I’m not sure what news surprises me more: That Dog the Bounty Hunter was shot at by one of the people he was trying to well not arrest more like apprehend in a forceful manner or that there wasn’t a camera crew there to catch the shooting. Seriously, the only reason anyone knows about the guy is that a camera crew follows him around. Even with that no one really cares. Finally something interesting happens and they miss it. If you shoot at a reality television star and there is no camera there to film it does it make a sound? Guess it depends on whether the guy used a silencer or not.
Also, can someone please explain to me why I would care about what Miss California has to say about anything? To start we are talking about the Miss USA pageant, the low rent cousin of the Miss America pageant. So we aren’t even talking about the real Miss California here. If you want to get a sense of how high end the Miss USA pageant is notice that not only was Perez Hilton a judge so was Eric Trump. I wouldn’t recognize Eric Trump if I passed him on a street corner begging for loose change. Actually, I think I have. But my main point is that we are having this huge media event over a flubbed answer in a competition that no one cares about. The only reason that it has become important is that we are so tired of all the depressing news that we have decided to make this important. I don’t expect that too many people are taking their views on gay marriage or opposite marriage from beauty contestants. So can we please stop talking about it?
Add to that the woman in Britain who sang a song from Les Miserables. So has every single person who has ever tried out for a high school musical and we don’t keep their stories in heavy rotation. That is the most patronizing thing I have ever seen. Ooh, let’s carefully edit something so we can all act surprised when someone who doesn’t look like a model shows that they actually have some talent. We’ll feel good about ourselves for seeing that looks aren’t everything. It’s contrived and downright mean when you think about it.
The fact that all of these stories have made pretty big headlines in the past week (as in becoming featured stories on CNN) gives an indication as to where we are as a culture at the moment. Mainly that we have been so beaten down by bad news that we are now focusing on the trivial just to make it through the day. I wouldn’t even call it uplifting trivia. We just don’t want to hear about the economy or war or strife or anything of that sort. We want to escape the hard news cycle and return to a simpler time. If I was working in Hollywood I would be trying like mad right now to just get some straightforward, funny sitcoms on the air. Some really dumb comedy like Alf. Self aware that it knows that it is dumb but well written enough to be interesting. It would be a huge success. Because what we are looking for right now is an escape.
Wednesday Night Music Club: I think that I have been posting videos for about two years now and I don’t think that I have ever posted a Kasey Chambers song. That surprises me as I just think her voice is amazing. Here is a video that always reminds me of Jackson Square, mainly because I have a feeling that it was filmed there.
Showing posts with label pop culture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pop culture. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Thursday, April 09, 2009
The Influential 15: Culture (Part Three)
Very interesting comment on the last post about whether or not Obama qualifies as a Gen Xer. We are certainly agreed in that Obama is the first post-Boomer president, which was the crux of my argument. I had never heard of the Generation Jones concept and I will admit that it does make sense in that using twenty years for generations does create issues when looking at things from a cultural standpoint. I still say that Obama shows Gen X tendencies especially in his embracing of the internet and the understanding of the importance of the medium. Also, Henry Rollins was also born in 1961 and I would like to think that we are of the same generation so take that for what it is worth.
Ok, on to the final five.
9/11: I almost didn’t include this one. Maybe it is because it is so obvious or maybe it is because it is a rather challenging subject to write about. Even though it has almost been eight years the wound is still fresh enough that examining it in a detached manner is difficult but I’ll try.
Obviously this is the biggest historical moment of my lifetime and the one where I can discuss where I was in great detail. I was lying in bed listening to sports talk radio when I heard that the first plane had hit. I ran over to my living room to turn on the news in time to watch the second plane hit live. It still bugs me that when I heard the news I jumped out of bed but Bush decided to keep on reading the children’s book.
What interests me more is how we have changed as a nation as a result. The hope was that we would become a less cynical, more helpful and understanding to our fellow man as a result. Instead I think we have become darker. We lost our boundless optimism and replaced it with a self defeating view of the world. What I find even more telling is that the greatest damage caused by that attack wasn’t by the terrorists: it was by ourselves. The attack was horrible and tragic and we all still feel for the thousands of innocent people who lost their lives that day. But the events that followed: the misguided war, the loss of civil liberties, the crashing of the financial system, none of those were caused by the terrorists. We did that to ourselves out of fear and poor leadership. In fifty years that is how historians will view the events of that day.
My family gets cable: Ok, I guess from a generational viewpoint this would be the mainstream introduction of cable but I will write this solely from my experience. Getting cable meant access to a whole new world of options. Imagine growing up in a world of maybe six or seven channels, several of which came in either fuzzy or in Spanish. Then imagine having forty channels including ones dedicated to music and sports (mainly Australian Rules Football) and children’s programming. It was a completely mind altering experience. The options seemed to be limitless and it has led to my having hundreds of channels of which I watch, well, six or seven.
I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention the other main benefit of cable: boobs. Yes, the wonders of premium cable in which you could see naughty bits and hear swear words all in the comfort of your own home. This is another reason why I can’t even comprehend what it must be like to be a 13 year old boy today. In my day it was a huge deal to try to sneak down to the living room late at night to watch something that was forbidden. Now I expect kids just sit in their rooms and download the most vile things imaginable. I never thought that I would refer to my youth as a simpler time.
Launch of the Atari 2600: A major event on so many levels that it can’t even begin to be understood. First off, it was one of the first times in which a new thing became commonplace in a home. People had a television and a stereo. Now they also needed an Atari. This was the first true gaming system for the home and I can’t even begin to estimate just how many hours of my life were spent playing every game imaginable. From the incredibly basic sports games (one on one basketball! Four on four football!) to the epic Activision games of River Raid and Keystone Kapers. And let us not forget Decathalon; the game that taught us the importance of the javelin toss while also giving carpal tunnel syndrome to every man my age.
