# Trivial, yet controversial views (What are yours) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 25, 2019, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-yet-controversial-views-what-are-yours/830196 "2019-02-25T19:04:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2019, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-yet-controversial-views-what-are-yours/830196/161 "2019-03-01T19:38:50Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > - > > Great Expectations \*is quite possibly the worst novel I have ever read. My Grade 12 English teacher, who was otherwise one of the best teachers I ever had, told me “You need to read Great Expectations before you die.” Doing the first part of that sentence while avoiding the latter was tough. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2019, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-yet-controversial-views-what-are-yours/830196/162 "2019-03-01T21:20:36Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > I like ketchup on hot dogs. Me too. ---
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2019, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-yet-controversial-views-what-are-yours/830196/163 "2019-03-02T00:56:43Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Andrew Lloyd Webber is one enormous talent who doesn’t get the credit due him. > > Mary Higgins Clark wrote one book, which she has continued to re-edit and publish her whole career. Andrew Lloyd Webber:music:: John Williams: music Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2019, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-yet-controversial-views-what-are-yours/830196/164 "2019-03-02T01:02:34Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > Left-handed people who play guitar should learn on standard, right-handed instruments. There is nothing about the roles of the two hands that confers an advantage on the non-dominant hand doing the fretting. Being unable to play most of the instruments around you is a large disadvantage. “Handedness” is not as extreme as we seem to think, particularly when it comes to musical instruments. When I play piano, I forget I’m right handed, because my left hand performs just as well as my right. Guitar? My left hand forms chord shapes that are complicated, and it does them fast and accurately. I play Wii golf left-handed and real golf right-handed. Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2019, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-yet-controversial-views-what-are-yours/830196/165 "2019-03-02T01:07:22Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > Robin Williams was about as funny as toothache. > > Rhubarb is the Devil’s weed. > > If they hadn’t bred the flavour out of lettuce (yes, iceberg, I mean you) you would never have heard of rocket. > > j Yes! My favorite Robin Williams movie is The Bird Cage because he wasn’t being Robin Williams. Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2019, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-yet-controversial-views-what-are-yours/830196/166 "2019-03-02T01:07:41Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Anyone who sports a tattoo immediately loses points in my overall assessment of them. > mmm I don’t feel that way about tattoos in general. However, if you have them on your hands, face, and/or neck, that’s another story, especially when it’s accompanied by facial piercings that are not easy to undo, like earlobe gauges. p.s. I don’t care what it’s about - I thought “The Handmaid’s Tale” was a terrible book. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2019, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-yet-controversial-views-what-are-yours/830196/167 "2019-03-02T01:20:57Z")
I thought the ending to the Sopranos was just right. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2019, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-yet-controversial-views-what-are-yours/830196/168 "2019-03-03T12:53:55Z")
The second I hear someone mention Harry Potter my brain rolls its eyes. mmm ---
**Author:** ![road\_lobo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d78d45/32.png) [@road\_lobo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/road_lobo)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2019, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-yet-controversial-views-what-are-yours/830196/169 "2019-03-03T12:56:40Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Anyone who sports a tattoo immediately loses points in my overall assessment of them. > mmm So, holocaust survivors? Dirty sluts and blackguards? ---
**Author:** ![road\_lobo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d78d45/32.png) [@road\_lobo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/road_lobo)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2019, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-yet-controversial-views-what-are-yours/830196/170 "2019-03-03T12:58:34Z")
> [@Haldurson](#): > > There’s no such thing as ‘common sense’. It makes me cringe every time I hear someone ask why people don’t have common sense. My answer is that there is no such thing. What usually gets labeled as common sense is either not common, or sensible, or both. It’s just something that the speaker invoking common sense was too lazy to actually research, and so he invokes common sense and thus YOU need to just accept it as true also. > > Personally, I’ve seen people and have known people who were not exposed to certain things in their upbringing because of a dysfunctional family or a specific family member, or who were not raised in families at all. I also have met and know people who simply were raised in different cultures and also not exposed to these so-called common sense ideas. But worst of all, is when people invoke common sense for things that aren’t even true, or that may not be true (due to a lack of research) and had the person actually made an effort to do the research you’d no longer be able to call it common sense (because anything that requires research to prove, whether true or not, cannot be claimed to be common sense). > > Anyway, the phrase ‘it’s just common sense’ bugs the living hell out of me. You can’t let things like this get to you. It’s just common sense. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2019, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-yet-controversial-views-what-are-yours/830196/171 "2019-03-03T22:32:39Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Anyone who sports a tattoo immediately loses points in my overall assessment of them. > mmm > [@road\_lobo](#): > > So, holocaust survivors? Dirty sluts and blackguards? The thread title is “controversial views”, ain’t it? mmm ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-yet-controversial-views-what-are-yours/830196/172 "2019-03-04T09:19:42Z")
