Pop culture is one of my sins, in that, I love to see a great movie, hear a cool new band or, well, I don't really watch a lot of TV other than sports (which I'll switch out in place of whatever that great new TV show is) and news.

There was an insert in the latest Rolling Stone about the nominees for the Grammy's, so I flipped through it, wondering what the industry thinks is the good music from last year. And the times for getting on the ballot are not calendar years (why? well, no one really knows for sure), so one of my favorites from last year (My Chemical Romance) was not released until after the deadline (sometime in October or something...maybe it's September, maybe it all has something to do with when the government is supposed to pass the federal budget). Anyway, looking through the insert (paid for by Verizon, who got as many pages for ads as the rest of the content), I realized I must have been living away from mainstream music this year. Sure, I have the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Gnarls Barkley CDs, but asking whether John Mayer made the best album last year...I couldn't tell you if a song was by John Mayer just by listening. But I hear he's NOT dating Jessica Simpson.

Which leads me, slightly, to the debate this morning about whose song was cut up for a commercial I've seen a couple of times. I can't tell you the advertiser, because I've been trying to rack my brains about who did the song. At this moment, my roommate swears I owe him a dollar because he identified the band as the Hot Hot Heat. I was thinking it was the Arctic Monkeys. At the moment, we have not found a definitive answer. But, obviously (since I have CDs by both bands), I don't always figure out the root of pop culture questions. Guess I won't be getting on VH1's next pop culture trivia program (interestingly, the online test is given on Valentine's Day night...so what are you saying about people who know too much about pop culture?).

I've been reading about and listening to the Shins a lot in the last couple of weeks. Their third album came out last week and debuted at number two with 118,000 sold. They lost out to Pretty Ricky (don't ask me, but he seems like an R&B/Rap hybrid guy), but beat the previous week's number one, Daughtry (late of American Idol, and coming through my town on Valentine's Day--playing on a stage my band has rocked a few times). The Shins began musical life in the mid 90s as Flake (then they were Flake Music), who opened up for a lot of the shows I'd see downtown in those days.

The Shins are the biggest success of the Albuquerque music scene, which could be why they don't live here anymore. I have a few personal stories about the Shins (not bad, no trashy gossip from me), but they are really only interesting if you went to the Golden West a lot in the mid-90s. So yea for the Shins! I'd say they should be nominated for a Grammy next year, but they're on a semi-independent label, so it probably won't happen.

I've not seen a lot of the Oscar nominated movies (because, unlike pretty much every other pop culture award, movies released right at the end of the year have the best chance of getting rewarded), but The Departed is a damn fine flick. Not one for the kiddies, but neither is Pan's Labyrinth. It is a fantasy film starring a young girl, which seems on the surface to be for the younger set. But it's not. Don't scoff at the R rating, there was stuff in it that made me flinch. Had this one been nominated for best picture, I'd have to do some soul searching, but it was only nominated for lesser awards. I'm not part of the Academy, so they don't let me vote.

Of course, I also saw one of the worst movies of the year (although, possibly, it wasn't as bad as Ultraviolet): Employee of the Month. And, because it was shot in New Mexico, I knew people in the film (a couple of small quirky speaking parts went to local actors), but that doesn't make up for the absurdity of the entire enterprise.

But today, in a few hours (the pre-game show started two weeks ago, so it's almost over, relatively), sports is the pop culture everyone will be consuming. Football. The Super Bowl. The biggest market for new TVs behind Christmas (neighbors a few doors down got a new one yesterday, but it was from Aaron Rents, so it could just be for today) is the biggest game in sports. Apparently people buy the biggest TV they can fit through the door to impress the drunk "friends" who will tear apart the living room in the course of four hours or so. And some (freaks) say they don't watch it for the game, but for the commercials. Is this why I'm sometimes out of touch with the mainstream?

Well, I've got chips, beer and bean dip all ready. And by the time you read this sentence, you'll know who won. It was the Bears, right?

Matt Worley has dubbed himself the Pop Monster in the past.