{"id":69,"date":"2004-07-09T14:51:49","date_gmt":"2004-07-09T14:51:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/?p=69"},"modified":"2004-07-09T14:51:49","modified_gmt":"2004-07-09T14:51:49","slug":"wherein_i_fail_the_teachout_cu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/2004\/07\/09\/wherein_i_fail_the_teachout_cu\/","title":{"rendered":"Wherein I Fail the “Teachout Cultural Concurrence Index”"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s another one of those big personality surveys making the rounds on the ‘net this morning, 100 questions about your cultural preferences called the “Teachout Cultural Concurrence Index.” This survey originated<\/a> on a blog<\/a> belonging to a Manhattan music and drama critic named Terry Teachout. Given Teachout\u0092s credentials, it’s not too surprising that some of the items on this survey are a bit, well, hoity-toity, and not really the sort of thing that would appeal to a non-New York intellectual. (That’s a roundabout way of saying that I, like fellow blogger Kevin Drum<\/a>, didn’t know enough about many of the choices to have any preference. I hang my head in shame at my apparent Philistinism.) However, Teachout does state that his blog is about “all<\/i> the arts, high, medium, and low,” and, true to that declaration, his survey has plenty of the lower-brow stuff that I can relate to. Besides, I like taking these things. And therefore I offer the following window into my tastes, or lack thereof:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly?<\/i><\/strong> Kelly. Astaire is beautiful to watch, but he\u0092’s very formal, whereas Kelly amazes because what he does seems so natural and unplanned.<\/li>\n
  2. The Great Gatsby or The Sun Also Rises?<\/i><\/strong> I like them both, but I think I’\u0092d lean toward Gatsby<\/i>. Hard to say, though \u0096 it’\u0092s been years since I read it.<\/li>\n
  3. Count Basie or Duke Ellington? <\/i><\/strong>Don’\u0092t know enough about either to form an opinion. I’\u0092m not big on Jazz.<\/li>\n
  4. Cats or dogs?<\/strong> <\/i>Dogs, although cats do have their charms.<\/li>\n
  5. Matisse or Picasso?<\/i><\/strong> Matisse, although truth be told, I’\u0092m not keen on either<\/li>\n
  6. Yeats or Eliot?<\/i> <\/strong>I’\u0092m not big on poetry and so haven’\u0092t read these guys.<\/li>\n
  7. Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin? <\/i><\/strong>I like both, but if we go by who makes me laugh more, it’\u0092s gotta be Keaton.<\/li>\n
  8. Flannery O’\u0092Connor or John Updike? <\/i><\/strong>Haven\u0092t read Updike, so O’\u0092Connor by default.<\/li>\n
  9. To Have and Have Not or Casablanca? <\/i><\/strong>I love both, but I’\u0092m going to have to say Casablanca<\/i>.<\/li>\n
  10. Jackson Pollock or Willem de Kooning?<\/i><\/strong> Abstract art \u0096– bleah. But Pollock had a good movie made about him.<\/li>\n
  11. The Who or the Stones?<\/i><\/strong> The Who<\/li>\n
  12. Philip Larkin or Sylvia Plath?<\/i><\/strong> Haven\u0092’t read either.<\/li>\n
  13. Trollope or Dickens?<\/i><\/strong> Dickens<\/li>\n
  14. Billie Holiday or Ella Fitzgerald?<\/i><\/strong> Not much experience with either, but probably Billie.<\/li>\n
  15. Dostoyevsky or Tolstoy? <\/i><\/strong>Haven\u0092t read either.<\/li>\n
  16. The Moviegoer or The End of the Affair?<\/i><\/strong> Haven\u0092’t read The Moviegoer<\/i>, so End of the Affair <\/i>by default, although I have to say that I didn’\u0092t care much for it.<\/li>\n
  17. George Balanchine or Martha Graham? <\/i><\/strong>Who?<\/li>\n
  18. Hot dogs or hamburgers?<\/i><\/strong> Burgers, although a good chili dog is always a treat.<\/li>\n
  19. Letterman or Leno? <\/i><\/strong>Letterman<\/li>\n
  20. Wilco or Cat Power?<\/strong> <\/i>Never heard of Cat Power and I find Wilco pretentious.<\/li>\n
  21. Verdi or Wagner? <\/i><\/strong>Verdi<\/li>\n
  22. Grace Kelly or Marilyn Monroe? <\/i><\/strong>Kelly –\u0096 I don\u0092t care for dumb women, or at least those who give the impression of being dumb.<\/li>\n
  23. Bill Monroe or Johnny Cash?<\/strong> <\/i>Cash<\/li>\n