The music on the soundtrack album **A Hard Day’s Night** , all 37 minutes of it, is better than anything the Beatles did after 1967 (for context, I think AHDN is better than most bands’ entire output). The comedy actor David Mitchell is significantly over-rated. He was good in Peep Show, nothing else. ---
**Author:** ![Flare4roach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7cd45c/32.png) [@Flare4roach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flare4roach)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-yet-controversial-views-what-are-yours/830196/173 "2019-03-04T11:20:08Z")
The Who circa 1969-1974 were the greatest ROCK band in the world that has never been equaled nor do I ever expect them to be. Miller’s Crossing is the best thing the Cohen Brothers ever did. Howard Stern lost it as soon as Artie left. Smart women are sexier than any other kind. Duane Allman was the most influential blues/rock guy to have ever played the instrument. Brad Pitt has done some brilliant work. Underrated actor. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-yet-controversial-views-what-are-yours/830196/174 "2019-03-04T13:08:43Z")
_Inside Out_ and _Coco_ aren’t all that great. ---
**Author:** ![LoneRhino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lonerhino/32/1311_2.png) [@LoneRhino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LoneRhino)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-yet-controversial-views-what-are-yours/830196/175 "2019-03-04T15:03:20Z")
> [@Flare4roach](#): > > The Who circa 1969-1974 were the greatest ROCK band in the world that has never been equaled nor do I ever expect them to be. Tommy through Quadrophenia. You’ll get no argument from me. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-yet-controversial-views-what-are-yours/830196/176 "2019-03-04T15:19:09Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > _Inside Out_ and _Coco_ aren’t all that great. If we could just mashup _Coco_ and _Book of Life_ and have the story and actual Mexican voice actors of _Coco_ and the wooden-puppet design and overall aesthetic plus the Muerte/Xibalba framing device of _BoL_, it would have been an awesome film. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-yet-controversial-views-what-are-yours/830196/177 "2019-03-04T15:55:28Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I’m going to go even farther and say: craft beer sucks. > > “Extra hoppy ale” isn’t a brilliant artisanal creation; if I wanted something that tastes like a bowl of rancid potpourri left to ferment in the sun for six weeks I could make that myself. “Milk chocolate orange stout” may sound nifty but it tastes like you mixed cocoa powder, orange-scented dishwashing soap and two-day-old coffee grounds together. Stop trying to make beer taste like something other than beer. Have to pretty much agree. For years it seemed they where trying to out hop each other. I’ve had some nasty ones, and it has turned me of completely. I good beer is a good beer. They can keep their ‘Pumpkin spice’ or whatever crap they want to put in it. ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-yet-controversial-views-what-are-yours/830196/178 "2019-03-04T22:18:40Z")
The all black wheels, all the time fad on cars, especially performance oriented cars, is way way past its sell date. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2019, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-yet-controversial-views-what-are-yours/830196/179 "2019-03-05T04:57:27Z")
Science fiction films: The best Star Wars movie is _Star Wars_. There is no such movie as “Episode IV: A New Hope.” it is called _Star Wars_ and it is the best one. Period. It has a simple and comprehensible plot (based on archetypal stories as outlined by Joseph Campbell), likeable characters, decent (if not stellar) acting, a certain gravitas lent by Alec Baldwin, humor, good action, and a satisfying ending. It invented the concept of the “used future,” helped bring SF back to mainstream movies (something of a mixed blessing, as it turned out), and pushed the boundaries of movie SFX in the pre-CGI era. It was rollicking good fun. \*The Empire Strikes Back \* is not the best SW movie because it doesn’t stand on its own: it’s clearly only a bridge between two other movies. And _Return of the Jedi_ is not the best because having teddy bears defeat storm troopers is stupid. The prequels are perhaps the worst films ever made in the history of the universe. They make _Plan Nine From Outer Space_ look like _Citizen Kane_. And all the rest are tired rehashings of the first three, and/or heartless corporate attempts to extract ever more cash from the little kids who gaped in wonder at the first film and desperately want to somehow relive the magic that was [the one and only] _Star Wars_. ========== Decker was NOT a replicant. The concept robs the story of its whole point for a stupid and meaningless “gotcha” plot twist. But let’s face it: the whole notion of replicants – androids that are virtually indistinguishable from humans without some complicated and highly unreliable test – is idiotic on its face. ========== Arthur C. Clarke’s novel of _2001: A Space Odyssey_ is not canon, and does not explain what happens in the movie. (We’re not even going to talk about _2010_.) Anything you think you know about aliens, the monolith, why HAL did what he did, what the slit-scan sequence means, what happens to Dave at the end of the movie, or the Star Child is wrong unless you heard or saw it in the movie, or _came up with the idea on your own_ (which is what Kubrick actually wanted). Kubrick used Clarke’s original story as a jumping-off point, and used Clarke as a sounding board for some of the film’s concepts, but the movie is 90% Kubrick, and he explicitly did not want the audience to have all the answers when they left the theater. The book is Clarke’s retconning of the movie for all the people who couldn’t stand not having the “explanation” spoon fed to them. But it absolutely is NOT the explanation of the film that Kubrick made. ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2019, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-yet-controversial-views-what-are-yours/830196/180 "2019-03-05T06:26:27Z")
> [@JohnGalt](#): > > You should add The Princess Bride to that list; at least I do. > > We should have stuck with the conversion to the metric system. If Jimmy Carter had prevailed, we’d have two generations of kids who were comfortable with it. Love the first two. I was indifferent to The Princess Bride. I was indifferent, indifferent, indiferent to The Princess Bride. Indifferent to it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-yet-controversial-views-what-are-yours/830196.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivial-yet-controversial-views-what-are-yours/830196.md?page=10)