READ THIS POST FIRST, in which our own Ned Lannamann reviews the Celine Dion book from Continuum’s 33 1/3 series. Ned is very smart, and his post is very good—except for his central thesis which a steaming pile of poopy.

“Dion’s steamrolling histrionics allow no such subtlety of interpretation.”

Sorry, Ned, but to view Celine as simply “steamrolling histrionics” is a bit of intellectual snooziness on your part. You don’t like her; fine. You announced in the first part of your post that you have no intention of liking anything about her, which makes your hard-nosed line on histrionics a bit hard to swallow as far as objectivity goes.

There are actually a number of reasons a fairly sane person might like Celine Dion: 1) Her voice is weirdly amazing instrument, regardless of whether or not it suits one’s personal taste. 2) She’s a freak - her face goes into weird contortions when she sings (a hypnotic sight if there ever was one), and her dance moves are taken straight from any of the ’60s dance party shows (which I personally love). But most importantly, 3) Celine Dion is the epitome of enthusiasm, which many current musicians (and music lovers) seem to think of as the ultimate of un-cool. Her concerts are a freaky (and for me, totally unironic) joy, because unlike so many others, she goes BALLS OUT. She seems happily trapped in a past where entertainers are happy to entertain—regardless of whether or not they look like a participant in the Special Olympics. And while I might not always like the song choice, I definitely think the rest of the package has entertainment value.

And while I would certainly agree with you that not all art is of equal value, there is always value in an individual’s perspective. (Even if you’re a godless Canadian, you’re opinion should be validated, if not respected worldwide.) If they (or I) choose to like or dislike Celine Dion (or Vampire Weekend, or Yelle, or Waylon Jennings for that matter), being embarrassed about it is a waste of time.

In other words, Ned, if you’re looking for an easy fight, then why don’t you go tip a cow, you big bully?

You get it, girl! (I rest my case.)