BBKristopher.com

...but Jack Handy's no where to be found.

And a hundred quatloos to anyone who knows that reference.

You know, I've come to the conclusion recently that a lot of stuff everyone knows is awful just isn't.

See, my family has always been musical. My mother and my grandfather have both been playing country and bluegrass music for longer than I've been alive. My brother, back in the day, could have been a first class concert pianist before his interests took him in a different direction (alas, I got no musical talent).

Anyway, I sat down with my grandfather to watch TV. He was watching TCM or GAC, don't really remember, but one of the country music video channels.

Now, I'd never been a big country fan. I had a Patsy Cline boxed set, cause, well, Patsy Cline, but other than that, and a couple of "crossover" albums I'd never paid much attention to country. The reason are myriad and not really related to the point at hand. But that day, I liked what I heard. Since then, I've spent quite a few hours listening to country music. I've got something like 35 country albums on my hard drive. I freaking love this stuff. I've been gobbling it up the same way I gobbled up 60's protest rock and Disco when I first discovered them. In fact, I'm probably consuming it with more vigor just because it's more readily availible.

But, again, not really my main point. In this post I pointed out that Harlequin had been turning out a good product monthly for decades. Except, well, I'm wondering if I ever really believed it. I mean, most people take shots at Romance. Face it, it's an easy target.

But should it be? Cause, truth is, those novels are well written. They just conform to conventions and standards we aren't familiar with, or don't agree with, or just don't like.

So, I'm kind of wondering. How much of what everyone knows sucks really does, how much of it just doesn't conform to our tastes, and how much of it is stuff we, for what ever reason, wrote off without ever giving a fair shot?