July 2011
34 posts
“I’m talking, Nostalgia, about your new role as an empty surrogate for actual creativity. There was a time when you were something to hold hands with on a trip down Memory Lane, but now Memory Lane is paving over Today Street. It’s one thing for a movie or a TV show to give a self-aware nod to its influences and those who came before, but now 20 year old TV shows for children that were kind of corny and garbage in the first place are beating out contemporary shows by a margin of 2-to-1? You are behind every remake. You are behind every bad idea being given a second chance. We have abandoned the knowing references (which were become problematic in their own right) for a whole-hog return to the past. But that is no way to build a future!”
—
Gabe from videogum perfectly summing up my feelings on the topic of nostalgia.
All That was like if MadTV were fifty times less funny. Which is saying something cause there are not many things in the history of time as terrible and unfunny as MadTV. Fuckin’ oof.
Anecdote
Yesterday I was downtown in the evening in some traffic. I was able to observe an interesting conversation.
A bicycle cop asks an interested tourist where she is from. She tells him she is from Denmark and that in Denmark they don’t have police on bicycles.
Cop: “Really? I went to the academy with a guy from Denmark.”
Lady “Oh, well I don’t know”
Cop: ”Yeah what’s the biggest city there? I think he was from there.”
Lady “Copenhagen?”
Cop: ”Yeah, I think that’s the one. Oh wait, maybe it was The Netherlands is that a different place?”
Lady (walking away as she answers) “Yes, it is a different place.
It was hard to watch this European lady in one short conversation have all her preconceived notions about Americans be completely confirmed. She seemed quite engaged in the exchange but when he made it clear he didn’t know some pretty basic geography she started walking away with this half smile on her face. I sat there feeling warm with embarrassment for this overweight, ruddy faced cop on a tiny bicycle (in comparison to his ample girth) and for all of America in general. I wanted to tell her that not everyone is that way and I know many people that know the difference between Holland and Denmark and could even point them out on a map. But then the light changed and I drove away.
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Everyone's Honest
Jeffrey Lewis
Jeffrey Lewis - Everybody’s Honest
“I got all my favorite friends from Chicago, and my favorite, good musicians and we just did this record, and it has lasted. It’s got weight, I’m talking 500 pound weight; something you ain’t going to be able to lift too easy. You have to understand we’re working on a string, and Steve is throwing us a bone, giving us the studio and everything, and we are terrified about how expensive it is and he just went the extra mile. That’s the way it works and that’s where I come from. You get the job fucking done.”
—Jason Molina on the subject of the Magnolia Electric Co. record. I have to listen to this today again with the new knowledge that it was unrehearsed and mostly improvised. Incredible.
The Shivers Two Solitudes →
pastemagazine.com
Have to blorg about this video. It’s actually quite enjoyable and I love the odd choice of a “single” from the new album. Also features Brendon “Viking Moses” who I also recently blogged about because I found video of Chompers jumping up on him in his new movie. Pretty sure I introduced these dudes to each other so go me.
Just bought ten pounds of cabbage at the farmers market.
KRAUT TIME 2011!*
*mega stoked.
The Best Show is truly that.
Lately I’m quite/totally obsessed with Tom Scharplings The Best Show on WFMU. I first started listening about a year ago but it’s really taken over lately. I find myself googling old bits and characters constantly. As I listened to this one about the worlds coolest/worst music fan I had a bit of a moment of clarity/self awareness when I realized sitting next to me was my newly purchased copy of Sun Ra’s Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra vol. 2 and in the past couple weeks I’ve been getting over Can’s Deadlock being my song of the month. I’m a living joke. Ugh.
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