But really Atari marked the beginning of the home gaming craze. What had started in the arcades (and Pac-Man in the arcades really deserves an honorable mention here) entered the home and has never left. Nintendo took up the banner and now we have Playstation and Xbox and immense online games played on computers. It is considered commonplace to all sit down in front of a screen with a controller in hand and play. Except that in reality that experience is only thirty years old.
Run DMC Releases “Walk This Way”: Rap existed before this song hit the airwaves but no one knew about it. Correction: white suburban kids did not know about it because MTV would not air the videos. But with this song the hip hop revolution was launched and has not stopped since.
It really is amazing to look at just to what extent hip hop has taken over the musical landscape. Back when I studied the sale of ringtones (I’ve had some strange jobs in my life) the top of the sales charts consisted almost entirely of hip hop. It wasn’t even close. You would have to scroll through pages of songs before you came across the first traditional rock band. The same is true in many aspects with album sales. Look at any billboard chart for the past ten years. Hip hop has replaced two guitars, bass and drums as the musical standard.
At its best, rap and hip hop are the first new art form produced by American culture since jazz. At its worst, it can be really, really bad, which doesn’t separate it from any other art form. But everything from music to fashion to language has been influenced by hip hop and it all started with this one song.
I join the internet: Everyone remember when they first got online? For me it was 1993 with a Prodigy account. Technically I was online earlier with an email account through Illinois’ mainframe system but I consider 1993 as the year I entered the internet age. My AOL account was started in 1995 and I will have had the same email address for fourteen years this summer, which is just amazing.
Simply put, the internet changed everything. It gave a reason for people to have a home computer for something other than playing video games. It led you to find people of similar interests from around the world instantaneously. The entire world shrunk. No store was too far away or a conversation to difficult to have. The idea of writing a letter became ludicrous. Even now, I can scarcely remember how I lived before Mapquest. How in the world did people find where they were going? (On a similar note, the launch of the cell phone gets an honorable mention as well due to the fact that without it meeting people in a crowd was essentially impossible.) Thanks to my phone I am essentially online 24 hours a day and run a website that is visited by people on every continent. Pretty amazing event if you ask me.
So there are my fifteen. Let me know if you think there is anything that I missed.
Ok, on to the final five.
9/11: I almost didn’t include this one. Maybe it is because it is so obvious or maybe it is because it is a rather challenging subject to write about. Even though it has almost been eight years the wound is still fresh enough that examining it in a detached manner is difficult but I’ll try.
Obviously this is the biggest historical moment of my lifetime and the one where I can discuss where I was in great detail. I was lying in bed listening to sports talk radio when I heard that the first plane had hit. I ran over to my living room to turn on the news in time to watch the second plane hit live. It still bugs me that when I heard the news I jumped out of bed but Bush decided to keep on reading the children’s book.
What interests me more is how we have changed as a nation as a result. The hope was that we would become a less cynical, more helpful and understanding to our fellow man as a result. Instead I think we have become darker. We lost our boundless optimism and replaced it with a self defeating view of the world. What I find even more telling is that the greatest damage caused by that attack wasn’t by the terrorists: it was by ourselves. The attack was horrible and tragic and we all still feel for the thousands of innocent people who lost their lives that day. But the events that followed: the misguided war, the loss of civil liberties, the crashing of the financial system, none of those were caused by the terrorists. We did that to ourselves out of fear and poor leadership. In fifty years that is how historians will view the events of that day.
My family gets cable: Ok, I guess from a generational viewpoint this would be the mainstream introduction of cable but I will write this solely from my experience. Getting cable meant access to a whole new world of options. Imagine growing up in a world of maybe six or seven channels, several of which came in either fuzzy or in Spanish. Then imagine having forty channels including ones dedicated to music and sports (mainly Australian Rules Football) and children’s programming. It was a completely mind altering experience. The options seemed to be limitless and it has led to my having hundreds of channels of which I watch, well, six or seven.
I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention the other main benefit of cable: boobs. Yes, the wonders of premium cable in which you could see naughty bits and hear swear words all in the comfort of your own home. This is another reason why I can’t even comprehend what it must be like to be a 13 year old boy today. In my day it was a huge deal to try to sneak down to the living room late at night to watch something that was forbidden. Now I expect kids just sit in their rooms and download the most vile things imaginable. I never thought that I would refer to my youth as a simpler time.
Launch of the Atari 2600: A major event on so many levels that it can’t even begin to be understood. First off, it was one of the first times in which a new thing became commonplace in a home. People had a television and a stereo. Now they also needed an Atari. This was the first true gaming system for the home and I can’t even begin to estimate just how many hours of my life were spent playing every game imaginable. From the incredibly basic sports games (one on one basketball! Four on four football!) to the epic Activision games of River Raid and Keystone Kapers. And let us not forget Decathalon; the game that taught us the importance of the javelin toss while also giving carpal tunnel syndrome to every man my age.
But really Atari marked the beginning of the home gaming craze. What had started in the arcades (and Pac-Man in the arcades really deserves an honorable mention here) entered the home and has never left. Nintendo took up the banner and now we have Playstation and Xbox and immense online games played on computers. It is considered commonplace to all sit down in front of a screen with a controller in hand and play. Except that in reality that experience is only thirty years old.
Run DMC Releases “Walk This Way”: Rap existed before this song hit the airwaves but no one knew about it. Correction: white suburban kids did not know about it because MTV would not air the videos. But with this song the hip hop revolution was launched and has not stopped since.
It really is amazing to look at just to what extent hip hop has taken over the musical landscape. Back when I studied the sale of ringtones (I’ve had some strange jobs in my life) the top of the sales charts consisted almost entirely of hip hop. It wasn’t even close. You would have to scroll through pages of songs before you came across the first traditional rock band. The same is true in many aspects with album sales. Look at any billboard chart for the past ten years. Hip hop has replaced two guitars, bass and drums as the musical standard.
