Justin Timberlake

Let's start off by saying this: There are a lot of people, places, and things in this world that I do not like. And most of the people who really know me know that I'm pretty open about my opinions. I throw the word "hate" around quite a bit to describe my feelings towards certain entities.

John Travolta. The Yankees. Quentin Tarantino. Current rap albums. John Travolta. Anything with the word "lil" in it. "Desperate Housewives." The San Antonio Spurs. John Travolta. Corn. Kobe Bryant. Traffic. John Travolta. All MTV programming. The entire state of Arkansas. Quarterbacks with "dumbface" (see: Eli Manning). John Travolta. Almost all non-Texas country music. Terrell Owens. Referees. John Travolta.

There's a pretty significant list of things I "hate." Of course, when I say "hate," I mean it in the "strong dislike or annoyance" sense, not in the "I really wish that didn't exist" sense. (Except John Travolta. Him I really hate.) But what I really hate (in the "this drives me crazy" sense) is when there's someone or something that I feel like I really SHOULD hate but I can't. When I encounter one of these people, places, or things that I should hate, I get this conflicted feeling in my stomach where I feel guilty for not hating he/she/them/it. (Again, bear in mind the many definitions for "hate".)

Tony Romo elicits this reaction. Everything about what Romo stands for is everything I stand against. He's a Dallas Cowboy for one and even worse the quarterback for the Cowboys. He's a pretty boy and insanely popular and he never gets enough of the limelight. All of these things should make me hate him. But darnit if it isn't impossible to do so. The guy came from nowhere, he seems to enjoy himself each week, and by all accounts, he genuinely is a nice guy. How can I hate that? "The O.C." also falls into this category. Lindsey forced me to watch this show in exchange for her watching "24." Every bit of my being wanted to hate this but by the end of the third episode I was dying to know what was going to happen. Creed might be the most classic example of this internal dilemma. I always knew good and well that I should despise Creed. They were pretentious, over the top, and far too popular for their own good. But I loved every minute of their 4 or 5 year reign.

But all of these "Should Hate 'Ems" comes anywhere close to the Should-Hate feelings I have toward one Justin Timberlake.

Timberlake stands for everything I hate in this world. He's a former boy band member. Blah. His current musical styling, Top 40 rubbish mixed with sort-of rap and cheesy ballads, is just slightly above blah if only because the beats are generally pretty solid. Just about every girl on the planet is in love with him. His insane popularity alone is reason enough for me, the guy who rebels against everything popular, to hate him. Yet as hard as I try I just can't hate the guy.

I was reminded of this once again this weekend when I watched a DVRed episode of Saturday Night Live from a couple of weeks ago in which Timberlake made an appearance. The last SNLs hosted by Timberlake in the past have been perhaps the best episodes that show has done over the last decade. They are absolutely hilarious. "Omeletville," "The Barry Gibb Talk Show," and "Punk'd" are inspired performances and even they pale in comparison to the digital short that just about EVERYONE has seen by now. ("Step one: you cut a hole in a box...") This time around he wasn't the host but his two segments were the best of the night. The Weekend Update would-be recap was completely genius and he followed that up by coming on stage in a leotard and high heels as a dancer in the new Beyonce video. His genius doesn't stop with SNL. The stunts he pulled at the ESPY's were classic and to my understanding he came up with quite a few of them on his own.

What makes these appearances so funny is Timberlake's refusal to take himself too seriously. That's the key here. Too many of the celebrities in our world today have read their own press and believe themselves to be as important as People magazine has built them up to be. In truth, they are ENTERTAINERS and the second they let these messages go to their heads they cease to be entertaining. This is something that Timberlake has figured out. By coming on a show like Saturday Night Live and poking some fun at himself while at the same time participating in some genius bits gives the impression that he's a good guy, a down to earth guy, a regular guy who just got lucky and happened to make it big in Hollywood. Is he a normal guy? Absolutely not! I'm sure Timberlake can be just as pretentious and uptight as anyone else in the Celebrity World. But he doesn't seem like it when he's jumping around in an omelet suit or screaming, "I'm Ashton Kutcher and I'm awesome!" over and over again.

The dude doesn't take himself too seriously and so I have to appreciate the genius that he brings to table when I do get the chance to see him outside the musical arena. He's just unhateable.

And I hate that.