If you’ve ever had someone say to you “I can’t believe you’ve never” something, then you have a Pop Culture Blind Spot.

I’m as guilty as the rest of you. Even though I pride myself on knowing just about everything there is to know about everything Pop Culture, I’ve got huge blind spots just because there are only 24 hours in a day…and there are just some things I’ve straight up missed out on.

Now I’m not talking about things like “I’ve never seen ‘Mom and Dad Save the World‘” because maybe 10 people have seen that movie ever. (And yes, I’m one of those 10…in the theater). I’m talking about the huge over-sites of those things in Pop Culture that everyone should be required to see. For example, last year for my 29th birthday I watched ‘Top Gun‘…for the first time. That’s right, I’d never had the need for speed or heard the context of “Take me to be or lose me forever.” And honestly, it wasn’t that great. I mean it was an hour and a half of super tight close-ups in cockpits and shirtless dudes. Not exactly my cup of tea. But it was important to see because it was a huge blind spot in my Pop Culture knowledge. Now I get why people break out into “You’ve lost that loving feeling” in bars and why people answer the phone with “Talk to me, Goose.”

Another example? I’ve never successfully played through any of the ‘Metal Gear Solid‘ games. I mean I understand that they’re hugely influential over the last 20 years of video games, but I just don’t get it. I tried to jump on the bandwagon back in the PS2 days but I literally got so bored with the absolute bat-shit insane story that I gave up after a couple of hours. I was working for a video game company at the time and all of my co-workers were obsessed with it but I just couldn’t force myself to slog through it.

Which brings us to the reason behind this blog. I’m going to try and go back and try all the things that have fallen by the wayside over the years. I’ll watch the movies I’ve never seen, play the games I’ve never played and read all the things that I know I should have read by now. Each time I fill in a Blind Spot, I’ll blog about the experience. We’ll see if my views about Pop Culture change as I shine a light into all the dark little corners I’ve managed to avoid up to now.

And away we go…