What Makes Something Good?

A good movie, good book, a good car or a good dish. What common denominator makes something good?

I was looking at a list of the oldest restaurants in each state. Notice I didn’t say the best restaurant — but the oldest.

But as long as I’m on the topic of restaurants what makes a restaurant good? Is it simply name recognition?

Is the Four Season’s good? I’ve never been there but I’ve heard it is. Is the food good — maybe? Is the service good — maybe? Are they better than other upscale restaurants — maybe?

Who Decides What’s Good

People are paid to review books, movies, and restaurants. Who died and left them in charge? When did they become judge, jury and executioner of the things we see, eat, or read?

One of my favorite movies of all time is Bullitt with Steve McQueen. While it did win an Academy Award for Best Film Editing (Frank P. Keller) it was not nominated for best picture.

A travesty in my humble opinion. If they gave best picture awards for car chases it would have won easily.

Have you ever heard of Richard DiLallo or Martin Dugard? Perhaps if I tied them to James Patterson and Bill O’Reilly respectively their names might ring a bell.

Who are those two guys? Ghostwriters. Are they the ones who actually write the books while the big names take the credit?

They would probably make the case that it’s a collaboration of minds. At least they do get second billing. But do they, or the big names, make the book good?

Some movies have 2^nd directors. So that muddies the water about what makes a movie good.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen an Academy Award for Best 2^nd Director.

Some Final Thoughts

Now I’m starting to second-guess myself.

Am I the sole judge of what’s good for me, or do I need some conformation from someone, who someone else has determined is qualified to tell me what’s good, even though I might disagree?

My head’s starting to hurt. Can I trust my instincts any longer?

I don’t know art but I know what I like. Does that knowledge fly in the face of an art critic who thinks a blank canvas with no paint on it says something?

I guess there is a sucker born every minute. That’s all the time I have today.

I have to answer an email from a Nigerian Prince that needs my help to get millions out of his country. I’ll be set for life. Sounds like a good deal — Right?

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