Andrew / February 1, 2008 12:10 AM

Suggested by Tracie. If you've got an idea for a Fuel question, email it to inbox @ gapersblock.com.

Carlotta / February 1, 2008 3:39 AM

Well, this stretches the question, but....I'd be embarassed to admit that

-- I look at celebrity mags
-- I get a thrill from on-ice fights at hockey games

pantagrapher / February 1, 2008 8:42 AM

I really can't think of any.

I like the song "Gloria" by Laura Branigan. Should that be embarrassing?

skee bop / February 1, 2008 8:47 AM

I like kelly clarkson and that reality show "the hills"....but i would say that I am more personally confused by the fact that I like them than I am embarrassed to talk about it.

Sol / February 1, 2008 8:51 AM

Laura Branigan did "Gloria?" I have a friend obsessed with her songs, and was subjected to many of them a while back, but I didn't know why her voice sounded familiar.

Anyway - I love everything Sandra Bullock did between her 1st and 2nd nose jobs. And "The Mummy" but I'm not embarrassed about that.

Spook / February 1, 2008 9:18 AM

Bad 80's pop/disco, yes like Gloria by Laura Branigan, Hall and Oates,etc.

good Zombie movies and good horror movies in general

and yes the Suntimes, sometimes I see it sitting on a empty seat on the el. I swipe it, hide in in the depths of my bag and read it at home when I'm eating!

But at least its not the Red( Stupid Eye) Eye

Greg / February 1, 2008 9:25 AM

Music: Boz Scaggs. Especially the cheezy ballads like "We're All Alone."

TV: Cheaters

Movies: Howard the Duck

Books: I think the most embarrassing thing about my reading habits is that I don't read enough.

kate / February 1, 2008 9:33 AM

I was slightly embarrassed to tell people that I stopped following the news. All of it. But when someone told me about the monkeys in New Delhi, I realized I'd made the right decision - I now only hear about the truly awesome news.

I love Hall and Oates, but I'm not embarrassed about it.

Go Cubs Go / February 1, 2008 9:47 AM

Movie: "She's The Man" starring Amanda Bynes. Like many of my hate-to-admit it movies, I caught this on cable one boring afternoon, watch the whole thing and liked it. Why?

Books: "Follow My Leader". I read this when I was a kid. It was about a boy who was blinded by a firecracker or something, got a guide dog and in the end saved one of his friends using his cool guide dog. It made me want to be blind.

Music: Too many to name. I guess the most recent are "I'm Coming Out" by Pink and "SexyBack" by Justin Timberlake. I'm not supposed to be listening to these songs.

Leelah / February 1, 2008 9:51 AM

Movies - I should be embarrassed by my love of "Dirty Work" but I'm not!

Books - He's Just Not That Into You. I am embarrassed typing that!

Music - I should also be embarrassed by my love for Kelly Clarkson and Billy Joel ("The Stranger" and "Glass Houses" era), but I'm still not.

corinna / February 1, 2008 9:52 AM

Before I moved to Chicago, I fell in love with it via this early chick-lit book called The Dieter, about a North Shore resident and ex-ST journo who gets divorced. (I swear, it's hilarious!) I had to bring it with me when I moved, even though it's an embarassing presence on my bookshelf.

YAJ / February 1, 2008 10:06 AM

I’m a little embarrassed about my love for early Anne Rice. It’s probably exacerbated by the books sitting next to Ayn Rand’s on my bookshelf. They look odd together.

Bill V / February 1, 2008 10:18 AM

Scissor Sisters and their disco, also used to be Belle and Sebastian and their wimpy first couple of CDs, now B & S is one of my favorites.

lmy / February 1, 2008 10:24 AM

i can't not watch 2 weeks notice (sandra bullock & hugh grant) when it's on cable. i don't know what's wrong with me.
i secretly put kelly's clarkson's since you've been gone on repeat when i'm at the gym. it makes me want to kick my ex-boyfriend's ass.
also ex-boyfriend related, the book, the girls guide to surviving a break-up, gets me through life sometimes. i've read it twice now, but it's like i need to when life's not going my way. i also read martha stewart's living which seems strange to me because i'm a young lady.

Mikey / February 1, 2008 10:34 AM

As a late thirty-something male in good standing, I should be embarrassed by both my affinity for all things Universal Studios classic monsters (i.e. Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolfman, the Mummy and the Creature from the Black Lagoon) and all things Harry Potter, but I'm not...

