I went over to Yorckschlosschen the other day and ran into TAR ART RAT who was there with a friend. They were going later to a concert by Sigur Ros at the Tempodrom. The friend said something along the lines of, it would be worrying if Obama came across as elitist, which had the effect of some bizarre psychological experiment, the kind where a man in a white coat says a discouraging word and you find yourself babbling on. So I found myself babbling in a conspicuously non-elitist way about Barthes. Just in case babbling in an elitist way about Barthes should in some mysterious way damage the electoral prospects of Obama.
Anyway, came across a post about Sigur Ros on Nico Muhly's site so feel I should post the link for TAR ART RAT, which is here.
(Speaking of links, more people have bought YNH and said the PayPal link is not working.
4 comments:
These things always unfold dialectically, if I can use a word that every American voter must surely know. Obama's wonderful and intelligent--therefore he must also be elitist and out of touch. Even though he's black and his mom raised him on her own, etc. You know, even though there's EVIDENCE to the contrary. It's awful seeing how this gets generated out of thin air. I watched the first big appearance by both candidates on the same stage at the Saddleback Church with Pastor (Purpose Driven Life, millions of copies sold) Warren. First I thought, Well I know that religion - evangelical garbage in particular, as opposed to all the other garbage - is the gateway to the presidency, but now they're just really upfront with it. I have this terrible fear that Obama has begun to lose. After the Saddleback thing I heard adjectives like "Dukakissy" to describe O's performance. McCain had applause lines all over the place. Drill now. Life begins at conception. Marriage is a union between a man and a woman. The surge worked. Etc. I check the polls constantly. No changes so far. I have a bad feeling, though I want to remain rational. I read Frank Rich at NYT to make me feel better. I'm hoping the convention is just massive and overwhelming.
I wonder how Barthes comes into this?
I think I brought up Barthes as an example of how you can have no sense of what people can be expected to know. I knew someone who was a senior partner at a Wall Street law firm who had never heard of Barthes; I was astounded, thinking, How can you not have heard of Barthes? Because the thing is (and this is probably why things go so horribly wrong for me) I think of Barthes as a guilty indulgence, someone you'd read for fun, so talking about Barthes is like talking about the X-Men movies, something you do to show you too enjoy simple pleasures.
Sigur Ros is so awesome. Definitely one of my all time favorite bands. They are magnificent in concert. Saw them in San Diego and in Phoenix. No one comes to play in Arizona it seems, at least not the bands I like. Thinking Sigur Ros would ever come play in Arizona seemed about as likely as getting struck by lightning in a snow storm but they came and they were amazing. They even stayed after the show to sign autographs. I gave them all Dreamcatchers to remember Arizona by cause I'm a dork. :)
Heeehee, someone left this comment on Nico's blog:
"Ah Nico, your blog, like your music, is fascinating; even though, like Helen DeWitt’s “The Last Samurai”, I don’t always understand it."
I'm finding this riotously funny, as if it was sheer coincidence, and not that a trackback linker or somnething put the two of your blogs in touch. Or on looking further into it, that Nico's actually written about you before on his blog. Hmpff. So much for epic randomness...
Interesting post about Sigur Ros' rhyming patterns and Icelandic grammar. Piques my curiosity about Icelandic now, but I've been there before and Sigur Ros is a dead end for me. Ambient music has never really been my thing. Also doesn't help that the first time I heard of them, it was someone telling me quite earnestly that Sigur Ros was so amazing that once I heard them, I'd stop listening to classical music. They use all these classical music references, so anything you could find in classical music you could find right there. Right there.
- hassan
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