Many of my friends know me to have strange tastes in media – often eclectic, sometimes contrarian – and they know that I am always happy to explain my tastes. In discussing things I do and don’t like, I have long been interested in why I differ from other people who I consider to have perfectly valid viewpoints.

Some of that certainly speaks to differences of experience – my life experiences have affected me in particular ways that I recognize are not always the norm – but I also like looking for common threads. (For instance, I have an extended theory of comedy that explains why I don’t care for Seinfeld or the mockumentaries of Christopher Guest.) One of the things that I like to say to people is that I would rather have a great story told poorly than a poor story told excellently. And while that sounds simple enough, and I know what I mean, it needs a bit of explanation.

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