Did I mention that I still like to smoke pot too (something else I should be embarrassed by, but surprisingly am not)?

HelOnWheels / February 1, 2008 10:37 AM

Movies: Dude Where's My Car?! is a guilty pleasure. However, I don't think I'm embarrassed to admit it.
Books: I'm not embarrassed about reading any type of book. But I am embarrassed to admit I "read" the high fashion mags like Vogue.
Music: 80's pop and hair-metal. I love it, embarrassed to admit it and, most times, embarrassed to listen to it in front of other people.

m / February 1, 2008 10:40 AM

probably about 35% of my itunes playlist is embarrassing for others to even see, but i make no excuses. i love kelly clarkson and alkaline trio. its just the way i am.

im trying to not be as embarrassed by the fact that i love top model, rob & big, and pretty much any reality show that features really rich socialites (including real housewives of orange county and, yes, i will be watching the real housewives of new york). i too, cant not watch 2 weeks notice (or any other hugh grant movie on tv).

as for books, anything sophie kinsella (of the "shopaholic" series) has written, i will read. that is something i am truly truly embarrassed by.

i would say, these are things i dont generally share with people i've just met, but i'm generally pretty open to discuss the things i love to hate, and hate to love.

printdude / February 1, 2008 10:46 AM

The Sun-Times.

Val / February 1, 2008 10:50 AM

I enjoy breaking out a Brittney CD...

I also love the cheesy Lindsay Lohan movies...

*blush*

Oh the shame.

Leelah / February 1, 2008 11:12 AM

Ah! I forgot to mention "America's Next Top Model"! Not only will I watch those all day marathons on Mtv, but I will watch them even when I have already seen them.

Project Runway, too, but I'm less embarrassed about that.

flange / February 1, 2008 11:14 AM

sigh.

"jerr-ree! jerr-ree! jerr-ree!"

although i have to say. every time i've suggested to a friend that we should attend a taping, they've all said "been to one. don't need to go again."

jennifer / February 1, 2008 11:23 AM

I'm sure that there are more examples that fall into this category. (perhaps I am suppressing them from even myself.) but most definitely 'the hills.' I tell very few people about that one.

Mucky Fingers / February 1, 2008 11:26 AM

* I don't like country music, but I love Garth Brooks. I hide this from everyone.

* All the lesser stuff that Prince did. Who has Under the Cherry Moon on DVD? How about the Apollonia 6 album?

* Movies: Stone Cold, Airheads, PCU, Boat Trip.

* Any kind of wine magazine in an effort to be a more informed oenophile (or a more cultured wino, I can't tell which yet).

* America's Next Top Model. All those vapid, emaciated young women breaking into tears over the smallest slight. What twits they are. I'm a sadist.

Andrew / February 1, 2008 11:36 AM

I confessed to Cinnamon last week: I like "Girlfriend" by Avril Lavigne. She admitted she liked it too. And then we hung our heads in shame.

(The Chinese version is weirdly fun.)

jeff / February 1, 2008 11:37 AM

embarrasing:
TV: Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Upon admitting to a friend:

Buffy, really?
Oh, right, for the snappy mametesque dialogue, PoMo intertexuality and cultural references, not for the WB dawsony teen angst drama.

JAH / February 1, 2008 12:04 PM

Cops. I'm secretly hoping to see someone I know from my little Missouri hometown get busted for cooking meth or something like that.

David / February 1, 2008 12:11 PM

Books: Clive Cussler. Started reading 'em as a kid, they still taste like candy today.

Movies: Everyone tries to make me feel ashamed for this, but I'm not. "Josie and the Pussycats" was a brilliant piece of cinema, from start to finish. It almost (ALMOST) made me believe Tara Reid was a...sigh...good actress.

Damn.

Mikey / February 1, 2008 12:13 PM

A couple years back, I went to Las Vegas for Super Bowl weekend and had a huge luxury suite at the Rio all to myself that my friend had received as a comp...

After staying out and partying till 6:30AM the first night there, I was so hungover I stayed in bed the whole next day and watched something like ten consecutive hours of a Charmed marathon on television...and yes, I liked it.

Robyn / February 1, 2008 12:27 PM

I really like Barenaked Ladies' first three albums. I also have no problem with Maroon 5.

amyc / February 1, 2008 1:23 PM

I love the Monkees. There, I said it.

