The first thing I learned was that when people remind you all day to set your clocks ahead an hour on Sunday night, you should probably do that. Instead, I woke up the next morning thinking I had plenty of time to make it to Paul Lamere's panel "Finding Music With Pictures: Data Visualization for Discovery" only to discover that it was, in fact, happening at that very moment, thanks to the ridiculous scam that is Daylight Savings Time. Fortunately, Paul has posted his slides over at Music Machinery (linked from his name, above) and so when I have some more time I am going to try to piece together what he talked about based on a smattering of pictures and text.
I also learned that the SXSW Animated Shorts are not as good as the ones at Sundance that I was lucky enough to see a few years back, and in retrospect I should have skipped them entirely to attend the "Bloggers Fight Back: Legal Workshop for Music Bloggers" panel. But since I didn't, don't be surprised when I start writing this blog from jail.
When I finally got into some panels, I learned even more. Mainly, I learned that metadata is the magic word of the day. First up was the "Love, Music & APIs" panel featuring speakers from Echo Nest and SoundCloud. Their main point was that APIs are the new currency in music apps, and if you don't have one, you're not really playing in the same game as everyone else. They had a slide listing all sorts of cool music companies with APIs - interestingly enough, Pandora wasn't listed. I wondered why not, as they seemed to be in the heart of the music recommendation space, and my friend Lori quickly realized "they must not have an API." I felt so sad for them. The panelists talked a lot about Music Hack Days, finally answering the question of what actually happens at those things. The answer: a lot of smart people make a lot of really interesting and cool music apps in a very short amount of time, nearly all of them based around APIs. And what do those APIs revolve around? Metadata. That was also the topic of the second music-related panel I attended that day, "Music & Metadata: Do Songs Remain The Same?" The panelists here used a pretty broad definition of "metadata," using it to cover everything from the spelling of a song's title (apparently when users submit their own titles to most metadata repositories like MusicBrainz or the old CDDB, you can end up with 176 spellings of "Knockin' on Heaven's Door") to things like a song's cultural impact or a singer's unique and recognizable turns of phrase. The main takeaway is that metadata may start out in the hands of the artist, but quickly becomes "owned" by listeners, users, remixers, etc. Metadata is cultural currency in much the same way that APIs are technical currency. Combined, they are helping make this a fascinating and wonderful time to be a music nerd.
The last thing I learned is that the line to see Surfer Blood was too long last night, so I will be trying again tonight. Of course, there are about 50 bands (and a movie) that I want to see all playing at the same time tonight, so I have no idea what I'll end up seeing, but I'll tell you all about it here!
11 Aralık 2012 Salı
What I've Learned at SXSW So Far
To contact us Click HERE
Web Developer's Lament
To contact us Click HERE
This one's for all the web developers out there...
I'm on a "working vacation" for a couple weeks up in Belfast, ME, staying in a house on the bay. Somehow working from here doesn't feel quite as much like work as it does when I work from my usual office location. However, events have conspired to make it feel as much like work as it possibly could - namely, a client has been doing their best to make sure that no piece of code I write this week is ever actually done, due to the specifications changing daily, not unlike clouds shifting in a summer breeze.
So I wrote this song to explain how I feel. [This isn't all about this particular project, but that was a good starting point.]
This is a live recording made down by the water.
Lyrics:
They changed the specs again
Just when I was nearly finished
Said the client changed their mind
I don't know if I can take this
They changed the specs again
I've already written so much code
And the thought of starting over
Makes my sanity erode
Chorus:
Why won't they just let me finish?
Why can't I just be done?
Why won't they just let me finish?
Is this their idea of fun?
They changed the specs again
Pushed the launch up by 2 weeks
They've added a shopping cart
God, my knees are feeling weak
They changed the specs again
To match the new designs
They want it to just "work like Google"
Lord, I'm losing my mind
[Chorus]
I give up, I give up.
I give up, I give up.
Let's add some features, I give up.
Let's build a CMS from scratch, I give up.
Let's refactor every function, I give up.
Let's start calling ourselves agile, I give up.
Let's have a status meeting, I give up.
Let's adopt a framework, I give up.
Let's add members' only area, I give up.
Let's change databases, I give up.
Let's review my timesheet, I give up.
Let's never document anything, I give up.
Let's outsource to India
Still More Holiday Music That Doesn't Suck
To contact us Click HERE
"Christmas music." "Holiday tunes." "Mind-numbing winter-themed muzak pabulum." Call it what you will, our ears are subjected to a lot of crap every winter. Well, Wired For Music is here to help, with yet another edition of our patented "Holiday Music That Doesn't Suck" playlist.
This year's playlist has some songs that a lot of you will probably already know, but I've had enough people ask me about them in the past that I finally decided to put them on. Hopefully there'll be some surprises on here too for more "advanced" listeners, whatever that means. And it even features one song I swore I would never, ever include (it grew on me).
Enjoy, and be sure to check out the playlists from previous years!
