Still, I have some big holes even before that. I've never even seen Godfather I (although with all the scenes I've seen and heard about, I feel like I have), let alone II or III.

I've never read or seen Romeo and Juliet.

I'm sure there's more I can't think of right now. A lot of Victorian literature is a hole for me, but I hate Victorian literature, so that's deliberate.

I'm also looking forward to the new Harry Potter book because...well, I don't have a good reason, I just like 'em, dammit.

Ken, if you ever see Romeo and Juliet, make sure it's done in its original period. Having been in a 'modernized' version myself, I can tell you that it just might be the Shakespeare play least friendly to being re-set in a time other than its own. I could go on, but I won't (unless, of course, I am mercilessly prodded for further information).

I've missed a ton of literature. Period. It's a massive gap in my education, and a shameful one, at that. Granted, I've got more exposure to theatre than most, but I'm sorely lacking in nearly any category of fiction writing.

I'll stop for now, because, wow, this could take all night.

In other coolness that I'll admit lacking:

1.) The whole SnoopDog bling-bling thing.
2.) The DaVinci Code.
3.) Coldplay, yes that's right, Coldplay. I've heard one song I think.
4.) A crackberry.
5.) The NFL.
6.) The love affair with Rob Neyer.
7.) The love affiar with Ayn Rand (if there ever was one.)
8.) The fascination with supply-chain management systems.
9.) Jack Welch.
10.)Reality TV (specifically Survivor).

BTW, I have no interest in getting "cool" with 6-10. And I guess I'm not really embarassed with 2,6,7,&10.

BTW II, D...no love for Godfather II? Ah shucks. You gotta see it just for Fredo's whacking. His scene with Michael in the middle of the dance floor is absolute classic stuff.

As for me, I've never been to Spain...

The IPod is pretty amazing...you haven't even scratched the surface yet..

As far as your 1-10:

1) I don't get the whole rap thing either, but country music baffles me too...neither speaks to me (nor are they trying to).

2) As a bookstore manager, I love the DaVinci Code like Fox loves American Idol.

3) Musically I find Coldplay to be sort of interesting, but I can't hardly understand anything Mr. Paltrow sings. SAT analogy time: Coldplay is to the White Stripes as ABC is to Husker Du (special Minnesota shout out for ya!!).

4) ?? Crackberry?? Had to google that one; hell, I barely knew what a Blackberry was (and don't really know anyone that has one, but I guess that's life in the flyover...).

5) Amen.

6) Rob Neyer reminds me of Dennis Miller in a way: Miller was amusing in his own way, but he rapidly turned into a one-trick pony. Neyer had the big ESPN audience and seemed enlightened especially compared to the other nitwits on that site, but was never interesting enough that you'd want to pay for his thoughts.

7) Ayn Rand is the refuge of the rich and selfish and the stiffs who never had to hold down a crappy job for ramen 'n' rent in their lives.

8) What kind of people do you hang out with TFD??

9) I don't really care for his business philosophy, but the man makes a mean grape juice.

10) I like American Idol. There I said it. I can't defend, rationalize or excuse it. I like ELO too, got a problem with that??

I'd add one more to the list...

11) Guns and Roses. Most Over-rated Band. Ever.

"I'm 30 years old and I have these dreams." (Ball Four, which I've read at least 10 times)

"We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold." (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which I've read about five times).

"A screaming comes across the sky." (Gravity's Rainbow)

I never dug "Madchester" - all those dopey bands from England back in the early 90's like the Happy Mondays, CUSM, EMF, etc.

I don't understand the love for Weezer at all.

I don't get emo, and I don't get why emo bands balk at being called emo. Rollins said it best "Have an orange, get a gun! LIVE!"

I don't read fiction - so that's out the window. There's enough stories not being told about what's happened on this planet - both in the past and going on now - for me to worry about another reality.

I really, really, don't get Larry the Cable Guy - but I don't think that's a hole in the resume, that's a plus!

Smed, if you saw the JSBX circa 92-96, you'd understand that one. They blew the doors off every time I saw 'em, especially when Jon still had the theremin going. Pussy Galore's more of an acquired taste, but the 2-fer with Dial M for Motherfucker and Sugarshit Sharp is one of my desert island discs. Those two releases cohere in a way that the rest of their work does not, though the live album is pretty cool, and their audacious Exile on Main Street cover holds up pretty well.

A) In short, Weezer speaks to those who long to feel okay with being different from the in-crowd (ie: almost every high school kid).

B) As a child that preferred to listen to newstalk radio with my parents over listening to music, I missed MC Hammer, Vanilla Ice, Ace of Bass, Salt N Pepa, New Kids on the Block, and a whole host of crappy early 90's pop music that's become slightly cool due to the insanity of nostalgia.

C) I've come to believe that I'm the youngest person on the planet that despises Donnie Darko. I understand what's happening in the movie, but, apparently, I just don't "get" it. And I don't care.

D) I suck at poker, and I have no interest whatsoever in getting better. It's neither fun nor productive for me.

E) Victorian Literature? I suggest The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde, or Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen, as very accessible novels from the period. Or even The Secret Agent, by Joseph Conrad, about a suicide bomber in London of the time. Oddly applicable to modern day Americans' fears of terrorism.

RE: Most Over-Rated Band. Ever. I.E. GunsNRoses.

Chris in Illinois never sported a Mullet.

Chris in Illinois never owned a Camaro, Firebird or a Trans Am.

Axl never appealled to the disaffected teen in me, but he did seem confused and sort of sad (a kilt?? Really axl, a Kilt??).

When did that album come out anyway?? 1988?? I would have been 19, so that extra year clearly helped me out in this regard.