  24. Kingsley or Martin Amis?<\/i><\/strong> Haven\u0092’t read them.<\/li>\n
  25. Robert Mitchum or Marlon Brando?<\/strong> <\/i>Brando<\/li>\n
  26. Mark Morris or Twyla Tharp? <\/i><\/strong>I don’\u0092t know these people.<\/li>\n
  27. Vermeer or Rembrandt?<\/i><\/strong> Vermeer<\/li>\n
  28. Tchaikovsky or Chopin?<\/i> <\/strong>Not a lot of experience with either, but I’\u0092d say Tchaikovsky.<\/li>\n
  29. Red wine or white?<\/i><\/strong> White<\/li>\n
  30. No\u00ebl Coward or Oscar Wilde?<\/i><\/strong> Wilde by default.<\/li>\n
  31. Grosse Pointe Blank or High Fidelity?<\/i><\/strong> High Fidelity<\/i>. Grosse Point Blank <\/i>was too ironic for its own good.<\/li>\n
  32. Shostakovich or Prokofiev?<\/strong> <\/i>These are merely names to me. I’ve heard of them, but that’s about all.<\/li>\n
  33. Mikhail Baryshnikov or Rudolf Nureyev?<\/i><\/strong> Never seen a ballet, although Baryshnikov made a pretty good movie once (White Nights<\/i>).<\/li>\n
  34. Constable or Turner? <\/i><\/strong>Don’\u0092t know what this is referring to.<\/li>\n
  35. The Searchers or Rio Bravo?<\/i><\/strong> Don\u0092’t like Westerns much, really<\/i> don\u0092t like John Wayne.<\/li>\n
  36. Comedy or tragedy?<\/i><\/strong> Tragedy<\/li>\n
  37. Fall or spring? <\/i><\/strong>Fall<\/li>\n
  38. Manet or Monet?<\/i><\/strong> Manet, although I admit that I’\u0092m no expert on either<\/li>\n
  39. The Sopranos or The Simpsons? <\/strong><\/i>Haven’\u0092t seen The Sopranos<\/i>, but The Simpsons <\/i>is a classic. (Besides how can you compare a mafia drama with an animated comedy? Duh.)<\/li>\n
  40. Rodgers and Hart or Gershwin and Gershwin?<\/strong> <\/i>Gershwin & Gershwin, although it\u0092’s a close call<\/li>\n
  41. Joseph Conrad or Henry James?<\/i><\/strong> Conrad \u0096 James bores me to tears.<\/li>\n
  42. Sunset or sunrise?<\/i><\/strong> Sunset<\/li>\n
  43. Johnny Mercer or Cole Porter?<\/i><\/strong> Porter by default<\/li>\n
  44. Mac or PC?<\/strong> <\/i>PC<\/li>\n
  45. New York or Los Angeles?<\/i><\/strong> Tough choice — both overcrowded, dirty, dangerous places that have lots of cool stuff. LA, I guess.<\/li>\n
  46. Partisan Review or Horizon?<\/i><\/strong> What’\u0092s that now?<\/li>\n
  47. Stax or Motown?<\/i><\/strong> Motown<\/li>\n
  48. Van Gogh or Gauguin? <\/i><\/strong>Van Gogh, although in general I prefer realism to impressionism<\/li>\n
  49. Steely Dan or Elvis Costello?<\/i> <\/strong>Rick Springfield<\/li>\n
  50. Reading a blog or reading a magazine?<\/i> <\/strong>Magazine. Although I seem to read more blogs. Hmm.<\/li>\n
  51. John Gielgud or Laurence Olivier?<\/strong> <\/i>Neither, really. Gielgud, I guess, for his grumpy old man roles in later years.<\/li>\n
  52. Only the Lonely or Songs for Swingin\u0092 Lovers? <\/i><\/strong>And this is referring to?<\/li>\n
  53. Chinatown or Bonnie and Clyde? <\/i><\/strong> “Forget it, Jake — it’s Chinatown.”<\/li>\n
  54. Ghost World or Election<\/i>?<\/strong> Haven’\u0092t seen Ghost World<\/i>, but Election <\/i>didn\u0092’t do a lot for me.<\/li>\n
  55. Minimalism or conceptual art?<\/i><\/strong> Um, paintings that actually looks like something?<\/li>\n
  56. Daffy Duck or Bugs Bunny?<\/i> <\/strong>Bugs, definitely. Daffy is a spaz.<\/li>\n
  57. Modernism or postmodernism?<\/i><\/strong> Modernism. I\u0092’m not hip enough for post-anything.<\/li>\n
  58. Batman or Spider-Man? <\/i><\/strong>Batman<\/li>\n
  59. Emmylou Harris or Lucinda Williams?<\/i><\/strong> Can’\u0092t recall ever listening to either.<\/li>\n
  60. Johnson or Boswell?<\/strong> <\/i>Never read either.<\/li>\n
  61. Jane Austen or Virginia Woolf?<\/i><\/strong> Never read either.<\/li>\n
  62. The Honeymooners or The Dick Van Dyke Show? <\/strong>Dick Van Dyke <\/i>\u0096 Laura Petrie was hotter than Alice Kramden.<\/li>\n
  63. An Eames chair or a Noguchi table? <\/i><\/strong>Like I could ever afford either, but probably the chair.<\/li>\n
  64. Out of the Past or Double Indemnity? <\/i><\/strong>Double Indemnity (Barbara Stanwyck was yummy)<\/li>\n
  65. The Marriage of Figaro or Don Giovanni? <\/i><\/strong>Never seen either.<\/li>\n