Hungry for more? Check out some of these awesome holiday playlists:
 |
| SK Holiday Open House by flickr user vastateparksstaff |
This year's playlist has some songs that a lot of you will probably already know, but I've had enough people ask me about them in the past that I finally decided to put them on. Hopefully there'll be some surprises on here too for more "advanced" listeners, whatever that means. And it even features one song I swore I would never, ever include (it grew on me).
Enjoy, and be sure to check out the playlists from previous years!
- Dean Martin - A Marshmallow World
"The King of Cool" gives us his take on this sugary classic. Dean's version was never as popular as Bing Crosby's, but it does feature some of his trademark near-drunken slurring, particularly on the last verse's "take a walk-with-yourfav-or-itegirl." This song makes me wish it was snowing right now. - Gruff Rhys - Slashed Wrists This Christmas
This is the first track of the Super Furry Animals' frontman's brilliantly titled "Atheist Xmas EP." It's a bit repetitive, but then, so this this whole season, isn't it? - The Futureheads - Christmas Was Better In The 80s
Not entirely sure why these guys are so nostalgic given that I think they're younger than I am, but it's still a great song. Apparently it's a big deal in the UK to release a single at Christmas time, which explains the existence of a few tracks on this playlist. Some of them work out great, and others...don't make it to this playlist. - The Gasoline Brothers - Hungover Boxing Day
This Dutch band really nails that feeling of waking up on Boxing Day and realizing - wait, what the hell is Boxing Day? Europe is weird. - Badly Drawn Boy - Donna and Blitzen
This song definitely sounds like it was written a few days before the deadline for getting on the Xmas single charts or something like that. The lyrics read like he was doing a holiday-themed Mad Libs and just plugged in words like "sleigh ride" and "reindeer" here and there. But the music saves it, especially those massive timpanis. - Marvin Gaye - Purple Snowflakes
Nothing says Christmas like (a presumably high) Marvin Gaye singing about "purple snowflakes" while his backup singers sprinkle phrases like "chestnuts roasting" and "tootsies toasting" all over the place. This song is ridiculously good, and his voice is just angelic. - Okkervil River - Listening To Otis Redding At Home During Christmas
I can't decide if this is more depressing than Tom Waits's "Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis" (featured on 2008's playlist), but it's damn depressing regardless. Seriously, go read the lyrics, I'll wait. Can you imagine if Jeff Tweedy still wrote songs like this? Wow, that would be awesome. - Morphine - Sexy Christmas Baby Mine
Still not depressed? Listen to a dead man croon "Merry for you. Not too merry for me./I want you here with me. Misery loves company." You're welcome. - The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl - Fairytale of New York
I resisted this song for the past 5 years - in fact, I really hated it until late last year when it suddenly just clicked for me. I don't know if it's living in New York or what, but one of my most-hated Christmas songs ever has finally wormed its way into my heart. This one's a classic that I'm sure you've heard a million times, but it still belongs on this playlist. - Barenaked Ladies - I Saw Three Ships
Just a pretty little palate cleanser. They really should have let Steven sing first, but that's being nitpicky. - Lord Nelson - A Party For Santa Claus
Feeling chilly? Let the hot island rhythms of Tobago (by way of Brooklyn) of this little ditty warm you up (or go drink some cocoa, I don't care). I like the message of this song - how come no one ever gets presents for Santa? - The Beach Boys - Little Saint Nick
Of course The Beach Boys would write a song about Santa's sled. This song is stupid, but I love it. And it features the brilliant line: "Christmas comes this time each year." Deep. - Aimee Mann - I Was Thinking I Could Clean Up For Christmas
A happy little song about getting off the ol' drugs for Christmastime. Isn't that sweet? - Ella Fitzgerald - Good Morning Blues
Leave it to Ella to have a bad time at Christmas. "Don't send me nothing for Christmas but my baby back to me" - it's a great time of the year to be alone, isn't it? - dj BC - Waltz Of The Flowers (reflower)
An interesting mix of a classic, from dj BC's "A Very Re:Composition Christmas." Lots of interesting stuff on that album, it's really worth checking out if you like classical music, remixes, or both. - The Ramones - Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight)
A message of love and peace for the holidays from Joey Ramone. [Presumably he and the person to whom he was singing were allowed to resume fighting on Boxing Day.] - Kanye West ft. CyHi Da Prynce & Teyana Taylor - Christmas In Harlem
Despite famously being from Chicago, which does not include Harlem, Kanye does a serviceable job with this sequel to Louis Armstrong's "Christmas Night in Harlem" (featured in 2008's playlist). I think the best verse here belongs to CyHi Da Prynce, who raps in character as Santa Claus. This song gets extra credit for the part at the end when Teyana Taylor starts singing the melody of "Strawberry Letter 23." - Milly & Silly - Getting Down For Xmas
Looking at Santa's outfit, I'd say that playing funk music at this time of year is pretty much a no-brainer. - Frightened Rabbit - It's Christmas So We'll Stop
These guys really do a great job with the whole "suicidal but catchy" thing. Sample lyric: "Oh it's Christmas so we'll stop/'Cause the wine on our breath puts the love in our tongues/So forget the names/I called you on Christmas Eve/In fact forget the entire year/Don't reflect just pretend and you won't feel scared." Yikes. - David Bowie & Bing Crosby - Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy
For a song that was conceived of, written, rehearsed, and performed in a little over an hour, this is pretty amazing. If you haven't heard this before, you're probably going to like it. I think it's all the more incredible considering the backstory (see link above). - Lovebyte - Auld Lang Syne
I actually cut another electronic instrumental song off this list, but I just had to give a nod to the robot inside me with this overly upbeat, bizarre version of the New Year's classic. - Sarah McLachlan - Song For A Winter's Night
Sarah McLachlan's take on Gordon Lightfoot's beautiful little song is spare and beautiful, and I find it really evokes the feeling of a cold winter's night effectively. Great harmonies, too.
