Good Time vs Good Place

 

So sometimes people recommend things to me, such as restaurants, hotels, or comedians.  This is very nice.  I Google +1 their head.  Unfortunately, a lot of people are biased by events and it's frustrating.  Take, for instance, (yeah, I used two commas for rhetoric) when someone buys a car.  It's often a shitty car, like an SUV or something that SUX.  It's a people-transport at-best, and it's boring no matter how cush it is.  It's not cool in any way.  There are no cool SUVs.  Some try to be cool but no.  Fail.  It's just a minivan in disguise, always.  Still, folks who just buy it will be in their, "I just bought a new car" mode for a while, all elated and gooshing over it.  Still, I'm sure it's better than their previous SUV, so sure, it's an improvement in some ways.  I see a lot of folks who owned Jeeps or SUVs get an actual car and they go nuts over it because their 0-60 isn't 20 seconds anymore and now they're getting more than 12 mpg so it's insanely good for them.  Uh huh.  Yeah, sure, that Subaru AWD El-Yawn Edition is fine, I guess, but to them it's outstanding. 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 
  Movies are like this too.  Some people don't go the cinema a few times a week, or month, or year.  When someone finally does break down and enter society for a brief moment, the experience of it is so overwhelming they just goosh over how awesome the crappy movie was, then you're suckered to go see it based on overwhelming enthusiasm and.. well.. you're left empty-handed.
 

 
  Most people I know are pretty non-adventurous so I'm rather leery at suggestions.  Some are experts in things and I value those further.  Sometimes, though they mean well and are enthusiastic.. well, they're clueless...
 
 
  Most folks know I love comedies.  I listen to XM Channel 99 Raw Dog Comedy which sponsors the latest comedian acts currently running around and some within the last year or so, so it's pretty fresh.  I also listen to a little international humor with XM Channel 160 Laugh Attack which features Canadian-only humor, which is a little more abstract but often more ironic or sarcastic with a peppering of less potty-humor and more cosmopolitan flair, so it's a good balance.  I have favorite comedians such as Maria Bamford (she's just awesome), Dane Cook's older material, Jim Gaffigan, and some of the other cleaner comedians like Mike Birbiglia (it's harder and therefore more challenging such as semi-early Bill Cosby, though very very early Bill Cosby was very dirty).  I'm fine with Doug Stanhope or Otto & George though, so I'm no prude.  I consider myself a bit of a comedic connoisseur.  When people learn this that I meet, they immediately suggest Jeff Dunham, who I abhor.  It's just racial patheticness that translates poorly on audio-only and his puppeteering (which is an art I very much admire) is lame.  I think he stinks.  Same with Ron White.  He's just full of hate and anger towards his wife and women.  Just my take.  XM's Blue Collar Comedy Channel is also something I'm not too fond of, but it has its moments.  Comedy is like dessert.  Everyone likes it but not everyone likes the same thing.
 

  The internet radio service, Pandora is similar as an uninformed acquaintance.  It assumes that if I like Rush then I must indeed like Moody Blues, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Cream, and Kansas.  Well, they're okay, but I'm not an Eric Clapton fan whatsoever (I probably should be because I love guitar, but I find his work blah and over-rated the same way Meryl Streep and Gene Hackman are).  No, Pandora, I really aren't into those.  If it was semi-smart, it'd know I like a bit of progressive-rock like Dream Theater or Queensryche or maybe some Savatage but it's too lame.  Luckily, XM Channel 38 The Boneyard knows this and isn't afraid to play No Sanctuary, Before the Storm, or Countdown. 
 


  Netflix's suggestions are horrible (and often confused when there's two raters on one account).  Sure, I liked Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares but no, I don't want to watch American Idol but yes indeed, I'll watch season 2 of The Gong Show.  Ah tastes are so varied and confusing!   It really helps if you truly know the person you're making a recommendation to.  Certainly, you shouldn't recommend Schindler's List 2: Electric Boogaloo to a 3-year-old, nor should she recommend Sesame Street's Count To 10-a-palooza to you.
  
 

  So when someone goes to a restaurant and has a good time with their family, they recommend it to me and, well, maybe they don't go out much so it's a fun time because they got 15 minutes of breathing time where they weren't chasing their kids around so therefore the restaurant is good because that pinball machine occupied their living mistakes for a bit as a prisoner's reprieve.  Sure, I guess.  These folks are so wrapped-up in their lives they can't transcend their state of misery to consider outside their own box.  I feel bad for them.
 
 
 

  A fellow co-worker recommended a Hilton in Hawaii's main island Kona (aka Hilo) so Beck and I centered a good portion of our vacation around it.  I should have considered that he had 5 kids.. The hotel itself was violently overpriced (he makes twice as much as me) and caters to kids by way of water slides and fun things for kids to do constantly right outside the rooms, giving parents breaks.  Well, sure, that'd be fine if I had kids so I could get a little alone-time but I don't so.. it's just an onslaught of screaming other-people's-kids 24x7.  He also later recommended a Disney cruise and I almost slapped him in his mouth-face.
 
 

  So, I applaud those that get out of the house.  Do so!  Enjoy Life!  If, however, you're going to make a recommendation, sure, tell me what a great time you had, I'd love to hear it, but if you don't realize I'm a middle-aged dude with no kids or know how I think or live, then please take a second to think that I'm not you.  If you don't though, I've been mildly burned from these experiences, so don't worry, I'll filter you.  I've learned how.  As a bonus, I'll do the same for you. 
 
Ciao.