Sep 30
JeremyMusic, Society and Culture arrested development, battlestar galactica, chevy truck, danielle steele, ikea, McDonalds, mediocrity, miller high life, Nickelback, The Dark Knight, windows
A few months ago, I was taking my morning shower, which always includes turning on the radio. A song came on that sounded like such a cheesy ripoff of the 80s hair bands that I immediately assumed it was a jingle for some product. Until I realized that it had been going on for about three minutes. “Well, that’s not going to last long,” was my next reaction. The song was terrible and not the kind of terrible that’s so bad it’s awesome. Yet, I heard it again the next morning. And again the next. The song was Rockstar by Nickelback and it clearly proved me wrong by remaining on the radio since.
This morning, I had a similar experience. The DJs on my morning station announced that they would be debuting a new track by a big name band shortly. It was like déjà vu all over again. This time, though, the tune was softer and more suited to an old International Coffees commercial or something of that ilk. The song was Gotta Be Somebody by none other than Nickelback! It’s a preview of their upcoming album, Dark Horse, coming out later this fall.
Here’s the thing, though: I don’t think I know anyone who actually likes Nickelback, no matter the varied styles of music my friends are in to. Everyone conversation I have ever had about Nickelback goes something like this: “Wow, they are the most mediocre band ever. How can anyone listen to that tripe?” It’s music, it’s got a beat, and might even be a little catchy, but it still sounds like a jingle rather than serious artistry. So I’ve got to wonder, who is buying this and who is promoting it enough that their songs stay on the radio for months at a time? Are people actually requesting Nickelback songs?
A part of me wishes I could put Nickelback’s popularity on the airwaves down to payola. Or maybe something in the music itself that hypnotizes radio station staff into playing bad tunes. The more realistic part of me knows, however, that this phenomenon is more likely a signal of the increasing trend towards mediocrity that we see commonly in media, entertainment, and even society as a whole. While I don’t think it’s strange that our culture has a pressure to generate a happy medium, the results seem to be getting worse and worse.
Lest you think I’m making this up, let’s look at some of the other cultural phenomena that are popular despite themselves. How about Miller High Life (self-styled as “the champagne of bottled beers”)? Your average Danielle Steele novel (not that I’ve ever read one). Primetime TV comedies that don’t get cancelled because they are too clever (anyone else miss Arrested Development?). American Idol (need I say more?). Ikea (let’s hear it for missing parts!). Your average Windows operating system. Chevy trucks. McDonald’s. My writing. The list goes on interminably, much like The Dark Knight.
There was a time when all C-grades in college were quite acceptable for going out and getting a job (the “gentleman C”). Nowadays, a B is dreaded and in the minds of many, the goal is to get all A’s. The trick here, though, is to get all A’s while doing work that would have one been considered “average” (better known as a C). The phenomenon of grade inflation ensures that no one stands out and that everyone’s grades are meaningless. Perhaps this illustrates why mediocrity remains important and why we as a society don’t demand excellence as the happy medium. Mediocrity is the only thing that allows us to see the shine of true excellence on those few occasions it raises its head. Furthermore, all industries work to ensure that excellence is in fact not rewarded at a greater level than mediocrity, lest pressure for actual continual improvement is created.
If, however, mediocrity is going to remain the standard, all of us have a responsibility to learn to recognize excellence when we see it, even if we bow to the pressures to not reward it. So this I charge you: in your travels today, consciously look for something awesome that will combat mediocrity in your own mind, whether it’s the lunch you got from the corner deli, a TV show like the new Battlestar Galactica, or even a really cool-looking pebble that you kicked as you walked down the sidewalk. Listen to the radio for a song you love and then remember how fantastic that song is the next time the opening strains of Nickelback sound. Just because we accept mediocrity as a society, that doesn’t mean we have to accept it individually.
Sep 24
JeremySociety and Culture Clay Aiken, Coming Out, David Hyde Pierce, Elton John, Gay, George Takei, Ian McKellan, Lance Bass, Neil Patrick Harris, People magazine, role model, Rupert Everett, T.R. Knight
In case anyone missed it, American Idol crooner and runner up Clay Aiken finally decided to come out of the closet as a gay man on the cover of Friday’s People magazine leaked by Perez-Hilton. According to media reports, as a new dad, he decided that he didn’t want to raise a child while living a lie, thereby passing on negative values to the next generation. So, good for him. Which I mean sincerely, because no one should live in the closet. Even when that closet appears to have been made entirely of clear glass for years.
