I’ve been neglecting this grown man’s diary, in part because I’ve been struggling to keep up with my schedule, in part because Tunisian and Pakistani hackers pack a hell of a punch. Here is a quick observation that struck me as I was surfing youtube for various music clips (my standard protocol for unwinding at the end of the day).
At the risk of seeming oddly nostalgic, I have to put this video in personal context. In 1991 I wasn’t yet six years old and lived in Moscow with my parents. Though the fall of the Soviet Union is not the lovefest of emancipation which the Western movies I later grew up on made it out to be, this was a milestone for global artistic expression. Pay close attention to the garb adorned by young Muscovite metalheads. As early as the 70′s, Western pop culture penetration was in full swing. As with many other forms of music, though the craft itself is of the utmost, heavy metal fashion is surprisingly important. The amount of long hair, denim, and cut-off motorcycle gloves light-heartedly illustrates that by 1991 Pantera, Metallica, AC/DC and other artists were not exactly parachuting into North Korea. Nonetheless, It was time of dramatic change; I remember being five years old and watching tanks roll through the streets on my television, gripping my mother’s hand tightly as we attended the memorials of those who lost their lives in street demonstrations. After we were finished placing flowers at the portraits of people younger than I am now, we returned home. As I sat there in my parents’ apartment in the neighborhood of Orekhovo, little did I know that only a few miles away a band of maniacs was playing a song that would later become an anthem for me and my buddies in our twenties. Though the fall of Soviet rule was anything but bloodless, to which my presence here in the US is a testament, I can’t help but grin widely baring witness to heavy metal’s invasion of the Russian heartland. By that time, Western artists had performed in the USSR many times; even Vladmir Vysotsky had made trips to New York but never had an artform so aesthetically violent, so known for its counterculture tendencies been allowed within Soviet borders. Sorry for the politics. Enjoy the video, a truly powerful moment. Killer solo.
As of last Saturday it was three years since I graduated college. Though I’m under no illusions that being 25 is in itself still a blessing, it’s often difficult not to feel like times for individualism are in some ways over, that a personality is lost as it is wedged between gears that include loan debt, the search for a “calling” (whatever that means) and the ever aggressive marketing campaigns trying to sell you one thing or another. The above statue of Imre Kalman sits on the street known as “the Broadway of Budapest” and sees a fairly recent addition of a laptop said to have been placed there by a contemporary artist. Technology is proving itself as not just a creative and liberating element in people’s lives but one that is being increasingly harnessed to get them to part ways with their money.
Though 96% of people under 50 are now said to be on Facebook, it seems that Americans are fleeing Facebook by the millions. With Facebook said to be in the works for an IPO for sometime in 2012, the company is going on the defensive, pointing out that its growth in developing nations far outweighs any losses it experiences in the US, Canada, the UK, Russia and other countries (populous world powers; who needs em??). Cord Jefferson of the blog Good recently wrote a great rant about why he thinks Facebook is not only a poor use of people’s time but one that can actually be harmful to our well being. Though I’m not jumping ship yet, he has some great points.
“Probably the best explanation of Facebook, and the best explanation for why Zuckerberg is such a rich man, came from a Metafilter thread last year: “If you are not paying for it, you’re not the customer; you’re the product being sold.”
That’s Facebook in a nutshell. A place for friends, sure. But pull back the curtain and it’s a place for getting people ages 13 and over to willingly offer up the most direct ways to sell them things. It’s like being at a big party with all your friends but then realizing that the party is really a Pizza Hut focus group. And also, any pictures you take at the party are owned by the focus group forever. Sound fun to you?”
The current situation also involves employers combing the Facebook networks of employment candidates in search of photographic evidence of any habits that may inhibit the candidates ability to do their job or mesh with existing office chemistry. Users in the job market are advised to be careful what they post, to show some personality but not too much. Those of us in the communications field are advised against giving Facebook the axe completely because employers in our field can take the absence of a Facebook profile as, not only a sign of a lack of social media savvy (and thus a limited conception of the marketing and PR fields), but as evidence that the applicant may not be social to begin with. We’re like a crew of pirates that are forced to bail but are forbidden to abandon ship.
