Tuesday, August 21, 2007

In which my tastes are called into question, and defended

Last night I was reading the Atlantic, congratulating myself on actually getting through a whole issue rather than just letting it contribute to the Leaning Tower of Pisa on my desk/nightstand like so many other publications, when I came on this article by Michael Hirschorn right at the end. As take-downs of pop culture phenomena go it's rather gentle. I think its fighting-est words are:
Quirk, loosed from its moorings, quickly becomes exhausting... Like the proliferation of meta-humor that followed David Letterman and Jerry Seinfeld in the ’90s, quirk is everywhere because quirkiness is so easy to achieve: Just be odd … but endearing. It becomes a kind of psychographic marker, like wearing laceless Chuck Taylors or ironic facial hair—a self-satisfied pose that stands for nothing and doesn’t require you to take creative responsibility.

Hirschorn's article classified many things I hold dear as "quirk," namely:
  • This American Life
  • Arrested Development
  • Napolean Dynamite
  • Little Miss Sunshine
  • Rushmore*
  • The Royal Tennenbaums
Ok, so I agree with him about Garden State and The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, but proof positive that Hirschorn was talking about me came here (in reference to This American Life):
It’s the sound of Austin, Boulder, Berkeley, Red Hook, Madison, Cambridge, Adams Morgan**—of people who tend to think of themselves as engaged, aware.

Oh the humanity! Oh the italics!

Hirschorn, by contrast, is a man of the people. You can tell because he enjoys Knocked Up and reality TV.

Upon reflection I realized I'm probably guilty not only of patronizing this unmoored quirk, but of propagating it: see my blog entries on signs for dogs, recording examples of risible punctuation, and roller-blading in a parade while dressed as a car.

Upon further reflection I remembered that This American Life does do devastatingly "important" shows, including some great recent ones on the Iraq war and habeas corpus. And I thought about the some of the pretentious schlock I've seen that came out of someone's earnest attempt to make something that mattered (see Crash, Babel), and concluded I'd rather have spent those couple of hours on some meaningless piece of engaged, aware quirky escapism. Because what's wrong with that, really?

*cited as an example of good quirk
**this is where I live

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Buffy

Yesterday I watched the final two episodes in the Buffy the Vampire series. It doesn't sound like a great way to spend a gorgeous Saturday afternoon (hey--I went outside, too), but it seemed momentous, given that I'd been slowly making my way through the series on DVD since January 2005.

So what am I going to do tomorrow? Maybe I'll set the world on fire. Or maybe I'll start on the other 213 DVDs in my Netflix queue. The possibilities are endless.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Pimp my cat



Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this is Icanhascheezburger material. I just need the right caption. Ideas?

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Thai Hot

This is the receipt from M.M.'s birthday dinner on Tuesday. Even with six exclamation marks, it wasn't hot enough for him, so he asked for some hot sauce and piled it on. Afterward he claimed he couldn't concentrate because his mouth was on fire. What a wuss.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

A Rock in a Park

Remember how I wrote that hanging out with Joey and E97 was sort of like being in a Kevin Smith movie? Yeah, I didn't think so. Anyway, for E97's sister, editor of this surreal, er, short, it was apparently like a completely different kind of movie:

(Don't feel like you need to watch the whole thing. It's very much an inside joke. I think.)

(Also, I don't make an appearance in this video.)