Hungry for more? Check out some of these awesome holiday playlists:
- Annals of Spacetime
- Fuel/Friends
- ilovethis
- Wired For Music
Friday Playlist: Baby's First Playlist
To contact us Click HERE
My wife and I recently had a baby girl (Alison, pictured above sporting a stylish baby towel). Parenting, of course, has its challenges, but it also has its joys - and a big one for me these days has been sharing music with my daughter. Music is a primary way that I communicate with the world (hence this blog), and my communications with her have been no exception. When I'm not singing her improvised lyrics to lullabies (or making up new songs entirely), I've been playing her different songs from my library and noting her reaction to various things. For example, Metallica seemed to make her gassy. She liked Aimee Mann, but only the early stuff. And she absolutely loves Spiritualized.
So I've compiled her very first playlist, comprising some of her favorites for chillout time, dance time, and sleepytime. I hope you enjoy it as much as she does.
PS A friend of mine gave me the gift of 3 albums from Rockabye Baby, namely lullaby versions of songs by Queen, Radiohead, and Led Zeppelin. Those are all awesome, and have the added bonus of lulling me to sleep, but I prefer to save those as secret weapons when I'm trying to conk her out, as opposed to just putting on music for her to chill to or dance with me to, etc.
 |
| My ridiculously cute daughter |
So I've compiled her very first playlist, comprising some of her favorites for chillout time, dance time, and sleepytime. I hope you enjoy it as much as she does.
PS A friend of mine gave me the gift of 3 albums from Rockabye Baby, namely lullaby versions of songs by Queen, Radiohead, and Led Zeppelin. Those are all awesome, and have the added bonus of lulling me to sleep, but I prefer to save those as secret weapons when I'm trying to conk her out, as opposed to just putting on music for her to chill to or dance with me to, etc.
- Spiritualized - Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space (Original Version)
I first played this for Alison when she was only a few days old. She had just finished eating and was in what baby experts call the "quiet alert state." So I figured it would be a perfect time to play her some tunes. I asked my wife what she thought a baby would like, and she said "Spiritualized?" I said yes. This is the original version of this song which includes lyrics from Elvis's "Can't Help Falling In Love" (the Presley estate made the band remove that portion of the song from this album's original release). The lyrics to the whole thing are pretty perfect to sing to a new baby. This is probably Alison's favorite song thus far (and one of my favorites, too). - Thievery Corporation - From Creation
She wasn't too taken with other Thievery Corporation songs, but she really seemed to click with this one. By "click," I mean she got quiet and stopped fussing and seemed to chill out a bit. I assume she likes these guys because, like her parents, they're from DC. - K'naan - Fatima
This song is actually kind of a downer, lyrically (it's about a young girl who was murdered, I think), but Alison really seemed to enjoy the rhythm, particularly in the chorus. [Editor's note: I'm saying things like "seemed to," "appeared to," etc. a lot because when I asked her what she thought of all these songs, she gave me no answer, so I'm having to go on educated guesses here.] - Cat Power - Living Proof
This is my favorite Cat Power song. Alison definitely seemed to enjoy it, but I don't know if it was genuine or if she was just trying to please me because she knows it's my favorite. Either way, she enjoyed being gently swayed in my arms to this song. Who wouldn't? Babies are supposed to like simple, repetitive melodies, and this one definitely fits the bill. - Yellow Ostrich - Mary
She seemed pretty relaxed during this song, which seems to be about the singer's friend who's on drugs. Alison overlooked the content and just focused on the soothing background, which definitely chilled her out. - The Snake The Cross The Crown - Cakewalk
Alison definitely identified with this song's ethos of "I just want to do the things that I feel like doing, and I want to be rewarded for same." Basically a baby's mantra. - The Beatles - Flying
I've been told that when I was a wee tot, almost nothing would soothe my jangled nerves as much as when my parents would put the big headphones on me and throw on either a Beatles record or something classical. Alison has a lot more Beatles to go (and classical, for that matter) but she seemed to take to this track - not a bad start. - Phish - Horn
I first played her "Bouncing Around The Room" which I thought she'd love, but I guess it was a little too simplistic, even for her. But she loved "Horn," especially the intro/chorus. She says she's psyched to hear Trey's solos on some live versions when she's a little older. - Self - Uno Song
I don't know a lot of Self songs after Subliminal Plastic Motives, but this one came up on shuffle the other week and she really dug dancing along to it. And by "dancing" I mean "me waving her around in my arms." Tapping out the beat on her back also seemed to help her burp, so hey - bonus. - Her Space Holiday - Sleepy California
Despite this song being about the slow death of the singer's estrangement from his mother and the painful death of his grandmother, Alison really seemed to enjoy it. She can be kind of dark that way. Or she was sleepy, it's hard to tell sometimes. - The Postal Service - The District Sleeps Alone Tonight
Another song that appeals to Alison because of her DC heritage. Also because it's slow and soft and beautiful and has a cool beat. And she likes when I sing along to it. - Jane's Addiction - Stop!
