Sawyer Paul's Blog, page 200
May 5, 2011
The value of shock
The value of shock:
"Shock" is a mercurial word. It's a noun, it's a verb. It's medical jargon, it's farming parlance. It's physical, it's emotional. It's amazingly plastic as a concept, but perhaps the best evocation of "shock" is that of electricity. Growing up in Vermont, I lived around a lot of electrified fences. Just sticks of wood, small pristinely white porcelain buttons, and two thin wires, electric fences are deceptively innocent. Touch one, though, and that deeply visceral thrill runs up your limb with a fluttering agony. It's painful, and it is, at the same time, not. That is the embodiment of shock. We fear it, but we can't exactly say we dislike it. Unless, of course, it is too great; the increment of shock is as important as its existence.
May 4, 2011
What's the point of popular?
What's the point of popular?:
You'd think that it's the most important thing in the world. Homecoming queen, student body president, the most Facebook friends, Oscar winner, how many people are waiting in line at the book signing…
Popular is almost never a measure of impact, or genius, or art. Popular rarely correlates with guts, hard work or a willingness to lead (and be willing to be wrong along the way).
I'll grant you that being popular (at least on one day in November) is a great way to get elected President. But in general, the search for popular is wildly overrated, because it corrupts our work, eats away at our art and makes it likely we'll compromise to please the anonymous masses.
May 3, 2011
"Any ordinary man can buy a fancy car, but only a true playboy can demolish one with dignity."
"Any ordinary man can buy a fancy car, but only a true playboy can demolish one with dignity."
- In defense of rich people smashing their nice cars
- In defense of rich people smashing their nice cars
don't forget the wookie, too.
don't forget the wookie, too.
"When the cultural bourgeoisie therefore set out to "shock (epater) the bourgeois", they are often..."
"When the cultural bourgeoisie therefore set out to "shock (epater) the bourgeois", they are often implicitly attacking those sections of the bourgeoisie by which they feel dominated. At times, these shocks, attacks and criticisms are directed at those sections that have most power economically, but more often than not the enemy is identified as the lower middle class or petite bourgeois, i.e., those sections who are low in cultural capital but also subordinate economically. This group is therefore doubly damned and hence highly vulnerable to attack."
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(via thesexmyth)
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Mark Jancovich: 'Naked Ambitions: Pornography, Taste and the Problem of the Middlebrow'
(via thesexmyth)
