Five Things I’ve Gone from Hating to Loving

I’ll admit, I’m somewhat of a hypocrite. Either I’ll dismiss a book before I’ve read it, listen to one song of an artist and hate them, or pass judgements on people before I actually get to know them. Then I’ll actually get around to reading the book, or listening to a different album of the artist, or learn more about the person– and find they’re totally awesome. Here’s five things that I’ve done that to:

1) Harry Potter. I’ll admit that I immediately disliked it after reading the first chapter, and condemned it every chance I got when I’d stopped on page eight or so. For another two or three years, if HP entered the discussion, I was the first to shoot it down.

Then, only last year, I realized I wasn’t being completely fair to J.K. Rowling– if I were an author who’d worked really hard on seven books, I’d be infuriated if people hated them just because they were “popular”, without having given them much of a try.

I won’t say that Harry Potter immediately changed my life, like so many others have shared (such as Kristina Horner and the insanely nerdy–and perhaps just insane– “biggest HP fan on Earth”), but I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed all the books and movies, and it’s neat being able to geek out on something with almost everyone I know (since the other stuff I like, ala Dr. Horrible and Fullmetal Alchemist, are more obscure). I think that J. K. Rowling, while maybe not possessing the most moving writing style, has a true gift in creating books that the entire world can relate to.

2) The series Shuffle!. My sister’s friend adored the show and apparently cosplays as Primula at conventions, so my sister and I decided to check it out. At first the show starts as mindless and stereotypical of the harem* genre, and I found myself disliking the predictability of every character and the motionless plot. But in the middle of the series, things take a turn for the dark and it goes from nonsensical and whimsical to a very emotional (albeit sometimes melodramatic) story of jealousy and pain. Not to give away the end, but one of the characters is driven over the edge and goes psychologically insane– it’s so cool.

3) Angsty rock songs. I’m not saying I own every song by Linkin Park or Sixx:AM, but there are a few by them and others that I used to think were stupid and now I love. Maybe it’s the onset of teen rebellion, if you will, or maybe I’m just able to stomach harder songs now. You’d be amazed how many of these mainstream artists don’t swear (at least in my favorite songs of theirs).

Said favorites include Savin’ Me by Nickelback, In the End by Linkin Park, Mr. Brightside by The Killers, Famous Last Words by My Chemical Romance, Thks Fr Th Mmrs (Thanks for the Memories) by Fall Out Boy, Whataya Want from Me by Adam Lambert, and anything Switchfoot has ever produced.

I still like Christian rock more than the mainstream stuff, and I still don’t like the majority of this kind of stuff (because it’s so full of immoral junk!), but there are a few diamonds in the rough that I’ve come to appreciate.

4) Broadway musicals. I attribute my initial hate to an incident I had when I was probably only seven or eight, which involved watching the Phantom of the Opera movie very late at night and then seeing Eric smiling creepily in all the windows when I tried to sleep. Gerard Butler has that effect on people.

Now the movie is one of my favorites of all time, and I’ve expanded my Broadway fangirlism to include Les Miserables and Wicked, both of which I’ve seen on tour. I can pretty much sing any song from those three; especially Les Mis, because in preparation for seeing it in person, I had nothing but Miz tunes on my iPod for about a month and a half. I studied with them, rode horses with them, slept with them playing, etc.

There’s something about musicals (especially Broadway ones, although I flinch when Dr. Horrible and Kuroshitsuji can’t be included there) that’s just incredible. The talent of those involved always astounds me.

5) Vocaloid. (Sorry for the 60% music-related ones. I go through music phases like Captain Hammer goes through girlfriends.) (Three DHSAB references in one post– must be a record D:).

ANYWAY. I used to think Vocaloid was stupid, back when I didn’t know much about it except that people used a computer program to make music, instead of actually singing, and how geeky could people get?

Well, apparently I’ve joined those terrible ranks, because I can honestly say I’ve gained an appreciation for the software. Especially voice packs like Miku Hatsune, who can sing higher than any natural human that I’ve ever heard. Vocaloid is used a lot for backup singers on real tracks, because of the cost effectiveness, but it also allows those with no musical prowess (such as myself), to actively create music.

I haven’t played around with the software myself, because it’s rather expensive for recreational use, but there’s some really neat examples of well-made Vocaloid songs on Youtube: for example, this, this, and this. The latter happens to be my absolute favorite.They’re really not that cool if you’re not into the techno genre, but for someone who likes electric songs (thinks All Caps, but in Japanese, and robots), they’re awesome.

I mean, one of the lines is “an array of colorful doom” (the first link in above paragraph, 1:09 minutes in). How cool is that?

I might use that sometime.

Is there anything you used to hate and now you love? Is it because you gave it a chance, your tastes changed, or something else?

(And I’m finishing up those badges from yesterday’s post! They’ll be done tomorrow, promise. All the different contexts were epic nerd epicness.)

*harem= a genre, typical of shoujo anime, in which a person is surrounded by attractive people of the opposite gender who all have varying degrees of attraction towards the protagonist. Think of it as a love triangle on steroids, with as many as a dozen people vying for the affections of one person.