Pop culture rules.

I don’t know if that is sad or if it makes logical sense, but whenever I am inspired to write about a current event in the entertainment world, I get numbers that my personal editorials (on parenting or life in general as a thirty-something writing dude) only can dream about… and the fact is social media is a great way to build numbers. Seriously, if I share a piece on Facebook and my numbers find a nice home for the week.

So why does it make me feel all dirty? I mean, it’s not like I am writing about scandals, I wouldn’t even be writing on a topic unless I was inspired to give a unique take, something I didn’t read elsewhere.

The fact is I was raised Catholic so I feel easily guilty about most things. It is my excuse why I can be overwhelmingly overcome by guilt when I forget to even say thank you to someone for the slightest little thing. And here I am writing about something that really doesn’t involve me! And look at all of the people reading my opinion! And what if I write something that might hurt someone’s feelings? Guilt, guilt, guilt.

Here are my top five popular posts.

5- Dear How I Met Your Mother- I’m sorry, it’s not you, it’s me…

See, what I mean about pop culture?

How I Met Your Mother is a light sitcom with a premise that deserves something better. The show wants to be Friends (or something like it), but the idea driving the show expects a more over-arching story deliver, and the two sides of it seem to clash each year. It’s like watching a married couple that is struggling to keep together; oh, they like each other and enjoy each others’ company, they are just not that compatible together. Tomato/tomahto.

In this piece, I express my frustration for a story with no end in sight; and with the ridiculous choices made at the end of the last season, I threw up my hands…. And I threw up my hands for all to see.

4- My Love/Hate Relationship With Game of Thrones

I don’t want to anger George R.R. Martin.

Seriously, I respect him as an author and what he is doing in this series is groundbreaking (His use of POV is amazing). I’m just frustrated because I can’t, with all of my education, know-it-all attitude, and experience writing, see how he can bring this to a satisfying ending. He just has too many plates spinning in the air and has yet to latch onto the overarching plot (or mission, per se) of the series. For example, if the point is the war in winter between hot and cold, death and life, what does this make a majority of what we read so far? Is it all a prequel?

But as much as I am frustrated by the series, I want to see how he attempts to bring it to a conclusion, so I keep reading and occasionally read an interview of his for hints.

The fact is the series is a literary soap opera, with cliff hangers at the end of chapters and a plot that moves at a pace that always hints that something bigger is around the corner. But what is around that corner? Tune in next week! Argh!

In this article, I break down a lot of my issues (pluses and minuses) around this series, TV and books. If George read it, I am sorry.

3- The ending of a story… the beginning of a new one

My first sequel! And it’s number three! Woohoo!

After the attention I got from writing about the feeling of having your old high school consolidated and, in a way, erased from existence (and what does that mean for your identity and memories?); I felt I had to write this editorial. In it, I am explaining that the school consolidation is a good thing.

See, I had this fear that people that were against the school work would use my words to support their cause, when in the long run I support this change.

Do those outside my old high school care about a piece like this? I couldn’t say, but it is number three.

2- Why Dan Harmon Being Fired From Community Really, Really Bothers Me

It is hard for me to get excited each year about new shows on TV. I feel always like I get excited about a show, only to watch it be canceled or burn out before its time because of some decision made by an executive.

Cupid, Wonderfalls, Northern Exposure, Pushing Daisies, Arrested Development, Firefly… the list of broken hearts goes on and on.

For three years, I’ve been a fan of Community. The show surprised me, and for anything to surprise me (TV, books, movies, etc.), well, it is a wonderful thing and doesn’t happen often.

Dan Harmon was fired cruelly from his own show. In this editorial I discuss why people should be troubled by an industry that can logically separate a creator from their creation so easily.

1- The Fall of the Vikings

When I heard my high school was disappearing, I was flooded by memories. This, in many ways, is a very personal memorial; so the fact that so many fellow Wyoming Park high school alumni found this article and latched on to my stories and thoughts really floors me, and still does.

The piece had a life of its own, even going on to being published in my old local paper, and I was getting comments and e-mails from around the country. Everyone wanted to talk to me about their experience in school, and it was almost a struggle to stop my page for the article from becoming some kind of a forum to discuss the change.

I wish I could say the article led to book sales and more followers on my site, but it didn’t. I was just the voice with the megaphone in the long run, and the megaphone is off now. Still it was a lot of fun to watch the attention and focus the article gave me for a few weeks. It was the closest I have felt to being popular, and funnily it was about high school.

Thanks for reading!

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If you liked reading my article, why not check out some of my books? I had two novels published in the last few years, My Problem With Doors and Megan. You can find them via my amazon.com author page here. Thanks for reading!