Staff Recs: (Not So) Guilty Pleasures

via wikipedia.org

Nicolas Cage movies are without a doubt a guilty pleasure.

Staff

Hey, pleasures shouldn’t be guilty! Don’t let your suitemates judge you when you blast the new Justin Bieber album. Who cares if you’ve seen every episode of “The Bachelorette”? Eat your egg salad sandwich on your way to see “How To Be Single” for the 36th time. Here are the WSN staff’s not-at-all guilty pleasures.

 

Sean Kingston

I’ve been waiting for Sean Kingston to make a comeback for a long time. The man who blessed this world with “Beautiful Girls” and “Take You There” must have another hit song in him. Maybe his infectious melodies, pitch-perfect vocals and sunny attitude are too pure for the current pop scene. Still I have hope; because if you put on “Me Love” in any social setting, people can’t resist the urge to hum along. I’m warning you all, if we let Sean Kingston fade into permanent obscurity, it’ll be a great loss for all. —Zach Martin, Arts Editor

 

Nicolas Cage Movies

Forgive me for breaking the rules here, but I do not feel guilty for finding unbridled pleasure from watching “The Rock” and “Con Air.” The pair of rock ‘n’ roll action films are inane, so naturally they feature the great Nic Cage. Released in sequential years, it’s baffling to think that Cage could go from kicking ass as a scientist with Sean Connery to kicking ass as a wrongfully committed con with long hair. Truly it’s an incredible feat. These films are best taken in when watched one after the other (or at the same time, if you’re a mad man).— Ethan Sapienza, Film Editor

 

Buzzfeed’s “Tasty” Videos

I’m a person who loves to cook, but never has time to actually create elaborate and aesthetically pleasing dishes. I love Tasty videos because I can watch dozens of them at a time and live vicariously through the videos’ producers. Granted, they occasionally miss the mark, but most of the recipes seem delicious. Even though I’ve probably cooked only two of the recipes, I’ve seen almost every single video on their Facebook page.  It’s a way for me to trick my brain into thinking that the mac and cheese I’m eating for the fifth straight night in a row is more palatable than it actually is. I can just turn on my computer and think of better days ahead with Peking Duck inspired burritos. Anne Cruz, News Editor

 

“Sorry” by Justin Bieber

The song “Sorry” by Justin Bieber would be a great, guilt-free song that I could play all day if not for the deplorable character of the singer. As the young Canadian’s hair grew higher and higher away from his forehead, his demeanor seemed to crumble under the weight of his mousse-laden pompadour. Over the past few years, Bieber abandoned his pet monkey, egged houses, insulted Bill Clinton while urinating in a bucket and, in unforgivable arrogance, wrote that he hoped Anne Frank would have been a Belieber. Fortunately or unfortunately, I cannot look past Bieber’s many moral missives when listening to his song “Sorry.” The first time I play it, I feel vaguely guilty. By the fifth time, the infectious beat starts to feel corruptive. By the 50th time, I feel like a traitor to all humanity. However, the accompanying music video provides some redeeming qualities: the video, gratifyingly Bieber-less, is an energetic dance performed entirely by females. The absence of the male gaze in the video is refreshingly feminist. “Sorry” is a great song with a great video, sung by an artist who I would otherwise ignore entirely. Audrey Deng, Deputy Managing Editor

 

“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”

I know, I know, the show is dated. My mom calls me a nerd for having this show as one of my favorite television series to-date. But even though this show is nearly 20 years old, I can’t help but obsess over it so much that I’ve thrown well over $200 buying the comics that continued after the television series went off air. There’s just something about those dated pop culture references and slang that get to me. While I actually hated the main character Buffy — she annoyed me to no end — I found myself sticking with the show after falling in love with the rest of the Scooby Gang the moment I laid eyes on them. The absolute best installation had to be that oddball all-musical episode, “Once More With Feeling.” I’ve rewatched that one episode alone multiple times in the past year. I still have a picture of Buffy and Spike as my home screen on my laptop. Dejarelle Gaines, Copy Chief

 

Guy Fieri

My admiration for the bleach blonde, fried food enthusiast is equally divided between his classic Food Network program “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” and his promising new program “Guy’s Grocery Games”— “Triple D” and “Triple G” for short. While he is objectively the Food Network’s strangest presenter, there are just so many things to love about him. What’s more of a guilty pleasure than sitting in front of the TV for hours watching a rockabilly foodie take you on a trip to Flavortown and proclaim his love for a sauce that would even make a flip-flop taste great? Between the snappy catchphrases, sometimes appetizing food and that mesmerizing gif of him lapping up a bottle of San Pellegrino, what’s not to love about Guy Fieri? Joseph Myers, Theater and Books Editor  

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