I know this guy’s band (Motorhead) and probably have the ability to recognize its logo.
But I have no clue what this band sounds like and other than reading a portion of this article, I cannot name any Motorhead songs (other than “Ace of Spades,” which, according to the article is the band’s “iconic” song … which makes me think I heard it on a VH1 Top 100 Metal Songs, something-or-other …)
The fact that I know this (without truly “knowing” in the experiential definition of the word … which I’ll address later), aligns me with a certain type of people (most likely white, most likely male, most likely of a certain age and musical taste).
This information is called “cultural knowledge.” When I am in a conversation and I use this knowledge, it becomes “currency,” in the sense that I am giving this knowledge in the hopes that my knowing it will return some sort of benefit, usually tied to the idea of respect (since I know the tidbit). Exchanging the information also brings out the identification with the type of people who would commonly know this information.
As for pop culture “knowledge,” the idea of “knowing” without truly having “knowledge,” calls to mind Postman’s use of “The Judgment of Thamus,” in his book Technopoly. In it, King Thamus says of writing:
“As for wisdom, your pupils will have the reputation for it without the reality: they will receive a quantity of information without proper instruction. and in consequence be thought very knowledgeable when they are for the most part quite ignorant” (p. 4)
It seems the same with pop culture knowledge. Most of us”know” about things in popular culture without truly experiencing them. We walk in a sea of information the same way we walk through air. We pick up certain tidbits of it and use it in order to be thought wise, but, in reality, we are just prophets of trivia.
But, at least it keeps the small talk moving at parties, doesn’t it?
Saw Terminator: Salvation this week, which means I had the opportunity to be confronted with male frontal nudity again.
Exciting.
"I'll be nude — er, I mean back"
There were two opportunities, really. The first, from newcomer Sam Worthington (the new robot/human). However, his nether region were tastefully covered with mud, making it, like Wolverine, as “Wait-am-I-seeing-penis-again?” moment. The second is from the Governator himself (the digitally enhanced version). This time, however, tasteful wisps of smoke fog up the area. However, I did manage to get a screen capture, which I’ve included here.
You can clearly see why the Terminator is a killing machine. The man’s got no private parts. Wouldn’t you be angry?
Anyway, so here’s the deal about the movie: It’s a mish-mash of EVERY OTHER sci-fi/summer blockbuster movie. That’s why it seems so familiar. It isn’t just because this is the fourth movie from the Terminator franchise, it borrows liberally from our collective cultural memory.
Here’s the recipe:
Start with 2 parts Mad Max (desolate scenery, explosive car chases)
1 part Transformers (with a dash of an evil Iron Giant or the big robot in The Incredibles)
2 parts Matrix (messainic figures, as well as a ship that’s depressingly lit and just glides around to avoid robots in the water … plus it’s the whole man vs. machine thing)
Equal parts of Blade Runner and A.I. for the whole human/robot confusion
A hint of Star Trek (in the v-neck shirt)
1 part Batman Begins (the cave scenery)
1 part continuity (a picture of Linda Hamilton and the saying “I’ll be back.”)
Mix together liberally.
Then add Batman racing to save Charlie Bartlett and there’s your movie.
Simple, huh? Who wouldn’t want to see that? Again.
I may be missing some ingredients. Feel free to add them in the comments.
P.S. Some of these ideas were first discussed by and with Mindlint.
Came up with a new catchphrase. I know it’s new because I did a google search and an Urban Dictionary search. With your help, we can integrate this catchphrase into a common cultural language.
“Keepin’ the brown side down” is slang the can be used for any of the following:
Keeping out of trouble, laying low. (example: “How’s it going?” “Oh, you know, I’m just keeping the brown side down.”)
A departing phrase, akin to “take it easy.” (example: “Well, I’d better go. See ya later. Keep the brown side down.”)
Stay seated (example: “Listen here buddy, you’d better keep the brown side down.”)
The uses are almost limitless. Send stories on how you use it.
The phrase stems from a bit of nosiness and hard of hearing. I was at a convenience store and misheard the person in front of me talking with the cashier. It seems the original phrase was “turn that smile upside down.”
After clearing up the mistake, I proudly claimed the new phrase. There are witnesses to prove it.
So, this 10 minutes ramble is dedicated to the beauty of the English language’s flexibility. These arbitrary symbols we use to make meaning offer limitless possibilities. I love the English language.
Feel free to use this phrase as much as possible to try and spread it around. If you use a new word or phrase three times in a day, it becomes a permanent part of your vernacular. Use it, or lose it.
Heard that the actor Ron Silver died late Sunday. Bummer. He had an active career, but I remember him most from the Charlie Sheen B-movie The Arrival and the TV show Veronica’s Closet. I don’t know if that’s good or bad. But then again, does it matter?
At least I remember.
One thing that stuck out, was the article about the death in the New York Times. Silver was politically active and politically all over the radar, campaigning both for Clinton and later for Bush II and Guiliani. He refused to be categorized.
However, the article ends with this quote from his brother:
“Ron’s politics, as far as I know, were not shared by anyone he knew, except for the people he knew because of his politics,” Mitchell Silver said. He paused and added: “He told me that he did vote for Barack Obama in the end.”
It seems a little out of place to end the article like that. My right-wing friends would blame the quote on the liberal media and its agenda. My left-leaning friends would probably just roll their eyes to that accusation, which the right-wingers would take as validation for their argument.
As for me, it just seems weird. I realize that Obama has a lot of cultural currency these days, but is aligning your dead brother with the president going to earn him some “cool points” from people who don’t like his politics? It shouldn’t.
Instead of worrying about his political pedigree, we should honor the fact he was politically active. Whether you agreed with his politics or were confused by them is irrelevant — just like who he voted for last November. What should be celebrated is the fact he was politically active in a time when grandstanding and finger-pointing eclipses the process of politics.
Though noted in other places, particularly here and You Tube, I most clearly saw Daniel Craig taking on the persona of Steve McQueen during the motorcycle scenes of Quantum Solace.
Daniel Craig, trying on an icon
Steve McQueen, icon of cool
Though these photos don’t do it justice, Craig’s posture on the bike reflected McQueen’s “cooler-than-cool” iconic staus from The Great Escape(1963). The way he sat, held his arm at just the right angle and squinted his eye had to be intentional. There’s no other way around it.
Though some may lament to Hollywood’s purposeful recalling the past, these instances show the power of visual icons to postmodern popular culture. There are images so powerfully embedded into our culture today, that we are subconsciously drawn to their reincarnations whether we realize it or not.
As Daniel Boorstein lamented in his influential book The Image (1961):
We are haunted, not by reality, but by those images we have put in place of reality (p. 6).
Forty-plus years later, I wouldn’t say “haunted,” but I will say that many times, it is the image — not the reality behind it — that we best remember. It is those images that make up our cultural knowledge; a cultural knowledge that helps us negotiate our way through life.
Daniel Craig-as-Steve-McQueen-as-James-Bond adds to the myth, and cultural knowledge, of all three. James Bond is a little grittier; and Daniel Craig is a little cooler; and Steve McQueen lives a little longer.
I know this guy (Lemmy)
We haven’t seen this type of coping since 