The first time I played this for her, I bounced her up and down vigorously along with the music - taking her up really high on the downbeats, particularly during the intro and chorus. My wife thought I was going to scramble Alison's brains, but Alison seemed genuinely happy. And it's hard to tell if a baby's brains are scrambled anyway, they don't do all that much higher-level thinking at this phase. - U2 - Trip Through Your Wires
U2 was another Amanda suggestion, and so far Alison has enjoyed most of what she heard. This song seemed to be her favorite, meaning she fell asleep during it. Right now her TTS (time to sleep) is a pretty indicator of how pleased she is with life overall. Alison also seems to love "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)" but I'm not a huge fan of that song, so it didn't make the list. - Grateful Dead - Box of Rain
I think Amanda suggested this album, too, and Alison seemed to love every track, so I picked this one because it's awesome. And she just fell asleep to it while I was writing this, so that's one in the "plus" column. - Radiohead - 4 Minute Warning
I mentioned above the lullaby version of Radiohead CD a friend gave us - it got me thinking about Radiohead songs in general, and I had an inkling that this song might be lullaby-esque enough in its current state to work on a baby. And I was right. I ended up playing this about 10 times in a row one night as she gently drifted off to sleep in my arms. [Editor's note: the fact that she woke up crying 10 minutes later has nothing to do with this song, that's apparently just how babies are sometimes.]
It’s US vs. Us once again.
To contact us Click HERE
Who doesn't heart binaries?
And we win!
The Boston Review(again, one of the best places for thinking—though the thinking itself, as thinking must—can sometimes drive me up a wall) got some poets and critics together to respond to Marjorie Perloff’s riff from last spring.
The Boston Review(Timothy Donnelly, B.K. Fischer, and David Johnson) asked: what is the most significant, troubling, relevant, recalcitrant, misunderstood, or egregious set of opposing terms in discussions about poetics today, and, by extension, what are the limits of binary thinking about poetry?
“Their responses range from whimsy to diatribe, with meditation, appraisal, tangent, touchstone, anecdote, drollery, confection, wit, and argument in between” follow:
http://www.bostonreview.net/BR37.6/binary_thinking_poetry_marjorie_perloff.php
Robert Archambeau, a perennial favorite of mine, has a quickie synopsis on his blog, if you feel like skimming:
http://samizdatblog.blogspot.com/2012/12/us-vs-them-poetry-and-limits-of-binary.html
[Side comment: I’m not much for spelling, and above, when I misspelled “perennial” my spell-check thought I meant “prenatal.” That gave me a nice, possible binary that I’m resolving not to reduce myself to.]
Here's my reaction to the original Perloff essay:
http://jjgallaher.blogspot.com/2012/04/marjorie-perloff-on-dominance.html
And my reaction to the second Perloff essay, which was in reaction to an essay by Matvei Yankelevich that was in reaction to her essay:
http://jjgallaher.blogspot.com/2012/07/stay-gold-ponyboy.html
Binaries stumble over us in the dark. It’s why we love vampires, right? The half dead, the undead, the Other that troubles (completes) the unnecessary on/off switches in our brains. Or (to make this a binary within a binary) is it that we love zombies for this reason? One romantic, one will eat our brains. As if romance itself doesn’t do a good enough job of eating our brains.
And what do these troubled and constantly outdated binaries do for us? What do Bella and Edward do to overcome the functionally necessary is/isn’t? They have an American Hybrid (is this offspring a salvation or apocalypse?)!
Value, artistic or otherwise, will always set up a binary, at the very least a personal binary: the binary of “did I put this on my good bookshelf” or “did I put this on the give-away table.” But is that true? Not really, I’m thinking. Look at any “good” book or whatever, and that book, that object, is filled with the arc of value, All Things fall on an arc (how grand). Likewise artistic standards fall on an arc, and then I see critics or whomever endorsing things that I can point to and say there’s no way, given what that critic has said in the past, that the critic should like this thing. Value is as messy as who is or isn’t in some school or movement. Or, more bothersome even, a critic (or a friend or something) will NOT like something that, according to everything that person has said, that person SHOULD like. Particle or wave? Sure. Binaries raise in me the desire to speak in universals, which is a version of “two wrongs don’t make a right.” So maybe ALL binaries aren’t wrong. (Cue the theme to The Walking Dead.)
