Ellyn and I went along with our friend Suvi to the Armory Art Show yesterday. I took lots of photos, but mostly for my own inspiration and not to share here. But, here are a couple of elly.
One thig I did notice was how many ironic/witty/nonsensical neon signs there were. A new hot trend. Also, many galleries felt they needed to bring their Calder sculptures out, like a pissing contest for art galleries.
We also saw Watchmen and went to a little punk rock show where She Keeps Bees opened. Good times.
I just can’t seem to escape feeling like crud. After a long night of tossing and turning, I woke up with some awesome food poisoning (or something like it). Lesson? Do not eat deliciously spicy Mexican food at 11 o’clock at night.
Anyway, I’ve been moving through media theory and philosophy like a champion recently. I don’t know if I’m processing it all totally, but whatever. I’m enjoying it.
Seeing that I’m stuck at home feeling like a turd, I figured I’d get some of my notes from Lyotard’s Postmodern Condition up for all to see.
I really enjoyed Postmodern Condition, enough, in fact, I went out an bought a collection of Lyotard correspondence explaining some of his thoughts in more depth. I plan on reading that over the weekend… in my free time. (Sad. It has come to this. I am a grad student. And yes, we are the worst people.)
Anyway, here’s a few ideas and quotations I found particularly interesting:
Lyotard explains after “human circulation” (transportation) and the expansion of the media to the visual realm (film and television), the advance of information-processing machines will have the next big effect on learning. Of course, Lyotard was writing in 1979, before the modern home computer or the Internet were much more than futurist techno-babble. This leads me to conclude that Lyotard should be trusted in retrospect. He has proven himself though his successful foresight.
However, his predictions concerning the advance of technology and its effects on learning and knowledge are not completely bulletproof. For instance, he presumes at one point that commerce will take the leading role in the exchange of knowledge. But Lyotard oversimplified his expectations and could not have predicted the initial freedom of the Internet. For a number of years, commerce played only a limited role in the acquisition and distribution of knowledge over the Internet. (For instance, access, while monetized, can be acquired for free and rarely is pure information monetized online due to the intrinsic social aspect of the online community, i.e. Wikipedia.) In the last 2 years, as traditional media has began to fail, capitalism has caught up with the Internet, and media outlets scramble to monetize their online presence. As Lyotard predicted, commerce will, after all, play a large part in the development of post-modern knowledge, though it wasn’t so from the outset.
Lyotard asserts that narrative knowledge predates and exists in tandem with scientific knowledge. Thus, we have creation myths at the center of our cultural experience. And, as a result, we will continue to have some pretty serious trouble between religion and scientific advancement. Put simply, religion predates and exists on an entirely different plane of knowledge that separates it from science. We just need to accept that.
This next one’s a gem to me. Lyotard basically says the difference between knowing and not knowing is what constitutes the culture of a people. I love thinking that can reduce culture down to a simple dichotomy like that.
Another great reduced idea: Data banks (the computer infrastructure of today, the Internet, etc.) are “nature” for modern man. Yes, indeed.
Those are the basics… the very basics. And not even all the basics. But dinner’s ready.
I’ve been getting back into new music after taking a year or two off. The move is the result of my friend Josh and I starting to feel old and out of touch — quarter life crisis!
Anywho, here are a few of the acts I’ve come across lately:
I’m a sucker for female vocals, and Nite Jewel loops hers though electronics until they’re dripping with groove. The music is little more than airy disco synth and some chill beats.
This next lady performs as Danielle Ate the Sandwich, and she’s from Fort Collins, Colorado. She’s priceless with her ukulele.
Another new lady that’s been soothing my mornings is She Keeps Bees. A bonus, she’s from my part of Brooklyn. She reminds me of early Cat Power with a little more Sleater-Kinny attitude.
Mirah has a new album coming out, and I’m pretty excited about it. Plus, I felt I didn’t have enough chick rock in this pots. Here’s ‘Mt. St. Helens’ live at Evergreen College in Washington state.
A dude! My buddy Thom introduced me to Scott Walker, or reintroduced me, as his ‘30th Century Man’ was in Life Aquatic.
This Lemon Pipers song came on today at the coffee shop. Classic.
I wish I had video of J.T. IV, a dude who locked himself in his basement and turned out some of the best punk 1980 had to offer. However, there isn’t any online. A Chicago public access show did play his track ‘Waiting for CTA’ while a certain type of people danced to it. (Those people being the type to get on local access dance shows.)
Okay, that was a strange one. This next one is too. I like to end with a bang.
Omar Souleyman is a really big pop star in Syria. I bought his CD the other day and when it’s not making my ears bleed, it’s rocking my world. As you’ll see in the following video, ladies really dig him too, even when he’s lip syncing.
I’m so close to being done with my paper. So close. Yet, here I am doing a blog.
I don’t even have anything to say really. Hum, here goes…
Since we last talked, I’ve settled in nicely to my new schedule of reading in the coffee shop, spending all afternoon on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday there. I discovered on Friday, that the coffee is, in fact, bottomless, and I think this will lead to new happiness next week.
Ellyn and I just sort of bummed around the city yesterday. We checked out the Chelsea Flea Market in the morning. It’s always fun to stroll through the market, but it always feels like cheating for me to buy anything there. All the old paper and neat knick-knacks are over priced and the pickings are too easy. I need a challenge when it comes to tracking down junk. While at the market, I had a moment of George Costanza pride, finding a great public restroom in Gracious Home at 25th and 6th.
After the market, we went to Strand, which is NYC’s largest bookstore. It sucks. It is no Powells. My complaints are many.
Before heading back out to the burg, we stopped by this great cheese market and got tons of fresh cheese at amazing prices. I think we got five or six pounds of specialty cheese for $13. The evening ended with a few drinks at the Trash bar and a veggie burger at Lodge resturant before heading home and watching Annie Hall.
A good day.
Great procrastination.
Which brings me full circle. I just need to write a conclusion. I just don’t want to.