So you’re telling me that Apple HAD to create this technological muzzle to help the poor, broke music and concert industry execs? Excuse me while I fetch a bucket to catch my tears. It’s the same one I used while listening to the “broke” NFL owners’ sob story.
Thus, many recent college grads are indicted for posting pics that are not “social media appropriate” when the social media in question was created specifically for them to share their college experiences in the first place?…Let’s lightly call that irony. Yes, as early-to-mid twenty somethings, Facebook was created for us. However, our status as non-paying consumers seems to be pushing us out of the decision making sphere. On the content side of things, there are some dark prospects as well.
Apple is developing software that will shut down the camera on your device when it detects you are filming or photographing a live event, thus preventing you from infringing on the broadcast rights of a company. Jakomi Mathews of The Music Void blog wrote a piece earlier today entitled “Apple’s Orwellian Censorship Patent“. Orwellian? Interesting, considering that instead of the socialist boogeyman infringing on the rights of people -marching the censorship machine onward as George once had us believing would happen- it’s the pursuit of profit that seems to be doing so (Irony). The consumer backlash is sure to come. Yesterday, Decibel Magazine’s Facebook page read:
“Apple working on technology to automatically shut down recording programs on phones, cameras, etc.? Say goodbye to fun, everyone.”
In this case, Apple seems to have much less of an excuse for folding to the demands of corporations. Consumers all across the globe now face the prospect of paying quite a lot of money only to have the natural capabilities of the device curbed by some unseen hand. As Mathews points out companies that put on live events need to get creative in monetizing the democratization of multimedia instead of going after their consumers. Strange that Apple would be the first to explore this technology since they are sometimes deplored for being behind the curve on the quality of their photo and video functions (yet more irony!).
But hey, maybe we’re overreacting and Apple is simply planning to market this gizmo to despotic governments for the purpose of preventing brutal crackdowns being pasted onto Youtube. Phew!
It’s always been said that Baseball is America’s pastime. The intricate system of risks, rewards, base-progression and the possibility to slightly “bend the rules” (stealing a base anyone?) symbolize the pursuits of entrepreneurship and the American dream. Today, American football in its professional form, has replaced it. There is no shortage of explanations for this but the timeline of technological development is one that is rarely invoked. Baseball, the product of the golden age of radio, has had its domain overtaken by a fast, violent and highly visual game played by giant men in colorful uniforms, a game whose rise to prominence was fortunate (or destined) to converge with the advent of modern television. As the picture on our screens became clearer, so did the realization that pro football’s reign had arrived.
Unfortunately pro football has facilitated an entirely different reality of contemporary America: the exploitation of the working class. The working class is swelling at the expense of the shrinking middle class. Regardless of whom we choose to blame, the fact is that the income gap is growing; a new proletariat is growing.
For entertainment, the working class turns to professional American football. Bored with the slow pace and family atmosphere of baseball and lacking the academic ties most college football fans have, our plumbers, electricians & movers turn to the professional incarnation of this brutal game. Sociologically, football’s particularly violent nature is fitting of the aggressive pursuit of success that is so characteristic of American culture today; Basketball, on the other hand, is often seen as an extension of inner-city urban culture, one that doesn’t necessarily fall along racial lines but naturally lacks the rural appeal of good ol’ fashion pigskin; and hockey, perhaps for reasons of climate, has yet to catch on with people in the South. Soccer is certainly the new kid on the block but, even if we overlook the level of play, the lack of high profile success for soccer players in the US is detrimental to its popularity. It doesn’t lend itself to the dream of social mobility. The same dream that American football is so good at stirring up in the less fortunate youth of this country. Read the rest of this entry »
96 years ago today, the Armenian intellectuals of Constantinople were rounded up and executed. In the following months, the sun bleached our bones in the deserts of Syria; our corpses clogged the Euphrates and Khabur, causing them to change direction; our remains forming grim exhibits to be discovered decades later… and covered up, deep in the caverns of Aleppo and Erzurum. The lack of accountability not only facilitated the scope and audacity of Hitler’s “Final Solution” but other atrocities of the 20th century: Rwanda, Bosnia, Sudan, Cambodia, and so on. Though the quest for acknowledgement has sometimes sadly overshadowed the richness of our culture –we are indeed far more than simply victims– Genocide recognition in Turkey, the US and other places is nonetheless indispensable for the integrity of human rights; this is not an Armenian goal; it’s a human goal, one that we do not need to demonize the modern Turkish people to attain, thus retaining our dignity and moving forward as cultures. Remember 1915.
