My controversial takes on pop culture

One of my Facebook friends put up an excellent and entertaining post about her controversial opinions about food, which got me thinking about the possibly idiosyncratic and unusual opinions that I have about big pop culture items. I don't offer these as unassailable truths; they are merely my opinions. Imagine that each one begins with "I think" or "I believe," which I've deleted to avoid repetition. So here they are:

1. Taylor Swift music is the best for speed workouts on the treadmill. Followed by Kelly Clarkson. I'm not sure why, but I do find interval reps less painful when I'm listening to "Shake It Off."

2. Star Trek > Star Wars. Some sci-fi magazine once put it best: no matter how cool you think Star Wars is, it starts with Jar Jar Binks and ends with the Ewoks. (Well, I guess now it ends with Rey and Luke Skywalker, for now.)

3. Pierce Brosnan has been the most entertaining James Bond. Yes, Sean Connery defined the role. But Brosnan managed to fuse Connery's ruthlessness with Roger Moore's suave humor. I love the set piece in "Tomorrow Never Dies" where Bond is having fun driving the souped up rental car via smartphone.

4. I acknowledge Bruce Springsteen's greatness, but as far as New Jersey rock stars go, I enjoy Bon Jovi's music more. "Born in the U.S.A." is an unquestionably great album, and "Born to Run" is a great song. But I like "Livin' on a Prayer" more.

5. The Wire is boring. David Simon knows an incredible amount about police procedure, Baltimore, the war on drugs, and so on. If "The Wire" had been a documentary, like "The Corner," it would be fantastic. But as a television program, it's dull. I made it through 2 1/3 seasons before I gave up. McNulty? Boring. The female assistant D.A. who inexplicably goes from sleeping with McNulty to having an affair with the police lieutenant? Boring. Heck, "The Wire" made Lance Reddick boring, and that guy is awesome! He had maybe five minutes of screen time in "John Wick" but made far more of it than in all the episodes of "The Wire" that I saw. Just compare "The Wire" to "The Shield" - yes, "The Wire" is more realistic, but "The Shield" is better TV.

6. "Fletch" is the rare movie that equals the book it was made from, but in a totally different way. The James Bond novels are about the only ones where I thought the movies were superior to the source material. But the movie "Fletch" is about as good as the novel, except that I always envisioned Fletch (when reading) to be someone like Dirk Benedict's Faceman from "The A-Team." Somehow Chevy Chase took Fletch in a totally different way and it worked!

7. Deep Space Nine was the best Star Trek series. I know I'm not alone in this, but still, the majority of Trek fans seem to think either the original series or Next Gen was the best. Of course, the original series has its schlocky charm, and without it, there wouldn't have been anything else. And of course, Next Gen elevated the production standards and the writing. But Deep Space Nine broke away from the ridiculous Roddenberry conceit that in the 23rd century, there would be no interpersonal conflicts. It gave us a gritty, nuanced view with an array of characters so strongly written that each could headline entire episodes. And from season 4 on, it was basically one long story that held together to the end.

8. Jack Bauer ("24") was the best TV character, but Raylan Givens ("Justified") was the coolest. I used to think James T. Kirk was the coolest character, but I don't think anyone can touch Timothy Olyphant's portrayal of Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens.

9. The 1980s produced the best pop music, followed by the 1990s. Notwithstanding my point 1 above, the best music came from the 1980s, followed by the 1990s. I can't believe those are now so old that they're older than the "oldies" I listened to when I was a teenager. If it weren't for the early seasons of "American Idol" and "The Voice," I would know almost nothing about today's music.

10. Jay Leno was my favorite late night talk show host. I don't care too much about the celebrity interviews, but I do like the comic monologue, even if it's too vanilla for others. And I still have fond memories of "The Dancing Itos" and all the Clinton/Lewinsky skits.

11. The Hunger Games trilogy > Harry Potter series. One is much deeper than the other.

12. I sort of regret reading the "Song of Fire and Ice" books. Okay, not that much. But I don't get HBO so I haven't been watching the "Game of Thrones" series, and I'm more and more doubtful that I will read any more of the series beyond "A Dance of Dragons." First, and most importantly, it's iffy whether the next book will ever get published. Second, even if it is, it's been so long since I read "Dragons" that I think I'll need to re-read from the start, and I don't think I have the stomach for that.

