Cultural wasteland, or cultural renaissance?

Here's an interesting essay by the always-reliable Leonard Pierce over the The Onion A.V. Club that brings up the question of whether we are living in an era of widespread cultural dross or cultural renewal and excitement. Pierce comes down heavily on the side of "'renewal and excitement," as I tend to as well--if I didn't, I couldn't write reviews for a site like PopMatters. But he has some interesting things to say about nostalgia and its contribution to what he sees as a widespread sneering disaffection for the current cultural milieu. An excerpt:

"First, why—other than the natural laziness that informs most nostalgia—do so many people think that the culture is in decline? Why is the belief that things were better in the mysterious “before” so common that it jumps from generation to generation, like baldness or a bad ticker? While the tendency to be politically conservative knows no particular age, cultural conservatism is as predictable as prostate cancer.

"Part of this, I think, is because of the way people naturally tend, as they get older and gain more responsibilities, to stop paying as much attention to pop culture as they did when they were younger. A 23-year-old with an entry-level job, few expenses, and lots of free time finds it easy to fill that time with immersion in indie films, musical micro-genres, and new developments in videogame technology. Two decades later, when that same person has a wife, kids, and a mortgage, he likely has more to think about than the latest literary trend or hotshot graphic novelist. Once it becomes harder to make grapes part of your regular diet, it’s a lot easier to assume that they’re all sour anyway.

"But beyond that, one factor in why I believe we really are living in a cultural golden age—the way technology has made art of all sorts more available to everyone than at any previous point in human history—also works to fuel this longing for the past. Particularly for the generation that grew up without the Internet, the easy availability of culture doesn’t seem like a boon; instead, by flooding everyone with an astonishing amount of choice, it seems instead to curse them with so much to choose from that it’s easy for their minds to shut down. In the face of media oversaturation—and media decentralization, which contributes to a situation where there are few trusted voices of authority to act as cultural guides—it’s tempting to just write it all off as a bunch of crap you’re better off not knowing about.

"For younger generations, though, or older people who surf the culture and the web with equal ease, the flood-tide poses another problem: We develop a shortened attention span almost out of necessity, in order to avoid being overwhelmed by how much information is out there. As a result, we can focus so much on temporary tendencies in the culture, on micro-movements and what are likely passing phases and crazes, that we start to take them as signs of an overall decay. We forget that cultural tendencies are sporadic, inchoate, and unforeseeable, and begin to think of the trend of the moment as a harbinger of some eternal, irrevocable change. Auto-Tune isn’t just annoying; it’s the end of music as we know it. The music industry’s digital-age difficulties don’t mean the business is changing; they mean it’s ending. In 2007, there were so many good movies, it was one of the greatest years in film history. Now, only three years later, a year of duds signals the death knell of the entire art form."

And the whole essay can be found here:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/are-we-really-in-a-cultural-golden-age,42451/

Some of the comments are worth reading as well. One early poster mentions how nostaligia is often fueled by college-age students, which I had never thought of. (Faced with the responsibilites of school and jobs and life, they yearn for the good old days--you know, the mid-'90s--when they didn't have to worry so much.) Dunno if it's true but it's an interesting thought in any case.

As ever, I am curious what people think about this. Read the whole article--or don't--and then feel free to drop a line as to whether we're doing all right, in cultural or at least pop-cultural terms. Or were the '60s and '70s (or some other era) really the high-water mark?

Good Show Sir

Here is a link to a hilarious site of AWFUL SCI-FI and FANTASY BOOK COVERS. They are photographed and sent in with comments by the people who find them. Very funny and great fun to troll through for an hour...

http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/

I have also added a link on the list of "Interesting Blogs and Sites" on the sidebar to the right. Have fun, kids.

Word!

In the beginning, the Bible tells us, was the Word. Likewise, many rappers begin their songs with this same invocation. “Word’ is used as a kind of ritualistic throat-clearing, a preparation for both listener and speaker; it is a way for the rapper to declare, more or less: “Everybody pay attention here, because what I am about to say is both important and true.”

