The 2014 Hype Index

MANILA, Philippines - Popularity can be a tricky thing. There are folks who deserve some of it but don’t have a single bit, and sometimes, too much of it ends up falling into the wrong hands. For whatever reason, becoming overhyped and overrated is far too easy in this town.

Just to help you distinguish these two contrasting ideas, something overhyped gets far more attention than it may deserve, while something overrated  gets far more admiration than it should. (Jennifer Lawrence, in our humble opinion, is overhyped but not quite overrated.)

At the risk of getting pelted with tomatoes, we came up with our very own index to plot out where items and figures in pop culture — from the criminally underseen House of Cards to Shailene Woodley’s wooden acting skills — fit on the ranges between underhyped/overhyped and underrated/overrated. We’re opening up our Burn Books and showing you the truth (well, our truth) behind today’s trending topics. Of course you could say we’re being downright mean, but if you ask us, being a hater is way too underrated an experience. Art by Maine Manalansan