Well today I guess is going to break my posting dry spell. Today I went in to say goodbye to my proprietor Kathy. She was a cool lady and Seth and I had a really good experience under her. Leaving this Outback has been much more poignant than I thought it would be. While I am still rather annoyed with things like the Bloomin Onion, unless I'm already in a funk I found my time at the Portland Outback really enjoyable.
But the fact that Outback kept Matt happy for two months really isn't that important, is it? I think that for maybe the first time in my life I was able to see work, like as in a paying grunt job as a service. That is to say, regardless of how dark a tea time my soul was taking, grace showed through in my actions. I really don't take credit for this. All I know is that people really responded to our way of life, the way we cared for people, the tenacity with which we worked, the obvious selflessness of our actions. And so leaving this place where our way of life affected people noticeably in a short period of time was not an easy thing to do. But there's no real way around it. In any event, seeing God use me in this way was extremely encouraging.
Well this week marks the big transition in me and Seth's summer. Our last day of work was this past tuesday. Tonight we're breaking bread with my aunt and uncle (fresh lobster) for what will probably be the last time. Tomorrow we head north, breifly. We'll spend two days at Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island. Everyone we talk to up here swears by this place, so lets hope it lives up to our expectations. On Monday Seth will fly out of Boston for home. I will begin a long treck South that will probably take the better part of a week. Soon the title of the blog will change to responsibility without power, props to Mesh for the idea. The name will reflect my looming responsibility of RA.
Some time last semester Aaron Mesh introduced me to Mcsweeny's. It has some of the best humor on the Net. This open letter to the New York Times is of particular quality.
So the other night I was trying to explain to someone at work how intense romantic fixations at Covenant can be.
I was having trouble explaining why they are so full-blown and definitive. And then I hit on this. You know back in high school when you were fixated (read: crush) with someone. You would structure your whole day around when you could see them, talk to them, casually come into bodily contact with them. An amazing amount of intensity and passion would build up during the school day. And then you left school, a full half of your waking ours would be spent not near that person that you were fixated with.
Now Covenant is kind of like most high schools in that it has a small student body and iis relatively isolated (in most high schools, there are only high schoolers there, at Covenant, they only people you ever see at school are those involved with it). So the context for these rich crushes like you had in highschool is there. Except Covenant is worse because you never go home. After class you continue to be around these people. The fixations just grow and grow. There is no time in your day for things to simmer down.
The next day I was standing in the shower trying to wake up, I find that my mind when in this state is actually much more lucid than when I'm fully aware. This idea of sexual tension and fixation being this pot that just kept on getting hotter and hotter translated into a beautiful skit idea for me.
Catacombs is dressed up like lobsters. Over their lobster getups are super hero outfits. They are in a giant pot(with one side open to the audience). Music starts, the Unknown Hall, dressed up like women, begin to parade around the pot, the Lobsters cum Super Heroes begin to get hotter and hotter. Within the confines of the pot they start to boil. As the heartless women parade around, the Lobsters break out of their confines. They begin to fight amongst themselves for the women. Then they realize that they really love each other. It would make them happiest to beat up the women. I really want Psycho Killer to kick in at this point, maybe a remixed version done by Johnny Moad.
Admittedly, this skit is kind of basic. But it seems like it could be really crazy, especially if we added some good stuff to it. I like the idea of doing heads' songs for it. Ideas? Comments?
With a title like this I could write a pretty inflamattory post about Canadia huh?
So Saturday was a great day.
I drove into Boston, and saw Capturing the Friedman's. It's this insanely intense documentary about a family torn apart by allegations of child molestation. What makes the movie so affecting is the hours and hours of video tape the family shot of themselves during the time. The dramatic element is so intense, you forget that the film is a documentary. Salon.com has an interview with the director Andrew Jareicki.
So I saw that movie. I bough a dozen records, and then I checked out Broken Social Scene. They were playing at this wicked tiny club called TT the Bears. I was against the back wall and was probably 15 feet from the stage. It was a great show.