Of course, it is often neither. Increasingly (from what I can tell) rap, or “hip-hop” if you prefer, falls into a circular form of self-parody in which “keeping it real” paradoxically means saying the same thing as everyone else, in more or less the same way as everyone else. There are exceptions—The Coup, Atmosphere, Abu Nurah, maybe Ana Tijoux (below)—but boy oh boy there’s a lot of dreck out there.

Which is what makes Reggie Watts’ parody so entertaining. When he starts with “Word,” it sounds just like a zillion other rap songs, but when he follows it up with “adjective—pronoun…” he’s letting us in on the joke, and by the time he winds up the intro with “Where my gerunds at?” he’s got me, at least, hooked.

What follows is a fairly brilliant satire of way too many rap songs. It’s all here: the nonsensical reliance on a handful of swear words, the mindless sexual boasting, the fetishistic weapon love, the bragging about wealth. And also what passes for “attitude” these days, which is really just another word for belligerence, directed at everybody, based upon nothing.

I first heard about Reggie Watts on The Onion’s media page. Here’s a link to an interview, in which he discusses the song below, among many other things, and there’s another truly awesome YouTube clip:

http://www.avclub.com/articles/reggie-watts,41712/

Then check out the song, but BE WARNED: DO NOT LISTEN TO THE VIDEO IF YOU ARE OFFENDED BY OBSCENITY! There is a lot of it. If you are at work, you might want to listen to this once you get home. Kids, make sure your parents are out of earshot. Parents, likewise vis-à-vis the kiddies.

Oops.

Poor guy.

No doubt you have noticed...

...the radical redesign of The Party Never Stops. This was, like so many things in my life, entirely unplanned. When I got out of bed this morning the last thought running through my head was, "I think I'll take some time to revamp the old blog this afternoon." Actually that's not true; the last thought running through my head was, "I am a squid." The thing about the blog was only the second-to-last thought.

But then I signed on here and found some nifty new templates. I quite like this drizzly runny magenta-and-orange thing, though I expect some people will hate. Ah well. What's actually good about it, and was the deal-maker for me, is that it accommodates these extra-large-sized YouTube windows they're using now. And I think it's generally an upgrade from the old-lady-wallpaper look that I was using before.

So stay tuned, and hopefully I'll be able to keep you entertained in the months ahead, or if not entertained, then maybe puzzled, at least.

The World Cup

Hey kids, I don't really have terribly strong thoughts on the World Cup; I mean, it's fun to have an international competition and everything, it's just too bad that the sport involved has to be soccer, which, you know, isn't all that thrilling. (First score this tournament: 1-1. Second score: 0-0.) BUT--as can bee seen from the handy little flag chart right under my picture at the top of this page, the neverending party has been getting a number of looks from our pals around the world. So, thanks for dropping by--and I hope your team, whichever that may be, exceeds your wildest expectations this time around.

A song I like.

Ana Tijoux is a Chilean-French rapper and this song is called "1977." Not sure but I think it's about Pinochet (?). Worth a look, IMO.

Back in town

Uzee and I are back from 10 great days on the North Shore of Oahu. Much relaxation was to be had, of the staring-at-the-waves variety, also sea birds, lizards, strolling on the beach, snorkeling, Mexican food etc. We found killer snorkeling in Shark's Cove, home to a quartet of sea turtles that we hung out watching for a while, and also cuttlefish (i.e., little squid), tons o' butterflyfish, Achilles tang, and numerous other things. No sharks or rays, though, too bad, and only one little eel.

Here are some pics:

This is me looking bad to the bone at Shark's Cove. There aren't really sharks there, apparently, it's just a name that sounds cool. I'm not sure why I'm glowering, since i was having a really good time on the days we were there. Maybe the sun was in my eyes.

We rented a cabin on the water, and right out front there were these great tidepools full of little fish and crabs and things. For Uzee and myself, this is pretty much an invitation to sit and stare for a while. Be sure to include the sighing winds and sloshing waves in your mental re-creation of this moment.