‘Evil men have no songs.’ How is it that the Russians have songs? – Friedrich Nietzsche
Red Square on Victory Day 2010.
Shady, politically motivated trials, press rights abuses, xenophobia, alcoholism, dropping birth rates….what about the government’s new strategy to combat drug addiction and HIV? Or its increasing willingness to improve the security situation in Afghanistan? Or the 2018 World Cup? Near universal literacy?…how many people in the West know that, despite it’s troubled modern history, Dagestan actually looks like this?
What is Russia really like? How do its people live (all 160 ethnic groups) and what do they want from their own government and the world? – Taking a step away from the profit driven world of network news and political pundits, it becomes easier to get a sense of context, a place where the content is not dominated by the bottom line. Read the rest of this entry »
The (disputed) wikipedia page defines it as the compromise of integrity for monetary success but it’s not quite that simple.
Certainly we’ve all had experiences with scenesters, hipsters and genre purists who, from altrock to hip hop to heavy metal, have infused music with elitism and decided that they are the authority on who and what is “trOO”. When I was looking for a good Halloween costume last October, someone told me to grow a mustache and go around saying “their first album was better”. Not bad but, instead, my roommates and myself did what is probably the opposite of that and, for one magical night, became the gods of marketing and merchandising, KISS.
No doubt this is one extreme. It’s almost worse when people say, “I just like what sounds good” or “This album is more melodic”. Let me translate: “I like bubblegum choruses; they’re good for driving around in my Prius”. Make no mistake, the line is blurry but it exists. If you choose to listen to an artist past that point, so be it, but that doesn’t change the fact that artists often do and endorse things that water down their brand.
Though it’s true that music, just like like film and other modern art forms, is highly subjective, the discussion about the commercialism threshold leads us to an important point; the significance of music goes far beyond its aesthetics. Artists and even entire movements build their identities on things that are almost completely independent to the sounds the listener hears, almost making the music itself irrelevant in some rare instances. That’s right; paradoxically, this means a music scene that may not defined by its music at all.
Notoriously uncommercial band Motorhead, forefathers of thrash metal and cornerstones of the punk rock scene, are seen here recording a slower version of “Ace of Spades” for a beer commercial. Is it selling out if an artist endorses something that makes sense for their image and identity? Sure whiskey would be more appropriate for Lemmy (the man drinks a bottle a day) but I can’t say this rubs me the wrong way. Maybe a bar fight would have appeased diehard fans.
Was Jim Morrison justified in getting livid with his bandmates for licensing “Light My Fire” for a TV commercial? Probably. However, this trend of sponsorship is on the rise, due in no small part to the difficulty of monetizing your product in the post-CD music industry. Admittedly, the funniest part of Get Him To The Greek is when Russel Brand calls Lars Ulrich a twerp and tells him to go sue Napster. Appropriately, it’s counter-culture icon Trent Reznor who was the first major artist to shake off the shackles of corporatism, offering the music of Nine Inch Nails online for free, garnering him serious respect in some circles by doing so.
