i’m broken
Broken in a good way. It’s officially spring break! Ugh, such a relief.
Last night, we watched the first episode of this new show called New Amsterdam that we DVR’ed the other day. It sounded pretty intriguing in the CNN article.
About ten minutes into it, I realized something interesting: I fucking hate that show. It’s just so corny and melodramatic and embodies everything I hate about network TV. And I started ranting about, “What the hell am I going to enjoy watching after Sunday when The Wire ends? Seriously. How will anything ever compare to that show?”
Obviously, nothing ever will. The Wire really is sort of a freak of art and television. Something that monumentally wonderful and tragic and god damned true only comes along maybe once in a lifetime. But it got me thinking, and I was still rolling around some thoughts from an interview I did last night with the guy behind Tiger Lou, Rasmus Kellerman. His music is fairly upbeat but still kind of dark and he noted that some of the things that are inspiring him lately are the soundtrack to The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and the movie Wonder Boys, which is one of his favorites.
Think of some of the best movies that came out this past year…There Will Be Blood and No Country for Old Men. Radiohead released In Rainbows. And I’ve been gravitating to art that can only be described as bleak. Nearly everyone I know and read describes feeling a nagging blueness. Even with the upcoming election, which will finally free us from the shameful Bush administration and possibly give us a president who is black or a woman, something I never would have expected to see in my lifetime, there isn’t much optimism to be had. I fear that the change that we all crave is still years away, if it’s there at all.
I think we’re heading into an age that pop-historians might later call The Great Melancholy. Translation: everyone is fucking bummed out and disgusted. And I think we’re starting to see this in the art that we create. The only genuine feelings seem to be those of cynicism, especially since the people chosen to give us hope (memoirists of survival come to mind) turn out to be complete liars. We’re being sold fake hope, fake perseverance. And we’re so congested with bullshit that our resistance is low. Bring it on. We’ll buy it. Then we’ll get pissed for being duped because we’re idiots.
Am I getting too deep and morose for a Friday? Sorry. Here, have some Izzard (who we’re going to see on May 21st! EEEEEE!)
March 7th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Amen to … ALL of that!
March 7th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
For me, the malaise comes from a feeling of powerlessness. Those in power are going to do what they’re going to do regardless of pesky impediments like the will of the citizens or the Constitution. I consider myself by no means a member of the poor or the underpaid working class, but there’s still part of me that thinks that the only thing we make in America is deals, and that my job is to be as small a cost of doing business as possible, in order to maximally enrich the dealmakers.
My refuge is my home and my community. That little corner of the world is a great place to be and a place of refuge.
March 7th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Enjoy being broken. Btw, I name-checked you on The Hidden Message…oh, and I mention Marc Steiner there as well. After his fucked-up firing, he’s podcasting from his personal blog on behalf of the Center for Emerging Media, and all this week the ‘casts have been interviews with the production team and actors on The Wire. Local news for us! Go there now and enjoy.
March 20th, 2008 at 1:16 pm
DUDE: The chick at the very beginning of New Amsterdam – the one he is dancing with and then screws? I went to grad school with her. And – there’s no diplomatic way to put this – BITCH CRAZY.
Also: I hope you are less morose today. It’s the first day of spring! And freezing cold, but still.
March 25th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
Oh God, Kelly, I love Eddie Izzard so much, and I am SEEEEEETHING with jealousy that you’re going to see him.
One of these days I’m going to get a video of my boy, Tom (6) doing Cake or Death. It is so spot-on!