No, she's not staring at the sunset, but at the turtles who were crashing around in the surf, up against the lava rocks that formed the tidepools. Apparently there's tasty morsels for the turtles to eat, because we observed a lot of this behavior at various points around the North Shore (from both in the water and on shore). I tried taking pictures of the turtles too, but that was pretty much hopeless.

Without a doubt the highlight of the trip was our 4-hour hike to Kaena Point, the northwesternmost tip of Oahu, a very rugged and undeveloped area. In the winter you can see whales offshore. We didn't see any whales, but we did spot a few albatross fledglings who had not yet taken to the air, and then, at the very point of the Point, a pair of monk seals sloshing around in the water. Playing, fighting, flirting, I don't really know. But they were mighty comfortable and we ended up watching them for 45 minutes. These creatures are critically endangered, so this was a gift...

Plenty more reviews at PopMatters.com

Books, records, comic books... Here's the link:

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/649

Latest entries include record reviews of Crooked Still (yay!) and Radar Brothers (meh), plus a number of fun novels. Check it out.

No. No. No.

As someone who lived in Pakistan for 10 years, from 1998-2008, it pains me to see that nation acting in breathtakingly stupid ways that only serve to reinforce every negative image that my own country, the US, already has about it. The people of Pakistan deserve much, much better. The latest way in which their country is failing them is by the recent imposition of a ban on Internet sites such as Facebook, Youtube, and many others. Ostensibly this is because of insults to the prophet Mohommad, but really, it's an attempt to control information and people's access to it.

I have a message for the government of Pakistan: Hey guys, this attempt will fail. It always does. It may work for a while, but sooner or later, people will find a way to learn what you don't want them to know, and then, you know what? Your credibility will be shot. (Not that you have a great deal to begin with, but that's a conversation for another day.)

Here's an excellent blog posting by someone named Sabeen, a Karachi native, blogger and more eloquent human being than I am on this issue:

http://www.bitsonline.net/beanz/?p=300

And some more mainstream press coverage of the issue:

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/countrywide-protests-050

Until now, Pakistan's Internet policy, and actually its media policy in general, has been fairly liberal (many international TV channels available, Fox News and al-Jazeera among them, plus many Indian channels that were banned for a short time, then reinstated, international music channels and so on), so this giant step backward into a grasping attempt at totalitarian-style idea control is higely disappointing. Hey guys, if you don't like what people are saying about the prophet... don't listen. Or, have a conversation in which you explain your point of view. Or, get mad and insult them back. Whatever. But you can't close your eyes and stop up your ears and pretend the rest of the world doesn't exist.

On second thought--yeah, you can do that. Just don't presume to force everyone else to do the same thing.

An interesting (and long) article on the current state of the publishing industry...

...from an April issue of The New Yorker. Touches on Amazon's Kindle, the i-Pad, traditional publishers, the Macmillan/Amazon spat, and quite a bit more. Worth a look if you have the time and interest:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/04/26/100426fa_fact_auletta

R.I.P., Ronnie James Dio

Dio! What can you say, other than, "Duuuude, that guy can holler?"

Okay, you could probably say other stuff, but still. He could holler.

He also supposedly invented the devil-horn hand symbol thing as the universal hand-rock signage, which is pretty cool, and will earn him forgiveness (from me at least) for using that dumb-ass synth line in "Rainbow in the Dark."

And just in case you have no clue who or what I'm talking about, here's this:

Uzee at HBMF

Here are a couple pics of Uzee reading and signing books in beautiful downtown Honolulu on Sunday, at the Hawaii Book and Music Festival. The crowds were smaller than last year, but the weather was great and a fine time was had by all.

Below: working her mojo on the crowd...

...And keepin' the customers satisfied:

Hawai'i Book and Music Festival!

The 2010 edition of The Hawai'i Book and Music Festival is taking place Saturday and Sunday, May 15 and 16 in downtown Honolulu. It should be fun. Here is the site for info:

http://hawaiibookandmusicfestival.org/

Of special note is the lovely and talented Uzma Aslam Khan, who will be appearing at the Author's Pavilion on Sunday from noon to 1 p.m. to sign her books and generally hobnob. She will also be giving away killer bookmarks that were printed up special for the event. Barnes & Noble, who are sponsors of the pavilion, have assured her that copies of her books will be available. Anyone lingering around Honolulu should make plans to stop by this fun and worthwhile event, and say hi to Uzee. (I'll be skulking around nearby, most likely, but you can pretend you don't see me.)

