There are things that I haven’t done in life merely because I’ve said to myself, “Self, just because everyone else thinks A doesn’t mean you have to as well.”
This is silly, of course, but has some ramifications. I’ve never, for instance, read anything by Isaac Asimov, by all accounts one of the grand poobahs of science fiction. The last movie I’d seen starring Tom Cruise was Top Gun (I have seen cameo type films, namely Goldmember and Young Guns). I lost Lost.
Not a big deal, true, since other than the reading, I don’t think I’m losing anything other than water cooler conversation by not watching Tom or the cast of Lost go about their business. I decided to revisit this because of Tropic Thunder. Funny movie, but I was really watching it to tick off another Steve Coogan movie (another of my foibles, completism). My favourite character in the film was the producer. Bojana and I had been debating the length of the film who it could be, since he looked so familiar. Tom Cruise. Huh.
Now, another will fall (unless I don’t end up reading it, it happens in a busy house). The Wiki page for L. Sprague de Camp mentions that he was part of a monthly banqueting club that had been fictionalized in a series of short stories that sounded so interesting, I had to read them. The first should be at my library today. The author? Isaac Asimov.
Don’t think Tropic Thunder “starred” Tom Cruise, so you’re still safe there, IMO.
True, but he was an integral reason for why I liked the film, so it’s hard for me to discount him (To be honest, I meant to take out the word “starring”, but I slipped).