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MutantQuasar
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Name: Gregory
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Birthday: 7/7/1985
Gender: Male
Interests: I love to play guitar, rock climb, rappell, backpack, canoe, read, write poetry, argue, [e] debate, philosophize, listen to music, discuss politics and religion and law, etc. You know, the usual.
Occupation: Legal
Industry: Research
Message: message me
AIM:  atreides133
Member Since:
10/13/2004
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| So I've been thinking a lot about my thesis lately. I've decided to change my focus. When I was back home working as an urban lumberjack, I found my mind wondering while running my chainsaw. I was struck by how much of modern music is outright nihilistic. The following prospectus represents my thoughts on it and is my current plan for my thesis:
In this thesis, I will discuss how contemporary
society has come to resemble and embody the hypothetical aesthetic
consciousness Kierkegaard created in Either/Or I. This aesthetic consciousness
in E/O I was supposed to be an example in extremis, but contemporary culture,
especially since the advent of mass instant communication, has accelerated to
embody the darkest desires of A. A was fascinated with music, and rightly so.
So are we, for we are the iPod generation. Like A, who was such an aesthete
that he was uncommitted about being uncommitted, we the consumer generation no
longer are committed to consumption but consume the media of consumption: :
iPods, Blackberries, computers - cell phones that are all three. These are
the consumed, but are simply means for the preferred consumables: it is an age
of intellectual consumption, rather than physical consumption. Music, blogs,
movies, pictures, video clips, news, even maps; post-consumers don’t care what
it is, as long as it is free. The modern attitude has become, “if it isn’t
online, it isn’t worth finding/knowing/having.” We are witnessing the rise of a
“post-consumerist” culture. We are the pinnacle of boredom: if a song is more
that 3:30 long, we don’t want it. Britney Spears is our cultural-musical icon
and despite the fact that everyone recognizes that there is nothing musical
about pop-music, we are too impatient to enjoy the music of counter-cultural
bands such as Sleepy
Time Gorilla
Museum who have
redeployed the concept album. The rejection of popular music is now seen as a
badge of legitimation whilst it surely condemns such anti-bands to a lack of
recognition. “Underground” bands that become publicly recognized are labeled as
“sell-out.” Other bands such as Radiohead have blatantly rejected the recording
industry and embraced the post-consumerists and released their new album
without cost on their website. Looking at their album artwork, one recognizes
the growing tendency of bands to eschew marketing all-together or to embrace it
to a farcical extent such as in hip-hop music. Today, music is either
nihilistic, materialistic, or sarcastic, or some extent of all three, embraced
under the rubric of the “aesthetic” in SK’s sense.
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Shame, such a shame
I think I kind of lost myself again
Day, yesterday
Really should be leaving but I stay
Say, say my name
I need a little love to ease the pain
I need a little love to ease the pain
It's easy to remember when it came
'Cause it feels like I've been
I've been here before
You are not my savior
But I still don't go
Feels like something
That I've done before
I could fake it
But I still want more
Fade, made to fade
Passion's overrated anyway
Say, say my name
I need a little love to ease the pain
I need a little love to ease the pain
It's easy to remember when it came
'Cause it feels like I've been
I've been here before
You are not my savior
But I still don't go, oh
I feel like something
That I've done before
I could fake it
But I still want more, oh. | | |
| Luke and I for a long time have shared a love for Portishead. But only know have I come to realize how much I adore Trip-Hop. If you haven't experienced Massive Attack's Dissolved Girl, consider yourself at a loss. Trip-hop emblifies so much of my personality. Born of urban British house DJ's in the early 90's as Hip-Hop crossed the ocean, Trip-hop as a genre examines the psychological trauma and depression of urbanization, material success, technological dislocation, escapism, and the downfalls of love. Slow, melodic beats and samples from 1930's Jazz. Moody. Amazing. As Massive Attack would sing, "Say, say my name, passion's overrated anyway." Everyone should also experience the amazingness that is Garden State and its sound track. I'm in love with Zero Seven, The Shins, and Frou Frou.
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| I know, it's been a long time updating. Part of it is because my computer has been down; part of it has been that there hasn't been much to report; part of it is because I've been too intimidated to jump back into; part of it is because I've been reclusive.
This summer has been an interesting one. I've had a lot of learning to do with living with room mates I'm only acquaintances of. I've been doing a lot of reading for my thesis and have had a lot of sublime thoughts, though not as much or as many as I would like. Maybe I'll post sometime about it when I have my thoughts more organized. Still working at Savarino's, where I've stepped up and taken a real leadership role. Picked up a job at Taco Bell, which has taught me more than anything that maybe Karl Marx knew something about alienated labor. I really miss Luke, and everything we had. I know you are the only one that will read this, so I want to say that the one thing that you willed me at Sigma Chi formal meant more to me than anything I've received in a long time. It may sound creepy, but you left with a part of me. I still hope to visit you in Iowa. I did meet a new intellectual friend, Dyllan Yewers. We had a good conversation the other night. Jess and I are now dating. I don't know where that is going to go. I really like her, though there isn't the same spark I felt with Kate. Maybe that will change when school starts. I hope so. I really just knew what I wanted. Out of life. Oh well. I'm really intoxicated. I think Leigh once said, "Stokes is running away again." Luke replied, "What else would he do?" What else indeed. I talked to Kate the other day. I almost broke down. But I can't. Have to be strong. I'm dating someone and she is soon dating someone too. God, that news hurt. Why can't I just move on?
Is it pretensious that you still absolutely love listening to your own music? I picked up my guitar last night for the first time in a while. The first song that came to my fingers was Divine Comedy of Errors. God I loved our music.
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| Jessica is going home tomorrow on medical withdrawal. | | |
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