At its best, rap and hip hop are the first new art form produced by American culture since jazz. At its worst, it can be really, really bad, which doesn’t separate it from any other art form. But everything from music to fashion to language has been influenced by hip hop and it all started with this one song.
I join the internet: Everyone remember when they first got online? For me it was 1993 with a Prodigy account. Technically I was online earlier with an email account through Illinois’ mainframe system but I consider 1993 as the year I entered the internet age. My AOL account was started in 1995 and I will have had the same email address for fourteen years this summer, which is just amazing.
Simply put, the internet changed everything. It gave a reason for people to have a home computer for something other than playing video games. It led you to find people of similar interests from around the world instantaneously. The entire world shrunk. No store was too far away or a conversation to difficult to have. The idea of writing a letter became ludicrous. Even now, I can scarcely remember how I lived before Mapquest. How in the world did people find where they were going? (On a similar note, the launch of the cell phone gets an honorable mention as well due to the fact that without it meeting people in a crowd was essentially impossible.) Thanks to my phone I am essentially online 24 hours a day and run a website that is visited by people on every continent. Pretty amazing event if you ask me.
So there are my fifteen. Let me know if you think there is anything that I missed.
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
The Influential 15: Culture (Part Two)
Time for part two of the Top 15 Cultural Moments of my Lifetime. First off though I would like to give an honorable mention to the introduction of the Denny’s Grandslamwich. I know that it was only officially introduced today so I don’t have a lot of historical data to go on but I am certain that this will go down as one of the high points of western civilization. How could you go wrong with “scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, ham, American cheese, mayonnaise and a maple spiced spread between two slices of potato bread?” Finally, a meal for those of us who have sat down at a Denny’s while still technically drunk, looked down at our Grand Slam breakfast and said “You know what would make this better? Mayonnaise. And a convenient way to hold it in your hand.”
Anyway, back to the countdown.
Live Aid: This begins with the release of Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas”, which I still contend is not only the best charity song ever released but simply one of the best songs of all time. How many other songs from that time frame can you both name and sing in its entirety? This really is the one and only huge concert event of my lifetime. The Baby Boomers can have their Woodstock (three days in the mud to hear Country Joe and the Fish followed by Sha Na Na? The drugs must have been really good.) Gen X will certainly try to disavow any knowledge of Woodstock ’94 (brought to you by Pepsi) and Woodstock ’99 (come for the music, stay for the looting.) Even Lollapalooza never touched the epic scale of Live Aid. It was one of the moments where you spent all of what was a beautiful summer Saturday staying inside watching television because you just did not know what you were going to miss if you left. Led Zeppelin getting back together? Black Sabbath with Ozzy? A reunited Beatles with Julian Lennon replacing John? That last one was plausible on that day. And it was all for a cause that people were really behind. Give Bob Geldof credit, he galvanized the world on the topic of starvation in Africa. While some of the attempts since have focused on needy causes none had the epic scope of Live Aid. Plus, it helped launch U2 into superstardom so we should give it credit for that as well.
The O.J. Simpson Verdict: I was working in an office at ComEd that housed a call center at the time this verdict was read. For the ten minutes before and the five minutes after the verdict they did not receive a single call. This is a call center for one of the largest utilities in the country. That is the best indication that I can give as to how everyone was glued to the television set at the moment this verdict was read. Most people discuss the trial and the verdict and the aftermath from a race viewpoint. In my mind, this trial was all about celebrity. It had little to do with justice or with law and had everything to do with showmanship and fame. Everyone involved became famous. People would comment on Marcia Clark’s wardrobe or Johnnie Cochrane’s wordplay and then go home to watch the Dancing Ito’s on Leno. Yes, in a double murder trial we felt that it was comical to have a vaudeville version of the judge. This wasn’t a trial about race or murder. It was an indication as to how seemingly sensible people can be completely derailed once they discover that the whole world is paying attention to them. And how the shrewd among them can use that aura of celebrity to get away with murder.
Shawn Fanning Launches Napster: The mark of a sea change in the way all media will be created and distributed. We haven’t even begun to understand just what Napster wrought on the world. It wasn’t Shawn’s intention to completely revolutionize (and possibly destroy) the entire entertainment industry. He just wanted to make it easy to share music with his friends. But oh, what a world he has created.
Essentially the issue is this. Napster showed that information and data (which is all that a song or a book or a movie is at the end of the day) wants to be free and easily shared. If I have a copy and I want to lend it to you I will. That has always been true. However, before the internet I would have to physically hand you my copy. Now I can give you a copy over the net that is completely identical to my original. In fact, you don’t even have to be my friend. You can just be some no name online. So we have an end product being treated like it is free when it still costs significant capital to create. People can watch Wolverine before it is even released and the movie studio doesn’t receive a cent for something that cost 50 million to make. That is the biggest issue that Napster has created. How do you have an entertainment industry when there is a system in place that will ensure that you will never profit from your creation?
Also, bonus points for being the application that drove broadband into the forefront. Previously the only people striving for higher bandwith were gamers and people who were interested in accessing the, uh, darker portions of the internet. With the ability to easily download music suddenly the world wanted to go faster. Not a bad accomplishment for a college kid.
Election of Barack Obama: Let’s put politics aside for a moment. Whether you agree with his policies or disagree with them is irrelevant for the points that I am going to make here. Obama marks a massive change in the political landscape. First, he is the first Gen X president. Born in 1961 he just makes the cut under Strauss and Howe’s definition of the 13th Generation (see my 15 Influential Books for more details). After several election cycles in which Baby Boomer candidates were questioned about their activities in Vietnam he comes in from beyond that crisis with a new viewpoint. That alone is worth noting.
