http://www.myspace.com/thebedroomphilosopher
listen to the song i'm so post modern. it's cute, until you realize it's 5 and a half minutes long.
(i didn't intend to give a shout out to house of leaves there, it's just long...and i went ok ok, and clicked out of it before it ended)
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Some Thoughts on Pelafina
So I was thinking about what we talked about in class a few meetings ago, about how Whalestoe is slang for camel toe, which seemed really silly at the time. But the more I thought about it, the more things started to makes sense, once I got past my third-grader response of giggling over bathroom humor (not that there's anything wrong with that). Anyway, I got to thinking that since it's a camel toe we're talking about, it's very clearly a vaginal image - and of course, the Whalestoe houses Pelafina, Johnny's mother. So that's a connection right there - the mother is a vaginal image. From here, I started thinking in Lacanian terms again (please bear with me):
If the letters were supposedly hand written, but we only receive them as typographical works, could we then read them as Johnny's work? If Johnny wrote the letters, or even if Johnny only altered them, perhaps he is trying to retrieve the Phallus, which the Mother is lacking. Perhaps the letters are an attempt to get at truth and thus, some modicum of power, for his mother. If Johnny wrote the letters, is this a way to connect to her, giver her some sort of existence? Without the Phallus, she is a lack, and if she possesses the Phallus, she is a lack, but if Johnny can "author" his mother through these letters, he can (attempt to) make her into the Phallus, which is, of course, impossible. But through this attempt to "author" a mother through these letters, he might be attempting to find some Truth, which is also impossible, though tempting to believe.
If the letters were supposedly hand written, but we only receive them as typographical works, could we then read them as Johnny's work? If Johnny wrote the letters, or even if Johnny only altered them, perhaps he is trying to retrieve the Phallus, which the Mother is lacking. Perhaps the letters are an attempt to get at truth and thus, some modicum of power, for his mother. If Johnny wrote the letters, is this a way to connect to her, giver her some sort of existence? Without the Phallus, she is a lack, and if she possesses the Phallus, she is a lack, but if Johnny can "author" his mother through these letters, he can (attempt to) make her into the Phallus, which is, of course, impossible. But through this attempt to "author" a mother through these letters, he might be attempting to find some Truth, which is also impossible, though tempting to believe.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Calvin and Hobbes
You can never have too much Calvin and Hobbes. Let's take a look at a couple of strips.
This raises an interesting question. Do we have to like art if we're going to look at it? Calvin is trying to create a sort of Emperor's New Clothes situation here, where he will create art that no one understands or particularly likes, but they will pretend to like it and understand it in order to avoid being classified as "the lowbrows who can't appreciate great art like this."
If it's okay to not like art and still appreciate it, or rather, to not find it aesthetically pleasing, maybe that means that great art shouldn't fit society's definition of beauty at all. Maybe the greatest kind of art is the kind we can't understand and don't think is particularly pretty.
Still, the question remains, would you pay to see a deformed snowman in an art gallery setting?
Alright, one more.
So here's something that's very different from anything Calvin has ever made, because Calvin doesn't want to do what everyone else does. But when he gets tired of not conforming, he finds a new way to be avant-garde: be ironic by giving the public exactly what they want while simultaneously making them think they don't want it and therefore, they will want to want it. If Calvin gives them a nostalgic image in a modern setting, his theory is that his audience will love it, either because they're nostalgic themselves or because they believe nostalgia is avant-garde.
This raises an interesting question. Do we have to like art if we're going to look at it? Calvin is trying to create a sort of Emperor's New Clothes situation here, where he will create art that no one understands or particularly likes, but they will pretend to like it and understand it in order to avoid being classified as "the lowbrows who can't appreciate great art like this."
If it's okay to not like art and still appreciate it, or rather, to not find it aesthetically pleasing, maybe that means that great art shouldn't fit society's definition of beauty at all. Maybe the greatest kind of art is the kind we can't understand and don't think is particularly pretty.
Still, the question remains, would you pay to see a deformed snowman in an art gallery setting?
Alright, one more.