The weather's supposed to be perfect, too. See you there...

Dave Maine, music reviewer

Yo. Check out the unlikely rave review I wrote for an even more unlikely compilation entitled Lagos Disco Inferno over on Popmatters.com:

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/124434-various-artists-lagos-disco-inferno/

...and while you're at it, here are a couple more book reviews from the same site:

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/124532-leonardos-legacy-by-stefan-klein/

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/124704-fortuna-by-michael-r.-stevens/

All in all, it's a terrific site, well worth a visit and/or bookmarking. They cover movies, DVDs, comics, and all things poppy-cultural as well.

Shirin Neshat

...is an Iranian photographer who takes interesting pictures. Here is my review of a big retrospective book of her work:

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/123913-shirin-nishat-by-arthur-c.-danto-and-marina-abramovic

I Like her stuff.

I'm no expert...

...but based on what I've seen, this interesting article by Jay Baron Nicorvo makes some mighty interesting (and relevant) points about the current state of the publishing industry:

http://www.guernicamag.com/features/1688/third_degree_burns/

An excerpt:

"Editors have to run around anxious to find the book that’ll help them keep their jobs. Most editors these days are speculators. They’re no longer asked to acquire the books that readers will read a hundred years from now—books that not only preserve the culture but further it. They’re expected to acquire the books that readers will want to read today, and so instead of reading manuscripts, they read the current cultural landscape. They assess the mass market to figure out which manuscript might be the next bestseller. Literary editors at commercial publishers, the few who still acquire novels, have become investors. [John Maynard] Keynes writes that investing is, “so to speak, a game of Snap, of Old Maid, of Musical Chairs—a pastime in which he is victor who says Snap neither too soon nor too late, who passes the Old Maid to his neighbour before the game is over, who secures a chair for himself when the music stops.” But Keynes made another, more lasting, comparison, what has come to be known as the Keynesian beauty contest.

Keynes thought investing was like newspaper competitions in which “the competitors have to pick out the six prettiest faces from a hundred photographs, the prize being awarded to the competitor whose choice most nearly corresponds to the average preferences of the competitors as a whole; so that each competitor has to pick, not those faces which he himself finds prettiest, but those which he thinks likeliest to catch the fancy of the other competitors, all of whom are looking at the problem from the same point of view.” In order to win, competitors are forced to select the outcome most selected by others, whatever their personal preference. “It is not a case of choosing those which, to the best of one’s judgment, are really the prettiest, nor even those which average opinion genuinely thinks the prettiest. We have reached the third degree, where we devote our intelligences to anticipating what average opinion expects the average opinion to be.” If there’s anything that’s killing American fiction, it’s not MFA degrees and the institutions that bestow them. It is this: the third degree."

For your consideration

A couple more reviews I wrote, one positive, one not so much. First the happy one:

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/123526-crow-planet-by-lyanda-lynn-haupt/

Then the disappointing one:

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/in-paper-magazine/books-and-authors/ghost-story-140

More to follow. In other news, Honolulu is overcast and rainy today, and feels about 60 degrees. Where the hell do I live again? This tropical paradise reminds me of Scotland more than anyplace else. Not to complain or anything, but geez.

Collateral murder.

Hey, they all look the same, right?

What's especially chilling is the helicopter waiting for the van to pick up the dead bodies... and then opening fire. This violates the Geneva Convention, not to mention basic humanity, but then again the US has always claimed special privilege for itself.

Please watch the entire video before responding. The uneditied version makes clear that there were no weapons in evidence other than the video camera and lens. All this chatter of multiple weapons, AKs, RPGs and so on is just cover.

http://collateralmurder.com/

The funniest thing I ever saw on the net...

...is linked below. I tried to post it here bt it wouldn't fit, alas.

Take a look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFicqklGuB0