I used to be "with it," but then they changed what "it" was

[vovat]

Okay, I was never "with it." Anyway, let's get on with the post.

My nose has been stuffed up today. Is it allergy season again? That sucks. I guess I should invest in some medicine.

For some reason I've never been able to fathom, my sister subscribes to Us magazine. The headline on the most recent one is "Denise steals Heather's husband," but I thought it was "Denise steals father's husband." Now THAT would be a more interesting story. Not that a magazine that thinks celebrity wedgies are newsworthy would do it justice, mind you.

Why does one channel on my headphones sometimes go dead for no apparent reason? I remember that used to happen when they were dying, but I haven't even had these for more than a month or so.

Something I've been wondering is whether people today are more familiar with the culture of yesterday than the people then were with the culture of their parents' generation. I know the stereotype is that old people don't understand what the kids are into, and vice versa. What with cable TV, DVD, and the Internet, we're exposed to endless reruns of TV shows from the past, including somewhat obscure ones. That's not to say that kids WANT to watch sitcoms from the fifties, but the fact that it's possible means that it's harder for these things to be totally forgotten. Maybe twentieth century pop culture will be remembered forever, or at least until 2443, when most video tapes will be damaged with the Second Coming of Jesus.

And on a similar subject, you know how there will occasionally be a resurgence in culture from an earlier decade? You know, like sixties music or disco making a comeback? Has that kind of thing happened throughout history? Was there a revival of Baroque music in the 1790's? Or did this kind of thing only come about with the advent of electronic media?

John Flansburgh 89% fan of TMBG

Glitz, Glamor, and Giants! You are John Flansburgh! You are so passionate about the music, you often have to slow down and drink heavily to keep it from exploding your head from the inside. Not only are you a musical genius, you crave the spotlight and glitter in it. You have great stage presence and a knack for getting your sound out there in every medium possible. You Wish.

My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 93% on Fanliness

Link: The They Might Be Giants Test written by AyaMalone on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Does anyone know what the actual answer to the theme song question is? I think TMBG PLAYS the theme for The Daily Show, but didn't WRITE it, right? So is that the answer, or was the quiz-maker confused? Or perhaps I am the one who is confused?

Nathan took the free ColorQuiz.com personality test! "Desires a tranquil, peaceful state of harmony offe..." Click here to read the rest of the results.

I'd say most of those are actually quite accurate, except for the Actual Problem. I like to argue, as long as it doesn't get too personal.

Comments

[travspence.livejournal.com]

http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/greekrev.html

My inclination is believe that in the past revivals were more associated with architecture and related design (furniture, etc.) than with popular culture.

[zimbra1006.livejournal.com]

Does anyone know what the actual answer to the theme song question is? I think TMBG PLAYS the theme for The Daily Show, but didn't WRITE it, right? So is that the answer, or was the quiz-maker confused? Or perhaps I am the one who is confused?

I had the same problem. I scored a 93 like you, so maybe that's the one we both missed. They definitely did not write the Daily Show theme, but I wasn't sure about the others either. I put Daily Show, but it could be a common misconception that they did write it.

[zimbra1006.livejournal.com]

er, wait, you didn't score a 93. Somehow I read yours as that. Must've been someone else on my friends list. But my point remains. :P

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm apparently not quite as Flansish as you or obsessical. {g} I wish I could see the answers, but OK Cupid is really designed more for quizzes where there are no right answers.

[zimbra1006.livejournal.com]

I'm still not sure what I missed, apart from the theme song one. I guess I'll never know!

[obsessical.livejournal.com]

So far I've been kicking everyone's ass on this quiz thing. And the answer to the song question is "Undergrads" because that's done by Good Charlotte. That's one of my most favorite shows and that's why I knew that. Plus I had actually been watching it before I took the test.

and ohhhhhh i hearted your futurama refernce :)

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I'd never seen Undergrads, but I suspected that was the intended right answer. As it turned out, though, there were actually two right answers. I think the Daily Show theme was written by Bob Mould, but don't quote me on that.

and ohhhhhh i hearted your futurama refernce

Thanks. I was actually writing this post right around when I read YOUR post mentioning David X. Cohen.

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

I think there's an added factor in fashions of the past 40, 50 years or whatever in that the phases are SHORTER than the phases of styles in the past. Think about it, when you think of styles from different centuries, they usually hang around for a little LONGER than they do nowadays. You have ERAS. Looking back in the long run, will this all look like the Era of When People Wore Blue Jeans? Or will future pop culture historians actually CARE about the differences in the wearing of blue jeans from the 50s through today? Is Retro really Retro from a historical perspective, or is it all just one and the same? If it's only gone for ten years, was it never really gone?

I think about this in terms of the music of the past half-century, too, being a rock history fanatic. People put too much emphasis on WHEN a song came out. But if you really listen, the rock and roll of the late fifties, the garage rock of the late sixties, the punk of the late seventies, and so on... have you ever noticed they're actually ALL THE SAME THING? They just have different names because the clothing the people playing it wore was different!

[vovat.livejournal.com]

You have a good point. I get the impression that a lot of what we consider to be very different trends will be lumped together by historians a century or two from now. The fashions and such in the 1690's might well have been considered very different from the ones in the 1680's by the people who lived through those decades, but now it's unlikely that anyone but a period expert would really know the difference.

There's a definite trend in music nowadays to come up with really specific (and often inaccurate) labels for everything. I've noticed a lot of musicians complaining about this practice. The thing is, I wouldn't be surprised if the same people who insist on using terms like "post-punk" and "alt-country" today also refer to any orchestral music from before the twentieth century as "classical," regardless of the actual style or era of origin.