  66. Blue or green?<\/i><\/strong> Blue, but would really prefer red.<\/li>\n
  67. A Midsummer Night\u0092s Dream or As You Like It?<\/i><\/strong> As You Like It<\/i><\/li>\n
  68. Ballet or opera? <\/i><\/strong>Never seen either, never had much interest in either.<\/li>\n
  69. Film or live theater? <\/i><\/strong>Film. Theater is good too, though.<\/li>\n
  70. Acoustic or electric? <\/i><\/strong>Depends on my mood –\u0096 electric in the car, acoustic on a Sunday morning.<\/li>\n
  71. North by Northwest or Vertigo?<\/i><\/strong> NxNW<\/li>\n
  72. Sargent or Whistler?<\/strong> <\/i>Sargent<\/li>\n
  73. V.S. Naipaul or Milan Kundera? <\/i><\/strong>Don\u0092’t know who these are.<\/li>\n
  74. The Music Man or Oklahoma?<\/i><\/strong> Haven’\u0092t seen The Music Man <\/i>and didn\u0092t care for Oklahoma <\/i>(not big on musicals in general, actually)<\/li>\n
  75. Sushi, yes or no?<\/i><\/strong> Yes<\/li>\n
  76. The New Yorker under Ross or Shawn? <\/i><\/strong>Wouldn’\u0092t know the difference<\/li>\n
  77. Tennessee Williams or Edward Albee? <\/i><\/strong>Williams<\/li>\n
  78. The Portrait of a Lady or The Wings of the Dove? <\/i><\/strong>Haven\u0092’t seen either<\/li>\n
  79. Paul Taylor or Merce Cunningham?<\/strong> <\/i>Don’\u0092t know who these people are<\/li>\n
  80. Frank Lloyd Wright or Mies van der Rohe? <\/i><\/strong>Wright<\/li>\n
  81. Diana Krall or Norah Jones?<\/strong> <\/i>Krall, although I don\u0092t really go for either one.<\/li>\n
  82. Watercolor or pastel?<\/i><\/strong> Watercolor<\/li>\n
  83. Bus or subway?<\/i><\/strong> Light rail?<\/li>\n
  84. Stravinsky or Schoenberg? <\/i><\/strong>Composers, right? That\u0092s about all I know about them\u0085<\/li>\n
  85. Crunchy or smooth peanut butter?<\/strong> <\/i>Smooth<\/li>\n
  86. Willa Cather or Theodore Dreiser?<\/strong> <\/i>Cather<\/li>\n
  87. Schubert or Mozart?<\/i><\/strong> Mozart<\/li>\n
  88. The Fifties or the Twenties? <\/i><\/strong>What are we talking about? Culture? Music? Cars? The Fifties for design, the Twenties for the parties.<\/li>\n
  89. Huckleberry Finn or Moby-Dick?<\/i><\/strong> Huck<\/li>\n
  90. Thomas Mann or James Joyce? <\/i><\/strong>Haven\u0092t read either. (Well, I did like Joyce\u0092’s short story \u0093Araby,\u0094 but that\u0092s not enough to form an opinion, is it?)<\/li>\n
  91. Lester Young or Coleman Hawkins? <\/i><\/strong>Never heard of ‘\u0091em.<\/li>\n
  92. Emily Dickinson or Walt Whitman? <\/i><\/strong>Great, more poets. Whitman.<\/li>\n
  93. Abraham Lincoln or Winston Churchill?<\/i> <\/strong>Lincoln<\/li>\n
  94. Liz Phair or Aimee Mann? <\/i><\/strong>Phair is hotter, but I don\u0092t know their music.<\/li>\n
  95. Italian or French cooking? <\/i><\/strong>Italian<\/li>\n
  96. Bach on piano or harpsichord?<\/strong> <\/i>Harpsichord, just ‘\u0091cause no one ever plays them anymore<\/li>\n
  97. Anchovies, yes or no?<\/i><\/strong> Hell no!<\/li>\n
  98. Short novels or long ones?<\/strong> <\/i>Depends on how much I\u0092’m enjoying them. Long if they\u0092’re good.<\/li>\n
  99. Swing or bebop?<\/i> <\/strong>Swing.<\/li>\n
  100. “The Last Judgment” or “The Last Supper”?<\/i><\/strong> “Supper”<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    So what have we proven here? Not much, except that I probably couldn’\u0092t carry much of a conversation with Mr. Teachout. Am I uncultured? I guess so. I am not uneducated, but I certainly don’t know much about jazz, classical music, or the performing arts. Make of that what you will, I suppose.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    There’s another one of those big personality surveys making the rounds on the ‘net this morning, 100 questions about your cultural preferences called the “Teachout Cultural Concurrence Index.” This survey originated on a blog belonging to a Manhattan music and drama critic named Terry Teachout. Given Teachout\u0092s credentials, it’s not too surprising that some of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-memes-and-quizzes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasonbennion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}