In the pre-Napster era, Pearl Jam fought tooth and nail with ticketmaster on behalf of their fans, demanded cheaper tickets, seeking better accessibility to their shows and shunning the profiteering of third parties. Now they are in bed with Target and even recorded a commercial for the retailer to promote the album, Fixer. Somehow, we in 2000′s were not grasping for our torches and pitchforks upon hearing the news as we would have been in the 1990′s. Newsweek explains this phenomenon, partially, by the fact that today’s 20-somethings, the very same people who have undermined the music industry by downloading free music, forcing the industry to dodge and weave, realize they have no right to be upset when artists seek corporate avenues of profit.
Hearing Judas Priest play during a Honda Odyssey commercial makes me think: Have the British metal legends signed an unholy pact with the gods of capitalism or is the mini-van the new Harley?
Even Francis Ford Coppola got some face time on a music blog when he insisted that artists should give away the product of their craft for free and make their money on side businesses. Hypocritical as it may be, considering the success of the guy’s wine business is due almost entirely to the brand he built as a successful film director, he may be on to something. Non-commercial bands make their money by touring. To put it roughly, music is always more worthwhile live, your fans will appreciate receiving recordings for free and are more likely to come see you live, buy a shirt and recommend you to their friends.
In a rare moment of clarity, a notoriously violent rapper admits that popularity and payout are priorities.
The sell-out label is also heavily contingent on what an artist’s intentions are from the get-go. As a pop artist it would be difficult to be labeled a sell-out if you had nothing to sell to begin with. It’s surreal to hear people complain that Britney Spears’ new single is “over produced” (Yes, I’m serious). This news flash brought to by the same geniuses who rocked your world with “fire is hot”, “the team that scores the most will win the game” and other epiphanies. Mainstream Hip Hop offers an even more difficult scenario. Is it meant to be a highly lucrative crowd-pleasing genre? Sure and only that but the rags to riches stories of most rappers fosters an approach that encourages lavish living and showboating. However its undeniable that rappers only gain respect (and cred) by refraining from singing the hooks on choruses. Jadakiss wasted no time in calling 50 Cent on this very thing during their feud. This illustrates that’s it’s not an either-or choice; it’s a sliding scale. If you’ve built a reputation and a brand identity on one thing but assimilate current trends, especially gimmicky ones, to maximize profit, the result has to be about as close to a practical definition as we can get. After all, monetary success is clearly only one aspect.
All that being said, I still wonder who would be the consensus biggest sell-out musical artist of all time. Did the Beatles sell out by licensing their music for ads? Some people think so. Ozzy? What about a reality show? It can offer a new level of intimate access to fans but can also be seen as blatant commercialism In the end, it’s possible to enjoy just about any artist if you don’t take them or yourself too seriously.
Now here’s the wild card: take things with a grain of salt and see how far your musical boundaries go. But then, why stop with music?
There are a lot of important things going on in the world. No, I’m not talking about the Oscars, the Carmelo trade or Derek Jeter’s new pad. The United States and the Russian Federation are entering into a historic nuclear weapons treaty; earthquakes are hitting New Zealand; the US congress is on the verge of one of the biggest partisan showdowns in modern times; and despotic governments in the Middle East seem to be falling like dominoes. Instead of praising the determination of the people, the press instead often focuses on the role of social media in organizing rallies. Appropriately, in the interconnected age of new media, the average person is bombarded with intriguing but unverified information, often without socio-political or historical context. The internet is a highly egalitarian outlet, but with this comes the opportunity for everyone and their cousin to present their “point of view” or be a source of “breaking news”. Twitter has, in effect, put the 24-hour news cycle on steroids. Between all these things and our increasingly hectic schedules, we could all end up like Anthony Crispino.
