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Annael
Elvenhome
Feb 5 2016, 5:28pm
Post #1 of 23
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Are you easily pleased?
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I have become aware that in comparison with many of the posters on the TORn boards, I'm a bit of a curmudgeon. I often find myself thinking "seriously, you LIKED that? How could you when [long list of things that annoyed me]." It's obvious that I'm pretty easily put off - although there are movies or books that I have loved that others have hated! So I chose the fourth option for myself: I'm hard to please, but it's not an impossible task.
I'm talking here about things, not people. I can forgive a huge amount of flaws in a person who is kind; on the other hand, a person who is exemplary in many regards but stiffs a waitress or doesn't like animals or kids is no friend of mine. So let's limit this to stuff like books, movies, food, etc. Although feel free to weigh in on other aspects of being easy or hard to please . . .
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joec_34
Rivendell
Feb 5 2016, 8:40pm
Post #2 of 23
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It really depends on what it is... But I usually can find something I like//
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Nieriel
Rivendell
Feb 5 2016, 10:12pm
Post #3 of 23
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to take out for dinner because I find poor presentation and halfheartedly cooked food to verge on a personal insult. I can tolerate a slap dash waiter or waitress if I feel that they are doing their best, but there is no excuse for a so called professional chef to serve less than what they'd consider perfection. "That'll do" doesn't cut it with me. For me, dining out is supposed to be an event that brings pleasure to my senses and not just fill a hole in my tummy. Books and films I will make an effort to like, but if my attention starts to wander, I'm gone. I require more or less immediate immersion or nothing - because I feel that's their purpose - They should be transporting me.
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Darkstone
Immortal
Feb 5 2016, 10:35pm
Post #4 of 23
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It boils down to respect.
Take television shows. Foyle’s War went through a period where whenever someone innocently comforted a member of the opposite sex, someone would walk in right at that exact moment and misunderstand. NCIS when through a season or two where the murderer was always the least likely suspect, so you could always predict it was whoever had the best alibi. And I remember the old Bonanza series, where whoever Ben, Adam, Hoss or Little Joe fell in love with would die at the end of the episode. Really, if the television writers don’t respect the material why should I waste my time with it?
Same with movies. If they’re obviously jumped on a genre bandwagon and are simply regurgitating characters, plot, and whatever succeeded in previous films, they better be several cuts above the others or I’m walking. However, if they’re stretching themselves trying something new, I’m willing to give them a chance and do my best to appreciate it.
Similarly I have no patience with books that are written by angsty young writers who want to share with everyone their startling discovery that the world is an awful terrible place full of disappointment, betrayal, and he dies, she dies, everybody dies. The same goes for those Marty Stu/Mary Sue books where the reader gradually becomes uncomfortable at the long passages describing how totally perfect and wonderful the main character is. In either case the reader realizes he/she has intruded upon a very private activity where the writer is self-flagellating or self-pleasuring (or both) and in either case it’s best to quietly close the book and go wash your hands with a strong disinfectant. If a writer is not interested in interacting with me and exploring something that’s exciting for both of us, I’m not wasting his, her, or my time.
As for food, if they’ve used good ingredients, seem to have cooked it with care and skill, and take pride in service, presentation and atmosphere I’m willing to overlook flaws and open myself up to a pleasant dining experience. However, if they’ve used inferior ingredients, slopped the food on the plate, and run the restaurant like an industrial assembly line staffed with robotic drones, it better rival ambrosia. (Hello, Burger King!)
Basically, if the artist respects me, respects the art, and respects himself/herself, I’m willing to overlook many a flaw. Otherwise it dang well better be really really good!
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imin
Valinor
Feb 5 2016, 11:28pm
Post #5 of 23
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Depends on the situation and my expectations.
For food i am mainly easily pleased, if i buy a ready meal it won't take much to please me as my expectations of it are low, essentially if it is edible then its ok. However if i were to spend $400 on a meal, then my expectations would be much higher and as such i would be more picky. However when i go out i want to have a good time so my attitude is one of will be pleased unless something bad happens which I'm not expecting it to, rather than thinking they will mess up or something bad will happen.
