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Archive for the ‘pop culture’ Category

The religion of the Spectacle is the Spectacle itself.
We live in a supposedly secular, post-modern culture.  You wil be told this in some quarters.
We live in a Judeo-Christian culture.  You will be told this in other quarters.
Neither of these things are quite correct.
Our so-called postmodern, secular culture is really the”pre-modern” “ghost-filled” world dressed up in [...]

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Around these parts, we honor the dead  by consuming their image and their artifacts.
Just like Biggie, Tupac, Kurt Cobain, John Lennon, Elvis, his death has led to a massive uptick in record sales.  Thus, he has been granted a sort of Spectacular Immortality.
And just like so many celebrity totems, in death all his sins, real [...]

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On my way back.  Give it a few weeks.  In the meantime, here’s one of the most arresting segments from Richard Kelly’s ambitiously uneven, much-maligned and little-seen Southland Tales.  Those of the rabbit hole persuasion and well-read arch-ironists alike should appreciate the movie immensely, what with its multiple layers of symbolism and the use of the Eye-in-the-Pyramid as symbol of [...]

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Just got tipped off by regular reader, Costumeoff, about the latest episode of South Park. Imagine my surprise to hear about Matt Stone and Trey Parker touching upon Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus and…ritual sacrifice. Maybe, this insight is simply in the air now, having penetrating the veil. With satire and cartoon kids, [...]

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Submitted for your analysis: the hottest, hippest, young people and a moving, cinematic montage fit for an Oscar-winning film’s promotional package or a Gap ad; versus the Whitest and Dorkiest of white and non-white people with lower producution values, less sex appeal, and inspirational power of the 1985 New England Patriot’s answer to the Super [...]

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I’m walking down the street with a friend last night in Manhattan.  As we do the slow stroll from just below Times Square down the length of the island, we stumble into a conversation about how New York City used to be.  It’s a conversation that probably emerges about a million times a day here.  [...]

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I didn’t want to write about this stuff again because I’m not sure that it’s helpful. But, as far as I see it, it’s a reality that is going on.
At least Ty Brown is beginning to see this, albeit from his own somewhat different angle.
Britney has been propped up as a representation of a [...]

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First, Robert Anton Wilson died.  Now, Norman Mailer has joined him in the great beyond.  You may not necessarily see the connection between the two men on the face of it, aside from them both having been writers and old white guys.  It would seem that their style and the focus of their writing were [...]

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We’ve gone from tazering seemingly conspiracy-oriented college students while the “audience” of fellow students and administrators do nothing, to having audiences cheer at a live taping of Real Time when Bill Maher helps remove “9-11 Truthers” from his studio.
Amazing how quickly the (short-) attention economy of Spectacle moves.
What’s telling are two remarks Maher made during [...]

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I recently found an old Rolling Stone interview from 1974 between William S. Burroughs and David Bowie and some befuddled rock journalist who comes off as a total third wheel. At the time that this rock journalist set up the meeting, the two weren’t all too familiar with each other’s work. Bowie had never [...]

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