I know they're a fake band put together for a TV show, but they actually could play their instruments, Mickey Dolenz had a great voice, and they had some of the best songwriters of the 60s (including Neil Diamond, another guilty pleasure) writing for them. Seriously, listen to "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" or "Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)."

I downloaded their greatest hits off iTunes, and I listen to it when I'm alone. And I love it!

Milena / February 1, 2008 1:28 PM

fergie's song Glamourous

real simple magazine

the hills

steven / February 1, 2008 1:34 PM

I saw Titanic in the theaters 4 times and loved every minute of it. And cried at the end each time. My ex-gf and I couldnt get enough.

And I used to love watching Jerry Springer. Peoples Court and Judge Judy are cool too.

whet / February 1, 2008 4:53 PM

Music: "Torn," by the poor man's Carla Bruni

Movies: "Field of Dreams." Should I be embarrassed about that?

Etc: Vocalo. Kind of addictively bonkers.

tk / February 1, 2008 5:05 PM

Movies: Anything where adversity of any type is overcome through dance... and most things on Lifetime TV on Sunday afternoons.

TV: Court shows. Love 'em. And Ninja Warrior, but I refuse to be ashamed of that!

PMan / February 1, 2008 10:43 PM

Can't think of any books or movies that I'd hesitate to own up to, but more than a few songs, such as "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None the Richer -- it was on the rental care radio constantly during a great road trip 9 years ago.

There's a lot of TV shows that are guilty pleasures for me. Num3ers, COPs, the Rockford Files, and that Two Men show with Charlie Sheen are all very entertaining for me.

Lauri / February 2, 2008 8:53 AM

Boney M
Dschinghis Khan
Starock
Butch Willis and the Rocks

Check any of these on YouTube to see what I mean .

Mary A. / February 2, 2008 11:36 AM

My #1 most played song on iTunes is "Africa" by Toto.

butterfly / February 2, 2008 1:43 PM

"Robin Hood Prince of Theives" starring Kevin Costner. I tell myself it's because of how great Alan Rickman and Morgan Freeman are - and they are! But really I love the whole, dreadful movie and always cry when Bryan Adams' big song comes on.

I'm also really ashamed of High School Musical. I own both DVDs.

obiewan / February 2, 2008 1:54 PM

yeah, uh, so Gossip Girl. It's so wrong on so many levels- like a car wreck but I can't seem to turn away.

Wendy / February 2, 2008 2:05 PM

Amy, not only do I love the Monkees, I totally loved the VH1 movie about the Monkees. That's right: I even love the pale TV imitation of the pale TV imitation of The Beatles.

JD / February 2, 2008 4:09 PM

Harold And Kumar Go To White Castle. And all of "The Cube" movies.
As for music, Fiona Apple, Imogen Heap, and Bjork.
And books? I removed the cover from my Stephen King's Skeleton Crew so I could read it on the bus.

Cletus Warhol / February 2, 2008 4:23 PM

Many years ago (when it first ran) I was thoroughly addicted to "My So Called Life." Until then I had never really been able to personally relate to the term "guilty pleasure," and although I would sheepishly admit my love for the show to close friends, I pretty much kept my obsession for that angstyteen melodrama under wraps.

Oddly enough, I still haven't seen the final episode of the series, so I have no idea how all the little subplots ended.

JB / February 2, 2008 4:50 PM

Nelly. Seriously. I loooooves me some Nelly.

amyc / February 2, 2008 5:11 PM

I totally loved the VH1 movie about the Monkees

Oh my god, why do I not know about this? Is it as terrible as the VH1 movie about John Lennon and Paul McCartney wandering around Central Park talking about trepanning?

Amanda / February 2, 2008 6:20 PM

I watch Degrassi High: the Next Generation, when I probably should be watching This Week with George Stephanopolis. Also, Gossip Girl. I know, I need help.

crystal / February 2, 2008 9:54 PM

Cletus,

What are you talking about? I loved My So-Called Life back in the day when it first came on, and I recently borrowed the DVDs and I fell in love with them all over again, especially since I didn't get to see all of the episodes the first time around. I am not ashamed of my love for adolescent angst done well.

My weaknesses are chick flicks like Devil Wears Prada and I definitely want to watch 27 Dresses.

Shows: Sex and the City. Got addicted to MTV's Laguna Beach during a marathon. Real Housewives of Orange County (is that the actual name?) Elimidate was fun to watch.

Books: I love juvenile fiction and young adult fiction, but I am not embarrassed by that; many times good quality YA fiction is actually written better than some contemporary authors. But would I actually admit to that in a high-falutin book club? Probably not.

