2005-01-11T03:56:30Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > Marlon Brando From _The Wild One_ Cop: What are you rebelling against, kid? Brando: What’ve you got? Cop: WHAM! ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/179 "2005-01-11T03:57:09Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > Marlon Brando–I don’t get it, really. "AC-TING! “Genius!” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Wing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/51bf81/32.png) [@Little\_Wing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Wing)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2005, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834/180 "2005-01-11T04:13:41Z")
I may be setting myself up for a stoning here since no one else has mentioned him, but I’m going to have to add Bruce Springsteen to this list. He’s called “The Boss” because…? I just don’t get it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/slaughtering-sacred-cows-of-entertainment/283834.md?page=10)