But more importantly his election indicates that the idea that anyone can become president has become much more of a reality than it has ever been before. Growing up I assumed that one day we would have an African American as president but it was in the same category as my belief that we would have astronauts flying to Mars and I would have my own flying car. It was a possibility but not a probability. This presidential election though seemed to transcend race. Include Hillary Clinton’s and Sarah Palin’s role and you can even say that it transcended gender. The issue bubbling under the surface wasn’t that of Obama’s race it was the whispers that he might secretly be a Muslim. That is what indicates where the dark side of the American psyche now lies. We may be beyond race but in no way are we beyond religion.
Star Wars Opens on May 25, 1977: No movie ever has or ever will capture the pop culture zeitgeist the way that this movie has. 32 years later and we are still talking about Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. Kids today whose parents hadn’t even been born when the movie was released can discuss in detail the construction of the Death Star. The only near equivalent is Harry Potter but it builds upon much of the same framework. Create a story that children can relate to and imagine themselves in but provides enough escapism for adults.
Even more important though is that it created the world of marketing and mass consumerism that is tied to every mainstream movie release. This is coming from someone who has his childhood Boba Fett action figure sitting on his printer as he types it. I did not play with generic toys as a kid. I played with Star Wars figures, complete with their own pre-developed backstory and neatly leading me to want to watch the next film. This led to the launch (or relaunch) of G.I. Joe, Transformers, He Man and all of the other toy commercials masquerading as cartoons. The line between play and consumerism was erased. While nothing comes between me and the Fett man I can’t say that is a good thing.
Wednesday Night Music Club: Time to promote Neko Case’s new album “Middle Cyclone”. Here is the best song to ever feature the word “Maneater” in the chorus other than Hall and Oates song of the same name.
Anyway, back to the countdown.
Live Aid: This begins with the release of Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas”, which I still contend is not only the best charity song ever released but simply one of the best songs of all time. How many other songs from that time frame can you both name and sing in its entirety? This really is the one and only huge concert event of my lifetime. The Baby Boomers can have their Woodstock (three days in the mud to hear Country Joe and the Fish followed by Sha Na Na? The drugs must have been really good.) Gen X will certainly try to disavow any knowledge of Woodstock ’94 (brought to you by Pepsi) and Woodstock ’99 (come for the music, stay for the looting.) Even Lollapalooza never touched the epic scale of Live Aid. It was one of the moments where you spent all of what was a beautiful summer Saturday staying inside watching television because you just did not know what you were going to miss if you left. Led Zeppelin getting back together? Black Sabbath with Ozzy? A reunited Beatles with Julian Lennon replacing John? That last one was plausible on that day. And it was all for a cause that people were really behind. Give Bob Geldof credit, he galvanized the world on the topic of starvation in Africa. While some of the attempts since have focused on needy causes none had the epic scope of Live Aid. Plus, it helped launch U2 into superstardom so we should give it credit for that as well.
The O.J. Simpson Verdict: I was working in an office at ComEd that housed a call center at the time this verdict was read. For the ten minutes before and the five minutes after the verdict they did not receive a single call. This is a call center for one of the largest utilities in the country. That is the best indication that I can give as to how everyone was glued to the television set at the moment this verdict was read. Most people discuss the trial and the verdict and the aftermath from a race viewpoint. In my mind, this trial was all about celebrity. It had little to do with justice or with law and had everything to do with showmanship and fame. Everyone involved became famous. People would comment on Marcia Clark’s wardrobe or Johnnie Cochrane’s wordplay and then go home to watch the Dancing Ito’s on Leno. Yes, in a double murder trial we felt that it was comical to have a vaudeville version of the judge. This wasn’t a trial about race or murder. It was an indication as to how seemingly sensible people can be completely derailed once they discover that the whole world is paying attention to them. And how the shrewd among them can use that aura of celebrity to get away with murder.
Shawn Fanning Launches Napster: The mark of a sea change in the way all media will be created and distributed. We haven’t even begun to understand just what Napster wrought on the world. It wasn’t Shawn’s intention to completely revolutionize (and possibly destroy) the entire entertainment industry. He just wanted to make it easy to share music with his friends. But oh, what a world he has created.
Essentially the issue is this. Napster showed that information and data (which is all that a song or a book or a movie is at the end of the day) wants to be free and easily shared. If I have a copy and I want to lend it to you I will. That has always been true. However, before the internet I would have to physically hand you my copy. Now I can give you a copy over the net that is completely identical to my original. In fact, you don’t even have to be my friend. You can just be some no name online. So we have an end product being treated like it is free when it still costs significant capital to create. People can watch Wolverine before it is even released and the movie studio doesn’t receive a cent for something that cost 50 million to make. That is the biggest issue that Napster has created. How do you have an entertainment industry when there is a system in place that will ensure that you will never profit from your creation?
Also, bonus points for being the application that drove broadband into the forefront. Previously the only people striving for higher bandwith were gamers and people who were interested in accessing the, uh, darker portions of the internet. With the ability to easily download music suddenly the world wanted to go faster. Not a bad accomplishment for a college kid.
Election of Barack Obama: Let’s put politics aside for a moment. Whether you agree with his policies or disagree with them is irrelevant for the points that I am going to make here. Obama marks a massive change in the political landscape. First, he is the first Gen X president. Born in 1961 he just makes the cut under Strauss and Howe’s definition of the 13th Generation (see my 15 Influential Books for more details). After several election cycles in which Baby Boomer candidates were questioned about their activities in Vietnam he comes in from beyond that crisis with a new viewpoint. That alone is worth noting.
But more importantly his election indicates that the idea that anyone can become president has become much more of a reality than it has ever been before. Growing up I assumed that one day we would have an African American as president but it was in the same category as my belief that we would have astronauts flying to Mars and I would have my own flying car. It was a possibility but not a probability. This presidential election though seemed to transcend race. Include Hillary Clinton’s and Sarah Palin’s role and you can even say that it transcended gender. The issue bubbling under the surface wasn’t that of Obama’s race it was the whispers that he might secretly be a Muslim. That is what indicates where the dark side of the American psyche now lies. We may be beyond race but in no way are we beyond religion.
