love the way you activate your hips and push your ass out. is the statement of taste really just a thinly veiled attack on the judgements of others? if you think someone has "good taste," are they subliminally placed into the "people i like" pile?

taste is, by it's very nature, a vague and subjective term; even though to people who care about such things, taste is highly objective. these people are probably/definitely snobs in one way or another, and are willing to dismiss you based on your preferences for foods, clothing, music, home decor, entertainment outlets and the like. being snobby may sound bad but really, aren't there some things that really are in bad taste? kitschy items like black velvet paintings? there can be no doubt that finding one of these on a wall in an otherwise tastefully appointed home would be in poor taste. this is similar to the "ugh, that's a beautiful girl, but why would she wear that?" line of observation.

so once you establish that you have a certain type of taste, you start to use this taste to pass judgement on others don't you? if someone appreciates the same movies and books as you do, wouldn't you think to yourself, "so-and-so has really great taste in movies." the unsaid portion of that sentence is "...just like me." by approving of someone's similar good taste in movies and books, you're patting yourself on the back.

on the other hand, if someone has tastes dissimilar to yours, you're ready to dismiss them, sight unseen. i mean, isn't that the whole premise behind listing your favorite books/movies/music/whatevers on friendster? if i see an auto-fail book or movie under "favorites" in friendster, i'm pretty much ready to throw in the towel on our potential friendship. i mean, we could still be friends, but it'll be a shallow friendship based on things unrelated to good movie and book recommendations. and really, who needs that type of friendship nowadays? many a budding friendship has been crushed by the listing of one of my top five auto-fail books. sad but true.

and sometimes i wonder how i can be friends with such people, people whom i readily declare "close friends," but then find out that they have three-fourths of my auto-fail list on their friendster favorites. a more logical person would take this situation and deduce that tastes in entertainment have nothing to do with the quality of the friendship, but i'd rather turn this sort of problem into one underpinned by religious logic. everyone sins, nobody is perfect, all can be forgiven, and if not, there will be punishment meted out at the end of the ride. all you can do in this lifetime is to try evangelizing to those heading down the wrong path. here, take my copy of "reality bites," please, just take it.

i believe with all my heart that people's tastes have a lot to say about them. if we can't judge someone based on the cover, at least let me judge them by the index. if two people can share a common love for a tv series or an obscure book, then they're destined to get along, because chances are, they see things the same way. the caveat here is that both of you have to appreciate the same thing about the shared favorite. if one person loves "armageddon" for its realistic portrayal of earth's potential fate and the other person loves armaggedon for its deep emotional impact, it's not exactly a shared bond. so even if two people declare similar loves for armageddon, the two of them really should dig deeper to make sure that they're on the same page.

one of my favorite comments that a person has ever made to me was, "i don't think i can trust someone who doesn't like hip hop." yes, you, you can be my friend. that statement and the motivation behind it pretty much epitomizes my entire attitude on friendship.