CELIA IS ROCK

I've been thinking a lot about how there are so few things that I truly love. I'm such a critic and such a cynic that even things that I find mildly appealing, I'm usually reluctant to truly embrace them and to be a true fan. Here is a short list of things that I would say that I am a fan. They are in no particular order other than that they are in the order that I think of them.

-The Lord of the Rings (movies and books)
-Star Wars (see explanation below)
-Bill Malonee
-Seinfeld (the TV show)
-John Irving Novels
-Freaks & Geeks (short-lived TV show)
-Aimee Mann
-Sam Phillips (formerly "Leslie", not the producer)
-U2

When I say that I am a "fan" of these things, it doesn't mean that i can't recognize when something is produced that is not the greatest. (Like Jar Jar Binks) But, it means that I love it in spite of its lack. It means that I will go out to Hastings at midnight just to say that I bought the new U2 CD as soon as I possibly could.

Being the critic that I am, and so easily finding fault in all the crap that is on TV and put out in movies and music today, it is somehow joyful to me when I find something that I can truly love. I cried through most of Return of the King the first time I saw it and numerous times in the following viewings. I don't know why other than that I just loved it. When Holly and I went to the midnight showing of Star Wars the Phantom Menace in the crappy theatre in Fayetteville, I cried when the music started. (That may have had more to do with the fact that I'd been waiting for that moment for 15 years...) In watching the DVDs of Freaks & Geeks, I've cried a lot and I'm glad Holly hasn't been around. I love the characters and I love the writing and I love the show.

I just bought the new Sam Phillips CD and I love her. I'm not sure that I always get her and I'm not sure that I always LOVE hearing her songs, but I love her and this CD is getting to me. I'll be in line for the next one, too.