The State of the Union

Well, it's time for the President's State of the Union Address.  Let's watch and see how he does.

 

 

In Defense of Pop Culture or What I Learned at the Grammys

Okay I just want to make a quick self-indulgent announcement here.

I just discovered that I really like Macklemore and Ryan Lewis.

 And here is a picture I drew of them.

It began, as many things do, on a Monday morning, searching Facebook to see what my finely filtered version of the world has been up to.  Tunisia signed in a new constitution, the Ukranian leadership doesn't seem particularly concerned about the past week's violent uprisings, and the value of the Turkish lira is dropping which, in addition to continued Chinese economic stagnation and global civil unrest, has some concerned that the recession is about to take a second and fairly violent .....how do you say in French....."chute" or "fall".  The French are protesting unemployment as well, despite Europe's supposed stability, just like always.... because the global community is collapsing upon itself....blerty blerty bler......

That and, several people were bragging that they didn't watch the Grammys last night.  They're so cool and superior and not a slave to the whims of pop culture that they didn't EVEN watch the Grammy's last night.

Well I've got them trumped, because I didn't even KNOW the Grammys were on, nor did I recognize anyone who was supposedly ridiculously freaking amazing.  Except for Daft Punk, but come on, it's Daft Punk.  They're French robots, and they give voice to the common plight of working it harder, making it better, and doing it faster.

Though it does make us stronger.  

I realize however, now that I am not a teenager, that universal exclusion from one's culture is not necessarily a thing to be proud of.  At a certain point, it might just be ignorance.  For example, I currently live in a place that struggles to receive streaming internet service.  So, do you see me bothering with ipads and netflixes and google goggles and 3D printed heart recuscitations?  Fuck no.  There isn't the satellite capacity for such ventures. And even if there was, who exactly am I going to go show off to? Some white pudgey bumpkin whose idea of sufficient humanitarian progress is smiling at the three black people occasionally seen around town?

Maybe I make claim to this ignorance with a sense of pride, because I'm so anti-culture that I wouldn't be swayed by all those paralyzing ads to buy products I neither want nor can afford.  I can form my own opinions on world affairs without even knowing what CNN thinks about it first.  I don't have to dress like they do in magazines, I can dress myself in whatever way I want!  I'm an independent thinker because I've eliminated all forms of exposure to pop-culture way out here in the countryside!  Hooray hooray!

But, at one point in my life, I did live in a major metropolitan area or two, and despite my staggering cultural independence, I was at least aware of certain aspects of pop culture.  I acknowledged that the only way to succeed in business was to be plugged into a Blackberry 24/7, excessive facial hair did not give a professional impression, and brown boots do not work with gray-toned outfits that are otherwise black, white, or blue.  Those boots need to be black.  Seriously, this is basic color wheel stuff.

In fact I would have then, and do now, make the argument that putting the effort into being aware of your bright plastic false sense of community, by which I mean American pop culture, does not mean that you can't be an intelligent and free-thinking person.  It means you acknowledge that there is in fact a game, and that you are willing to play it to one degree or another.  The phrase, "to beat them at their own game" comes to mind.  There are plenty of clever and liberated minds who do this. As an example, The Wachowski's of Matrix fame, who construct the highest order of cinematic instruction on how to "unplug" by tactically employing the promotion and funding by capitalism to question the true merits of unchecked growth and endless consumerism, both material and psychospiritual.

Okay so.... everyone on Facebook was like uuuuh I didn't EVEN watch the Grammy's last night, cuz I don't even kerr and pop music is formulaic and predictable and pandering to the lowest common denominator, which I am not! HuH!

While I agree with many of those charges, I do think that pop music has its place. Like Pharrell, he's a ridiculously happy guy. And in times of turmoil and riots and economic collapse, Pharrell's like, here comes bad news, but I'll be just fine, because I'm HAPPY! A sentiment that perhaps should not be entirely crushed by the nay saying snobs of the world.

So then this French guy on my Facebook newsfeed was like Daft Punk a remporté l'album de l'année and so I watched a clip of their performance on France24 because Daft Punk is French and I like to practice French by watching things in French. One of the music commentators started getting really excited about Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, who appeared to be two white guys riding shopping carts with thrift store bitches at their side. I was intrigued, and so tracked down the music video and was immediately delighted by its unassuming humbleness.

As playful as they were, I admit to being a little surprised to see a song with a more serious topic called, “Same Love." Aside from being a totally exquisite song, it's a fairly bold move as a white male rapper to go against his stereotype and provide an honest commentary on something that grieves such a large number of people, which is intolerance.  I guess this was the song they ultimately performed at the Grammys.  One hell of a platform for such a positive message.

This is another example of where pop culture and mass appeal serves its purpose, it has its place.

Here's another confession. When I'm really overwhelmed or upset about something, I have been known to go to PerezHilton.com, even though I don't know who any of these teeny boppers are. It's just a helpful reminder that people are trying so hard, and have these ideas of legacies that they'll leave behind. But nothing actually matters. It's just life. You just live it.

No biggie.

You know, life comes with some sweet music too.

Hey thanks pop culture!

I never actually did watch the Grammys.  I guess this post has thus far implied that I did.

What I did learn, other than that pop culture has some big important resounding social merits, was that I need to put a little effort into knowing what's going on culturally in this country.  If I plan on moving back into civilization in a year or so, I need to cut this back country keep-to-myself fantasy that I've been living, because I'm just not going to be able to keep up if I can't perform basic city functions.  Like programming the neighbor's microwave with my ipad, without them even knowing it.  That's what people do with those, right?  Instagram their laundromat to deliver streaming dinners while their moles are satellite-lazored from their backs?

 Wicked.

I'm not drawing that.  That would be gross.

And you know what they say:

If you pop it, it will culture.

Pleased to meet you, Mount Sinabung

PARDON?!?!

Mount Sinabung Erupts!!! 

 Why..... hello my lovely, we haven't met.  Your name implies a certain.... shall we say.... Cinnabun-ness, and your photographs shudder my breath to a halt-
I mean the volcano.  Not the terrified, fleeing people.  I doubt they're actually that frightened.  They live in Indo-fucking-nesia.  This is like weather to them.

This sassy little mistress is only 25 miles from the Lake Toba supervolcano!!!!!
I find this exciting.

"YEAH!  I'm in an ERUPTION"

Is that a pterodactyl in the foreground there?  I think that's a pterodactyl.

I find this soooooooooooooo exciting.











These images were taken from the Time.com article listed above.