Decide What to Be and Go Be It

Congratulations to my lovely wife (who asked that I drop the "lady friend" moniker) for correctly naming "Run" by Vampire Weekend as the Monday Song of the Day.

For years, whenever people would bring up the subject of controversial Oscar winners, I would, without fail, address the travesty that was the Best Picture category for 1998. As you may, or may not, remember "Shakespeare in Love" brought home the top prize in 1998. As a young, testosterone-riddled male, I couldn't fathom how the Academy could refuse to honor a film like "Saving Private Ryan" with a Best Picture win, and instead give the award to something as namby-pamby as a period piece featuring innumerable shots of Joseph Fiennes in tights, an odd leather jacket and a pencil beard.

Here's the problem, though: Up until, oh say, 5 minutes ago, I had not seen a minute of "Shakespeare in Love." Oh, sure, I would rail against the film and decry its victory, but now I'm not really sure how much legitimacy those tirades had.

If there's anything I've learned in life, and certainly in argument, it's not that you have to agree with everyone on everything, but if you're going to disagree, you probably should have at least seen/read/heard the film/book/article that you summarily dismiss.

That's a standard that I'm going to begin holding myself to...starting right after I tell you that the Justin Bieber album sucks even though I haven't heard a second of it.