Is the universe digital or analogue? Shaken or stirred? And what would happen if was asked if it is digital or stirred? If someone is a Formalist or Ecologist? Binaries work when we narrow a context to a pinpoint. And pinpoints, though interesting, are woefully inadequate, incomplete, and antiseptic.
So the cats are sleeping with the dogs and time marches on. Marjorie Perloff’s essay has its points. We MUST assign value to what we read, yes, yes, of course, but we must keep in mind the broad brushes we use (that Perloff seems untroubled by, which troubles me) when making pronouncements about “Poetry.”
Examples spoil binaries. So, in the spirit of spoiled binaries, I will endeavor to keep this conversation somewhere in the black & white halls of my memory for future angst-filled nights where I might find myself being remorselessly reductive in my thinking about what the kids are doing on my lawn.
We love strong statements and straight thinking. Stop this wishy-washy, namby-pamby bullshit, and say what you mean. Or: you people are nothing but ironic dilettantes, with your hipster lack of depth and coterie references. Or something like that. Sure, some stuff is just crap. Absolutely, the crap we will always have with us. But, also, mistakes can be made when wearing war-paint that a more nuanced and sympathetic approach might balance. When dealing with a foreign power, it’s a good idea to learn the language. And, one mistake that is made by people who have been around the art scene for more than 25 years, is the mistake that their history is enough to know what the young are saying, when, the truth is, the young constantly revise the old. The old shout BLANK IRONY and the young respond with NECESSARY AMBIVALENCE. (A false binary, of course, but binaries are what fits on bumper stickers, and bumper stickers are the coin of the realm.)
All projects in art are failed projects. And the young do little better in understanding the old.
I think of this as a good thing, for, if we understood each other, and if there was final authority, then art would cease to exist. Or better, we’d all freeze into place, turn silver, and hover six inches above everything. And, though it would be nice to have the lions speak and all that, I’d not want to give up breathing and all that. Aware, of course, that I’ve set up another binary with a chaser of universal. Weeeeeeeeee. Without a safety net:
Down Is the New Up!
Pour yourself a drink . . .
Who doesn't heart binaries?And we win!
The Boston Review(again, one of the best places for thinking—though the thinking itself, as thinking must—can sometimes drive me up a wall) got some poets and critics together to respond to Marjorie Perloff’s riff from last spring.
The Boston Review(Timothy Donnelly, B.K. Fischer, and David Johnson) asked: what is the most significant, troubling, relevant, recalcitrant, misunderstood, or egregious set of opposing terms in discussions about poetics today, and, by extension, what are the limits of binary thinking about poetry?
“Their responses range from whimsy to diatribe, with meditation, appraisal, tangent, touchstone, anecdote, drollery, confection, wit, and argument in between” follow:
http://www.bostonreview.net/BR37.6/binary_thinking_poetry_marjorie_perloff.php
Robert Archambeau, a perennial favorite of mine, has a quickie synopsis on his blog, if you feel like skimming:
http://samizdatblog.blogspot.com/2012/12/us-vs-them-poetry-and-limits-of-binary.html
[Side comment: I’m not much for spelling, and above, when I misspelled “perennial” my spell-check thought I meant “prenatal.” That gave me a nice, possible binary that I’m resolving not to reduce myself to.]
Here's my reaction to the original Perloff essay:
http://jjgallaher.blogspot.com/2012/04/marjorie-perloff-on-dominance.html
And my reaction to the second Perloff essay, which was in reaction to an essay by Matvei Yankelevich that was in reaction to her essay:
http://jjgallaher.blogspot.com/2012/07/stay-gold-ponyboy.html
Binaries stumble over us in the dark. It’s why we love vampires, right? The half dead, the undead, the Other that troubles (completes) the unnecessary on/off switches in our brains. Or (to make this a binary within a binary) is it that we love zombies for this reason? One romantic, one will eat our brains. As if romance itself doesn’t do a good enough job of eating our brains.
And what do these troubled and constantly outdated binaries do for us? What do Bella and Edward do to overcome the functionally necessary is/isn’t? They have an American Hybrid (is this offspring a salvation or apocalypse?)!
Value, artistic or otherwise, will always set up a binary, at the very least a personal binary: the binary of “did I put this on my good bookshelf” or “did I put this on the give-away table.” But is that true? Not really, I’m thinking. Look at any “good” book or whatever, and that book, that object, is filled with the arc of value, All Things fall on an arc (how grand). Likewise artistic standards fall on an arc, and then I see critics or whomever endorsing things that I can point to and say there’s no way, given what that critic has said in the past, that the critic should like this thing. Value is as messy as who is or isn’t in some school or movement. Or, more bothersome even, a critic (or a friend or something) will NOT like something that, according to everything that person has said, that person SHOULD like. Particle or wave? Sure. Binaries raise in me the desire to speak in universals, which is a version of “two wrongs don’t make a right.” So maybe ALL binaries aren’t wrong. (Cue the theme to The Walking Dead.)