But seriously…big deal. Clay joins the ranks of Lance Bass, Neil Patrick Harris, and that guy on that TV show. You know, the one with all the controversy where the other guy got fired in a media circus for saying naughty words. Yay for all of them! If I wrack my brains, I might be able to count enough out young men in entertainment to get up to my other hand. I applaud these men for their willingness to risk their careers by going public with this information (unless they reached the point where they didn’t have one anymore anyway and coming out was a desperate plea for attention). I’m not going to dispute that in the least. But the reality is that when these men de-closet themselves, there’s lots of media hype but little social impact.
I’m also not going to discount the importance of older gay male figures with some star power such as Sir Ian McKellan, Elton John, George Takei, Rupert Everett, and David Hyde Pierce, but they don’t serve as social role models in quite the same way younger men do. While young gay men may look up to them because they are successful and out, just as they may look up to the B list mentioned above in the same way, these men don’t have the mass media appeal to change minds and alter thinking wholesale. In relation to either of these groups, there aren’t many people out there thinking “Hey, he’s not such a bad guy. Maybe gays are okay.” Mostly they’re just thinking “It’s about time. Everyone already knew anyway.”
I’m still waiting for the blockbuster movie star or superstar rocker to ‘fess up to the world (don’t even get me started on sports). Of course, if I give a “what if” example here, Andrew and I will probably have Tom Cruise’s lawyers knocking on our doors within fifteen minutes of my clicking “publish,” so I won’t do that. It would be fantastic, though, to see a star of magnitude come out and say to the world “You know what? I’m gay and I’m not going to hide that. I hope you will still come see my movies.” While the media hubbub would be intense, there would also be the chance to start some real social dialogue around the issue of homosexuality that might just alter our collective thinking a little bit. If enough young Hollywood A-listers came out, it might eventually even become NO BIG DEAL. Imagine that: the day the media ignored a star’s coming out?
At the end of the day, though, maybe all these little comings out do have one impact. Perhaps they are drawing us closer to that day when the big name follows in their footsteps by showing that being out and gay doesn’t automatically end your career. Hey, look at Neil Patrick Harris: he comes out and all of the sudden he’s on a highly-rated sitcom (and no one has a problem with him playing a straight character) and people actually want him to do other projects (Dr. Horrible, anyone?). His tiny victories in the fight against discrimination show the potential for the big names to have similar experiences if only they are willing to take the risk.
And really…even if coming out is a career-ending move for that first big star at the peak of his career, can’t he find a good money manager to make that $100 million he’s earned already last?
Sep 19
JeremySociety and Culture activism, environmental action, fundraising, gay rights, HRC, human rights campaign, MASSPIRG, political action
It’s about a ten minute walk between the building I work in and the central building of the campus. There’s a spot in between, right in front of the Starbucks, where nearly every day there is a fresh pair of idealistic young college students who want to save something or to get me to take political action. They ask me if I have a minute for the environment or for democracy or for whatever it is today. Of course, they really just want to raise money for their cause du jour; it’s my wallet and not my minute that counts. And really, their main interest in raising money stems from the fact that they are getting paid to canvass the area. They’re rarely volunteers, and, half the time, they don’t even know all that much about what they are pitching. So I just walk on by, trying to avoid eye contact.
When I was in high school, one of these eager young beavers came to my door one day. He was from MASSPIRG and he wanted my contribution to save the environment. Being young and idealistic myself, the environment was the cause I worked on most in high school, so I happened to know quite a lot about the topic. I was appalled when he started explaining whatever it was that he was explaining because he clearly did not know a thing about it other than whatever came out of some brochure he’d read. So I proceeded to explain to him just what was wrong with his argument and how he could make a better one. Of course, since he was so ill-informed, I clearly did not give any money to MASSPIRG at the time, and in fact haven’t since. He walked away looking scared.
When I was in my mid-20s and working at a large university where flocks of them would mass on the sidewalk, I would occasionally stop and talk to one, because I felt bad for them. It’s got to be the only human interaction job worse than telemarketing because people blow you off face to face rather than at the other end of a phone line. There’s a face to the rudeness. Well, okay, sometimes I did it if the guy was really cute, too, but that’s another story. If that was the case, I sometimes would even put my name on his mailing list as an excuse to keep talking to him. Again, not so much fulfilling his purpose out there.
Today, as I walked between buildings and past the Starbucks, I couldn’t bring myself to pity the pair out there. As I passed by, one of them said to me, “Excuse me, do you have a minute for gay rights?” So I responded, a little snidely I admit, “All my minutes are for gay rights.” Then I kept on walking, leaving him delightfully agape and wondering how much he actually knows about gay rights or if something that directly affects me is just an $8 an hour job to him.
