Glamour Profession
So... 28 now.
Jeez Time can fly. Especially considering a few posts back I was turning 26. Shows how often I actually update this thing.
You know, I still don't really feel any different than when I was 21. The 18th was just another day really. A day I actually hung out with my family... but still just another day.
Hollywood and TV Land will state that at my age, I should be already well into my career and looking to settle. But I can't see that. Perhaps I'm too nomadic or that gypsy blood is starting to boil just below my skin.
This Friday I start my new job as Programmer Analyst here at the University of Miami. Will this develop into a career? Sure, it could.
Though, I don't believe in these defined paths. I'm sure many will nod and agree that we each cut our own path. Most of us will believe that is exactly what we're doing. Yet, how many of us are actually doing anything worthwhile?
In this age of Information, so many of us are quick to show off all the fun we have. Sites like MySpace and Facebook make it easy to share photos of us partying, carousing or having a swell time. But what I see is just another form of chest-thumping. Everyone trying to one-up each other, to show off that the breakup didn't affect us and we're living it up already. "LOL look how much fun this night was. OMFG I was soooo drunk LOLOL."
/sigh
Last night I caught High Fidelity again. A fantastic film, one of my favorites. They did a good job taking the book and making a 2 hour story with it.
Anyway, the protagonist of the film is almost caught in a different era. Still mixing tapes off vinyl though CDs already have taken hold. Using a payphone instead of a cell. Actually, you don't really see a cellphone in the film. His girlfriend leaves and he is ripped apart by this event. He isn't afraid to express his angst and misery.
One point of the film, its pointed out that though he has a list of Top 5 dream jobs he doesn't note 'Owning a Record Store' as one of them. It was a dream of his, and one he actually is doing. One he wanted more than 'Architect' like he listed.
The point I'm trying to make is that we need some simplicity in our lives. Too quick are we to add drama and complication. Its why many of us have a need to document everything. To remind us of moments where we don't worry or are concerned with whatever is making us miserable. We need to strip away the facade we all tend to put up. Realize that as humans, we each have base emotions and feelings. Why hide it?
One line that John Cusack's character states in the film:
"What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?"
What I find interesting here is the relation to music. Most the music in the film are late 70s, 80s and early 90s. Punk, post punk, new wave...
It kind of reminds me of the Don McLean song "American Pie". In it, McLean talks about the loss of innocence in American culture through the music of the time. How Buddy Holly's death represented an end to music that was as wholesome as American Pie. Now I can get real into American Pie. Even write up an annotated version which will explain the song in its entirety (At least, an interpretation that is not McLean's himself as he refuses to explain it), but instead I will just note how the song touched on the changes of music through the 60s.
Don McLean, or another equally talented songwriter (if such a person exists), can write a new version on how music has changed from the 70s through today.
By the time Buddy Holly died, he had started working on experimental sounds. A sound that would later be picked up by the Beach Boys with Pet Sounds and, of course, the Beatles with Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club. Beyond the sound however, lyrics began to be more political and touching on current events. It was moving away from the subject of love.
Drugs, sex soon became subjects that proliferated most songs.
Now, back to what I was originally getting at...
Music now, like back then, reflects our society today. Just think of some of the more popular songs we've had recently: "Promiscuous" by Nelly Furtado (what a fall from grace), "Humps" by Black Eyed Peas, etc.
John Cusack's quote in the film refers to misery and pop music. But now that pop music has changed (I can't quite use the word 'evolved' here), does the music perpetuate the decay of morality? Or is it the decay that influences the music?
Of course, not everyone falls victim to the depravity and hedonism. It certainly is no new thing either. One just needs to read Marquis de Sade for some really explicit content... and that was way back in the late 1700s. Misery has also been around as long.
So I say, the music is used as a mirror for what is acceptable in society.
Damn I strayed quite a bit there. So disorganized.
Brut and Charisma
Jeez Time can fly. Especially considering a few posts back I was turning 26. Shows how often I actually update this thing.
You know, I still don't really feel any different than when I was 21. The 18th was just another day really. A day I actually hung out with my family... but still just another day.
Hollywood and TV Land will state that at my age, I should be already well into my career and looking to settle. But I can't see that. Perhaps I'm too nomadic or that gypsy blood is starting to boil just below my skin.
This Friday I start my new job as Programmer Analyst here at the University of Miami. Will this develop into a career? Sure, it could.
Though, I don't believe in these defined paths. I'm sure many will nod and agree that we each cut our own path. Most of us will believe that is exactly what we're doing. Yet, how many of us are actually doing anything worthwhile?
In this age of Information, so many of us are quick to show off all the fun we have. Sites like MySpace and Facebook make it easy to share photos of us partying, carousing or having a swell time. But what I see is just another form of chest-thumping. Everyone trying to one-up each other, to show off that the breakup didn't affect us and we're living it up already. "LOL look how much fun this night was. OMFG I was soooo drunk LOLOL."
/sigh
Last night I caught High Fidelity again. A fantastic film, one of my favorites. They did a good job taking the book and making a 2 hour story with it.
Anyway, the protagonist of the film is almost caught in a different era. Still mixing tapes off vinyl though CDs already have taken hold. Using a payphone instead of a cell. Actually, you don't really see a cellphone in the film. His girlfriend leaves and he is ripped apart by this event. He isn't afraid to express his angst and misery.
One point of the film, its pointed out that though he has a list of Top 5 dream jobs he doesn't note 'Owning a Record Store' as one of them. It was a dream of his, and one he actually is doing. One he wanted more than 'Architect' like he listed.
The point I'm trying to make is that we need some simplicity in our lives. Too quick are we to add drama and complication. Its why many of us have a need to document everything. To remind us of moments where we don't worry or are concerned with whatever is making us miserable. We need to strip away the facade we all tend to put up. Realize that as humans, we each have base emotions and feelings. Why hide it?
One line that John Cusack's character states in the film:
"What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?"
What I find interesting here is the relation to music. Most the music in the film are late 70s, 80s and early 90s. Punk, post punk, new wave...
It kind of reminds me of the Don McLean song "American Pie". In it, McLean talks about the loss of innocence in American culture through the music of the time. How Buddy Holly's death represented an end to music that was as wholesome as American Pie. Now I can get real into American Pie. Even write up an annotated version which will explain the song in its entirety (At least, an interpretation that is not McLean's himself as he refuses to explain it), but instead I will just note how the song touched on the changes of music through the 60s.
Don McLean, or another equally talented songwriter (if such a person exists), can write a new version on how music has changed from the 70s through today.
By the time Buddy Holly died, he had started working on experimental sounds. A sound that would later be picked up by the Beach Boys with Pet Sounds and, of course, the Beatles with Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club. Beyond the sound however, lyrics began to be more political and touching on current events. It was moving away from the subject of love.
Drugs, sex soon became subjects that proliferated most songs.
Now, back to what I was originally getting at...
Music now, like back then, reflects our society today. Just think of some of the more popular songs we've had recently: "Promiscuous" by Nelly Furtado (what a fall from grace), "Humps" by Black Eyed Peas, etc.
John Cusack's quote in the film refers to misery and pop music. But now that pop music has changed (I can't quite use the word 'evolved' here), does the music perpetuate the decay of morality? Or is it the decay that influences the music?
Of course, not everyone falls victim to the depravity and hedonism. It certainly is no new thing either. One just needs to read Marquis de Sade for some really explicit content... and that was way back in the late 1700s. Misery has also been around as long.
So I say, the music is used as a mirror for what is acceptable in society.
Damn I strayed quite a bit there. So disorganized.
Brut and Charisma
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