zlacker

After reading that book I found it a lot less easy to be amused by Dilbert. That experience contributed to my actively trying not to learn things about artists I enjoy. It's that "don't meet your heroes" cliche, I guess.

>>EvanAn+(OP)
I had this exact experience. Growing up I had nothing but good memories of reading Dilbert over my breakfast cereal, and then laughing as I got into the workforce and realized how accurate the satire was. And then seeing what "he" was actually like just completely threw me for a loop.

>>rco878+l6
At some point he had a mailinglist called Dogbert's New Ruling Class (DNRC) which would soon come to rule the world. In it he wrote lots of really weird, unhinged, occasionally funny stuff. At the time I thought it was all one massive joke, layers of irony and trolling. But more recently I've been wondering if he was actually serious.

>>EvanAn+(OP)
That didn't change if I enjoyed his strip, but it definitely made sure I didn't take anything else he said seriously.

>>EvanAn+(OP)
I had that same epiphany when reading a biography of Ernest Hemingway.

Another type of work I avoid are "the making of ..." documentaries/accounts of classic works of film, music, and TV shows. Pulling back the curtain really destroys the magic.

>>gs17+Ei
In general, if an "entertainer" has no "offstage" persona, they're batshit and it's not a bit.

>>rco878+l6
I had an opposite experience. I found his comics not-funny when I was a kid, but then as a grown-up who had worked in a corporate environment, I found many of them funny.

>>mcv+fh
I still read coworkers as "cow-orkers"

>>ilamon+zD
Unless it's about the moving forced perspective shot in Bilbo's home, right? That's impressive AF.

>>appare+UZ
I had 100% the same experience. I thought they were stupid when I was young, after working in an office for a year or two I thought they were peak humor.

>>EvanAn+(OP)
I try and also never actually listen to the lyrics of songs, like 90% of the time I'm disappointed and it ruins the song for me.

>>grogen+1U1
Opposite of my experience. I love reading the lyrics and Genius annotations on songs I like. Vampire Weekend has a lot of good lyrics. Reading the annotations for The Black Keys' Turn Blue album was kinda eye-opening, and Kanye has a lot of great memorable lyrics as well. I feel it helps me appreciate the songs more deeply on later listens. Also it kinda bugs me if I can't quite catch some words in a song in the live-listen.

>>mcv+fh
If you could share any links to DNRC related content, I'd love to see it. Can't find anything online, just broken links.

>>ilamon+zD
I had this same feeling. Same with reading a biography of Kurt Vonnegut. Before reading it, I thought of them in idealistic ways. They had multiple affairs and weren't such great people, even though they both wrote really, really well.

>>opan+pb2
Example:

I Write Sins Not Tragedies - Panic at the disco:

So you're a guest at a wedding and you're eavesdropping and passing judgement on people based on a snippet of conversation. Ruined.

Example:

Going the Distance - He's bad at racing and can't realize it. He's burning real relationships. I'd otherwise love this song.

Years ago my brother pointed out that lyrics are just a form of percussion.

I'm glad they add for you, they typically detract for me.

Not paying attention to the lyrics also les me deal with music as just grooves in a flow state as well.