Movies, music and more interaction

I do love it when people agree to play my reindeer games.

In response to my query for great underrated records, I discovered that there were a lot of fans of Dylan's New Morning album, which was on my list, and quite a few folk who believe Wilco hasn't gotten the righteous props deserved.

Among the albums submitted -- Prince's Sign O' the Times , the first New York Dolls album, Cheap Trick's Next Position Please , the Led Zep epic Presence , the Byrd's country-rock classic Sweetheart of the Rodeo , Gil Scott Heron's influential The Revolution Will Not Be Televised and After the Snow by Modern English.

The most popular -- and surprising -- pick was A.M. by college rock faves Wilco. It's hard to argue with, because that's a record I love as well.

That was two weeks ago. On Sunday, I ran a list of Essential movies. These were not necessarily my favorites, but movies I feel every film fan should see to properly understand the art, history and entertainment joy that is cinema. As with the underrated bands, I asked readers to let me know what I might have left off. Among the popular choices -- Psycho , Young Frankenstein , The Graduate , Unforgiven , Taxi Driver , Showboat , Stagecoach , Forrest Gump and Blade Runner .

Three of the more popular picks were Saving Private Ryan , Gone With the Wind and The Shawshank Redemption .

At the risk of inciting a mini movie melee, I'll let you in on a little secret. I don't think any of those movies are particularly good.

After the first 20 minutes (which are fantastic) Ryan becomes a fairly standard and sadly mundane war movie, nothing new under the Normandy sun. Shawshank continuously overplays its hand, bludgeoning the audience with life lessons when a more subtle approach would have been more effective. Gone With the Wind is a spectacle that never quite masks the so-so melodrama at its core.

Now here's the thing. I have this spot, once a week where I'm allowed to spout. It has been great. But I really want to do more than merely offer my ideas.

I'd like Pop Rocks to be a forum for discussion, a spot where one list can spawn many, where my opinions are just a starting point.

I'm not exactly the lovey-dovey touchy-feely type, but I feel like the 10 minutes we spend together -- figuratively speaking -- might be more interesting if the conversation became a little less one-sided.

Stay tuned.