I think we can both agree at least that 'September Rain' really sucks though.

Never been to Spain, nor Italy, Mexico, Japan, Hong Kong, Hawaii, Cooperstown, or Fenway Park. Those places keep coming up in our vacation planning, but they haven't happened yet.

I realized a couple of doozies as I was reading through the rest of these:

1) Never seen Caddyshack (friends gave me the DVD, so it will be rectified soon).

2) For those of you born in and around 1970 as I was, you'll be shocked to learn that I didn't see The Breakfast Club until I was in my mid-20's.

3) Actually, there's a whole list of these type of movies that I haven't seen. Name one. I'll bet I haven't.

My wife just got a Crackberry, and now I'm all jealous. Not like there's anyone I want to stay in constant, suffocating contact with or anything, but it's just a nifty little gadget. Maybe I'll get one of those Sidekick things so I can emulate stars like Snoop Dog, Paris Hilton, Will Carroll, and Scott Long. ;-)

They don't interest me, they don't move me, they don't fascinate me. Nothing there. 'cept the fact that 100% of 16 year old boys think it's cool when there's a song on the radio that says "Hey Teacher, leave us kids alone"

I'm only just now reading "Ball Four".

So I admit to being a snob. But even snobs have gaps in their cultural educations. I've never been to Paris. I'm weak on European history. I speak one foreign language (Spanish) badly. And the single hardest book for me to read, which I've tried to read several times unsuccessfully, is Huck Finn (written dialect distracts me).

I never understood Metallica, but instead stayed with Rush

I don't understand why people ask other people called celebrities, to sign scraps of paper with their name on them.

Resume holes include; Never saw any of the Godfather movies, never saw any heavy metal band live, never went to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Heck I just went to Vegas for the first time at 40.

My biggest resume hole...I don't have a passport because I've never travelled outside the US, Canada and Mexico.

Didn't own a cell phone until about two months ago. I don't own an IPod or Blackberry, and really don't have that much interest in either.

But the big hole on my resume: I can't ride a bicycle. Tried to learn a few times as a kid, but finally gave up after being unable to stay on the thing for more than a minute without falling off. Also didn't get my driver's license until I was 19, which I perhaps should have told Will before driving him around DFW last summer...

Even as a hardcore Libertarian, I was not able to get through "Atlas Shrugged." Nice message, but I found it overly long and cumbersome.

I don't drive, own a car, or have a drivers license. Hey Rob, I'll teach you how to drive a bike if you teach me how to drive a car...

I don't get bullshit photography or art. Being an artist and a photojournalist in training, if someone wants me to critique a photograph of a circle and explain what the artist is trying to convey, I'm a bit too blunt in saying it's crap. I think I'll stick with sports photography. If I see something cool in that field, at least I can explain why.

Be nice, I've never listened (willingly) to the beach boys or Brian Wilson(SMiLE) until this past year. SMiLE is coming to Berkeley on September 2! I am so there.

How about not bowing before one of the musical gods of my generation? Janis Joplin has been praised as the greatest blues singer of her generation. All I can say is that there must not have been very many, and they must not have been very good.

I've never seen ...
Everybody Loves Raymond
Seinfeld
Rosanne
Survivor
The Apprentice
any reality show
CSI (any version)
Murphy Brown

you get the idea ...

... and for someone whose spent 37 of his years in Indianapolis ... I believe that the Indianapolis 500 is the world's single most boring major sporting event.

I do not, nor will I ever, watch "The OC".

I have a portable mp3 player, but it's not an iPod.

I'd rather watch paint dry than an auto race of any kind.

And what's the deal with cardboard?

--David

I also didn't get the whole Blur vs. Oasis thing - some good songs but mostly meh.

Some songs should just sell a million copies on hooks alone...this is one of those.

ok, now for the tough stuff: chris....GNR most overrated band ever?! wow! you got some 'splainin to do, as they say.

that DaVinci Code reference was for you. how is that book business lately? and springfield? oh, and I hang in a lot of business circles, ergo the love of the supply-chain.

Todd S...nice to know you can separate your love of libertarianism from your keen sense of good literature. Yikes, Atlas Shurgged/Ayn Rand and Tom Clancy - - they would have loved each other in another life.

RickM: No Seinfeld...EVER?? REALLY?? Do you live on Earth? :-)

Dan Lucero: Careful, those remarks about Radiohead sound like fighting words...around here. ;-)

And D, I'm waiting w/bated breath for Half-Blood Prince as well. Hope you're planning on snatching a first-edition for that little girl in your life...

Not watching Godfather 1 or 2 is really a travesty! It's required watching for all Italians (like me), and should be for all human beings. Now, please, stop posting here and go watch it. You can skip #3. That's not The Godfather. Or, you can watch it, but don't have Godfather expectations.

I'm not sure what genre Eminem is considered, but he's got some great songs. I think "Closet" is my favorite. But, just about all other rap songs are indistinguishable. Just like any Beyonce/Spears songs. Those songs could not live without a video. On mute.

What a reset. Nice!

And, yes, there will be first editions of all seven books awaiting the day when the little girl doesn't instinctively destroy such things.

Not got the immersion in baseball culture that you lot have - never seen "Field of Dreams", never read "Ball Four", etc. I think the only baseball film I've seen is "A League of their Own".

As for the huge collection of literature I haven't read, well, we've all got one of those.

But the really uncool items on my resume are mostly my taste in music. Here's a play list from my (not) iPod: Britney, Anastacia, Atomic Kitten, Dido, Girls Aloud, Hear'Say, Natasha Bedingfield, LeAnn Rimes, S Club 7, S Club Juniors.

Admittedly, that's my uncool playlist, but my cool one isn't that much better.