Later, I started to feel a little guilty and thought perhaps I should have engaged him in a conversation (and no, not just because he was cute) like I did with the MASSPIRG kid oh so many years ago. Perhaps I could have enlightened him on the topic beyond whatever was written on his HRC clipboard, or (hope beyond hope) perhaps he could have enlightened me further. But you know what? Donuts to dollars, even if he was knowledgeable about the topic, all he cared about in the end was getting that donation from me.
On occasion, I will joke to my friends that I used to believe in things. I used to participate in awareness raising events (looking back, though, they all raised more money than awareness). I used to stand in the rain on election day with a sign for the candidate I believed in, even before I could vote. As I’ve grown up, that idealism has been tainted by the realization that in the end, it’s always about money and not about beliefs. When I see that earnest look in the eyes of the kid on the sidewalk, I don’t think I keep walking because I’m in a hurry or I’m annoyed or I don’t think he really believes in his cause. I hurry on by with my eyes down because I’m ashamed of having lost the belief myself. Perhaps if I can overcome my own jaded point of view, I can look the kid squarely in the eye one day and say, “Sure, I have a minute for your cause.”
Sep 17
JeremyLife in Digital gaming, Internet, mod, modding, Nardi, NSF, social interaction, world of warcraft, WoW
It turns out that gamers might just be freaks worthy of academic study. According to The Chronicle of Higher Education’s website, the National Science Foundation has awarded Bonnie Nardi at UC-Irvine a grant to study how people play the popular online game World of Warcraft. According to the grant abstract published on NSF’s website, Nardi’s research will focus specifically on modding (basically, changing the game environment to suit one’s whims). Programmers, either commercial or individual, build add-ons that perform functions in the game environment that the game itself does not. Because the game itself is built to be collaborative (there are some things on it that are just damn hard to do alone), mods are usually a group effort, too, since a need must be both identified, then acted upon in a way that fits within the game’s larger framework. An example of a commonly used mod in WoW is an add-on that imposes a coordinate grid on the game’s maps to make sharing exact locations easier among players. Yes, I know this because I play.
So far, it looks like this research is getting a bad rap. I find this ironic since gaming is blamed for a whole host of social ills, from obesity to agoraphobia to just plain awkward social interaction. Here we have the opportunity to understand the effects of gaming just a bit better, yet many consider that not worthwhile research, whether conducted in a scholarly manner or not. This research is especially important as gaming continues to transition from something that’s done at home alone (ahhhh, I miss my old Atari and Nintendo) to something that creates a true digital environment in which people interact both in and out of character.
Tools such as instant messaging have already transformed the social environment. For me, it’s allowed me to develop close friendships with people around the country whom I haven’t even met in person, while allowing me to maintain communicate more easily with my “real life” friends. If IM has had such an impact, I can’t begin to imagine what the impacts will be of online gaming, in which groups of people are working towards shared goals in a collaborative manner. Perhaps this study will begin to answer that question and help us all understand the shape of the future.
Sep 17
JeremySociety and Culture 401k, growing up, maturity, money
So on Monday, in the midst of the stock market’s tanking, I had a conversation with one of my friend’s that culminated in his saying “I don’t even want to look at my 401k,” a sentiment with which I vehemently agreed. And then I realized that we were actually having a conversation about our 401k’s. I guess I should feel lucky because I’m over 30 while he is 29. That makes him a bigger loser than me, right? When did subjects like 401k’s, mortgages, and mutual funds insert themselves into our lexicon? But there they are, wedged firmly between the sex jokes, toilet humor, and celebrity gossip.
A good financial manager will tell you that it’s never too early to start worrying about your retirement. While I agree in principal, it scares me a little that I’m worried about and talking about these things at my tender age of 32. I feel like my strategy should simply be to contribute regularly to such accounts and then just sort of let them go off and do their growing and compounding thing while I negligently check the statements once in a while. Instead of “Oh shit, I hope there’s enough in my checking account to cover the rent after I spent so much on drinks tonight,” it really is now “my stock in Apple has lost 25% of its value in recent weeks.” This additional layer of maturity has crept up on me when I wasn’t looking.
That scares me a little bit. Does that mean that there’s a time when words like “bonerrific” (uttered in conversation by one of my friends today) will become unacceptable? I always expected that poop jokes would eventually evolve into conversations about diapers someday (which is not yet!), but I never considered that another aspect of my being might be lost along the way. I like stupid humor. I like sitting around talking about boys. I like the fun and silly things. They occupy places in my life that I don’t want to swap out for money and responsibility.
