Fanboy-ism; Am I a victim?

Well this is my first blog. Before I set this up, I wasn't even sure what a blog was. I mean, I've read a few blogs, and I get the idea that its basically a way for anyone to publish their ideas for mass consumption. I decided to title my blog "Hack of all Trades" because, like alot of people, I have a wide variety of interests and opinions on those topics ranging from strong to weak. I plan to touch on a lot of subjects through the course of blogging. In thinking about that framework for the blog, it occurred to me that my opinions may not in fact be my own.

A buddy of mine recently told me that I shouldn't go see the new movie "Watchmen" unless I've read the graphic novel. His reasons were basically that alot of important people have decided that Watchmen was the most important graphic novel in the history of the genre. My reply to him was thus: I'm avoiding this movie because I get the distinct feeling that its a "fanboys-only club". Unless you've read the graphic novel twenty times and posted your innermost feelings on every aspect of it on several message boards, you are probably not welcome in any theatre showing the film version. Now I've only seen the graphic novel in person once, and briefly looked at it, and since I'm not a connoisseur, it didn't strike me as any different from any other graphic novel I've ever seen (I don't read them for the record).

Bringing this example back into context, my buddy's strong opinion got me to thinking about how much his opinion is his own or if it is in fact merely borrowed from others who are "qualified" to have an opinion. I don't really care where the original graphic novel ranks in the all-time pantheon of literary works (including pretty pictures or otherwise). If I want to go see a whacky movie with fun special effects and glowing blue naked dudes, then I'll go see Watchmen. Is that a crime?

By the same token, I don't know one way or another how certain decisions at City Hall will affect Hamilton in the long or short term. I don't know for indisputable fact that improving transit will automatically improve urban centres. I can't say without a shadow of a doubt that I know every detail of the arguments surrounding any issue. BUT I have an opinion. My opinions about politics, urban life, the environment, and all other "serious important" topics, are generated by the people I interact with, the websites I frequent, the blogs I read, and my own personal background. I'm an amateur at everything, an expert in nothing (though I'm working on that re: transportation and transit). So when I blog about this that or the other thing, I will never pretend to know it all. More than likely I'll be reacting to something I've read somewhere else. The original source will be biased, and therefore I will likely be biased. I may in fact be a fanboy when it comes to alot of issues. Is that a crime? I hope not.

Maybe all this is just the whole point of blogging in the first place.