Ok I'm obsessed. Seriously.
Last night I was dreaming about how Barack Obama should be responding to John McCain and Sarah Palin. For real. In my dream Obama was on stage saying "John McCain was involved in the Keating 5 scandal that cost this country almost a billion dollars in taxpayer buyouts. John McCain has had closer ties to lobbiests and corporate interests than almost any senator in Washington. John McCain has changed his position on key issues so often that he is currently running against two major bills that HE sponsored! He's sat next to George Bush as he marched us into an arrogant and reckless war, as he cut taxes for the richest Americans and corporations, as he protected the oil companies' interests above those of the country, as he shredded the Constitution, as he divided the American people unlike any president in recent memory and he did NOTHING! NOTHING! Now we're supposed to believe that he's a reformer? WHAT?"
That's what I would say anyway. And as for Sarah Palin, you can dress up an elephant in lipstick but it's still an elephant.
Ok, now that that's out of the way here are some random thoughts I had driving to work today:
What the fuck is Journey doing with that Asian lead singer? Where is Steve Perry? Is he working at a Kinko's or something? Go get him! What's the fucking problem?
I'm sick and tired of terms like "guyliner", "mandals", "manscaping", "bromance". Enough. It was clever for about 5 seconds. Now it's just annoying.
And this is a random thought, but hear me out: Art is a funny thing. A culture's art reveals a lot about that culture values. Right now art in general is held in rather low regard in our culture. "Reality" tv, tabloid journalism, celebrity worship, et al, has replaced any real mass artistic movements. People don't want to be challenged, they want to see themselves reflected back at them. Our culture is obsessed with those who seem to be as fucked up as we are at our worst. Britney, Lindsay Lohan, etc. Amy Winehouse is way more famous for being a crackhead than she is for being a pretty great singer/songwriter. We don't want to reach for what's best about us, we want to wallow and snark about what's worst. We've left behind the whole idea that art is a tool to let us see something in us that we didn't know, or to explore horizons that we have even yet to imagine. Right now we just want to know what we already know. Research has shown that fast food and chain restaurants thrive because people want to know EXACTLY what they're getting. They don't want to try anything new or different. They want to be reassured.
Enter Sarah Palin. What's the first thing we heard about Sarah Palin? She was a "hockey mom". Celebs! Thy're just like us!
Every 4 years a slew of presidential aspirants descend on the unsettled populous to prove that they're "regular folks". They're just like us!
Shouldn't we want those who we chose to be in charge to be BETTER than us? Or are we gonna wallow in the shallow end here too?
In art, in culture, in politics, we want to see ourselves reflected back at us. We get what we deserve.
I'm up for an adventure of some sort. Any ideas?
Last night I was dreaming about how Barack Obama should be responding to John McCain and Sarah Palin. For real. In my dream Obama was on stage saying "John McCain was involved in the Keating 5 scandal that cost this country almost a billion dollars in taxpayer buyouts. John McCain has had closer ties to lobbiests and corporate interests than almost any senator in Washington. John McCain has changed his position on key issues so often that he is currently running against two major bills that HE sponsored! He's sat next to George Bush as he marched us into an arrogant and reckless war, as he cut taxes for the richest Americans and corporations, as he protected the oil companies' interests above those of the country, as he shredded the Constitution, as he divided the American people unlike any president in recent memory and he did NOTHING! NOTHING! Now we're supposed to believe that he's a reformer? WHAT?"
That's what I would say anyway. And as for Sarah Palin, you can dress up an elephant in lipstick but it's still an elephant.
Ok, now that that's out of the way here are some random thoughts I had driving to work today:
What the fuck is Journey doing with that Asian lead singer? Where is Steve Perry? Is he working at a Kinko's or something? Go get him! What's the fucking problem?
I'm sick and tired of terms like "guyliner", "mandals", "manscaping", "bromance". Enough. It was clever for about 5 seconds. Now it's just annoying.
And this is a random thought, but hear me out: Art is a funny thing. A culture's art reveals a lot about that culture values. Right now art in general is held in rather low regard in our culture. "Reality" tv, tabloid journalism, celebrity worship, et al, has replaced any real mass artistic movements. People don't want to be challenged, they want to see themselves reflected back at them. Our culture is obsessed with those who seem to be as fucked up as we are at our worst. Britney, Lindsay Lohan, etc. Amy Winehouse is way more famous for being a crackhead than she is for being a pretty great singer/songwriter. We don't want to reach for what's best about us, we want to wallow and snark about what's worst. We've left behind the whole idea that art is a tool to let us see something in us that we didn't know, or to explore horizons that we have even yet to imagine. Right now we just want to know what we already know. Research has shown that fast food and chain restaurants thrive because people want to know EXACTLY what they're getting. They don't want to try anything new or different. They want to be reassured.
Enter Sarah Palin. What's the first thing we heard about Sarah Palin? She was a "hockey mom". Celebs! Thy're just like us!
Every 4 years a slew of presidential aspirants descend on the unsettled populous to prove that they're "regular folks". They're just like us!
Shouldn't we want those who we chose to be in charge to be BETTER than us? Or are we gonna wallow in the shallow end here too?
In art, in culture, in politics, we want to see ourselves reflected back at us. We get what we deserve.
I'm up for an adventure of some sort. Any ideas?
VIEW 4 of 4 COMMENTS
lexie:
thats just not the way the world works
thats just not the way the world works
jaie:
aww.. i missed you too ofcoarse 