I don't watch commercials but I ran into this by accident. Why wouldn't I? It features Temper Trap's "Sweet Disposition" and a road bike reminiscent of my Jamis Ventura. If watched more commercials maybe I'd be able to make more analogies but I don't. This commercial however, captures the biking experience as well as anything.
I approve.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Neophilia and Tiger Woods-ing
Neophilia is a term I first heard used with reference to me years ago. I already knew I had it. I just hadn’t been officially diagnosed with it yet.
I suppose it was one of those things everyone knew to be true but never felt the need to address out loud.
She’s a neophiliac, you know? Or if she's not fully a neophiliac she has definite tendencies for neophilia. To me, the thing sounded almost like a chronic condition which, I have to admit, I found rather amusing.
So, what’s a neophiliac? According to Wikipedia, a neophiliac or neophile is an individual who is unusually accepting of new things and excited by novelty.
Accepting of new technology? Check.
Excited by technology? Mais oui. Check, please!
So the diagnosis was one I accepted fully.
A close friend noted the other day that he has yet to remember seeing me use old things. He suggested that we go vintage clothes shopping and before finishing the sentence he says, "Oh, yeah, I know. You don't do old or vintage."
I can’t use old things. I don’t get a kick out of going to vintage stores (I have tried. I did the legwork et al.), I don’t like used stuff, I literally feel like I’m breaking into hives the moment I try someone else’s clothes, for instance. I’m not a germophobe, though. It’s the fundamental craving for neophilia that creates this kind of discomfort with old things.
I’ll illustrate the point by bringing up a concrete example: the iPhone and my continuing love affair with it.
I wonder how it happened that a little gadget became more appealing to me than the most exciting and interesting person you’ve ever met who constantly carries on about some very exciting topic: how wonderful they think you are and blah, blah, blah. And yet, you have the need to check the New York Times App and see what new articles have been posted in the past few hours you haven’t checked or if iTunes has resolved that problem you had with your recent Entourage purchase.
Because, of course, you cannot check at a different time.
You’re out with the people you like very well. You’re having an enjoyable time, the topic of discussion are attention-grabbing and you're especially proud of the ensemble you put together, and, yet, in the middle of the night you have this strong need to reach down your purse/messenger bag and take out your iPhone. Meanwhile the other people are in the process of narrating. You find yourself following along even interjecting the usual ‘wow,’ ‘huh,’ ‘gripping’ and yet you do what you otherwise do not tolerate. And social multitasking vexes me. I generally find it a bad idea and I expressly comment against it. The double standard here is so strong that to address it I’d have to write another post and I’m not feeling particularly self-correcting at the moment so I’ll let it go for now.
I’ve managed to manage basically most of anything else but my craving for neophilia. If it’s a new notion, it’s aesthetically pleasing, and companies I respect created it, I feel I have to, at least, try it. I tried to explain just this to my party on a recent trip to Chicago that I had to stop at the Apple store just for a little bit. Translation: a two-hour stop. I think the answer was something like, "You know, some go to the Gap, others watch the Wendy Williams Show. My guilty pleasure is allowing my eyes to graze at the Apple store. Let it go. It's my thing."
I’ve tried not bringing the iPhone along and the experience wasn’t a pleasant one. I kept wondering if I was missing out on something. I was told I looked like I was hopped up on caffeine at 1:00 in the morning. So, not good. Naturally, I didn’t miss out on much. How much novelty can occur on a weekend night between 9:00pm-2:30am, after all? It turns out, not much at all. I excuse myself, go to another space, send a text to my other party saying, “Yeah. I have nothing of substance to say other than, I think I’m Tiger Woods-ing. Relax. The other party(ies) is the iPhone.”
I rarely go anywhere without my iPhone. I don’t do so because I have to know who’s calling, texting, or emaling. I do so because I’ve gotten accustomed to the feeling of comfort I get knowing that I won’t get lost somewhere in Southern California, Eastern Canada, or Central Ohio. The point is, I also bring the iPhone to social gatherings.
I've given this a whole lot of thought and the best thing I could say about such 'chronic conditions' as neophilia is to embrace them, work with them, and find productive ways to incorporate them in quotidianity. It turns out, neophilia is quite a little helper, actually.
So, today, my tip of the hat goes to my favorite chronic condition, neophilia.
I suppose it was one of those things everyone knew to be true but never felt the need to address out loud.