13. CSI: Miami was the best, er, most entertaining of the CSI franchise. There's something fascinating about "CSI: Miami." If I'm flipping through channels and I come across reruns of it, I can always watch it. The trick is, you have to think of it as a comedy, and try to come up with better (cheesier?) one-liners than David Caruso tosses off as he takes his sunglasses off in the dazzling Miami outdoors...(!).

14. Keanu Reeves makes more entertaining movies than Robert DeNiro does. Maybe this isn't controversial. But basically, what I'm saying is that while DeNiro is acclaimed as one of the greatest actors ever, while Reeves is saddled with a reputation consistent with Ted "Theodore" Logan, Keanu Reeves' movies are far more watchable and re-watchable. Seriously. List the five most entertaining DeNiro movies. Compare them against "The Matrix," "John Wick," "Point Blank," "Bill & Ted" (your choice of which one, although I prefer "Bogus Journey"), and "Speed" or "The Devil's Advocate."

15. Captain Kirk > Captain Picard. If I were a Federation taxpayer (except I don't think the Federation has taxes, since Picard so haughtily exclaimed in "Star Trek: First Contact" that there's no need for money in the 23rd century), I'd much prefer Picard in charge of government property. But as a viewer, I find Kirk more entertaining. Plus, if they had a fight, Kirk would win, because while Picard was negotiating, Kirk would Kobayashi Maru-him.

16. Gryffindor is overrated, while Ravenclaw is underrated. Gryffindor is basically the jock house, while Ravenclaw is the nerd house. I know which one I'd want to be in. And who gets more stuff done in real life, anyway?

17. Cable is overrated. I got rid of cable almost three years ago, and I don't miss it at all. Of course, it helps that most of the cable programs that I've been interested in during that time (the end of "Justified," "The Americans," "The Last Ship") are available for streaming, often for free via Amazon Prime.

18. Han shot first. Okay, that can't be controversial, can it?

My Vancouver running diary

Vancouver, B.C., is my favorite city outside the United States, and is near the top of my list of North American cities too. That's not at all surprising, considering that Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland are all fairly similar in culture, climate, and geography.

With my brother having moved to Vancouver recently, we decided to visit him for a week. The last time I was in Vancouver was 2010, which was before I started running, so I was looking forward to getting in some miles in a "new" location.

My recap of the fall 2014 TV season

Now that the fall 2014 TV season is over, pretty much all network shows are going into repeats or hiatus until after the new year, and in some cases, until late winter/early spring. Overall, I thought it was mildly disappointing even compared to recent years, and a far cry from the golden era of the mid-2000 decade, when "24," "Prison Break," "Lost," and "Battlestar Galactica" were all on the air at the same time.

New Shows

There were a number of new shows that I was excited about: "Gotham" (Fox), "How to Get Away With Murder" (ABC), and "Scorpion" (CBS). But "Gotham" ended up being too relentlessly grim and bleak for my tastes; since we know(?) how the show will end, Detective Gordon can't win against the bad guys, and things will just get worse and worse. It certainly seemed well-done, though.

The "How to Get Away With Murder" pilot was anything but boring. Unfortunately, included in "anything" was utter ridiculousness and a complete lack of any likeable characters. It's not that I expected it to be slavishly realistic about law and law school. One of the few law-related shows I enjoyed was "Boston Legal," which was hardly realistic. The difference is that "Boston Legal" didn't even pretend to be serious, whereas "How to Get Away With Murder" seemed to want to be taken seriously.

Finally, "Scorpion" was kind of like "Mission: Impossible" with all nerds + Katharine McPhee. It came across as a show about what Hollywood thinks geniuses are like.* It was okay, though implausible; but somewhere around the eight episode or so, I realized I'd had it running on the TV and had been paying no attention to it. I deleted the season pass and haven't missed it since.