BSS(from Canada) does something that I totally love. They "orchestrate" pop music. On of the traditional limits of the rock band has been the two guitar, bass, drum, vocal instrumentation. In this setup the melody, harmony, and bass line were each whollly contained by a single instrument.
In symphonic music composers have often split parts over separate instruments. Broken Social Scene uses anywhere from 3-5 guitars to acheive this very same effect. The results are beautimous. I had a great time.
Furthermore I met some cool graduate students from Brandeis. One of them Laura, was beautiful. She gave me her phone-number. But I didn't ask for it.
(1) Not all Hipsters are on trust-funds
(2) Being part of the system doesn't mean you have a gooder idea of how it works
(3) Wearing faux-work attire can be better than suits
(4) Inclusion is prevented by Alienation
(5) Christian hipsters are better than Christian suits
Pt. (1) expanded-Okay, how many trust-funds can there possibly be out there? Not too many. At most say there are 500,000 trust funds out there for all Americans between the ages of 18 and 26. Even if all 500,000 of these unduly loaded rich kids are in fact hipsters (which seems unlikely), this doesn't come close to accounting for all the hipsters out there (who have to number in the millions).
Pt. (2) While it is definately true that working for a system that works in ignorance is good for the system. I don't see how this says anything about the merit of the ignoramus. Many people that participate in "corporate" America are short-sited greedy little goblins that are completely content to strive for a materialist nirvana. Now kids that are deluded by the system and are wiling away their twenties in existential angst, buying Kraftwerk albums, and "reading the New Yorker unironically" seem like they're heading down a track towards really working for the world economic system at some point.
The hippy's became the yuppies, who beat the commies.
Pt. (3) Okay, no it is utterly ridiculous to suggest that by wearing a cops badge you feel the visceral experience of pumping a villain full of lead. But at the same time, wearing a suit won't do anything for you either. In middle class America the suit is default. It is put in our closet before we really know what it means. I would suggest that the search for alternate clothing reflects a search for attire that finds meaning. The clothes of uniform have very strong specific definition, you are a gas attendant, or a fireman, or a semi-pro softball player. But the white collar is too ambiguous, with the white collar you could be a gynecologist or a hitman, a lawyer or a preacher.
Pt. (4) The archetype of the "right" generation in all our minds is our grandparents. They grew up in the Depression, coming of age to beat up on some nazis. They made our country by saving it. The "Greatest Generation" never had a problem finding a place because one was provided for them. Now they couldn't have been so great as everyone said because they fathered a bunch of nutjobs, (the hippies). Or maybe they were just fine as a generation and the fact of the matter is that every generation has trouble finding its place.
The hippies were so gnarly becaus the "Greatest generation" was so firmly entrenched into their power. On the other hand the "hipster culture" is so much better, they aren't anti-materialist, they are pro-environment, pro-open source, pro-globalism, in general this looks a lot more reasonable than the hippies. The hipsters are still Alienated from the world of the suits, but their transition is going to be much easier then the hippies. Their alienation much shorter.
Pt. (5) In a generation of "Real Cancun" and "Girls Gone Wild" the hipster mystique seems very attractive. If anything the people that will most rapidly shift into suits will be the same mindless hedonists that flash camera's and do body shots. The people that take the longest to accept the system are the ones that are the best for it when they come along. Now one could just argue that the hipsters are just in a higher level of ignorance, and should therefore be treated with a higher degree of scorn. But this isn't really fair. With hipster culture we can see a meta-level picture of a generation struggling with the reality of American existence. It wouldn't really be right then to critizing the hipsters for taking a right step.