She’s a neophiliac, you know? Or if she's not fully a neophiliac she has definite tendencies for neophilia. To me, the thing sounded almost like a chronic condition which, I have to admit, I found rather amusing.
So, what’s a neophiliac? According to Wikipedia, a neophiliac or neophile is an individual who is unusually accepting of new things and excited by novelty.
Accepting of new technology? Check.
Excited by technology? Mais oui. Check, please!
So the diagnosis was one I accepted fully.
A close friend noted the other day that he has yet to remember seeing me use old things. He suggested that we go vintage clothes shopping and before finishing the sentence he says, "Oh, yeah, I know. You don't do old or vintage."
I can’t use old things. I don’t get a kick out of going to vintage stores (I have tried. I did the legwork et al.), I don’t like used stuff, I literally feel like I’m breaking into hives the moment I try someone else’s clothes, for instance. I’m not a germophobe, though. It’s the fundamental craving for neophilia that creates this kind of discomfort with old things.
I’ll illustrate the point by bringing up a concrete example: the iPhone and my continuing love affair with it.
I wonder how it happened that a little gadget became more appealing to me than the most exciting and interesting person you’ve ever met who constantly carries on about some very exciting topic: how wonderful they think you are and blah, blah, blah. And yet, you have the need to check the New York Times App and see what new articles have been posted in the past few hours you haven’t checked or if iTunes has resolved that problem you had with your recent Entourage purchase.
Because, of course, you cannot check at a different time.
You’re out with the people you like very well. You’re having an enjoyable time, the topic of discussion are attention-grabbing and you're especially proud of the ensemble you put together, and, yet, in the middle of the night you have this strong need to reach down your purse/messenger bag and take out your iPhone. Meanwhile the other people are in the process of narrating. You find yourself following along even interjecting the usual ‘wow,’ ‘huh,’ ‘gripping’ and yet you do what you otherwise do not tolerate. And social multitasking vexes me. I generally find it a bad idea and I expressly comment against it. The double standard here is so strong that to address it I’d have to write another post and I’m not feeling particularly self-correcting at the moment so I’ll let it go for now.
I’ve managed to manage basically most of anything else but my craving for neophilia. If it’s a new notion, it’s aesthetically pleasing, and companies I respect created it, I feel I have to, at least, try it. I tried to explain just this to my party on a recent trip to Chicago that I had to stop at the Apple store just for a little bit. Translation: a two-hour stop. I think the answer was something like, "You know, some go to the Gap, others watch the Wendy Williams Show. My guilty pleasure is allowing my eyes to graze at the Apple store. Let it go. It's my thing."
I’ve tried not bringing the iPhone along and the experience wasn’t a pleasant one. I kept wondering if I was missing out on something. I was told I looked like I was hopped up on caffeine at 1:00 in the morning. So, not good. Naturally, I didn’t miss out on much. How much novelty can occur on a weekend night between 9:00pm-2:30am, after all? It turns out, not much at all. I excuse myself, go to another space, send a text to my other party saying, “Yeah. I have nothing of substance to say other than, I think I’m Tiger Woods-ing. Relax. The other party(ies) is the iPhone.”
I rarely go anywhere without my iPhone. I don’t do so because I have to know who’s calling, texting, or emaling. I do so because I’ve gotten accustomed to the feeling of comfort I get knowing that I won’t get lost somewhere in Southern California, Eastern Canada, or Central Ohio. The point is, I also bring the iPhone to social gatherings.
I've given this a whole lot of thought and the best thing I could say about such 'chronic conditions' as neophilia is to embrace them, work with them, and find productive ways to incorporate them in quotidianity. It turns out, neophilia is quite a little helper, actually.
So, today, my tip of the hat goes to my favorite chronic condition, neophilia.
New Article Available on Journal
My literary theory-informed article on a relatively little known German medieval text called der borte is now published and available on the journal Neophilologus. The title of the article is Economics of Virtue in Dietrich von der Glezze’s der borte: A Wife Errant and a Husband Caught.
You may access the abstract and more information on the article here.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Colbert and Alicia Keys: New York Remix
I cannot think of a better person to explain pop culture remixing than Stephen Colbert. Watch the following Colbertian version of the Alicia Keys and Jay-Z uber-popular track Empire State of Mind. I don't know about you, but I definitely prefer the Colbert remix.