Is the universe digital or analogue? Shaken or stirred? And what would happen if was asked if it is digital or stirred? If someone is a Formalist or Ecologist? Binaries work when we narrow a context to a pinpoint. And pinpoints, though interesting, are woefully inadequate, incomplete, and antiseptic.
So the cats are sleeping with the dogs and time marches on. Marjorie Perloff’s essay has its points. We MUST assign value to what we read, yes, yes, of course, but we must keep in mind the broad brushes we use (that Perloff seems untroubled by, which troubles me) when making pronouncements about “Poetry.”
Examples spoil binaries. So, in the spirit of spoiled binaries, I will endeavor to keep this conversation somewhere in the black & white halls of my memory for future angst-filled nights where I might find myself being remorselessly reductive in my thinking about what the kids are doing on my lawn.
We love strong statements and straight thinking. Stop this wishy-washy, namby-pamby bullshit, and say what you mean. Or: you people are nothing but ironic dilettantes, with your hipster lack of depth and coterie references. Or something like that. Sure, some stuff is just crap. Absolutely, the crap we will always have with us. But, also, mistakes can be made when wearing war-paint that a more nuanced and sympathetic approach might balance. When dealing with a foreign power, it’s a good idea to learn the language. And, one mistake that is made by people who have been around the art scene for more than 25 years, is the mistake that their history is enough to know what the young are saying, when, the truth is, the young constantly revise the old. The old shout BLANK IRONY and the young respond with NECESSARY AMBIVALENCE. (A false binary, of course, but binaries are what fits on bumper stickers, and bumper stickers are the coin of the realm.)
All projects in art are failed projects. And the young do little better in understanding the old.
I think of this as a good thing, for, if we understood each other, and if there was final authority, then art would cease to exist. Or better, we’d all freeze into place, turn silver, and hover six inches above everything. And, though it would be nice to have the lions speak and all that, I’d not want to give up breathing and all that. Aware, of course, that I’ve set up another binary with a chaser of universal. Weeeeeeeeee. Without a safety net:
Down Is the New Up!
Pour yourself a drink . . .
8 Aralık 2012 Cumartesi
Melissa Bow Temple: It's Okay To Be Neither
To contact us Click HERE
It’s Okay to be Neither
by Melissa Bollow Tempel
Together for Jackson County Kids
Alie arrived at our 1st-grade classroom wearing a sweatshirt with a hood. I asked her to take off her hood, and she refused. I thought she was just being difficult and ignored it. After breakfast we got in line for art, and I noticed that she still had not removed her hood. When we arrived at the art room, I said: “Allie, I’m not playing. It’s time for art. The rule is no hoods or hats in school.”
She looked up with tears in her eyes and I realized there was something wrong. Her classmates went into the art room and we moved to the art storage area so her classmates wouldn’t hear our conversation. I softened my tone and asked her if she’d like to tell me what was wrong.
“My ponytail,” she cried.
“Can I see?” I asked.
She nodded and pulled down her hood. Allie’s braids had come undone overnight and there hadn’t been time to redo them in the morning, so they had to be put back in a ponytail. It was high up on the back of her head like those of many girls in our class, but I could see that to Allie it just felt wrong. With Allie’s permission, I took the elastic out and re-braided her hair so it could hang down.
“How’s that?” I asked.
She smiled. “Good,” she said and skipped off to join her friends in art.
‘Why Do You Look Like a Boy?’
Allison was biologically a girl but felt more comfortable wearing Tony Hawk long-sleeved T-shirts, baggy jeans, and black tennis shoes. Her parents were accepting and supportive. Her mother braided her hair in cornrows because Allie thought it made her look like Will Smith’s son, Trey, in the remake of The Karate Kid. She preferred to be called Allie. The first day of school, children who hadn’t been in Allie’s class in kindergarten referred to her as “he.”
I didn’t want to assume I knew how Allie wanted me to respond to the continual gender mistakes, so I made a phone call home and Allie’s mom put me on speakerphone.
“Allie,” she said, “Ms. Melissa is on the phone. She would like to know if you want her to correct your classmates when they say you are a boy, or if you would rather that she just doesn’t say anything.”
Allie was shy on the phone. “Um … tell them that I am a girl,” she whispered.
The next day when I corrected classmates and told them that Allie was a girl, they asked her a lot of questions that she wasn’t prepared for: “Why do you look like a boy?” “If you’re a girl, why do you always wear boys’ clothes?” Some even told her that she wasn’t supposed to wear boys’ clothes if she was a girl. It became evident that I would have to address gender directly in order to make the classroom environment more comfortable for Allie and to squash the gender stereotypes that my 1st graders had absorbed in their short lives.
