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Post Titled: culture vultures (was once an NPR show)
I woke up at 5:14 am, couldn't sleep, finished watching an Episode of Battlestar only to watch one of the main characters DIE! Not my favorite character but she did look an awful lot like a girl I went to the Homecoming Dance with.
Went jogging for 1.25 hours in a deserted Hasenheide, then got to work and was thinking "Y'know... I don't believe in high and low culture, do I? (SIDENOTE: Obviously a big lie since I love Battlestar and do NOT love- (sitcom? name?) uhm, Friends? I can't think of a sitcom that is on television now... actually... nope) but the bullshit continnnues:
"I don't see a divide, it is all just stuff! stuff make by folks who are really
just doing things based on different interests. Different aesthetics and needs! nascar, vivaldi, pollack, the design of wheaties boxes, san rio, norman rockwell, bill cosby, diane/michael keaton, judy collins, robin cook, r. crumb, montell williams kate moss, henry miller, oreos, sissy spacek, iggy pop, philipp roth, rachmaninov, stephen king, cate blacnhett, legos, dame edna, ween..." then two seconds later I open the email from "Stuff white People Like" and just start laughing, my forehead hits the desk, it begins: "Stuff white People Like #108: Appearing to enjoy Classical Music:
There are a number of industries that survive solely upon white guilt: Penguin Classics, the SPCA, free range chicken farms, and the entire rubber bracelet market. Yet all of these pale in comparison to classical music, which has used white guilt to exist for over a century beyond its relevance.
Though white people do not actually listen to classical music, they like to believe that they are the type of people who would enjoy it. You can witness this first hand by going to any classical performance at your local symphony where you will see literally dozens of white couples who have paid upwards of $80 for the right to dress up and sit in a chair for hours reading every word in the program.
After leaving the concert hall, white people will immediately begin telling everyone they know about how much they loved the performance and how they plan to “go more often.”
Sometime i think I do believe in differences... sometimes not... or mayyybe it all just boiled down to popularity- in which case the Super Bowl or the World Cup would be the best cultural events humanity has to offer, - not the symphony, the opera, the ballet, art or literature... Nope, they are all trumped by just a ball and some people. We are so simple, aren't we?
I still avoid the opera and classical music like the plague, even though I really enjoy it when I go... love the ballet, actually- but those desires are way way int he back seat/on the back burner -whereas i will order tickets to Batman in advance.. or I just would so much rather go to the zoo or plop down and watch Hellboy 2: the Golden Army. (which is good, by the way)... did I overdose as a child on this (classical) stuff? Why don't I desire it?... well, I desire it more than I desire nascar, but still...
I woke up at 5:14 am, couldn't sleep, finished watching an Episode of Battlestar only to watch one of the main characters DIE! Not my favorite character but she did look an awful lot like a girl I went to the Homecoming Dance with.
Went jogging for 1.25 hours in a deserted Hasenheide, then got to work and was thinking "Y'know... I don't believe in high and low culture, do I? (SIDENOTE: Obviously a big lie since I love Battlestar and do NOT love- (sitcom? name?) uhm, Friends? I can't think of a sitcom that is on television now... actually... nope) but the bullshit continnnues:
"I don't see a divide, it is all just stuff! stuff make by folks who are really
just doing things based on different interests. Different aesthetics and needs! nascar, vivaldi, pollack, the design of wheaties boxes, san rio, norman rockwell, bill cosby, diane/michael keaton, judy collins, robin cook, r. crumb, montell williams kate moss, henry miller, oreos, sissy spacek, iggy pop, philipp roth, rachmaninov, stephen king, cate blacnhett, legos, dame edna, ween..." then two seconds later I open the email from "Stuff white People Like" and just start laughing, my forehead hits the desk, it begins: "Stuff white People Like #108: Appearing to enjoy Classical Music:
There are a number of industries that survive solely upon white guilt: Penguin Classics, the SPCA, free range chicken farms, and the entire rubber bracelet market. Yet all of these pale in comparison to classical music, which has used white guilt to exist for over a century beyond its relevance.
Though white people do not actually listen to classical music, they like to believe that they are the type of people who would enjoy it. You can witness this first hand by going to any classical performance at your local symphony where you will see literally dozens of white couples who have paid upwards of $80 for the right to dress up and sit in a chair for hours reading every word in the program.
After leaving the concert hall, white people will immediately begin telling everyone they know about how much they loved the performance and how they plan to “go more often.”
Sometime i think I do believe in differences... sometimes not... or mayyybe it all just boiled down to popularity- in which case the Super Bowl or the World Cup would be the best cultural events humanity has to offer, - not the symphony, the opera, the ballet, art or literature... Nope, they are all trumped by just a ball and some people. We are so simple, aren't we?
I still avoid the opera and classical music like the plague, even though I really enjoy it when I go... love the ballet, actually- but those desires are way way int he back seat/on the back burner -whereas i will order tickets to Batman in advance.. or I just would so much rather go to the zoo or plop down and watch Hellboy 2: the Golden Army. (which is good, by the way)... did I overdose as a child on this (classical) stuff? Why don't I desire it?... well, I desire it more than I desire nascar, but still...
Labels: iggy pop philipp roth rachmaninov stephen king cate blacnhett ween, Stuff white People Like nascar wheaties norman rockwell judy collins robin cook r. crumb kate moss henry miller sissy spacek
posted by "Post-Google" by TAR ART RAT at 4:42 pm
3 Comments:
When I was in my teens I liked classical piano music but I found choral music unbelievably silly. I hated the way a single sentence would be brought in and sung about five times before they moved on to the next one. After a while I started listening to cello and piano music, and then trios. It took a long while to get to like anything for violin. I changed my mind about choral music at some point. I think it takes a long time, with classical music, to discover what you like. People go to a concert, perhaps, expecting a transcendent experience, without really having any idea of what they like.
jea,. maybe I just just throw myself in the water to learn how to swim- just start going to classical shows whenever possible. I do actually love rachmaninov, ravel, and even the cheezy Grieg stuff, (which i had only one CD of) and kronos quartet if that counts-
It's funny, I mean, stuff white people like is actually created with the same sly snobiness which it (politely) detests- but sometimes it is quite right-on, because i definitely love Mos Def, #107 Self Aware Hip Hop References, #105 Unpaid Internships, #104 Girls with Bangs, Statistics, Comparing People to Hitler, ertc. etc. etc... guess I just have to learn to live with that.
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