So here's something that's very different from anything Calvin has ever made, because Calvin doesn't want to do what everyone else does. But when he gets tired of not conforming, he finds a new way to be avant-garde: be ironic by giving the public exactly what they want while simultaneously making them think they don't want it and therefore, they will want to want it. If Calvin gives them a nostalgic image in a modern setting, his theory is that his audience will love it, either because they're nostalgic themselves or because they believe nostalgia is avant-garde.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
I guess we should be happy?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KdB5FcGh7Ks
So, I heard this on the radio (not my radio, my friend’s…) and before I could discern any real words being spoken (almost to the rhythm) I caught on to the roadrunner sound-blip. Then I deciphered the word Roadrunner and realized yes, he is actually singing about the Roadrunner… the Warner Brothers’ cartoon bird that is always escaping the Wily Coyote.
This is not something I expected from Kiss 108… (while I was listening to it… in my friend’s car.) Sex, drugs, fellatio, bling, and more sex… yes. But cartoons? When did cartoons become gangsta?
I played the song for my father and posed this same question, tailed by, “we should be happy it’s not about sex then right? Then it’s okay for the younger masses to overplay?” to which he responded with a raised brow and sly grin:
“Yeah… and yet somehow I still don’t feel socially redeemed.”
Has the rap community depleted its resources for covertly beating the censors and singing freely about sex and drugs? When I first heard Akon’s “Smack That” (by someone else’s request at a club) I remember being actually shocked (which was weird because I consider myself generally desensitized) and thought to myself “wow, they’re not even being coy and trying to blatantly hide the message…maybe this is the end, maybe the well of sex is try—or at least chafed” and now I hear this Roadrunner song…
Of course, I suppose Roadrunner may just be a metaphor for having sex while taking speed…
So, I heard this on the radio (not my radio, my friend’s…) and before I could discern any real words being spoken (almost to the rhythm) I caught on to the roadrunner sound-blip. Then I deciphered the word Roadrunner and realized yes, he is actually singing about the Roadrunner… the Warner Brothers’ cartoon bird that is always escaping the Wily Coyote.
This is not something I expected from Kiss 108… (while I was listening to it… in my friend’s car.) Sex, drugs, fellatio, bling, and more sex… yes. But cartoons? When did cartoons become gangsta?
I played the song for my father and posed this same question, tailed by, “we should be happy it’s not about sex then right? Then it’s okay for the younger masses to overplay?” to which he responded with a raised brow and sly grin:
“Yeah… and yet somehow I still don’t feel socially redeemed.”
Has the rap community depleted its resources for covertly beating the censors and singing freely about sex and drugs? When I first heard Akon’s “Smack That” (by someone else’s request at a club) I remember being actually shocked (which was weird because I consider myself generally desensitized) and thought to myself “wow, they’re not even being coy and trying to blatantly hide the message…maybe this is the end, maybe the well of sex is try—or at least chafed” and now I hear this Roadrunner song…
Of course, I suppose Roadrunner may just be a metaphor for having sex while taking speed…
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Group Project - PoMo track list
Yep, you guessed it. Self-referential music, either about playing an instrument, singing, playing or writing it. Something like that. This is what I have so far. Feel free to add to it! I feel like there's a shit ton I'm missing...
"I Play Bass" by Sack Trick
"Story of A Girl" by Nine Days
"Click Click Boom" by Saliva
"Sing" by The Dresden Dolls
"Art Is Hard" by Cursive
"We Call Upon The Author" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
"Pon de Replay" by Rihanna
"I Play Bass" by Sack Trick
"Story of A Girl" by Nine Days
"Click Click Boom" by Saliva
"Sing" by The Dresden Dolls
"Art Is Hard" by Cursive
"We Call Upon The Author" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
"Pon de Replay" by Rihanna
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
'Nough said. Monty Python mixes contemporary humor with medieval aesthetic to create a satire of the times. See also the interjection of present-like scenes, especially when the British cops get involved trying to find out who slew the narrator guy. What's interesting is they're not just making fun of it, they're do so intelligently. All the members of the cast have some sort of history degree.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)