I confess that I’m a sucker for the internet sidebar lists. I don’t want to be. I just am. You advertise anything on the side of an internet site and I will most likely ignore it. I think I might have intentionally clicked on one, maybe two sidebar advertisements in the course of the past year. But you put a sidebar with some kind of list I might be interested in? I’m in. Especially if it hits something with which I’m involved, like faith: Most Famous Born-Again Celebrities; or Twitter: 25 Hilarious Twitter Accounts You Should Follow, or Movies: 10 Most Underrated Horror Films… I don’t even like horror films, but I like movies so I will happily look at your list, just so I can be conversant.
I confess that I am sometimes tempted to click on celebrity sidebar news or top ten lists, but I nearly always resist on principle. If I feel a tug of curiosity when confronted with 21 Stars Who Have Hit Rock Bottom–Charlie Sheen is not on the list, in case you were wondering–I immediately remind myself that this whole scene is an illusion, Hollywood is plastic, and it’s best not to get caught up in it. For the most part, I’m somewhat immune to the Us Mag type of celebrity lists such as Childhood stars who train wrecked, or Top ten Jennifer Lopez movies. That’s a real thing by the way. I clicked on it. Though I was not aware she had done enough movies to necessitate a top ten, there it is. If you are wondering, Anaconda made the list; Gigli, not surprisingly did not.
I try not to click on celebrity lists unless I’m sure that I can view them ironically in some plausible way. Say, for instance, I see a sidebar list for Forgotten Stars of the 90s-What do they look like now? I don’t really want to look at that list, but I will view it in an ironic way. To laugh at how fleeting fame is. (They all look pretty good, in case you are wondering… Blossom, in particular, has really fared well. And Fran Drescher is timeless). If I click on 20 Awesome Movies that you Haven’t Seen, then I can say either “Oh, Yeah. That’s right. Das Boot is an amazing film and nobody has seen it.” Or I can also say, “Whatever, Garden State was self-indulgent 90s pop-culture crap. I only like it because it sucks.” Also Garden State has a killer soundtrack. And I love Natalie Portman.
I confess that I can always go in for the humorous sidebar. For instance, The Wall Street Journal’s video “Things Tim Howard Could Save Now.” That’s just good clean fun.
I confess that I’m mostly killing time until my book comes out. Shrink: Faithful Ministry in a Church-Growth Culture. Sept. 02.
In case you really wanted to see it, here’s the Tim Howard video:
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