Preferences
Blah morning. The gym was dusty and a bit baked this morning after the long holiday weekend. Not sure I understand a gym giving its staff both the holiday and the day before off. Looks seriously like a case of monopoly arrogance obliterating any inkling of customer service.
The podcasts this morning were little better. The CBC Ideas episode was an interview with some Dante scholar from Stanford that exponentially decayed into incoherence in about five minutes. Just glad I was not subjected to that drek when I was an undergraduate. About all I got out of the blather – short term, at least – was an appreciation for why people tend to enjoy the science fiction of their age best. And that age seems increasingly to be childhood rather that adolescence.
I first noticed this when I bought my last automobile. It came with a satellite wireless receiver and under the prodding of FD SCP I subscribed to the service. Presented with all of this audio information – some of it entertainment, which is the root of this – I find that I concentrate my attention primarily on the channels devoted to the 1950’s and folk music. What is intriguing here is that I went to high shul in the ’60’s, so if I were actually influenced by the music of that decade that is the channel I should listen to. Likewise, folk was past its campus prime when I was an undergraduate. For some reason the popular music of the ’60’s is unattractive to me, as much so as later music.
My taste in science fiction is much the same. I dislike the pre-war fiction by and large, as well as the fiction past my undergraduate days. Increasingly the popular science fiction of the day is unreadable.
So my question is, is this normal, or nerdish? Or what? I know the people I went to high and undergraduate shul with have nostalgia, even affection, for the music of that period, but I do not. But given the phenomenon, what can one say about a Danteist?