* The scene in the Vegas episode where O'Brien defends himself in the bail hearing by arguing that it would be impossible to find a jury of his "peers" - meaning 190+ IQ persons - was kind of funny, I'll admit.

Oddly, the one new show that I've liked is one I wasn't planning on watching at first, and in fact, I missed its premiere; fortunately, it re-aired the following night. That would be "The Flash" (CW). Granted, as between Marvel and DC comics, I definitely prefer the former, and that bias is probably why I was going to pass on "The Flash." But it's actually a refreshing change from most superhero shows where the main character is brooding, damaged, etc. I just wish they would wrap up the unrequited love storyline....

There are some new shows debuting in the spring, but "Marvel's Agent Carter" is the only one I'm likely to give a chance. Besides, season 5 of "Justified" should be hitting Amazon Prime in a month or so, so I've got that to look forward to for any spare TV watching time.

Returning Shows

I've stuck with "Once Upon a Time" (now in season 4), "The Blacklist" (season 2), "Marvel's Agents of SHIELD" (season 2), "Person of Interest" (season 4), "Survivor," "Scandal" (season 4), "Hawaii 5-0" (season 5), and "Grimm" (season 4).

I did watch a lot of "The Voice" as well, but my HD antenna was having trouble with the NBC feed for a while, and on top of it, I couldn't remember any of the contestants, which is not a good sign for a reality TV competition! I did like the episodes with Taylor Swift as the guest mentor, though. I'd come back to watch the show if they add her as a judge.

As for the rest, "SHIELD" seemed to continue the generally higher level of quality ever since the crossover with Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier. "Person of Interest" too has gotten really good with the heavily serialized story arc of Samaritan vs. the Machine. "Hawaii 5-0" continues to offer outstanding scenery with a mash-up of "The Odd Couple" and the mystery of the week. "Grimm" has sent Trubel off somewhere, leaving it open for a possible spin-off, I suppose. And "Once Upon a Time" remains my favorite show on air right now, although I didn't think the winter finale had anywhere near the same impact as last winter's finale did. Then again, I continue to think last winter's finale should have been the series finale.

Embracing my inner "teenage girlness"

I once posted on Facebook that when people ask if I like country music, I respond I like Taylor Swift's songs, and that people find that a non-responsive answer. (Admittedly, the more she's moved toward pop rock, the more I've liked her albums: Red > Sparks Fly > Fearless. I've got high hopes for 1989.)

One of my Facebook friends commented, "When did you turn into a teenaged girl?"

Ha ha ha ha! Fortunately, I am comfortable in my fortysomethingness, and I'm not embarrassed to write that I really do enjoy listening to Swift's music. However, today I'm ready to embrace my inner teenage girlness fully.

I went for a threshold run this morning, and for entertainment, I was prepared to watch the end of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, which I had leftover from yesterday's long run. For some reason, though, my Kindle Fire wouldn't stream in the gym even though it appeared to have connected to the wi-fi. I could have listened to an audiobook on my phone (I'm about 2/3 of the way through Peter F. Hamilton's space opera Judas Unchained) but on a whim I decided to shuffle through the selected songs I loaded on my phone from Red. That turned out not to be quite enough, so I moved to Sparks Fly from there.

Anyway, the resulting threshold run rocked in more ways than one! I had intended on a 2-3-2/2.5 split, meaning 2 easy miles* to start, and then 3 miles at threshold pace, and then 2-2.5 miles back at an easy pace. I ended up feeling so strong that I increased my threshold pace from 7:13 to 7:08 and then to 7:03, and finished 5 miles instead of 3. My 10K PR is around a 7:12 pace, so the last three miles of this run were slightly faster, and yet I didn't feel like I was pressing; I'd categorize the effort level as a 3 on a 1-5 scale.

* My easy miles are around an 8:30 pace.

There is some research to the effect that for non-elite runners, music can boost running performance. I don't usually listen to music when I run, as it's mostly TV on the treadmill, or an audiobook if I'm outside (and I live in a hilly area, so it's hard to track "fast" performance outside), but Taylor Swift really seems to get me to run fast without feeling like it's too hard.

Hmm, guess I need to head out to Target to pick up the deluxe edition of 1989. . . .