These are just a few online sources that I’ve found help provide context, fact verification and interesting facts that can provide for a more in-depth understanding of news. These are pretty well known but I thought it would be worthwhile to present them all in one place, like a tool kit for your daily news-related web surfing.
http://projectcensored.org/ – An intriguing project that, among other things, examines world media coverage and redefines modern censorship as the manipulation, rather than the suppression, of fact. Really interesting stuff with sad implications.
http://factcheck.org/ – This seems standard but is essential if you are following domestic US politics. Non-partisan and a great post-funk for State of the Union Addresses, presidential debates, and Bill O-Reilly/John Stewart interviews.
http://politifact.com/ – Similar to the source above but with a goofy “pants on fire” animation that appears next to politicians that just plain lie.
http://www.hrw.org/ – Human Rights Watch, if you’ve never read their reports firsthand, may seem a bit naive in their “calls to action” but they are the best source for the status of political prisoners, wartime civilian causalities, the varying degrees of the rule of law and other unfortunate truths about the state of global affairs. It will really shake any preconceived notions of good guys and bad guys, exposing the shades of gray that really exist.
http://worldpublicopinion.org/ – In the spirit of the notion of self-determination, this source will let readers know how the world populaces really feel about important issues albeit at inconsistent intervals.
This is just the tip of the iceberg for sources. Any suggestions are welcome and appreciated. History, both modern and ancient, is still one of the most underrated factors for understanding how the world works so keep reading books.
The other night as we were watching Lemmy belt out the first few lines of “We Are Motorhead” my friend leaned over to me and yelled “I want that”. “Want what? That bass?” “No I want that experience, I want Rock N’ Roll”.
My dream currently lies somewhere in between Slash and Anthony Bourdain. The feeling I get playing music is surpassed only by experiencing new places, people and food. I’ve managed to piece together a Frankenstein-like music taste and am very good at getting myself into “interesting” situations abroad. Then again, I suppose having some language skills and an appreciation for good lager is bound to land you in a colorful pub nearly anywhere in the world.
That being said, let’s remove tourism from the equation, the type of travel whose most lasting imprint is a picture of a sweaty resemblance of yourself wearing cargo shorts and cycling glasses in front of the Giza pyramids. Khufu is no doubt rolling in his tomb. Had he known that being a part of people’s scrapbooks is what his scribes and architects meant when they said “eternal glory”….well, they would have made timely sacrifices at the great Pharaoh’s next luau.
Now for how to put these things together? It’s with jealous admiration that I present Canadian band The Last Supper. The Smiths Falls natives (that’s in Ontario) just finished up a Middle Eastern stint through Jordan and Egypt and are preparing to hit the studio with producer Chris Kimsey, most known for his work with INXS, the Cult and the Stones. Read the rest of this entry »
This is a great tongue-in-cheek ad for the new Call of Duty: Black Ops video game. It incorporates celebrities like Jimmy Kimmel and Kobe Bryant for some star power, while illustrating what I think is the one big achievement of modern day consoles. The Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 have transformed online gaming from something that was a niche scene, often reserved for “nerds” on PCs, to something that has become much more widespread. They’ve expanded their demographic reach by making it ok for you and your bros to share a cold one and play games online. This signifies not only an expansion in the industry’s short term profit margins but a long term shift in pop culture norms that seems almost egalitarian.
Nurses in scrubs kick down doors and toss in smoke grenades; a fire fighter flies an attack copter. The message is simple; everyone from everyday people (non-”gamers”) to celebrities can and do enjoy playing console shooters online. This ad even introduces a cinematic element that culminates in what looks like a hotdog vendor doing his Rambo thing at the end of the commercial.
The highly touted and controversial game -it’s said to feature the Iranian hostage crisis of 1980 as well as an option to play as the Taliban in multi-player mode- was released last night at midnight.
That being said, you have to wonder, what percentage of veterans find this commercial a bit irreverent?
Like with anything else, your company can make or break your experience as a traveler.
Sitting here in my Cannes apartment I thought it would be a good time for a travel post. Most of us have encountered the notion that broadening your horizons is a must. One would hope that it would be rare to encounter someone whose parents sat at the end of their kids’ bed and said “you know what, you’re probably better off staying within your bubble.”
