Pride and pretension

I think I must have gotten back my bitchy form. Blame it on the company perhaps or could be that now that I have dispelled the bitterness out of me, I am back to my cheery bitchy self. Anyway, today me and my friend were bitching about pretensious people in general.

Well, actually I started bitchy about her poseur friends who were like talking about the arts festival or something and my gut feel is that they know as much about art as I do, which is zilch. Yup, call me uncultured if you like but I have not got the slightest interest towards paintings and sculptures and the like. Personally, I would much rather go to a pub than the art museum. Anyway, I can never understand what some people pretend to see in those paintings. I mean can you really grasp what the artist was trying to express and feel his angst and anguish? Maybe you can, I certainly can't.

As for movies, I made it a point not to watch Cannes arts festival and some similar awards nominated movies. In fact, if truth be known, my favorite genre of movie are Hong Kong triad movies. You know, the testoterone driven fare with emphasis on brotherhood and loyalty while woman are little more than eye candy. Yup, I am that kind of movie goer. While I love Zhang Ziyi, I don't think I can sit through the Banquet. After spending like 20 mins watching House of Flying Daggers, I felt pure boredom. Even the sight of Zhang Ziyi failed to light up the silver screen for me, as for Memoirs of A Geisha, I couldn't even be bothered to try watching it, having read the book eons ago. Artistic? Get lost? Give me in your face action any day of the week and twice on Friday. I tend to get rather annoyed when people tell me that they would never watch a Hong Kong show at the cinema because its not worth the money. Right, like Election or SPL is in anyway inferior to say Little Man or Scary Movie. Maybe it's just the cool quotient is not that, you wouldn't want to be spotted watching Dragon Tiger Gate along with the peroxide blondies. So you rather pinch yourself to avoid falling asleep while you watch some unpronoucable French art flick.

As for music, perhaps that's the only area where I have some semblance of coolness. I happen to like jazz, not so that I appear atas like the heathen, but genuinely I love the old standards, the Great American Songbook, the Cole Porter songbook and the like. Though I haven't got the slightest idea what is fusion or acid jazz. While I am not expert in this area, at least I can say I do not pretend to like it. My friend was telling me her friend who is a self-professed jazz fan declared that there are no jazz trumpet players. I shall not dignify that statement with a comment. Nonetheless, I have an embarassing admission to make, I actually like Twins. Yup, other than possibly Jolin and Cyndi, Twins is as commercial bubblegum as you can get. Somehow, once in a while when I am in a crappy mood, their catchy singalong ditties gets me in the mood. And yup, as for popular music goes, I prefer to listen to Chinese singers. I don't think I am into any English Top 40s singers other than Corrine May and I don't even know if she is Top 40s. I know of people who think its so uncool to listen to Jay Chou and David Tao because it is such commercialized fare. Well, you would hear nary a disagreement from me if not for the fact that these people actually listen to Paris Hilton and Justin Timberlake. Not commercialized, right.

F&B is another area where people really like to engage in pretensions. Let me state for the record I have no love for French/Italian/Spainish/whatever-ang-moh cuisine, I love Cantonese, Teochew, Shanghainese, Japanese, Thai and Korean cuisine in order of merit. I don't understand how people can state that their interest is fine dining. Seems to me like the local definition of fine dining is overpriced food with miniscule servings. Give me hawker fare or kopitiam faves any day. WhenI have the inclination to lighten my wallet, I would still rather eat Imperial Herbal, Noble House or Royal China over some French restaurant that I have to point and order. As for wine, forget about it. Give me whisky, brandy or cognac anyday. I think red wine taste like what I imagine petrol would taste like. Eat crackers and cheese? Please, give me chicken wings and sotong balls. Pretend to know the difference between Twinnings and Lipton Earl Grey? I rather drink my long jing tea.

Am I uncool/uncultured /low class? If you judge by adhering to the cultures that are non-native to us, then I guess I am.