Lefty guilty pleasures

Tommy_Paine summed up my personal approach well earlier in the thread; I try to soak up enough pop-culture water-cooler stuff to remain generally conversant, though am an obscurantist geek at heart (especially musically).  I'm not sure why we progressives are fretting about whether our entertainment is 'left' enough, though; the tide of mainstream junk that I've been exposed to only serves to reinforce and strengthen my convictions.  Besides, I have no desire to live in an echo chamber.

My growing kung fu weapons collection.  Well, actually, I don't feel that guilty about it...  It's just cool.  I'm hoping for another sword for Christmas.

Come to think of it, I'm getting more and more unapologetic in my old age.  We've been hooked on Desperate Housewives for a while, I suppose that qualifies.  Reading a novel when the accounting isn't caught up.  Cake for breakfast after the kids I insisted eat something healthy leave for school. 

Eh, what's the point of guilt, it just makes you tireder than you already are.  Waste of energy.

Selected tracks from the musical quartet of James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo, such as One, Sanitarium, Fade To Black, Master of Puppets etc, played at an ear splitting decibel level.

I just got back from Berlin where I spent a few days, plus a small side trip to Prague. Over the last year, I've taken more planes than I had in my entire life previous. I suppose this is my biggest lefty guilty pleasure. Exploiting the cheap flights of Britain. My last trip was less than fifty GBP return, and that is actually quite expensive in general. The train, in contrast, which would entail a eurostar from London to Paris, then a sleeper to Berlin, would be minimum 250 GBP return, which doesn't factor in the cost of the extra day. Of course there are other factors that make the train more appealing--stress, comfort, leg room, restaurant car, a morning in Paris, etc. But most middle-class people wouldn't consider the train.

I think everyone should be allowed and encouraged to travel, but cheap flights--especially considering the expansion of both Heathrow and Stanstead in the face of the environmental crisis--are barbaric when it comes down to it. More than the environmental damage, which is immense, there's not much cultural exchange occurring, which for me, is the principal benefit of travel. British cultural enclaves are popping up throughout Spain, Greece and Italy--but they contain only the worst of British culture: lifeless pubs showing the football with Tennant's on tap, Karaoke, lounge singers, fighting louts and endemic rape. And you never have to speak a word of a different language, or indeed, to someone who is not also British.

I was actually reminded of Hitler's 'Strength Through Joy' campaign before WW2, where he invented the cruise ship industry: affordable vacations for middle-class workers and officers--whose sole purpose was to recharge their soul in order to bleed it more efficiently. Indeed, these cruise ships never docked outside of German borders, despite their lengthy tours, in order to keep all money spent on such trips within the nation.

Ick. So that's my guilty pleasure. Perhaps a bit darker (and a worse injury) than the OP had in mind.

I have to admit a certain liking for Toby Keith's "You Ain't Much Fun Since I Quit Drinking".

"I will admit to wearing the grooves off of "Double Live Gonzo" thirty or more years ago.  I liked it because it was a huge wall of sound-- a maelevolent force from some wicked fairy tale.   But when Ted talks, he's... embarassing, mostly, and I felt that way even back then. "

Yeah, back in the spring of 1978 I'd drive around listening to a cassette of the record.  I used to think Ted's banter was moronically funny back then.  I downloaded a torrent of the record recently.  The 30-year gap in listening has altered my view of Ted's "funny" qualities quite a bit.

[How do you find the "quote" function on babble now?]