Ballet is the big one on my list. I’ve tried–really tried–but I just don’t have any appreciation for it.

By the way, chess is not a game. It is a demonstration of who can make the least mistakes. Your disdain for this form of punishment has nothing to do with visual processing. The fact that you like Settlers of Catan means that you’re judgment is trustworthy.

Re the question in #7, “how long should one try to like something?” I would say, in proportion to the amount of time one expects to be forced to deal with that thing. My wife loves sour cream, but it used to turn my stomach. I decided to try it, little by little, until I liked it. (Think iocaine powder ala Princess Bride.) Now I eat more of it than she does. Ditto with avocados, cheese, mayo, etc. (Still working on cucumbers and–shudder–cauliflower.) There are two major benfits: 1) fewer occasions when I have to pick something out of my food, 2) a greater diversity of flavors/sensations to enjoy.

Kiskilili, I’ll be there. I wouldn’t miss seeing Lilith and the Didgeridoo have it out for anything.

Kiskilili and Lynnette, sorry, I always get the family histories wrong–but I knew Lynnette was involved somehow! Peddling Baloney-Os to younger sisters. Oh, the shame. Lynnette, I think your lack of interest in NPR and your fondness for country music is a lovely illustration of the complex expectations surrounding aesthetic pleasure, which is never socially innocent.

Spiritmists, glad you stopped by, and I hope you will again.

Mark IV, thanks for the kind words. My brows definitely go low! I’ve heard several different people say that opera grew on them over time, so maybe it will eventually grow on me.

A question I’ve been considering in relation to this is: how long should one try to like something? I’m one of those people who has a hard time abandoning boring books or movies, gripped by the terrrible optimism that surely, surely they’ll get better! Sometimes they do, but more often, they don’t.

I have lots of respect for you, and I admire your ability to think and express yourself so clearly. So I hope you understand how much pleasure I get from hearing you don’t like opera and are therefore irredeemably lowbrow. I love it – it is such an overwhelming spectacle. But, I gotta admit, I also like the opry. Wagner and Waylon, my heroes.

One thing I don’t like that I’m supposed to is Schindler’s List. Granted, I was a teenager when it came out, but all the other teenagers in my school liked it. Truthfully, I was kind of bored. I like (Maybe like isn’t the right word–is any movie about the Holocaust really likeable?) or appreciate other movies, dramas, museums, productions that present the horror and awfulness of WWII and the Holocaust, but the List just doesn’t do it for me.

Thanks for the fun post!

Spiritmists

But moving on to the point of your post . . . I always feel like a bit of a fake as a grad student because I don’t listen to NPR. Actually, I find that not having a car means that these days I don’t listen to the radio much at all. But if I did, the radio would likely be tuned to (gasp!) country music.

I’m with you on the opera and the jazz. My list of things I’ve yet to learn to appreciate would also include Shakespeare, and most poetry written before the 20th century. But I’m really intrigued by that question about what that might reveal about me.

I’ve seen both Kiskilili and Lynnette produce some truly exotic dishes (Baloney-Os, anyone?).

Um, that was Amalthea; I produced the Death in a Pot, Leviathan Bait, and Taun-Taun Fodder. (I don’t know how you can forget these things!)