Welcome to Culture Shock
Welcome to Culture Shock - the News & Record's new pop culture blog.
Here we'll peel back the layers of pop culture -- music, television, magazines, food, gadgets, etc -- and get to the soft, gooey flesh of things.
You may occasionally learn something or be made to think here -- but that will be unintentional and coincidental. This blog is primarily for entertainment.
I'm not looking to change your life -- I'm just hoping you may occasionally say to your friends, family or the guy in the cubicle next to you: "Hey, I saw this really cool thing on Culture Shock today..."
There are five simple rules here:
1) Please participate.
I'll try to be an entertaining host, but the blog will be a lot more fun if you guys get in on the conversation, e-mail me things, suggest topics, etc. I don’t mind talking to myself -- but I'd much rather be talking with all of you.
2) Be cool.
I don't mean "Don't disagree with me."
Please disagree with me. Disagree with the others who comment. Be passionate. But be civil about it. Don't say anything to anyone that you wouldn't say if we were all having these conversations over beers after work. If any blog on this site can avoid degenerating into the sort of political bickering and name calling that's really just one step up from monkeys flinging their own feces at each other, it should be this one. Because we're talking about POP CULTURE. If you're not having fun with it, you're not doing it right. And if trying to make other people miserable is your idea of fun, don't worry. Because Rule #3 is...
3) I reserve the right to ban you from the blog.
Oh, yes I do.
They're not paying me anything extra to do this, so the moment I stop enjoying it, it simply isn't worth my time.
I am not in any way infringing on your First Amendment freedoms if I don't let you curse at and abuse me or the other readers over something as ridiculous as a differing take on the Nintendo Wii or whether the Transformers movie sucks. This is my little corner of the web, I'd like it to be a cool, pleasant place and I will not be receptive to arguments that I am an evil, tyrannical opponent of true liberty if your actions cause me to give you the boot.
4) Be patient with me.
I'm running the blog on top of my day job writing for the News & Record, so I may not get back to you in the comment thread or reply to your e-mail straight away. But I promise to get back to you, if you give me the chance.
5) Pop culture is in the eye of the beholder.
I think any part of our shared culture is fair game -- TV, music, movies, fast food, clothing, etc. This may mean that sometimes I'm blogging about things that don't particularly interest you. That's all right. If you don't care about my musings on Avril Lavigne come back in a few hours for my take on Michael Moore's "Sicko" or my gripes with the latest issue of Rolling Stone.
And, of course, always feel free to drop me a line.
If you don't feel like commenting -- or have more to say than a comment will allow -- e-mail me. I've set up a special address for the blog to avoid mixing it in with the mail I get at my work address. You can reach me at NR.Cultureshock@gmail.com. There I'll have enough room to get attachments you send me, take suggestions and explore links you think I should look into.