And, according to the nonfactzone here are the Colbert lyrics:
Yeah, yeah, yeah
I love New York, King of all the Cities
Lived up by the Guggenheim, ’til I got some kiddies
Moved to Connecticut, ‘bye George Pataki
Volvo to the dry-cleaners, pickin’ up my khakis
Shoppin’ mall is close, my community is gated
My shorties are all private school educated
Home theater system, 60-inch plasma
Clean suburban air, much better for my asthma
Still hit the city, Times Square, keep it real
Hard Rock Cafe for the appetizer deal
M&M Store, Disney Store, I’m in heaven
I own this town from 41st to 47th
Take you to The Lion King, that show is fantastic
Leave half an hour early so I can beat the traffic
I can get home really fast, driver rocks an E-Z Pass
Land of cheaper gas and the upper middle class
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Alicia Keys - Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down | ||||
| ||||
And, according to the nonfactzone here are the Colbert lyrics:
Yeah, yeah, yeah
I love New York, King of all the Cities
Lived up by the Guggenheim, ’til I got some kiddies
Moved to Connecticut, ‘bye George Pataki
Volvo to the dry-cleaners, pickin’ up my khakis
Shoppin’ mall is close, my community is gated
My shorties are all private school educated
Home theater system, 60-inch plasma
Clean suburban air, much better for my asthma
Still hit the city, Times Square, keep it real
Hard Rock Cafe for the appetizer deal
M&M Store, Disney Store, I’m in heaven
I own this town from 41st to 47th
Take you to The Lion King, that show is fantastic
Leave half an hour early so I can beat the traffic
I can get home really fast, driver rocks an E-Z Pass
Land of cheaper gas and the upper middle class
Assorted Links: Biology of Music and Black Metal University Course
1) The Biology of Music: Why do we like what we like?
"Rock is especially popular because it emphasizes the musical intervals whose frequency relationships are those we hear in the human speech."
More here.
2) This was a most interesting article to me. A Germanist at Emory teaches a course on black metal. A bit says: "Mr. Butler, an assistant professor of German studies at Emory University, talked about black-metal music — in its second-wave, largely Norwegian form — as a cryptic expression of Roman Catholicism. He started with the 16th-century Council of Trent and the early modern church. He quoted lyrics from the face-painted, early-1990s Norwegian black-metal bands Gorgoroth and Immortal; he framed black metal as respecting some of rock’s orthodoxies, as opposed to the heresies of disco and punk; and he spoke of black metal’s preoccupation with “the abiding and transcendent: stone, mountain, moon.”
And here:
"“The black metal event is a confession without need of absolution, without need of redemption,” he said. It is, he added, “a cleaning up of the mess of others.” He invoked the old English tradition of sin eating by means of burial cakes, in which a loaf of bread was put on a funeral bier or a corpse, and a paid member of the community would eat the bread, representing sin, to absolve and comfort the deceased.
“Black metal has become the sin eater,” he intoned. “It is engaged in transgressive behavior to be rid of it.” "
I highly recommend you read this in its entirety. Read more here.
"Rock is especially popular because it emphasizes the musical intervals whose frequency relationships are those we hear in the human speech."
More here.
2) This was a most interesting article to me. A Germanist at Emory teaches a course on black metal. A bit says: "Mr. Butler, an assistant professor of German studies at Emory University, talked about black-metal music — in its second-wave, largely Norwegian form — as a cryptic expression of Roman Catholicism. He started with the 16th-century Council of Trent and the early modern church. He quoted lyrics from the face-painted, early-1990s Norwegian black-metal bands Gorgoroth and Immortal; he framed black metal as respecting some of rock’s orthodoxies, as opposed to the heresies of disco and punk; and he spoke of black metal’s preoccupation with “the abiding and transcendent: stone, mountain, moon.”
And here:
"“The black metal event is a confession without need of absolution, without need of redemption,” he said. It is, he added, “a cleaning up of the mess of others.” He invoked the old English tradition of sin eating by means of burial cakes, in which a loaf of bread was put on a funeral bier or a corpse, and a paid member of the community would eat the bread, representing sin, to absolve and comfort the deceased.
“Black metal has become the sin eater,” he intoned. “It is engaged in transgressive behavior to be rid of it.” "
I highly recommend you read this in its entirety. Read more here.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
The Best Thing of Today: What English Sounds Like to Foreigners
I like this thing a whole lot. It's so good, it puts SNL sketches to shame. The premise of this piece is to show what English sounds like to foreigners. The caption on this video reads: "An Italian singer wrote this song with gibberish to sound like English. If you've ever wondered what other people think Americans sound like, this is it."
