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“Poetry is, I think, the highest medium that mankind has ever come up with,” he asserted in a 1981 interview. “It’s language itself, which is a miraculous medium which makes everything else that man has ever done possible.”
This Week in Olympic Culture - Scandal Edition
Tuesday, August 12
Since the faking of some Olympic opening ceremony fireworks is old news, another great scandal has luckily arrived to make my work day more interesting.
Here is the set up.
Setting: Olympic opening ceremony singing of "Ode to the Motherland", to be sung by an elementary school aged girl
Plot and conflict: "Under pressure from the highest levels of the ruling Communist Party to find the perfect face and voice, the ceremony's musical director concluded that the only solution was to use two girls instead of one. Miaoke, a third-grader, was judged cute and appealing but "not suitable" as a singer.
Hilarity ensues, and one must assume, shame on the family of the less attractive, but better singing, girl. It's hard to be 7 years old in the Motherland.
Here is the set up.
Setting: Olympic opening ceremony singing of "Ode to the Motherland", to be sung by an elementary school aged girl
Plot and conflict: "Under pressure from the highest levels of the ruling Communist Party to find the perfect face and voice, the ceremony's musical director concluded that the only solution was to use two girls instead of one. Miaoke, a third-grader, was judged cute and appealing but "not suitable" as a singer.
Hilarity ensues, and one must assume, shame on the family of the less attractive, but better singing, girl. It's hard to be 7 years old in the Motherland.
Thursday, August 7
I set up ping.fm so I can microblog and status update all over the place, but it seems now I have nothing to say
Hipsters
Tuesday, August 5
Hipsterdom is the first "counterculture" to be born under the advertising industry's microscope, leaving it open to constant manipulation but also forcing its participants to continually shift their interests and affiliations. Less a subculture, the hipster is a consumer group - using their capital to purchase empty authenticity and rebellion. But the moment a trend, band, sound, style or feeling gains too much exposure, it is suddenly looked upon with disdain. Hipsters cannot afford to maintain any cultural loyalties or affiliations for fear they will lose relevance.Link to Adbusters article, a good read on the ins-and-outs of the counterculture of hipsters with their one-gear bikes and legwarmers or what-nots.
