Just stumbled onto an interesting culture quiz. You pick your preference in 100 either/or questions. Fred Astaire vs. Gene Kelly, The Great Gatsby vs. The Sun Also Rises, Jackson Pollock vs Willem de Kooning, that sort of thing.
As it turns out, the quiz measures only how close your taste is to that of the author. I probably wouldn't have taken it if I'd known that in advance, but it was still interesting to categorize my preferences.
The author said he would choose column A in all 100 questions. I was almost evenly split: 43 from column A and 37 from column B. (I didn't answer 20 of the questions because I have no opinion on some of the choices, notably those relating to opera and dance.) He was trying to make a point, I think, that a person's tastes -- for example, preferring Fred Astaire to Gene Kelly -- tell you something about them. I think he's right that people can't be pigeonholed, since according to his cultural index I'm neither like him nor unlike him. But I do think that knowing a person's tastes in specific instances increases your ability to predict their other preferences.
Actually I think this is a skill. I have a friend with an amazing ability to predict books or comics I would like. Everything he ever gave or lent or even just recommended to me was a winner. But I know we do not have identical tastes. He likes things that I don't; he just doesn't recommend them to me. He used to work in a bookstore which I imagine must have helped develop this skill.
so... did you choose gene or fred? :-)
around the time that radio free closed, d. and i had some discussions about what could keep the bricks and mortar record stores alive, and my theory was that you could build a business off of the one thing that real record stores could do that amazon really can't quite do-- and that is to make really, really good recommendations. i remember viva could remember things i'd bought when the store first opened (an amazing skill in and of itself) and, pairing that with what i was currently buying and-- most importantly-- his own fantastic taste in music-- he could make great recommendations for me.
so i think that you are right, recommendations are a skill, one that computers can't quite reproduce yet (after many years as a tivo owner, it still doesn't find me anything good).
taste is also a skill, one that computers *definitely* don't have, and one that not all humans have either, of course.
so anyway, yeah. gene or fred?? :)
Fred baby, all the way! I don't dislike Gene Kelly but if I sat down to watch a movie starring one or the other, I'd choose Astaire pretty much every time.
I meant to add that recommending is definitely not a skill I have cultivated, at least in music. I find myself assuming people will like something because I like it, more than thinking about what they will like. Like you said my taste is accessible enough that it usually works out OK, though there have been some stinkers. Like Shoukichi Kina. I love -- !! love !! -- his music, but have never managed to turn anybody onto him. I guess anybody who would like him is already familiar with him.
My results were pretty similar to yours (quelle surprise!). I had 36 B choices. But I only punted on 6 questions, which probably just means I'm more willing to come up with a quick and ill-considered opinion when asked :)
i kept thinking, "this person sucks," until, inexplicably, we had something in common. and then i was like, "why does this person have such shitty taste in everything else????"
then i realized the basic problem:
sopranos/simpsons
motherfucker has no sense of humor.
I am vain enough to assume that I am the person in your example above. And I think you underestimate your skill at recommending music; while I enjoy your radio show a lot, the CDs of music you've made specifically for me match my own preferences much more closely.
But you didn't like Shoukichi Kina!
and yes, I was talking about you :)