A little Obsession Never Hurt Anyone . . . okay, well maybe.

Growing up, I was a huge Barbra Streisand fan. My dad had an album or two of hers but I never really listened to them. I think I began liking her when I listened to some of her records at my grandma's house in high school, which is odd considering most of my friends were listening to Aerosmith, They Might Be Giants, The Ramones and Aztec Camera. To say I ended up being obsessed with Barbra Streisand is putting it mildly. Pretty much everyone in my family can't hear a song of hers without cringing. In high school I even auditioned for our musical doing the same "I'd Rather be Blue" song in full roller-skates with faux grapes on the shoulders in my replica outfit a la Funny Girl. I can't tell you the hours of Barbra I put my friends through making them listen to such fabulous lyrics like, "Rub it on my belly like guava jelly." Now, I'm not talking about crazy stalker shit like Catherine Zeta-Jones's stalker , but I am talking about non-stop movie-marathons of The Way We Were and The Main Event. However, after all these years I don't think I've listened to a single Barbra Streisand album in at least ten or so years and I don't think I've bought one in half that. But when she released her newest album recently with Barry Gibb entitled Guilty Pleasures, I perked up. Although I'm not quite as big a Bee Gee fan, of all 50 some-odd albums I had once owned, I really liked Guilty. Guilty was one of the few albums that I was really into and felt like when I listened to that one inparticular my family didn't go as crazy. Barbra at full volume all the time for 2 years is pretty tough to take. And in high school I even found me a boyfriend who liked Barbra as much as I did. (I'm sure all of you know how long that lasted, because as we all know, most men who like Barbra Streisand are . . . usually not hetero.) What can I say, I was 17. I like me some Barbra tunes, but all things in moderation, right?I think now I've spent enough time away from Barbra music, movies (and stealing her trash) to maybe enjoy Guilty Pleasures--and really . . . to have it be just that.