A Christian Hipster I see as someone who is really questioning their culture and engaging it on a level that is meaningful. In Christianisty we have two other options. One is the fundamentalist rout of widespread isolation and irrelevance. The other is the mainstream evangelical of Christian Contemporary Music (CCM). To me this typifies the Christian suit. Someone who is eager to take on the form of culture without really understanding its meaning/implication. Now some of you, Ryan, in particular may resent this long-winded post because it defines hipster in too generous and general a sense. But I think that at its mainstream Hipster culture is a questioning, cynicism towards the mainstream. How are we any different in our outlook. If we really do think ourselves as possessing the correct outlook on life. How can any other subculture really be identifiable to ours.
Now granted there is the issue of coolness here that I have totally ignored up until now. I would say to that that all fashion is always susceptible to considerations of cool robbing it of meaning. But this evil is ubiquitous. We can make fun of the downsides of the hipster mystique. But at it's heart, their is a basic outlook that we have to applaud. Especially since your typical hipster is one devoid of hope in Christ, making their cynicism very brave indeed.
Recently Ryan and Josiah have drawn a bit of negative attention to Pitchfork Media. Having read Pitchfork for over a year and a half I think that their hatred is unwarranted.
Yes they are liberals, and they are Godless, But they have respect for some great Christian artists. Furthermore, we can't dislike everyone who disagree's with us? Can we?
But I don't think I even have to argue for Pitchfork on principles of charity. Look at their best of 2002 list. I think that we can all agree that at least 3 of the 5 albums are the best of the year. I'm speaking of Yoshimi, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, and and Turn on the Bright Lights.
Now don't get me wrong, it could be totally okay to hate them for being snobby. That's fine. Or you could hate them for being against the war in Iraq. That would also be understandable. But please don't hate them for being wrong, because usually they're so right.
Last night while I was in Boston I had the chance to catch a showing of the documentary Spellbound. It's about the contestants in the National Spelling Bee. I got the sense that the movie would have been a lot better if it had been a bit longer. Length seems the most challenging aspect of documentary film making. You want to satisfy the viewers hunger for information about the world you are introducing them into, but you don't want to bore them with too much. At the end I found myself wishing the film had shown me more.
The March issue of Believer has an interview up with Kumar of Bottle Rocket and Royal Tenenbaum's fame. It is interesting. Of particular note is the detail that he lets out about his role in the new movie. Kumar will play an international money changer.
There's a cool article at CNN money here about the changing face of the mall. Many malls are closing. These aren't the mega-malls (Mall of America, Galleria of Dallas). These are the smaller, more suburban malls that serve just there local populace, ones that have little or no regional appeal. Instead of just being demolished, many of them are being revamped as open air joints with lots of things beyond retail in them. The article says that much of this is in deference to the general trend of urban revitalization. People want a more urban, downtown feel to their shopping adventures.
I wouldn't be surprised if some of you haven't already heard of New Urbanism. In a nutshell, New Urbanism is a movement designed to take back place in America. It is anti-consumerist, environmentally conscious, and mildly liberterian. Basically, it centers around the planning of communities that mix commercial and residence life, minimize automobile use, and try to promote...community! One of these communities is going up east of Birmingham. My home town, its called Mt. Laurel.
In theory, these communities, are classless, meaning, housing will be affordable for any income bracket. But this seems unlikely. It depends on the presence of public transit. Most of America still doesn't really have good public transit systems. The majority of the working class has jobs that they have to go to. Without public transit the working class would have trouble taking part in New Urbanism.
On the other hand, the white collar's of America have jobs that more and more rely on an internet connection, and nothing more. Fewer and fewer jobs of the middle class and above require that you actually work from a particular place, like an office. The Mt. Laurel community as an example doesn't have any homes under $200,000. This pretty effectively excludes all but the those with white collar jobs. I would like to note that this movement to recapture community benefits heavily from the new technological and economic realities of the information age.
There is this really fascinating article at Kitchen Sink Magazine about the inability of couples to really separate. The article spoke volumes to me about the fact that the couples really were looking for lifelong commitment, but they were just really confused about what love looked like.