Complex and Unreal

I'm going to start a series of entries entitled "Good Words" to showcase words that ought to be used more often. Today's words are recuperation and detournement.

Recently N brought over the Christmas 2007 copy of the magazine Real Simple (subtitled 'life made easier'). When I finally got a moment to look at it I was appalled- what the hell happened to this magazine? This is what America is all about- rampant consumerism, advertising, and deep denial. Ouch. Aside from the matte finish cover Real Simple is no different than an updated Redbook. Advertisements by the Gap, Cadillac, Wal-Mart, Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdales, Banana Republic, Eddie Bauer and Target as well as perfume, credit card, cell phone, insurance, computer, automobile, and petroleum companies. By my count, there are over 260 people on staff creating this bloated horror. Two hundred and sixty people to put out a magazine- real simple!

And the staff have names like Ruth Kauders Rothchild, Jackeline Valencia, Ashley Tate, Kristin Appenbrink, and Sharon Tanenbaum. Oh my! Managing editor Kristin van Ogtrop pretty much sums up the spirit of the magazine in her opening “Thoughts”. She lets it be known how great her job is, how difficult it was to choose which products to fit into a 65 page Christmas gift guide, how she likes reading people who “like Real Simple the way it is”, how she wants to make sure that products will be immediately available, and how she is off to do her shopping. Thanks Kristin! Keep it simple!

Real Simple magazine is a parody of simplicity. To the degree that "simplicity" is a radical idea, Real Change has been an agent of recuperation. Some Americans try (rather unsuccessfully I might add) to grapple with the concept of recuperation here. The opposite of recuperation is detournement. Here is a Lord of the Rings video that has been detourned (and parodies "free trade").

Bubbles, Blogs, and Bar Codes

This evening I attended a library science info session for potential grad students at the University of Washington. They allayed some of my fears about computer technology; it also appears that my having a blog is a good indication that I can make it through the program. After I arrived home I pulled up some librarian blogs and found this video about there being a "technology bubble". Now I have no way of knowing if there is a technology bubble or not. But the video mentions how everyone has a blog now and this resonated with something I've been thinking about lately- that everyone is talking and no one is listening.

This thought is not new. I remember Fred Woodworth (author of the long-standing anarchist publication The Match!) voicing this idea years ago(by the way, Fred's self-printed publication deliberately carries no bar code, which makes it very difficult to access. To get a copy write to: Fred Woodworth, c/o The Match, Box 3012, Tucson, Arizona 85702. No price is listed but I would advise sending him at least $7-10) Fred still believes that all technology comes at a price; the more "advanced" a technology is, the greater the price. And I believe that the faster we adopt new technologies, the blinder we become to the overall price tag. One pricetag is the erosion of the immediate (see immediatism).

I'm guessing this is a big reason why I see individuals abandoning their blogs: they've become disenchanted with speaking to no-one. At least with face-to-face communication it's communication, dialogue. I feel I'll be all right with this blog for a while because it's just a take-off on my daily writing anyway (and writing is a lonely endeavor).

I read on one of the librarian blogs that one new trend in libraries is to allow the patrons to add content. I think that is a great concept. But I think we need to reawaken ourselves to living things, first and foremost those living around us. Without inquiring into the "other", we narrow ourselves terribly, blinding ourselves in the process. It's a vicious cycle. Those in any kind of bubble find it hard to perceive the predicament they are in precisely because they are in a bubble. Only by striking out in new directions can we stumble upon the keys to our self-liberation.

I like this little music video because it's ostensibly about a tech bubble but it strikes out into "other" territory.

Where is the Music that will Bowl with my Mind?

You know what I hate most about most modern, American "alternative" music? It's distinct lack of humor. If I state this in public I immediately am reminded of They Might Be Giants or The Fresh Young Fellows. The sad truth is that these bands are not very funny. No, sorry, but TMBGs and TYFFs are what I would call "clever" bands. The music is whimsical, even jovial- but gut busting? No. Which brings me to Mente.

Mente was one of the few Boston bands I ever saw that never failed to make me laugh loudly and often. This despite the fact that they could barely play their instruments(they claimed they were the worst band in Boston if not the world). They regularly asked their audiences to guess whether their songs consisted of one, two, or three chords. They wore wigs, platform shoes, ridiculously bad glam outfits, oily glued-on mustaches and used every annoying rock star move and pose. Both their lyrics and their music were funny but that's not what pushed them over the edge into comedy gold. The real reason was this: like Spinal Tap in the UK, they a) totally believed in themselves, no matter how bad they were, b) pretended to be really stupid, and (most importantly), c) no matter where they were they never broke character.

I think it may be this last element that makes really funny bands so rare. I'm probably wrong about TMBGs or TYFFs. They were in all likelihood, utterly hilarious live. Maybe the appeal of a band like Mente is that they were local, that half of the music was about New England, or that the audiences were small and often knew one another. If that's the case, may the funny bands walk amongst us once again. Why must all the live music be serious or arty? Why must the humorous music be relegated to music videos and compact disc? I don't know- is Tenacious D funny? Gwar? Probably the last funny band I can remember is Killdozer. Are there any funny rock Gods walking among us anymore?

Check out Mente's music here. Recommended songs: Sex Poodle, Lincoln, Bobby Orr ("the greatest hockey player to ever strap on a pair of friggin' ice skates"), Scrod('second only to god'), Look Out World, Hoverin', Big Car, and Endlessly Rocking (containing a Walt Whitman reading/freakout).