To Read the Rest of the Essay
by Melissa Bollow Tempel
Together for Jackson County Kids
Alie arrived at our 1st-grade classroom wearing a sweatshirt with a hood. I asked her to take off her hood, and she refused. I thought she was just being difficult and ignored it. After breakfast we got in line for art, and I noticed that she still had not removed her hood. When we arrived at the art room, I said: “Allie, I’m not playing. It’s time for art. The rule is no hoods or hats in school.”
She looked up with tears in her eyes and I realized there was something wrong. Her classmates went into the art room and we moved to the art storage area so her classmates wouldn’t hear our conversation. I softened my tone and asked her if she’d like to tell me what was wrong.
“My ponytail,” she cried.
“Can I see?” I asked.
She nodded and pulled down her hood. Allie’s braids had come undone overnight and there hadn’t been time to redo them in the morning, so they had to be put back in a ponytail. It was high up on the back of her head like those of many girls in our class, but I could see that to Allie it just felt wrong. With Allie’s permission, I took the elastic out and re-braided her hair so it could hang down.
“How’s that?” I asked.
She smiled. “Good,” she said and skipped off to join her friends in art.
‘Why Do You Look Like a Boy?’
Allison was biologically a girl but felt more comfortable wearing Tony Hawk long-sleeved T-shirts, baggy jeans, and black tennis shoes. Her parents were accepting and supportive. Her mother braided her hair in cornrows because Allie thought it made her look like Will Smith’s son, Trey, in the remake of The Karate Kid. She preferred to be called Allie. The first day of school, children who hadn’t been in Allie’s class in kindergarten referred to her as “he.”
I didn’t want to assume I knew how Allie wanted me to respond to the continual gender mistakes, so I made a phone call home and Allie’s mom put me on speakerphone.
“Allie,” she said, “Ms. Melissa is on the phone. She would like to know if you want her to correct your classmates when they say you are a boy, or if you would rather that she just doesn’t say anything.”
Allie was shy on the phone. “Um … tell them that I am a girl,” she whispered.
The next day when I corrected classmates and told them that Allie was a girl, they asked her a lot of questions that she wasn’t prepared for: “Why do you look like a boy?” “If you’re a girl, why do you always wear boys’ clothes?” Some even told her that she wasn’t supposed to wear boys’ clothes if she was a girl. It became evident that I would have to address gender directly in order to make the classroom environment more comfortable for Allie and to squash the gender stereotypes that my 1st graders had absorbed in their short lives.
To Read the Rest of the Essay
A. Loudermilk: Last to Leave the Theater
To contact us Click HERE
Last to Leave the Theater: Sissy Spectatorship of Stalker Movies and the "Final Girls" Who Survive Them
by A. Loudermilk
Bright Lights Film Journal
She's a virgin who won't get stoned (Sleepaway Camp II). She does get stoned and plays strip Monopoly (Friday the 13th). She's not a virgin and wears a tie (April Fool's Day). She's a pregnant sorority sister holding tight to her little gold cross (Black Christmas). She's teacher's pet and basketball star (Slumber Party Massacre). She's prom queen, head of dance club and all-around athlete (Prom Night). Yet she wasn't invited to an important party (Happy Birthday to Me). She knows how to fix a car and disparages capitalism (Hell Night). She's majoring in psychology (Friday the 13th II). She's a divorcee who writes an advice column (Schizoid). She's a naval officer with a mysterious position overseas (Graduation Day). She's the one who says, "We're supposed to be mature adults" (House on Sorority Row). She's the one who says, "We should be prepared to fight" (Hide and Go Shriek). She's the one who says, "I'll put the gun down when the police get here" (Hard to Die). In order to protect herself, she pulls the Stalker's knife from a dead friend's back (Friday the 13th III). "I don't feel any safer here with you," she weighs her options: "I can run cross-country. I'll get to the highway and call for help" (Blood Sisters). She drags herself down corridors to save herself from the Stalker (Halloween II). She saves herself and her wounded boyfriend from the Stalker (Mutilator). She's not the Stalker though she seemed to be the Stalker (Curtains; Nail Gun Massacre). She is the Stalker (Night School) and not exactly a girl (Sleepaway Camp). She's upset about forgetting her chemistry book (Halloween).
Since Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and John Carpenter's Halloween (1978), the survivor figure in horror has been female. "We belong in the end to the Final Girl," declares film theorist Carol Clover in her groundbreaking book Men, Women, and Chainsaws (1992). Clover refers to the Final Girl as a "victim-hero," a character who shifts between these traditionally gendered roles — increasingly toward the masculine (in her argument) as the story culminates. A smart and observant girl who either fights off the killer long enough to be rescued or kills the killer herself, the Final Girl is not typically feminine in her interests/skills, experiences an apartness from other girls, and possesses an active gaze that registers signs of danger others ignore (35, 39-40, 44, 48). For instance Halloween's Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis), teased by her sex-obsessed peers as the bookish virgin1 who doesn't date, is first to see the blankly masked man watching from the hedges.
