Society

So, it's about time for a new contest. I figure this one should be more exclusive; I have 29 followers on Twitter, but only about 4-5 of you that comment on my blog on a tri-monthly basis. The challenge: use the title of this post and the picture above to come up with the most eloquent, creative, and accurate metaphor you can. The contest ceases in exactly a week (at 12:06!), and the prize this time will be tangible. Click on the picture for further detail, if you think it may help. GO

*Winner*

Some weeks ago, I initiated a really informal contest on twitter, asking about the lyrics to the following song, which is dope music video if you haven't seen it



Anyway, my good friend Peter won. I think the greatest prize I could honor him with would be to post his picture on my highly-acclaimed blog. After all, this site receives about 500 hits a day. You're welcome, Petron!

King* Peter




*All my friends are kings.

Utopian Strivings

As I've been reading The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe, this excerpt really stuck out as capturing the value system of the Merry Pranksters and the youth at large in the 60s. Post your opinions or reactions if you're so inclined.

“Most of them were from middle-class backgrounds, but not upper bourgeois, more petit bourgeois, if that old garbanzo can stand being written down again—homes with Culture but no money or money but no Culture. At least that was the way it struck me, judging by the Beautiful People I knew. Culture, Truth, and Beauty were important to them...“Art is a creed, not a craft,” as somebody said....Young! Immune! Christ, somehow there was enough money floating around in the air so that one could do this thing, live together with other kids—Our own thing!--from our own status sphere, without having to work at a job, and live on our own terms—Us! and people our age!--it was beautiful, it was a...whole feeling, and the straight world never understood it, this thing of one's status sphere and how one was only nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two or so and not starting out helpless at the bottom of the ladder, at all, because the hell with the ladder itself—one was already up on a ...level that the straight world was freaking baffled by!” (page 134)

*Italicized text by choice of author.

I Don't Think You or I Could Say Anything About Art that Hasn't Been Said Twice Already

This is not to say people should stop making art, or evening thinking about what art means. But it also implores people to consider everything that's been made, said, written, conjectured, theorized, and every other action verb pertinent to originality before voicing anything of their own. This is a daunting task. GO!

So, enough with the philosophical bullshit. I just finished watching "Beautiful Losers" and was inspired by all of the artists' respective opinions on a number of things, which led to that tirade. Moving on, I just wanted to let my beloved (non)readers know about two blogs that are poppin right now, as we speak. First, I wanted to share with my DC heads that Fixed in DC is back in action, and yours truly will be contributing. Check it out if you have any interest in fixed gear bikes or bicycling in the Diamond District in general.

Also, wanted to give a shout out to my good friend Pat White, whose blog has been consistently updated with some great photography from all over: Cali, DC, Alaska, and assorted islands, among other places. Check out his work here: Pat White Photography. Below, two of his recently posted pictures to lure you to his site.

Babysitting Lessons

Today, the manager at the leasing office shitted on me hard by poking fun at the fun that I'm a nanny/babysitter/mentor. I say, FUCK HER! She must subscribe to the Merriam Webster's Children's Dictionary "Word of the Day" or something and stigmatized me as a hippie. I accidentally came across the definition entry today at my job, which really cracked me up:

"a usually young person who typically has long hair, is against the values and practices of society, and often lives together with others."

How true.

Recent Reading

When I began telling my mom about my upcoming plans to see Jonathan Safran Foer speak this upcoming Tuesday at the Sixth and I Synagogue (come with!) regarding his new work on vegetarianism, she reached into her bag of Christmas presents and pulled out an early gift. I've been reading the book in between extended spurts of Slavoj Zizek (for the paper I still haven't finished), and I'm thoroughly enjoying his refreshing arguments about ideals I've already committed myself to. Below, a passage I found particularly insightful:

“Humans are the only animals that have children on purpose, keep in touch (or don't), care about birthdays, waste and lose time, brush their teeth, feel nostalgia, scrub stains, have religions and political parties and laws, wear keepsakes, apologize years after an offense, whisper, fear themselves, interpret dreams, hide their genitalia, shave, bury time capsules, and can choose not to eat something for reasons of conscience. The justifications for eating animals and for not eating them are often identical: we are not them.” (page 63)

Avoidance

Well, the paper I mentioned in the last post has once more been subverted to a more favorable activity, that being the creation of a list of bands I need to see. Check it out below:

Los Campesinos!
Wilco
TV on the Radio
Band of Horses
Phish
Public Enemy
Beach House
Grizzly Bear (missed opportunity at Radiohead)
Wu-Tang Clan, entirety (RIP ODB)*
The Hold Steady
The New Pornographers*
Belle and Sebastian
Daft Punk
Morrissey
the Talking Heads
De La Soul
The Arcade Fire
Beck
Gorrilaz
Explosions in the Sky
Wolf Parade*
Sufjan Stevens
TL/RX
The National
Broken Social Scene*



The asterisk indicates I've seen individual members or related acts perform before. I figure I'd publish this as a blog post if only in the event that my computer crashes and I lose the document I saved. Consider it a to-do list before I die.

EDIT I forgot to mention the list is in no order of priority, only the order in which I thought of them.