Star Wars Opens on May 25, 1977: No movie ever has or ever will capture the pop culture zeitgeist the way that this movie has. 32 years later and we are still talking about Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. Kids today whose parents hadn’t even been born when the movie was released can discuss in detail the construction of the Death Star. The only near equivalent is Harry Potter but it builds upon much of the same framework. Create a story that children can relate to and imagine themselves in but provides enough escapism for adults.
Even more important though is that it created the world of marketing and mass consumerism that is tied to every mainstream movie release. This is coming from someone who has his childhood Boba Fett action figure sitting on his printer as he types it. I did not play with generic toys as a kid. I played with Star Wars figures, complete with their own pre-developed backstory and neatly leading me to want to watch the next film. This led to the launch (or relaunch) of G.I. Joe, Transformers, He Man and all of the other toy commercials masquerading as cartoons. The line between play and consumerism was erased. While nothing comes between me and the Fett man I can’t say that is a good thing.
Wednesday Night Music Club: Time to promote Neko Case’s new album “Middle Cyclone”. Here is the best song to ever feature the word “Maneater” in the chorus other than Hall and Oates song of the same name.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
The Influential 15: Culture (Part One)
Time for me to finish up the Influential 15 thread that I started a few weeks ago with one that will actually have some sociological reasoning behind it (as opposed to discussions of my love of science fiction and British comedy). Tonight will be part one of my examination of the 15 most influential cultural moments of my lifetime. Again, I am talking about being memorable and life changing here as opposed to the best moments of my life. Many of those were not nationally televised (though some have come with a live blog feed). So keep that in mind.
Also, this is being written by someone who was born in 1973 and all of this is from that mindset. As a result I will not be listing Woodstock or landing on the moon as they do not fit my timeframe as well as the former being overrated and the latter being filmed on a soundstage in Arizona. Plan is to examine five a night for the next three nights. Let’s go…
Nirvana releases Smells like Teen Spirit / Kurt Cobain commits suicide: I do not know how to separate these two events any more. Every reference to one must include a reference to the other. In my mind, this is the biggest event of my life and I know that many people may consider that strange or shallow but let me explain. Smells like Teen Spirit was released in 1991 soon after I had turned 18. Not only did it mark music going into a completely different direction (the death of hair metal and the rise of grunge) but it marked the entry of Generation X into the forefront of the cultural landscape. Suddenly the airwaves were filled with people who looked and thought like I did. After years of living in the wake of the Baby Boomers we had finally entered the limelight. And two and a half years later, as I neared my 21st birthday, it all ended at our own hands. While the opening notes of Smells like Teen Spirit marked the birth of grunge the gunshot marked the end of it. We had lost our leader and we never recovered. What was a group of energetic, if slightly disheveled, 18 year olds had become a band of world weary 21 year olds who had already seen the dark side of life. Generation X walked away from the limelight. We went to take care of ourselves, to make art and music and movies on our own terms as we saw that the spotlight could destroy your soul. We ceded that scene to Gen Y with the Britney’s and Lindsey’s who thought nothing of sacrificing their being for five more seconds of fame. Generation X still exists 15 years after Kurt’s death. We’re just still haunted by it.
The Real World premieres on MTV: This should make the list just for starting the reality television revolution. True, it wasn’t until Survivor that the major networks realized how cost effective it was to put real people who were either telegenic, interesting or hopefully both into a contrived situation with a number of cameramen and see what happens but The Real World marked the start of the modern era of the genre. Given the amount of programming that falls into this realm it deserves a place on the list.
More importantly though it makes an appearance because, as in the words of Matthew McConnaghy in Dazed and Confused “I get older but the cast of The Real World stays the same age.” This creates for an incredibly cultural study as I view the cast through my eyes. The first several seasons were wonderful and I was completely hooked as I was the same age as the cast members and I could see myself as being on the show (and longtime blog commentator Super Dave did almost make the Miami cast). I would watch the show and think which girl would I like to date and who would I want to hang out at a bar with. As the seasons progressed though I found myself connecting less and less with the cast and therefore being less engrossed with the show. I started finding the characters shallow and annoying. At first I thought this was a result of casting but as the years have progressed I realized it was just because they are 21 years old. All 21 year olds are shallow and annoying, the 21 year old version of myself included. Now I can’t even watch the show. A 21 year old today was one when the Berlin Wall fell, seven when Cobain died and 13 on 9/11. What in the world would I have in common with them other than we both breathe oxygen?
The Miracle on Ice (US defeats the USSR in Lake Placid): You know what is sad? I really felt required to write that little explanation because I’m not sure if everyone would understand the reference if I just said Miracle on Ice. Even though I was six at the time even I knew that this was a huge deal. The underdog group of college kids competing in the Olympics against the evil Soviet professional players who were expected to walk all over them. The desire and heart shown in their miracle win (helped by the fact that the Soviets pulled Tretriak (the greatest goalie of all time) after the first period) that really shook a nation from an emotional low point driven by the Iran hostage drama, a bad economy, and the Soviet threat. I don’t know if people even ten years younger than me can understand living under the threat of nuclear war. I grew up with the understanding that it was entirely possible that the world would end before I would even have a chance to grow up. The Doomsday Clock was two minutes to midnight. This hockey game gave us hope that there was light at the end of the tunnel.
Explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger: This was the first “Do you remember where you were when” moments of my life. It’s strange how this event has taken up such a bigger cultural role than the loss of Columbia. The end result is the same tragedy: seven lives are lost in a tragic accident but for some reason Challenger has a much stronger tie on the psyche. Part of it is due to Christa McCauliff, the teacher in space who was on the flight which meant that many of us were watching the launch from our classrooms. Part of it is due to the fact that the space program had been infallible for decades. I was a NASA geek and couldn’t really comprehend how we could put a man on the moon (allegedly) and fail a simple launch. (And I have to admit that 11 year old me was immediately concerned with how this would impact the future of the space program). But I think the real reason this plays such an important role in the memories of Gen X is that this was our first huge “huddle around the TV” moment. It is a nature of life that there are significant, world changing events in the course of a generation. Gen X wasn’t aware during the turmoil of the 60’s and even I was too young to fully comprehend the assassination attempts on Reagan and the Pope. The Challenger disaster was the first time when all of the channels were turned to the same story and it was one I comprehended.
(Side note: I also learned how quickly off-color jokes are formed in the wake of a disaster. In this case I believe I was hearing them on the playground the next day.)
Christian Laettner hits “The Shot” to defeat Kentucky in the East Regional Final: A few years ago if you asked me to list the top five moments of my life this would have made the list, which is pretty sad given that I a) wasn’t there, b) Duke rejected my application and c) I was sitting alone in a dorm room at Illinois at the time. Luckily my life has improved since then. It would still make the top twenty. Ok, fifteen.
Easily the best college basketball game I have ever seen as Duke races out to the early lead to only see Kentucky claw back into it resulting in the best last few minutes of regulation and overtime ever. Every possession seemed to be a matter of life or death as the lead constantly changed hands until with 2.1 seconds left Duke was down one and Grant Hill through the ball the length of the court to Christian. With a quick fake, two dribbles and a fadeaway Christian cemented his place in history. He ended with a perfect game: ten for ten from the field, ten for ten from the line, and perfect hair throughout.
Why does this matter to me? Because I was a Duke fan who wanted to be Christian Laettner. In high school I became a Duke fan thanks to the encouragement of an English teacher. This was before the program became synonymous with first excellence and later arrogance. For me as a teenager it was just the team that played the game the way I thought it should be played and who I supported when no one else did. And twice a week after dealing with the living horror that is high school I would go home and watch my team win. Culminating in my favorite player hitting the game winning shot in the biggest game of his career. After seeing that, you pretty much realize that everything is possible.
Also, this is being written by someone who was born in 1973 and all of this is from that mindset. As a result I will not be listing Woodstock or landing on the moon as they do not fit my timeframe as well as the former being overrated and the latter being filmed on a soundstage in Arizona. Plan is to examine five a night for the next three nights. Let’s go…
Nirvana releases Smells like Teen Spirit / Kurt Cobain commits suicide: I do not know how to separate these two events any more. Every reference to one must include a reference to the other. In my mind, this is the biggest event of my life and I know that many people may consider that strange or shallow but let me explain. Smells like Teen Spirit was released in 1991 soon after I had turned 18. Not only did it mark music going into a completely different direction (the death of hair metal and the rise of grunge) but it marked the entry of Generation X into the forefront of the cultural landscape. Suddenly the airwaves were filled with people who looked and thought like I did. After years of living in the wake of the Baby Boomers we had finally entered the limelight. And two and a half years later, as I neared my 21st birthday, it all ended at our own hands. While the opening notes of Smells like Teen Spirit marked the birth of grunge the gunshot marked the end of it. We had lost our leader and we never recovered. What was a group of energetic, if slightly disheveled, 18 year olds had become a band of world weary 21 year olds who had already seen the dark side of life. Generation X walked away from the limelight. We went to take care of ourselves, to make art and music and movies on our own terms as we saw that the spotlight could destroy your soul. We ceded that scene to Gen Y with the Britney’s and Lindsey’s who thought nothing of sacrificing their being for five more seconds of fame. Generation X still exists 15 years after Kurt’s death. We’re just still haunted by it.
The Real World premieres on MTV: This should make the list just for starting the reality television revolution. True, it wasn’t until Survivor that the major networks realized how cost effective it was to put real people who were either telegenic, interesting or hopefully both into a contrived situation with a number of cameramen and see what happens but The Real World marked the start of the modern era of the genre. Given the amount of programming that falls into this realm it deserves a place on the list.
More importantly though it makes an appearance because, as in the words of Matthew McConnaghy in Dazed and Confused “I get older but the cast of The Real World stays the same age.” This creates for an incredibly cultural study as I view the cast through my eyes. The first several seasons were wonderful and I was completely hooked as I was the same age as the cast members and I could see myself as being on the show (and longtime blog commentator Super Dave did almost make the Miami cast). I would watch the show and think which girl would I like to date and who would I want to hang out at a bar with. As the seasons progressed though I found myself connecting less and less with the cast and therefore being less engrossed with the show. I started finding the characters shallow and annoying. At first I thought this was a result of casting but as the years have progressed I realized it was just because they are 21 years old. All 21 year olds are shallow and annoying, the 21 year old version of myself included. Now I can’t even watch the show. A 21 year old today was one when the Berlin Wall fell, seven when Cobain died and 13 on 9/11. What in the world would I have in common with them other than we both breathe oxygen?
The Miracle on Ice (US defeats the USSR in Lake Placid): You know what is sad? I really felt required to write that little explanation because I’m not sure if everyone would understand the reference if I just said Miracle on Ice. Even though I was six at the time even I knew that this was a huge deal. The underdog group of college kids competing in the Olympics against the evil Soviet professional players who were expected to walk all over them. The desire and heart shown in their miracle win (helped by the fact that the Soviets pulled Tretriak (the greatest goalie of all time) after the first period) that really shook a nation from an emotional low point driven by the Iran hostage drama, a bad economy, and the Soviet threat. I don’t know if people even ten years younger than me can understand living under the threat of nuclear war. I grew up with the understanding that it was entirely possible that the world would end before I would even have a chance to grow up. The Doomsday Clock was two minutes to midnight. This hockey game gave us hope that there was light at the end of the tunnel.
Explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger: This was the first “Do you remember where you were when” moments of my life. It’s strange how this event has taken up such a bigger cultural role than the loss of Columbia. The end result is the same tragedy: seven lives are lost in a tragic accident but for some reason Challenger has a much stronger tie on the psyche. Part of it is due to Christa McCauliff, the teacher in space who was on the flight which meant that many of us were watching the launch from our classrooms. Part of it is due to the fact that the space program had been infallible for decades. I was a NASA geek and couldn’t really comprehend how we could put a man on the moon (allegedly) and fail a simple launch. (And I have to admit that 11 year old me was immediately concerned with how this would impact the future of the space program). But I think the real reason this plays such an important role in the memories of Gen X is that this was our first huge “huddle around the TV” moment. It is a nature of life that there are significant, world changing events in the course of a generation. Gen X wasn’t aware during the turmoil of the 60’s and even I was too young to fully comprehend the assassination attempts on Reagan and the Pope. The Challenger disaster was the first time when all of the channels were turned to the same story and it was one I comprehended.
(Side note: I also learned how quickly off-color jokes are formed in the wake of a disaster. In this case I believe I was hearing them on the playground the next day.)
Christian Laettner hits “The Shot” to defeat Kentucky in the East Regional Final: A few years ago if you asked me to list the top five moments of my life this would have made the list, which is pretty sad given that I a) wasn’t there, b) Duke rejected my application and c) I was sitting alone in a dorm room at Illinois at the time. Luckily my life has improved since then. It would still make the top twenty. Ok, fifteen.
Easily the best college basketball game I have ever seen as Duke races out to the early lead to only see Kentucky claw back into it resulting in the best last few minutes of regulation and overtime ever. Every possession seemed to be a matter of life or death as the lead constantly changed hands until with 2.1 seconds left Duke was down one and Grant Hill through the ball the length of the court to Christian. With a quick fake, two dribbles and a fadeaway Christian cemented his place in history. He ended with a perfect game: ten for ten from the field, ten for ten from the line, and perfect hair throughout.
Why does this matter to me? Because I was a Duke fan who wanted to be Christian Laettner. In high school I became a Duke fan thanks to the encouragement of an English teacher. This was before the program became synonymous with first excellence and later arrogance. For me as a teenager it was just the team that played the game the way I thought it should be played and who I supported when no one else did. And twice a week after dealing with the living horror that is high school I would go home and watch my team win. Culminating in my favorite player hitting the game winning shot in the biggest game of his career. After seeing that, you pretty much realize that everything is possible.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
I expected wacky neighbors as well...
Based on the comment on the last post I have decided to try to come up with a list of all the things from television shows and movies that I wish I had right now. Because I feel that it is incredibly cruel to tempt a child with these wonderous visions and then never allow him to achieve them. Anyway, feel free to add to the list in the comments.
· A train running through my living room that I could ride like in Silver Spoons.
· A car that talks with the voice of one of the doctors from St. Elsewhere.
· A robot little sister / maid.
· A video game machine that once I mastered it I would be contacted by an alien race so that I could save their civilization due to my expertise.
· A potion that once ingested would allow me to bounce around a forest.
· My own aircraft carrier (hey, you only needed one person to pilot it).
· A neverending story, which would reduce my need to go to bookstores greatly.
· An alien that would hang out in my house, crack jokes and threaten to eat the neighbor’s cat.
· An Atlasphere for use as daily transportation and / or settling blood feuds.
· Spiked shoulder pads as everyday apparel.
· A dating service in which the quality of your selection would be voted on by a random sampling of peers and if they agreed with you this would provide you with another free date.
· A high school corridor in which everyone spends time getting in and out of lockers cracking jokes.
· The ability to avoid any question by agreeing to take a physical challenge.
· Have a car where the doors are welded shut for no apparent reason.
· A suit that would provide me with superpowers except that I lost the instruction manual and now have to use trial and error to figure things out. Oh, and a cool theme song to go with said suit.
· All personal disputes to be solved via laser tag.
· The ability to escape any situation using only a paper clip, some baking soda, and a piece of lint.
· An old woman who lives in my quiet town who solves murders while no one questions why a quiet little spot seems to have an abnormally high murder rate.
· Barring a robot maid, a British butler would be a nice addition to the homestead.
· Personal wealth to be decided solely by my ability to avoid whammies.
Wednesday Night Music Club: Going back to the personal vaults at the moment for an old favorite. I’m a big John Hiatt fan and he is another one of those artists I listen to when things aren’t going as well as they could be. His music just gets me and keeps me going. Great songwriting and just some really good music.
· A train running through my living room that I could ride like in Silver Spoons.
· A car that talks with the voice of one of the doctors from St. Elsewhere.
· A robot little sister / maid.
· A video game machine that once I mastered it I would be contacted by an alien race so that I could save their civilization due to my expertise.
· A potion that once ingested would allow me to bounce around a forest.
· My own aircraft carrier (hey, you only needed one person to pilot it).
· A neverending story, which would reduce my need to go to bookstores greatly.
· An alien that would hang out in my house, crack jokes and threaten to eat the neighbor’s cat.
· An Atlasphere for use as daily transportation and / or settling blood feuds.
· Spiked shoulder pads as everyday apparel.
· A dating service in which the quality of your selection would be voted on by a random sampling of peers and if they agreed with you this would provide you with another free date.
· A high school corridor in which everyone spends time getting in and out of lockers cracking jokes.
· The ability to avoid any question by agreeing to take a physical challenge.
· Have a car where the doors are welded shut for no apparent reason.
· A suit that would provide me with superpowers except that I lost the instruction manual and now have to use trial and error to figure things out. Oh, and a cool theme song to go with said suit.
· All personal disputes to be solved via laser tag.
· The ability to escape any situation using only a paper clip, some baking soda, and a piece of lint.
· An old woman who lives in my quiet town who solves murders while no one questions why a quiet little spot seems to have an abnormally high murder rate.
· Barring a robot maid, a British butler would be a nice addition to the homestead.
· Personal wealth to be decided solely by my ability to avoid whammies.
Wednesday Night Music Club: Going back to the personal vaults at the moment for an old favorite. I’m a big John Hiatt fan and he is another one of those artists I listen to when things aren’t going as well as they could be. His music just gets me and keeps me going. Great songwriting and just some really good music.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Why do people care?
I’m usually pretty good at comprehending vanity license plates. I’ve made a bit of a career out of it. However, I came across one today that has left me befuddled and I hated being fuddled. It read DEBRED. Now I have two possible thoughts behind what this might mean. The first is that person is looking at evolution from the other way around. There are a number of people that I wish I could debreed and improve the gene pool. So maybe the driver just wants to get rid of people whose existence essentially just wastes everyone else’s oxygen. Or, maybe the driver just really hates carbs and wants to ban bread. I’m really not sure. Any thoughts on this one?
I guess I’ll write about the big news story of the day: the Miley Cyrus picture in Vanity Fair. Apparently our world is so perfect right now that this is the most important topic for people to consider because it is the only thing that has been on the news today. Trust me, I’m unemployed and watch a lot of tv. I have seen more of Miley Cyrus’ back today than I’ve ever really wanted to see.
Let’s start with the picture itself. I’d consider it harmless and vaguely artistic. True, it is a little daring to see a 15 year old in that type of picture but it is stylish enough that without any hoopla it would probably just go unnoticed. It definitely is not like the American Apparel ads that result in my feeling like a dirty old man for just walking by their store. (I give them props for a brilliant ad campaign bringing immense attention to a store that effectively sells plain colored t-shirts. However, I can’t bring myself to shop there because it does make me feel like I might be arrested in a raid.) The reason this hit the news is because Disney is in spin control trying to protect their most valuable brand. When your target audience is a nine year old girl you really can’t afford to anger their mom. Otherwise who is going to drive them to the mall?
You could probably go into the whole issue of the sexualization of women at younger and younger ages. Because that is what most of the uproar is about, the fact that she is being viewed as a sex object. Not that she isn’t wearing short skirts and bouncing up and down on her show. That’s the strange hypocrisy of this whole picture. She has probably shown more skin on the Disney channel or on stage. It’s just presented in a way that is slightly more wholesome. That still doesn’t change the whole jailbait scene that seems to exist in modern culture. It started with Britney Spears and the Olsen twins and has just gotten completely out of control. It’s really a rather scary concept and I’m not sure what it tells about our society.
That’s the real point of this whole issue to me. Why in the world do we care so much about a 15 year old girl? How can she become the focal point of a cultural firestorm? Read any of the gossip pages and I doubt that you’ll read much about anyone older than 22. It’s all about the young ingénues, barely old enough to do anything. Certainly not old enough to be acclaimed actresses or singers. They are just there, pretty bodies with vacant heads. There isn’t any meaning behind it. That’s what bothers me so much about all of this. The celebrity culture isn’t focused on good art or even mediocre art. It just cares about clear skin and good hair. To call it a bubble gum culture doesn’t do service to bubble gum. At least that has momentary flavor and can occasionally serve a useful purpose like fixing a leaky bicycle tire. This is just pure noise. Sound and fury signifying nothing.
I guess I’ll write about the big news story of the day: the Miley Cyrus picture in Vanity Fair. Apparently our world is so perfect right now that this is the most important topic for people to consider because it is the only thing that has been on the news today. Trust me, I’m unemployed and watch a lot of tv. I have seen more of Miley Cyrus’ back today than I’ve ever really wanted to see.
Let’s start with the picture itself. I’d consider it harmless and vaguely artistic. True, it is a little daring to see a 15 year old in that type of picture but it is stylish enough that without any hoopla it would probably just go unnoticed. It definitely is not like the American Apparel ads that result in my feeling like a dirty old man for just walking by their store. (I give them props for a brilliant ad campaign bringing immense attention to a store that effectively sells plain colored t-shirts. However, I can’t bring myself to shop there because it does make me feel like I might be arrested in a raid.) The reason this hit the news is because Disney is in spin control trying to protect their most valuable brand. When your target audience is a nine year old girl you really can’t afford to anger their mom. Otherwise who is going to drive them to the mall?
You could probably go into the whole issue of the sexualization of women at younger and younger ages. Because that is what most of the uproar is about, the fact that she is being viewed as a sex object. Not that she isn’t wearing short skirts and bouncing up and down on her show. That’s the strange hypocrisy of this whole picture. She has probably shown more skin on the Disney channel or on stage. It’s just presented in a way that is slightly more wholesome. That still doesn’t change the whole jailbait scene that seems to exist in modern culture. It started with Britney Spears and the Olsen twins and has just gotten completely out of control. It’s really a rather scary concept and I’m not sure what it tells about our society.
That’s the real point of this whole issue to me. Why in the world do we care so much about a 15 year old girl? How can she become the focal point of a cultural firestorm? Read any of the gossip pages and I doubt that you’ll read much about anyone older than 22. It’s all about the young ingénues, barely old enough to do anything. Certainly not old enough to be acclaimed actresses or singers. They are just there, pretty bodies with vacant heads. There isn’t any meaning behind it. That’s what bothers me so much about all of this. The celebrity culture isn’t focused on good art or even mediocre art. It just cares about clear skin and good hair. To call it a bubble gum culture doesn’t do service to bubble gum. At least that has momentary flavor and can occasionally serve a useful purpose like fixing a leaky bicycle tire. This is just pure noise. Sound and fury signifying nothing.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)