In the opening scene of the original Night of the Living Dead (1968), one now might spot Barbara as Final Girl. Director George Romero positions us to identify with Barbara more so than her brother who jokes about the strange man in the cemetery who's "coming to get her." He is coming — to get both of them. While her paranoia saves her, her brother's flippancy gets him killed. After Barbara's initial ingenuity evading the zombie, alas, she goes catatonic and a male character assumes the hero role. For Tom Savini's 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead, scriptwriter Romero, responding to feminist criticism of Barbara's hysterical passivity, revises her as Final Girl. She is now "an active, assertive character, not only within the diegesis but as a narrative agent as well." In other words, according to Barry Keith Grant's essay "Taking Back the Night of the Living Dead" (1992), she not only takes action to save herself in the story, those actions impact the direction, outcome, and meaning of the story (200).
At large in horror, a revision of the damsel as survivor marks a new era for the genre, and much has been written about it. What's yet to be addressed, though, is a specifically "sissy spectatorship" of the Final Girl during an era of intense homophobia and misogyny. I grew up with the Final Girl, or maybe I should say that I grew up with the genre fans who primarily witnessed the Final Girl. And I want to embrace fan subjectivity to help elucidate my own queer relationship with horror as framed by the straight audience I sat with. To come back, ultimately, to the very theater in which I sat — watching and being watched.
To Read the Rest of the Essay
by A. Loudermilk
Bright Lights Film Journal
She's a virgin who won't get stoned (Sleepaway Camp II). She does get stoned and plays strip Monopoly (Friday the 13th). She's not a virgin and wears a tie (April Fool's Day). She's a pregnant sorority sister holding tight to her little gold cross (Black Christmas). She's teacher's pet and basketball star (Slumber Party Massacre). She's prom queen, head of dance club and all-around athlete (Prom Night). Yet she wasn't invited to an important party (Happy Birthday to Me). She knows how to fix a car and disparages capitalism (Hell Night). She's majoring in psychology (Friday the 13th II). She's a divorcee who writes an advice column (Schizoid). She's a naval officer with a mysterious position overseas (Graduation Day). She's the one who says, "We're supposed to be mature adults" (House on Sorority Row). She's the one who says, "We should be prepared to fight" (Hide and Go Shriek). She's the one who says, "I'll put the gun down when the police get here" (Hard to Die). In order to protect herself, she pulls the Stalker's knife from a dead friend's back (Friday the 13th III). "I don't feel any safer here with you," she weighs her options: "I can run cross-country. I'll get to the highway and call for help" (Blood Sisters). She drags herself down corridors to save herself from the Stalker (Halloween II). She saves herself and her wounded boyfriend from the Stalker (Mutilator). She's not the Stalker though she seemed to be the Stalker (Curtains; Nail Gun Massacre). She is the Stalker (Night School) and not exactly a girl (Sleepaway Camp). She's upset about forgetting her chemistry book (Halloween).
Since Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and John Carpenter's Halloween (1978), the survivor figure in horror has been female. "We belong in the end to the Final Girl," declares film theorist Carol Clover in her groundbreaking book Men, Women, and Chainsaws (1992). Clover refers to the Final Girl as a "victim-hero," a character who shifts between these traditionally gendered roles — increasingly toward the masculine (in her argument) as the story culminates. A smart and observant girl who either fights off the killer long enough to be rescued or kills the killer herself, the Final Girl is not typically feminine in her interests/skills, experiences an apartness from other girls, and possesses an active gaze that registers signs of danger others ignore (35, 39-40, 44, 48). For instance Halloween's Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis), teased by her sex-obsessed peers as the bookish virgin1 who doesn't date, is first to see the blankly masked man watching from the hedges.
In the opening scene of the original Night of the Living Dead (1968), one now might spot Barbara as Final Girl. Director George Romero positions us to identify with Barbara more so than her brother who jokes about the strange man in the cemetery who's "coming to get her." He is coming — to get both of them. While her paranoia saves her, her brother's flippancy gets him killed. After Barbara's initial ingenuity evading the zombie, alas, she goes catatonic and a male character assumes the hero role. For Tom Savini's 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead, scriptwriter Romero, responding to feminist criticism of Barbara's hysterical passivity, revises her as Final Girl. She is now "an active, assertive character, not only within the diegesis but as a narrative agent as well." In other words, according to Barry Keith Grant's essay "Taking Back the Night of the Living Dead" (1992), she not only takes action to save herself in the story, those actions impact the direction, outcome, and meaning of the story (200).
At large in horror, a revision of the damsel as survivor marks a new era for the genre, and much has been written about it. What's yet to be addressed, though, is a specifically "sissy spectatorship" of the Final Girl during an era of intense homophobia and misogyny. I grew up with the Final Girl, or maybe I should say that I grew up with the genre fans who primarily witnessed the Final Girl. And I want to embrace fan subjectivity to help elucidate my own queer relationship with horror as framed by the straight audience I sat with. To come back, ultimately, to the very theater in which I sat — watching and being watched.
To Read the Rest of the Essay
Kaydol:
Kayıtlar (Atom)