Just stumbled across this now. I'm in my late 30's and I grew up with Black Flag. I remember first hearing them when I was around twelve or thirteen. For me, they were as much of an influence as Schoepenhauer or Spinoza:) I still have all of their records on Vinyl and still lisen to them occasionaly. Many an angst-filled teenage night was spent with my ear glued to the speaker, Rollins brutally screaming as Greg Ginn's guitar wailed in the background.
I've moved 6 times in the last five years and my two cats, Robert and Sebastion, have been with me every time. People always ask me, "Why are you carrying around those cats?" Well, they've been with me through thick and thin, they've never complained and they've never worried about anything, really giving me nothing but good vibes. How can I give them up?
Reminds me of something the late George Carlin once said, and I'll paraphrase: I would rather feed a starving dog than a starving human. People, for the most part, deserve what they get. Animals do not go out of their way to hurt another of their kind. In defense, perhaps, but only defense. for this they are comendable and far superior to us.
I had a friend in college who would arrange his tapes and CD's to spell out a sentence, or a word or two by the first letter of each album title. For instance, "M" for Master of Puppets or "W" for White Light/White Heat. Mixes woould then be made based on this catologuing system. A tape about love would only be made with bands with album titles whose first letter was either "L," "O," "V" or "E." You get the idea. I thought it was pretty cool.
There was a Tetris machine in a bar I used to spend a lot of time in:) I'd walk in and get a handful of quarters from the bartender and tunnel-vision the next few hours, my head bowed, glibley filling shapes. Hey, I had just graduated college. What else was I going to do? I was the Teris champ!!
The Hold Steady are way hip. I only have "Seperation Sunday" and "Boys and Girls in America" but both are totally rad:) They never fail to turn my morose demeanor right around every time I hear them. I recommend them with two enthusiastic thumbs up!!!
I like Postman's hypothesis that (I'm paraphrasing) the presentation of the medium conveys it's content. To prove this he uses the example of the uinvention of the telegraph and how Thoreau, was it, said that everyone will now know what pants George in england is wearing today. Flash to today and television. Because of it's presentation, it's almost inevitable that it be used for entertainment and nonsense. The same can be said of the internet. A great and fabulous invention with soooo much potential. Too bad it's being clouded up with things like twitter and facebook. But then, what can you expect?
Yeah, it is too bad that Mr Postman passed away. It would be interesting to get his take on the current state of affairs.
Another good book is "The Dumbing Down of America" though I can't recall the author just now.
Hunter Thompson write something to the effect of (and I'm paraphrasing) with the right kind of eyes you can look back and see us riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave
Of course, he was refering to the sixties but I always thought, somewhat romantically perhaps, that this could well be applied to gen-x as well. It felt good to be a part of something back then, even if you weren't sure what it was. To be a part of something larger than oneself. I still feel that way, and perhaps it's only self-serving to consider your particular 'moment' the last great one, but I sometimes think that gen-x was the last truly disrespectful generation.
My first Updike read was Couples. Hate to say I found it pretentious and overbearing. But, not to rush to judgement, I read Rabbit at Rest soon afterwards. Adnmittedly, he does have a good command and grasp of the word, but I can't see beyond that. His writing just never seemed to jump out and bite me. However, perhaps a re-read is in order now that I'm older. The closest comparison I can make to Updike is John Cheever. But........RIP, John. You have certainly earned your place and recognition.
Posted on July 23 at 3:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It was either the Greeks or the Romans, I can't recall exactly who, that believed true humour can't exist unless it's at the expense of someone else.
On Watching “Bruno”