Music wise i think i am both easy to please and picky. I am picky in that there seems to be loads of music in the UK charts i don't like but if i get an album and there are a couple of tracks i like, that is enough for me, they don't all have to be ones i love.
Films, i tend to only go and see films i like the look of from trailers so i don't have many negative experiences there. I guess reading through that i am quite easily pleased but i put down balanced as on the odd occasion i can be really picky, such as with any adaptation of Tolkien's works :P
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sevilodorf
Tol Eressea
Feb 6 2016, 2:41am
Post #6 of 23
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Well. I'm willing to try a lot of things but
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If I don't like it I will make my opinion known.
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Annael
Elvenhome
Feb 6 2016, 4:39pm
Post #7 of 23
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The books I throw across the room because they are poorly written/poorly edited do make me feel as if the writer has no respect either for the language or the reader. And I have trouble with the (not earliest) films of Lucas, Spielberg, and Jackson, I'm afraid, because I feel like they are indulging their own favorite tropes without considering whether their viewers want to see 17 landings/takeoffs of CGI spaceships, watch a small child's face for 5 minutes every time something significant happens, or see yet another bad guy/bad animal/bad situation bloated out of recognition.
And my niece is forever trying to interest me in the music of yet another young-man-who-knows-three-guitar-chords-and-is-angry-at-the-world. I tell her to play me his music when he's learned his craft and has gotten over his own issues already.
(This post was edited by Annael on Feb 6 2016, 4:42pm)
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Feb 8 2016, 5:12am
Post #8 of 23
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I'm not nearly as much of a curmudgeon as I was when I was young.
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I used to like only classical music (and only some: Mozart yes, Brahms no) and the kind of music I heard at folk dancing, from Eastern Europe, Turkey, and Israel. I was too snobbish to like rock music (well, except for Jesus Christ Superstar, but the story grabbed me there.) It wasn't until I was married that my husband introduced me to the music of my own generation, and I realized that some of it was really good.
Similarly with poetry: anything modern enough that it didn't rhyme wasn't for me. I still like the older poetry best, but I've learned to love some modern poems too.
On the other hand, I've always loved all kinds of books, without much regard to quality. I grew up on the Power Boys (cheap ripoffs of the Hardy Boys). The writing was dreadful but the stories were fun. But I also read classics as a kid and loved them too, as I still do. And sometimes I enjoy some bit of ridiculous trash, like a romance novel. (Oh, heck, I'll admit it, I had fun reading Fifty
Shades of Grey, though I started skimming through the repetitive sex scenes after a while.)
And I find that I can enjoy music despite terrible recording quality, scratchy records or hissing tapes, because I can hear the Platonic ideal behind it. Maybe that's from decades of dancing to music that was a taped copy of a record that might have been slightly off-center when the recording was made.
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Dame Ioreth
Tol Eressea
Feb 8 2016, 1:55pm
Post #9 of 23
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I've been able to match my expectations to outcomes, for the most part. For example, my expectations were higher for the Cleveland Symphony than out high school orchestra and both met my expectations (and I'll admit, I got to be pleasantly surprised when the high school exceeded them). I can get a thrill out of something small because I know how much it means to the people involved. I'll pass on big events because the hype turns me off.
Life is too short to worry about whether something someone else did, said or created met with my individual likes and dislikes 100%. I prefer to find what I like out of something and let the rest go. 
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Ethel Duath
Half-elven
Feb 8 2016, 5:11pm
Post #10 of 23
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Yes, I do that. I think that's why I'm able to enjoy some things that may be poorly presented, but the reality itself is well worth it.
Maybe that's why my daughter and I can watch right through a smudged T.V. screen that drives the other members of the family nuts. 
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Annael
Elvenhome
Feb 8 2016, 7:00pm
Post #11 of 23
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not sure we're talking about the same things here
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Not liking different kinds of music or poetry - or food, or art, or whatever - to me is a matter of personal taste. I don't like horror no matter how well done it might be. But to me that's not the same thing as refusing to read a book because it's poorly edited or watch a movie where the director's ego is the primary feature (I'm looking at you Mr. Tarantino). Your last two paragraphs make me think that you can overlook a lot in the things that are to your taste.
Hopefully we all learn open our minds to new things as we age! But also become more discerning . . .
(This post was edited by Annael on Feb 8 2016, 7:03pm)
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Feb 9 2016, 2:27pm
Post #12 of 23
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One thing for which I have no patience, though
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is presentations I'm forced to attend at work that feel like they're wasting my time, or worse, insulting me. This may fall more into your "people" category, but they are performances of sorts.
I went to one last Friday. We were each given a potato, and told 'Say hello to your potato. Get to know your potato. Now say goodbye to your potato, and place it on the table over there. Now go see if you can recognize your potato." The man actually was near tears as he said "This potato is your *student*!"
Another presenter at the same event told us "You are not teachers. You are learning facilitators." I almost threw up.
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Annael
Elvenhome
Feb 9 2016, 3:51pm
Post #13 of 23
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I must admit my tolerance for certain "new age" ideas & practices is limited.
I went to one workshop where we all had to go out and "talk to a tree." I sat down in the sun with my back to my tree & had a nice time out. Everyone else came back with stories of what their trees had told them. The hardest part was not rolling my eyes.
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Feb 9 2016, 6:18pm
Post #14 of 23
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There was a lot of eye rolling
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and not just from me. The only redeeming feature was bonding with my fellow subversives. That and eating the potato later.
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Darkstone
Immortal
Feb 9 2016, 6:33pm
Post #15 of 23
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*sings* "I talk to the trees, that's why they put me away... "
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Then there's the Smothers Brothers' routine...
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Darkstone
Immortal
Feb 9 2016, 8:19pm
Post #17 of 23
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Hi, Tree! How's Mrs. Tree and all the little bushes?" /
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Annael
Elvenhome
Feb 10 2016, 8:04pm
Post #19 of 23
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I used "eye roll" on a forum for editors (to capture my reaction to someone not on the forum who calls herself an "empowered languaging expert" instead of a writer) and got this in reply:
I had a friend in intellectual property management at a University who was accused of using "horizontal hostility" - in this case, eye-rolling (which he swears he didn't do.) So I looked up the term.
"Behaviors consistent with horizontal hostility (HH) range from overt behavioral manifestations such as infighting among nurses; sabotage (where pertinent information is intentionally withheld); passive-aggressive behavior; eye rolling in response to a question; or verbal remarks that are snide, rude, and demeaning, to more covert behaviors including failure to respect confidences and privacy." New languaging in the workplace!
My mom just considered it typical adolescent behavior . . .
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Feb 10 2016, 10:34pm
Post #20 of 23
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I'm guessing that handing around buzzword bingo cards to my colleagues is "HH"
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I did that for years. I wrote an Excel program so each person got a randomly personalized card. In the "free space" it said "any acronym".
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Misto
Lorien
Feb 14 2016, 1:21pm
Post #21 of 23
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I would look at it the other way round
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I'm not particularly easily pleased, but I'm rather hard to annoy. There are a lot of things that set other people off that I tend to shrug (or even laugh) off.
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Lissuin
Valinor
Feb 15 2016, 12:50am
Post #22 of 23
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"I'm sensitive to every little blade of grass that grows,
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but I wouldn't talk to 'em."
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Gianna
Rohan
Feb 16 2016, 2:39am
Post #23 of 23
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In general I can find something nice to say about just about anything.
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I'm relatively easy to please, I can look past a lot to find a positive side. At the same time, there are things I am totally negative about. I don't see any good in erotica, period, exclamation mark.
About food... I am extremely picky...
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