Except for certain details (no Google searches, no e-mail, no cell phones), ambitious fiction from 20 years ago (Doug Coupland’s Generation X, Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash, Martin Amis’s Time’s Arrow) is in no way datedHow many things can you find wrong with the above?
naju: It's more pronounced in some trends than others, but that chillwave, ambient aesthetic of late night VHS lucid dreaming of the 80's seems to encapsulate a real and melancholic yearning for a pre-traumatic childhood to me.You know, I really, really like this as an encapsulation of a certain dominant/underground aesthetic that's everywhere right now. But do you really think 9/11 (alone) explains this, or this, or this? There's something larger going on surely, a combination of the enforced infantilization brought about by economic contraction (grown adults sleeping in their childhood beds); boomer frequency jamming (not that I'm having a go at Wire here, particularly); and general cultural decline. As I used to say to annoy my friend Jamie, "we're living in a Hellenistic period. That's why we can't have nice or meaningful things."
I wanna shop just like an animalBargains
I fill my cart up while I'm inside
naju: Dubstep is definitely going to lose its cultural cachet very soon, if it hasn't already. Maybe even around the time the new Bieber album comes out (he says it's dubstep-influenced.) Mostly I just don't want this decade to be the "WUB WUB WUB" brostep decade, that's just hugely depressing.Yeah, it feels a hell of a lot like the 3-year hegemony of drum 'n' bass which pretty much ruined the late '90s. I don't think many people look back on that with much affection.
As for the 90s, grunge is actually pretty distinctive, but I would vote for early-90s hip-hop as a better marker.Yes, yes, yes. Saying otherwise is kind of like the Beverly Hill 90210 DVDs, where they couldn't get the rights to most of the music that originally aired on the show, so filled out party scenes and so on with generic, royalty-free rap. And everyone who watched it the first time around was screaming at the screen, "NO! IT WASN'T LIKE THAT AT ALL!!"
Nah. Terrible 90s club music.
The Whelk: [Bohemian like You] also looks date[d]. It looks like what the older managers at the co-op wear, not their younger workers.Yes. It's like how it's implied in one or two episodes that Nate from Six Feet Under is a Dandys fan. Which I thought was a pitch perfect piece of characterization.
Uncle Whelk, what did the 60s-revival folkish fad in the 90s look like?I used to really, really hate that song (it's 3 chords in the same strumming pattern through both chorus and verse, and goes on for like 28 minutes) until someone pointed out that it's the exact same progression as "Don't Worry, Be Happy." I still hate it, but at least it makes me LOL now.
Like this Billy
`Where do I fit?' screamed Random suddenly. The hand holding the gun was trembling fiercely. Her other hand delved into her pocket and pulled out the remains of Arthur's watch. She shook it at them. `I thought I would fit here,' she cried, `on the world that made me! But it turns out that even my mother doesn't know who I am!' She flung the watch violently aside, and it smashed into the glasses behind the bar, scattering its innards. Everyone was very quiet for a moment or two longer. `Random,' said Trillian quietly from up on the stairs. `Shut up!' shouted Random. `You abandoned me!' `Random, it is very important that you listen to me and understand,' persisted Trillian quietly. `There isn't very much time. We must leave. We must all leave.' `What are you talking about? We're always leaving!' She had both hands on the gun now, and both were shaking. There was no one in particular she was pointing it at. She was just pointing it at the world in general. `Listen,' said Trillian again. `I left you because I went to cover a war for the network. It was extremely dangerous . At least, I thought it was going to be. I arrived and the war had suddenly ceased to happen. There was a time anomaly and... listen! Please listen! A reconnaissance battleship had failed to turn up, the rest of the fleet was scattered in some farcical disarray. It's happening all the time now.' `I don't care! I don't want to hear about your bloody job!' shouted Random. `I want a home! I want to fit somewhere!' `This is not your home,' said Trillian, still keeping her voice calm. `You don't have one. We none of us have one. Hardly anybody has one any more. The missing ship I was just talking about. The people of that ship don't have a home. They don't know where they are from. They don't even have any memory of who they are or what they are for. They are very lost and very confused and very frightened. They are here in this solar system, and they are about to do something very... misguided because they are so lost and confused. We... must... leave ... now. I can't tell you where there is to go to. Perhaps there isn't anywhere. But here is not the place to be. Please. One more time. Can we go?'posted by gjc at 8:55 PM on December 8, 2011 [3 favorites]
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posted by nathancaswell at 8:17 AM on December 8, 2011 [17 favorites]