The Clamdiggers and The Satanics were two spin-off bands of Mente. Two members of Mente went on to form The Upper Crust.

There's a little EVEL in all of us

RIP Evel Knievel

1938-2007

Evel Knievel died today. I think it's important to remember the passing of your childhood heroes. I don't care about the red, white, and blue jingoism or his later conversion to Christianity. All I know is that Evel Knievel made the Jackass movie stunts look like padlum by comparison. He holds the Guinness World Record for the most broken bones!You can find out about his life and career here or here. This was the only decent news video I could find on his death. Finally, I could only locate one or two video tributes that didn't suck.

Evel Knievel wore crazy patterned shirts, dressed like a superhero in public, and tried to fly over a canyon in a frigging rocket. If there's ever a movie made about his life, I hope Bruce Campbell gets the lead. So far I've only seen this cheesy MTV-esque take on Knievel (with George Thoroughgood soundtrack).

Instead of Ruins

My friend Andrew at blueruinpdx.blogspot.com/ sent me this incredible video.

I thought I would just watch it for a moment but got sucked in for the entirety. This video is ostensibly about bikes and transportation; actually, it is more about urbanism and how encouraging participation (“citizen engagement”) can help to improve community. There is a great feeling of possibility that comes out of this 30 minute clip. Because most of the interviews are with city planners, the radicality of this project, and Portland’s residents, becomes even more apparent. The segment with Portland seniors was priceless.

Be Cheerful or Else

James Lilek’s new book has arrived! Gastroanomalies: Questionable Culinary Creations from the Golden Age of American Cookery is the long-awaited sequel to the hilarious Gallery of Regrettable Food. The subject matter is, of course, nauseating photos and ridiculous graphics and text from old American cookbooks. What makes this better than actually owning these nasty cookbooks is Lilek’s jaunty and acerbic commentary- it’s like reading your own thoughts aloud. I keep my copies of Lilek’s books behind my tiki bar for reading when imbibing tropical drinks. (The only other book that gets bigger laughs is “How to Pick Up Girls”). Furthermore, these books are beautifully designed on every level and look posh on the shelf.

Instant Trouble is proud to announce our first official endorsement.

They Wrong, We Write.

Let's Start Talking About Literature

I recently picked up Pierre Baynard’s How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read. Since I have not yet read it, I figured it would be apt to discuss it.

Baynard is a psychoanalyst, professor of French, and a fiction author. This is ultimately a book about education, about reversing our ideas about how we must behave, interact with others, or absorb information. It is also about creation, about how our modern education tends to stifle imagination. And it is about the fine and pleasurable art of conversation, about the intersection of history and story. I will report back when I’ve actually read the book.

I heartily recommend B.R. Myer’s brilliant A Reader’s Manifesto (subtitled ‘An Attack on the Growing Pretentiousness in American Literary Prose’). I read it a few years ago. It rightfully skewers a number of well-known and successful writers including Paul Auster, Annie Proulx, Cormac McCarthy, Don Delillo, Jonathan Franzen and David Guterson. The book also references and comments on the essay’s criticisms and the controversies that surround it. I’ve always wondered why I found all these “prize winning” author’s books unpalatable. This book reminds me why I put down these author's works and convinces me that a desire for clear writing need not make me simple or prudish.

I’m just like everyone else. I’m not like everybody else.

Unemployment is the poor American’s vacation. You can never quite relax because time is money and every day without work means less money. Being unemployed, I temporarily have more “free time”, though it is primarily time spent preparing to re-enter the work force. Taking a shower, folding the laundry, keeping yourself fed, even your relaxing and unwinding and socializing are all just arranged to get you ready for another workweek and to ensure that you are fit and ready to produce for the Homeland.

There are not many ways out of this. You can either become the Man (landlord, boss, bureaucrat) or you simplify and become creative. Or you become a criminal. Those who choose to simplify and live creatively are practically considered criminals. Those who want to live outside the system or hidden within it are treated as delusional people who should be locked up in mental institutions or prisons. Aren’t they aware that there is no escape?

Amazon Dot Oz

I live down the street from Fortress Amazon. I can see the building, like a golden Oz, from my bedroom window. I live in this Bermuda Triangle of whoop whooping cop cars, wailing ambulances, and tractor trailer horn blasts. I can hear the freight train warning whistles as the passenger jets roar overhead. I moved out here from the East Coast fifteen years ago, pushed out by gentrification. I was in one wave among many waves of displaced people; now I have been pushed to the edge of this city.

My rent is cheap. Most of my friends live piled up in group houses. Another friend squats in a house nine blocks from me. However, The Captain ‘owns’ a small house and my friends Mr. Howell & Lovey are building a tiny house on one of the islands. My girlfriend “N” ‘owns’ a condo, which is the housing model for this city. There is no affordable housing but plenty of development.

There was a period where I went eighteen years without having a bank account. Earlier this year I ended a twenty year car-less stretch by purchasing a used car with N. We bought the car from my employer. A month ago I was laid-off by this employer. I’m unemployed- thus I am compelled to begin this blog by lying, by omitting certain facts.

A few weeks ago my car was broken into and my week’s groceries and ratty backpack stolen. Aside from the damages to the lock, they stole my passport, my checkbook, my car’s registration, books & pamphlets & magazines, clothes, and some loose change. My backpack turned up in DesMoines. The only items left in the bag were the car’s registration, two pairs of American Apparel underwear, one stripy fingerless glove, and a few loose coins. Oh, and they left behind a copy of the New Yorker.