I just can’t say enough about how much people in my life are doing to get themselves out into the world, and I don’t mean driving up to Canada, that booze cruise you took in Cabo or watching reality TV. One friend is in Incheon, Korea; another in Turkmenistan; yet another in Ranger school for the US army, soon to be thrust into harm’s way. There are applications being put into the Peace Corps and the constant buzz of epic travel plans (and unfortunately the painful groans of trying make them work financially – for if youth is wasted on the young, opulence is just as frequently wasted on the old & stubbornly entrenched). My roommate recently told me about his strong conviction of exposing himself to other places and people as a means to seeing the world’s current events from the perspective of other cultures. Mind you, this is a guy who is pretty well traveled already. After all, it’s no coincidence that those without the itch to travel are most often the least experienced with it.
The Bundestag lawn in Berlin, an incredibly storied city whose urban appeal doesn't get lost in the repetition of cathedrals and royal palaces that can sometimes fatigue a European traveler. I'm going to do my best to live or work abroad for a year or two and Berlin is one place I haven't been able to get out of my head after being there.
Traveling abroad is not about some hipster elitist notion of culture or automatically becoming an ex-pat transplant but you will be surprised how much you figure out about yourself and your own home, both its assets and shortcomings, as you go abroad and look from the outside in. It’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of modern American life, one that does not take kindly to siestas, strikes, month-long paid vacations, or socialized anything. Our stress level is through the roof but it’s the lack of time I spend to reflect that troubles me the most. It’s these moments of catharsis that make you appreciate things about the good ol’ US of A and make time spent abroad especially worthwhile. Personally, however, these moments are outnumbered by more nuanced instances where the complexity of being a born into an immigrant family comes to the forefront.
As I was editing this post, a man from Lebanon came to our stand and started talking business. Once that was out of the way, he asked about my background; he was born in Iraq and spoke about good relations with the extensive Armenian population in Baghdad. I told him that Beirut is a place that’s very high on my list of places to visit next. Can you tell why?
Last night I listened to the story of someone who was transported from Madagascar to France as an immigrant. Her hardworking parents made sure she attended the best school possible. Early on she was teased for her foreign accent (the Madagascar accent is quite different from that of France, as is the case that with most francophone countries), her name omitted from party invitation lists at school. Meanwhile, her parents worked hard to adjust and provide opportunities for their kids. We spoke at length on being torn, as immigrants, between two or more identities. Ultimately, we choose national identity. For reasons that I feel pretty strongly about, I’m American and have chosen this national identity over two others, but is the break as clean as we make it out be in public? The answer is far from always. Struggling to reconcile your origins with the socio-political dynamics of your new country gets tougher the older you are. Though they are cognizant of a change, Kids learn languages quickly because their brains are wired for it and they don’t immediately notice social inequalities, racial tensions, injustices in foreign policy and anything else that would hinder someone’s chances of finding happiness in a new culture. Being one of these kids, I often undervalued the struggle; Seattle was my home and whatever vague idea I had of the place I came from was far, far way.
Appropriately, Gene Simmons is here at the MIPCOM market, talking about his hit A&E reality show and the evolution of the KISS brand. Though I still maintain that he didn’t invent the “horns” hand symbol –our business associate told him that I’d said as much when he met Gene the other night; Gene of course maintains he did– his story as a Jewish-Hungarian immigrant is a pretty solid testament to just what someone can acheive in their new home after starting with next-to-nothing.
Conceptualizing things like this, especially lately, has really reinforced my gratitude for the sacrifices my parents made to make sure I grew up happily, safely, and received an education. For those of you out there in the same boat, be thankful to your parents, you may have some abstract, conceptual idea of what they left behind, but I’m convinced that the reality of the experience was much more of a shock than the quiet reflections of today can possibly convey, detached as we often are, the offspring of expatriates and refugees.
