"To someone my age (47) Keith Richards (67) in his memoir Life has a kind of rare healthy post-Empire geezer transparency. But for my younger friends, it’s no longer rare; it’s now just the norm. What does shame mean anymore? my friends in their 20s ask. Why in the hell did your boyfriend post a song called 'Suck My Ballz' on Facebook last night? my mom asks. But nothing yet compares to the transparency that Sheen has unleashed in the past two weeks—contempt about celebrity, his profession, the old Empire world order..."
Bret Easton Ellis on Charlie Sheen and the worlds of pre- and post-"Empire," i.e., celebrity.
posted by bardic
on Mar 16, 2011 -
110 comments
What's So American About American Culture? Richard Pells launches a spirited attack on the notion that American culture dominates the world, noting how almost all its sources are European, which would explain why "
American culture has never felt all that foreign to foreigners". As a sideline and a Sunday
provocation, I suggest to you that, apart from medicine, computers and entertainment(movies; music; web sites) Europe is either
as good as America(art; literature; architecture; universities; publishing)or a damn sight
better: telecommunications; TV; cars; pharmaceutical products; food and drink; luxury goods...In fact, America and Europe complement each other quite perfectly. Though we win in the end, of course, because we're
much better at appreciating this symbiosis. If only because know and enjoy more American stuff than you Americans do European stuff. So
there!
posted by MiguelCardoso
on May 12, 2002 -
61 comments
