Rated: 96.67% (6 votes)
Loading ...Popular…so why is it crap?
Big_Adam
Well, seeming as no one here read the blogs bar perhaps Henry and Combatus (Yo guys) I can say pretty much what ever the hell I want and I intend to right …. now.
I’ve never understood popular …. …. anything. Cars, clothes, gadget if there popular they normally confuse the hell out of as theirs normally cheaper and better stuff about that does the same job.
Simple example; American Chopper have a shop close to me which I have been to and looked at shirts. The shirts ranged from £20- £50 for a t-shirt. My dad (being the chap he is) was going to buy me one to the response of “bugger off, not for that price” then we left after he bought two £25 shirts for friend. My shirts normally cost the grand sum of £10 for a pack of 5 black Dickies shirts. They make me non-naked and cover the flab, they perform their job. the American Chopper shirts are popular with the biker crowd so they buy them with no hesitation. Why? You can get them cheap and spend the cash on something better like food.
Another one, iPod (yes, I’m going there). I still don’t get why they are popular. Their little white things with screens a crappy interface and rubbish software yet people are willing to crap money out their own arse in order to get one. They cost a packet, get you mugged and work like a crap. Where as you can get a nice little creative player or similar for half the price or less then carry on saving a load of cash.
I don’t get it! Popular things tend to be expensive and crap (when it’s a physical object). I find the same with films, comedy shows just about everything. Everyone likes “The Office” but I think it’s a load of runny donkey dropping. Everyone loves “Harry Potter” which I think is the load of crap. Starbucks = crap. Halo = crap. I could go on.
The more popular an item or person tends to be the crapper it or they are.
The world confuses me so.
I hear you matey. Ipod is one of my pet hates too. When the original models came out, Creative and iRiver had far superior products yet the iPod sold by the bucket load. Trendy name or marketing or both, it’s the same thing with the Mac. I know plenty of people that have bought a Mac simply because of the popularity factor.
Call these people shallow or materialistic, but I prefer to be far more mercenary about the stuff I spend my hard earned cash on - ie research the area a little (the Web is a wonderful thing) and get the “best” item not the most popular one.
Fanboys aside this is what I like about the PC industry. People actually use their noggins and usually end up with the best hardware for their money. Take Issue 50 for example which landed on my doorstep this morning. No less than 3 times did the guys mention the G0 stepping Q6600. No popularity factor here, it’s simply the fact the chip kicks ass.
The blind faith that people elsewhere show (iPhone is a good example) is quite scary, especially as very few actually know the ins and outs of the product, yet they are quite happy to buy it and recommend it to others.
I generally agree though I would say that being popular and being fashionable can be two different things. It just so happens that both apply to the Ipod, which isn’t helped by the fact that Steve Jobs Worshippers believe they are counter to the mainstream when they mindlessly snap up anything with an Apple badge.
(2) The Office: Popular at the time but after seeing them twice, never need to watch them again - so it was both fashionable and popular but Ricky Gervais moved on years ago, it’s not his fault the media and public didn’t.
(3) Clothes: I just picked up 5 Tshirts from Tesco for £15, three quid each, great fit, don’t need any more for another year.
(4) However The exception is Harry Potter. It was only *popular* among the children it was aimed at for the first two books before they turned into telephone directories. By book three, they had become truly *fashionable* with all the adult editions and the films.
I have to admit I did actually like the HP films and went to the cinema to see the last two. Dragged by my gf of course… Apparently the books are good but I prefer to read other genres (sci-fi is about the only thing that can keep me interested).
I agree with a lot of what you’ve said, but I have to say I think Harry Potter is a great series of books. I really enjoyed them all. Are you basing that opinion on the books or the films?
I agree about iPods, and basically anything with an Apple logo on it, to be honest. People buy them because they’re Apple products, not because they’re actually any good. It’s really sad, but there you go.
Btw, on the subject of blog readership, this will change when the blogs are fully integrated across the site, which should happen next week (hopefully). At this point, we’ll have blogs on the homepage and lists of top blog posts across all blogs, which will make it easier to find stuff, including your interesting post about boobs (how can anyone ever get bored with boobs?)
I have one thing to say, i agree with what your saying. Alot of popular things are crap, but guess what:
Blogs are crap 
I couldn’t agree more. Everyone I know who’s got an iPod complains about how crap it is, the battery lasts a total of 20 minutes after you’ve reduced the sound quality of an mp3. I use my phone, simply because it’s easier than carrying around 10 different gadgets.
I can see the clothes argument from both sides. I like smart tops and I like to look decent. But you can pick up smart looking gear for cheap, My t-shirts cost me on average 8 quid from matalan. I refuse to pay £30 for a top, that when I put it in the wash it’ll shrink and the logo/motif will come off. Not to mention how poorly made they are. Have you seen some of the $hit they’re churning out lately.
Point 1.
I have a suggestion for you all. Come and live in New Zealand where you won’t have to suffer the anguish that over abundant choice is clearly inflicting on you. (Dickies is a premium brand here - a Dickies boiler suit costs $160 and you can only get them in ‘tall’).
Point 2.
If you don’t use iTunes who is going to protect you from the pure evil that is free music downloading. Huh? WHO?
Point 3.
Inside the popular crap are commodity components. This drives down the commodity price thus enabling us to build really cool stuff at a good price.
Hope this helps
g2