Natalie / February 2, 2008 10:51 PM

Oh, I am so in agreement with butterfly on "Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves." I saw it in the theaters 3 times, and I remember it fondly.

I am embarrassed to admit that I looove Phillippa Gregory's trashy historical fiction (The Other Boleyn Girl, The Virgin's Lover, etc.).

And I really do like Billy Joel. I don't think any of my friends know that.

Arsenal / February 2, 2008 11:15 PM

Bill O'Reilly, The Golden Girls
Andrew Dice Clay, Guns & Ammo magazine (don't own any, just love reading about them), "The Devil Wears Prada", "Tootsie",

I don't know why anyone would be embarrassed by "Field of Dreams" or Steven King books.

m / February 3, 2008 9:26 AM

omg, there are so many things people are writing that i have forgotten about.

gossip girl for one.

but is bjork really embarrassing? i have a bjork ringtone. but i also have The Safety Dance ringtone.

Cletus Warhol / February 3, 2008 1:23 PM

I loved the show too, crystal. My comment was more about my embarrassment with that love, seeing as I was a bitter cynical old midthirtyish dude at the time. And Claire Danes was a dead ringer for my high school girlfriend, which also freaked me out a bit.

I suppose the guilt from guilty pleasure things is sometimes more about our reactions than the quality of the work (I also don't see why one should be embarrassed to like Bjork for example).

So what happened in the end? Did her Dad have that fling? Did Rayanne OD or something equally destructive? Did Jordan learn to read? Did the dorky brainy kid ever get acting work again?

d / February 3, 2008 2:52 PM

The movie U got served!

I secretly dream of sponsoring it to be shown at B-Fest and putting together a dance crew to bust a move before the showing.

graumach / February 3, 2008 5:03 PM

The whole "guilty pleasure" thing is so subjective, in the usual trash v. treasure way. A guilty pleasure for me would be listening to Cheap Trick or certain early-to-mid career Robert Palmer songs; which is probably more than acceptable to a large portion of the population.

Reruns of "Hawaii Five-O" occasionally, because as a kid I though Jack Lord was cool as hell.

Stupid, mindless action movies sometimes; tho' I think I tend to very much favor explosions over car chases. Sometimes you have to kick back and let the brain go on autopilot.

Zombie movies, Spook? The kid in me has always held the opinion that anything with zombies in it is cool. Too often, monsters can't just be monsters -- they're metaphors for something else (usually sociological). Often the same goes for zombies, but zombies always work on the non-figurative level, regardless.

And there's nothing wrong with the Monkees. Despite their supposed "pre-fab" rep, they did have two seasoned musician-songwriters in the band and had plenty of veteran songwriters selling them tunes, which put them ahead of any number of other manufactured groups of their day. C'mon, "The Porpoise Song"? Very nice. Plus, judging from their movie "Head" and the later episodes of their TV show, I've long suspected that Mickey Dolenz was getting his hands on some wicked drugs at some point.

Brraaaaiins....

crystal / February 4, 2008 8:27 PM

Cletus,

oh, okay, that makes sense. I was actually Angela Chase's age when it first came on, but even after all these years, the show still resonates with me.

Dad never has the fling, Rayanne is strangely doing okay, and the nerdy guy writes the love letters for Jordan to get Angela back. The writer/producer wrote the ending for their first season as if they were coming back for the second, so a lot of unresolved issues...

Another fact - so you don't feel too weird having liked it as a thirtysomething is that Winne Holzman, the producer/writer for the show said that the show was never intended as a "teen" show, because the story arc involved a lot of people like the parents...etc. Because Claire Danes was only 14 at the time (playing a 16 year old), she couldn't work that much, so actually the show had to focus on the other characters more, which helped deepen and develop the other characters.

Okay, I will stop now. All Wikipedia stuff. I am a big MSCL nerd, and I was surprised that I still liked it after 12-13 years. It really stands the test of time.

Cletus Warhol / February 8, 2008 2:33 AM

Thanks for the synopsis of the final episode and the background info. Yeah, the adult plot lines did resonate with me, especially between Claire's parents. It was a great show (despite my self conscious discomfort at the time) and I'll definitely watch it whenever it gets rerun somewhere.

Cletus Warhol / February 8, 2008 1:54 PM

Oops, Angela that is. I'm mashing it up in my brain with Six Feet Under.