UNDERRATED / OVERRATED

Watching the Olympics

A steady diet of badminton and rowing heats had the early days of this summer’s Games seemingly bound for the “overrated” column, but then Jason Lezak transformed himself into some machine-like sea creature to upset the French swim relay team in the last fraction of a second. It’s truly worth wading through the fast-food ads and time-bending tape delays for moments like these that absolutely justify the hype.

Pete Seeger

UNDERRATED

First we were inspired by last year’s amazing documentary “The Power Of Song,” now we’re simply humbled to hear that the preternaturally idealistic folk legend has a new album coming in September (“At 89”). Doesn’t he know aging and modern life are supposed to squash quaint notions of community action and making a difference in the world? Thankfully, no.

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OVERRATED

Home theater systems

Sure, you can have all the complex stereo separation and big-screen delights of the cinema in your living room these days, but once one component inevitably breaks down the repairs are so expensive you have to start shopping all over again. And that doesn’t even factor in the ever-changing technology that will render your setup obsolete in six months. Suddenly $12 a ticket doesn’t seem like that bad a deal, does it?

The ‘Star Wars’

franchise

We’re risking the loss of our Nerd Club membership (not to mention numerous friendships), but after six movies, hundreds of video games and eleventy-billion dollars, haven’t we seen just about enough of the many adventures and back stories of Mssrs. Skywalker, Kenobi and whatever Yoda’s last name is? We ate it up when we were kids like everyone else, but surely there are other galaxies far, far away worth exploring too.