Here’s a pet peeve I was thinking about this morning:

When folks recommend something w/o actually experiencing it first. In fact, such recommendations are such a turn-off that they frequently lead me to NOT read/watch/listen to whatever it is that is recommended until enough time has passed that I can do so w/o feeling I’ve enabled their behavior.

A slightly less onerous infraction is to give a negative review/recommendation w/o actual experience. Since some things are obviously garbage w/o having to experience them to know, I can let this slide – depending on how legalistic the viewer’s lens has proven to be.

The list is rather long, but to name a few:

* Harry Potter books
* Pulp Fiction
* 1776
* The DaVinci Code (book)

The latest one that I am FINALLY doing something about is the musical Wicked. I really like the music, but other than the synopsis, I can’t tell you about the quality of the show. Of course, neither can someone who told me how wonderful it is and recommended it to me last year:

Them: You have to see it!
Me: Alright, when will it be off broadway?
Them: It will be in Chicago in 2006.
Me: Ugh (I don’t like Chicago). When did you see it?
Them: I haven’t, but Defying Gravity is such a cool song and…
(additional blather I tuned out because we had now moved into the realm of their imagination of what Wicked might be like)

So, I’m taking Phoenix to see Wicked on the 8th (with the caveat that he drive to and from there, so that he can get some big city driving experience).

Will I recommend it? Not till after the 8th.

Who knows, I may like it so much that, were I in Chicago, I’d go back and see it! (Well, maybe not – after all, that would require going back to Chicago. Did I mention I hate Chicago?)