Yet still, right at this very moment, a 26 year old friend just IMed me with “I’m also anxiously watching my bank’s stock tank.” Right after making a joke about a quote in the New York Times reading “Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve is expanding its back-door channel.” So I guess it’s not just me. Maybe my generation has started to simply incorporate financial thinking into our beings. And that means that maybe there’s some hope that I only have to be mature part of the time and that it’s okay to be the other 16 year old me the rest of the time. Maybe the next generation of 16 year olds will grow up thinking about their money market accounts daily. In the meantime, I can still say poop
He he, I said “poop.”
Sep 16
JeremyMusic james, james band, james boston, laid, paradise rock club, unkle bob
Once in a while a friend asks me if I want to go to a concert for a band I’m not all that familiar with. Maybe about half the time I will decide to go. Maybe about half of those times do I really enjoy myself and the music. Every now and then, you find one of those rare shows that really turns you on to a band’s music and makes you want to see them again. British rock band James gave me such an experience last night at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston, where the band kicked off its American tour, supported by Glaswegian openers Unkle Bob. I know one James song well and have heard others a few times, so their music was a new experience for me, one which I intend to repeat.
First a note about the Paradise: I love this venue and every time I go to it I don’t understand why I don’t go much, much more often. Nestled next to Boston University away from the heart of the club scene, it’s a fantastic place to listen to music. It only holds a few hundred people and I don’t think you can physically get more than 50 feet from the stage in any direction and still be in the club. The force of the crowd usually drives you within a few feet of the stage at some point during any given show, bringing energy and excitement to even a bad performance.
Now imagine that vibe with an amazing performance such as the one I witnessed last night. Very few bands are able to bring a consistently high level of energy to the stage for two hours, but James certainly managed it. Launching the show with Laid (probably their best known song in the US for its appearance in the American Pie trailers and subsequent resurgence of radio play), James got the crowd amped to hear more. I have loved this song since the first time I heard it a decade ago, but the radio version is only a pale imitation of the live experience. It set a high bar for the rest of the show which the band easily lived up to.
Since I wasn’t a particular fan before the show, I have to admit that I can’t say much about individual songs, even when I look at the set list. What I can tell you is that the music showed mastery of a range of styles from pure rock to a slow rock waltz. One of the things I found particularly enchanting about the music of James is the excellent incorporation of the violin into rock, something few bands can master, but one that can add much depth to the melody. Even political rock makes their repertoire with Hey Ma, which the band openly admits is a criticism of the policies of Tony Blair and George Bush that led to current global conflicts. Lead singer Tim Booth commented that any leader that has to declare war should be obligated to resign immediately because “they failed as politicians.” It was a powerful reminder that all music sends a message if only we listen to it, whether that message is about a broken heart or a social issue.
The crowd was energetic and fun, but unfortunately also extremely tall. I think there must have been a secret discount for men who topped six feet, which isn’t a problem I have run into at the venue before. Because I get to have a public forum, I’m also going to call out the nasty smelling jerk who thinks that grunge is still an acceptable form of address who decided to shove his 40 inch butt into space a size 2 teenage girl would’ve had trouble fitting in (and then dancing like one to boot). But for the most part, people were respectful of personal space and views.
The evening ended with two events worth noting. The first was Tim Booth’s travels into the crowd (pictured above — click for a larger image) that ultimately had him standing on the bar right in front of us, giving the opportunity for closeness to even the fringes of the crowd. While it seemed like the show was drawing to a close, the band decided to perform an extended encore with the last couple songs seemingly unplanned. At this point, the band made the night of an audience member named Jonah by inviting him onstage. Taking audience participation to a new level, the guitarist handed off his instrument to let this guy fulfill his dream of playing the song Come Home with the band. I can’t imagine too many bands willing to take a risk like that with their music, but they were game and he did a great job. It was a great way to close an awesome show and convinced me this is a band whose music I want to stick with.
Unkle Bob performed as opener, but I must admit that I missed part of their set. I heard four songs, the first three of which progressively got better (I wasn’t impressed when I walked in), but the last of which killed it for me. I guess they are up-and-comers, though, as their song Swans was featured on Grey’s Anatomy. Maybe they are still finding their stride, but they get an honorable mention for opening for such a fantastic act.
For another review from an actual fan and the complete set list, click here.
For information on the tour, check out James’s website at www.wearejames.com.
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