My favorite thing to do was when Pan’s Labyrinth came out was recommend it to people, who I knew were clueless. They’d pick up the case, look at it, and ask if it was good, they’d heard something good about it but couldn’t remember.

The delight when they came back and bitched about it being in spanish and I should have told them was hysterical every time.

As a side note, seriously, is it so hard to read subtitles? I can’t stand to watch foreign films dubbed, that goes for Pan’s Labyrinth, Das Boot, or just about anything. It makes it flat out awkward seeing the lips move differently at least to me.

Big Trouble In Little China is the litmus test of all litmus tests. It should not only be recommended as a film but also a book. If the person responds with a troubling attempt to point out that it is a movie and not a book, you must simply tell them to watch the movie with foreign subtitles.

If they come back at all, they are possibly worth knowing.

All valid points, though it doesn’t mean I can’t hate it.

I don’t hate recommending stuff to people, just when it’s a completely open-ended request for something “good”. A request that nebulous opens a can of worms that always results in tedium on the end of the person making the recommendation.

A primer for Benjy’s and Quentin’s sections actually really helps; you can also read Jason’s section first and get the basic storyline of the family history before you dive into the craziness of autism and suicide. The Benjy section also got messed up during proofs–there should be a few more changes between reg type and italics but the typesetter thought he saw a pattern where there wasn’t one.

Faulkner wanted to use different colored inks for the section to code the different times in Benjy’s life but it was cost prohibitive. There’s supposed to be an edition somewhere in a private collection where he took his daughters coloring pencils or crayons and did it, but I haven’t heard if it’s real or not.
/Faulkner nerd

However, once I learned to communicate with different segments of the public, I actually had a good recommendation track record and I met a lot of cool people. I actually persuaded people I otherwise would have intellectually written off to expand their horizons and I expanded mine. A few times, yes, some people simply sucked and were culturally impenetrable. Without exception, they had no business in an independent bookstore in the first place. (No, James Patterson isn’t my favorite writer).

However, it is YOUR job as a so-called expert of a certain segment of culture to persuade others that a certain direction is worth pursuing. You have a gayass name tag, or wasted liberal arts education, so people ASSUME you know something about movies, books, etc. and will actually have a conversation with them. Otherwise why are you fucking there? It not the person’s fault they face your immediate prejudice and disgust because they don’t like something you do. And if they don’t like something you recommend, so fucking what? Are people’s self-esteem that fucking low you can’t debate even simple points on a movie or book? What’s the fucking point of learning anything if you can’t effectively share it with others?

Just because you spent a lot of time in an echo chamber learning obscure information or cultivating an esoteric knowledge base doesn’t necessarily automatically mean that it is valuable to most other people (or even valuable at all).

/Purple Potamus is a fucking retarded name
//loved Clerks when I was younger but, alas, I have since grown the fuck up

Righteous, brother.

/now wondering if Forrest Gump and Ben R. ARE THE SAME DUDE!

Ok fine, I didn’t actually say that. But I WANTED to.

Try reading Faulkner as Ben Roethlisberger. Worked for As I Lay Dying…

“Jewel came back. He was walking. Jewel hasn’t got a horse anymore. Jewel is my brother. Cash is my brother. Cash has a broken leg. We fixed Cash’s leg so it doesn’t hurt. Cash is my brother. Jewel is my brother too, but he hasn’t got a broken leg. Jewel has a Choco Taco.”