Only, it's not just any Italian singer who's making the point. It's musical giant and performance artist par excellence Adriano Celentano. I'm partial to Celentano as he is one of the very few modern Italian artists whose work, for the most park, begs for my continued attention. And if you have seen Fellini's filmic masterpiece La Dolce Vita, you will have also seen a very young Celentano sing and dance a-la-Elvis. If you haven't experienced La Dolce Vita, do so.
This is simply a genius exercise in phonetics, culture, artistic mannerisms, and parody. I never saw this growing up so, tip of the hat to todaysbigthing for making me aware of it.
Only, it's not just any Italian singer who's making the point. It's musical giant and performance artist par excellence Adriano Celentano. I'm partial to Celentano as he is one of the very few modern Italian artists whose work, for the most park, begs for my continued attention. And if you have seen Fellini's filmic masterpiece La Dolce Vita, you will have also seen a very young Celentano sing and dance a-la-Elvis. If you haven't experienced La Dolce Vita, do so.
This is simply a genius exercise in phonetics, culture, artistic mannerisms, and parody. I never saw this growing up so, tip of the hat to todaysbigthing for making me aware of it.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Assorted Links
1) When is the best time to work out? I also find that I get different results when I work out at different times of the day. I tend to work out after my work day but sometimes it makes more feasible sense to work out during the earlier part of the day. I seem to get better results when I work out later in the day but that might also have something to do with the fact that I am more nocturnal than diurnal. The Times has a good article on the topic. A paragraph says:
"[a] small group of researchers has studied the question of exercise performance and time of day, even doing studies of heart rates. And not only are performances better in the late afternoon and early evening, but, contrary to what exercise physiologists would predict, heart rates are also higher for the same effort."
2) There's an article on smartmoney.com on green buying that asks some interesting questions. A bit says:
"Do green products really make us better people? Does engaging in a virtuous act of consumption build on itself, making us more socially-conscious, in turn encouraging virtuous behavior in other areas of our lives? Or does buying these products make us feel better — but, in reality, make us act worse?" Read more here.
3) Ten Albums You Might Have Missed this year. I learned about some new acts here. Telekinesis was a good find. See pictured above.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Oxfords of the '09
Based on my observations this year on the text of fashion, I've noticed that the Oxford shoe seems to serve as a 'fusing' item, i.e., one that signifies purposeful walk and simple quotidianity. I posted earlier about my Frye Oxfords and I was pleased to see this photograph on the Sartorialist page. I find the Oxfords to be a good representative of the current urban vibe. Sartorialist seems to concur.
So, the tip of the hat today goes to Sartorialist for the photo of the day.
Best Ten Albums of 2009
It is a rather difficult task to pick the best albums of the year as I listen to a whole lot of music. However, here I go. Some of these musicians unfortunately do not get much (or enough) commercial radio time. However, they're all brilliant performers.
10) Bat for Lashes' Two Suns. If you like the sound of Imogen Heap and Frou Frou, you'll enjoy this sound as well.
9) Ida Maria's Fortress Round My Heart. The Norwegian artist is a hip blend of new punk and BritPop.
8) Neko Case's Middle Cyclone. Neko Case is better known than some of the other acts and albums featured here.
7) Phenix' Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. Favorite track: "Lisztomania." This is definitely a band to watch live. I have been listening to their music this whole week and it is not getting old. They're featured on the left.
6) Bravery's Stir the Blood. The album was released just a few days ago. While The Bravery are no strangers to controversy, when they hit the studio they seem to produce rather well-informed synth indie music.
5) Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion . I would describe their sound as Indie Psychodelic.
4) Yeah Yeah Yeahs' It's Blitz!. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have been a favorite of mine for quite some time and this new album certainly didn't disappoint. They seem to get better with time.
3) Grizzly Bear's Veckatimest. Think of this band as gothic folk Americana. These musicians seem to be attentive to the kind of musical minutiae that so many lack either the ability or intellectual curiosity to explore. See them pictured above.
2) Florence and the Machine's Lungs. The singer's voice has such color and range. While the sound isn't necessarily what I would seek after, her vocals, however, are what sold her music to me. Definitely worth a try.
1) Muse's The Resistance. Because this is not a secret.
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