Tuesday, July 08, 2003

the thing about the 'plastic age' (i have one word benjamin) is i got evidence it is cinematically predicted before much happens in the way of plastic. with clara bow as the lolita. marx (sometimes) would have art as a superstructural response and art as 'response' has been a frequent defense in censorship fights. "art reflects the society, it does not create the society." that's the argument. i am more optimistic. i'd argue that everything that has been good about america in two hundred years, everything to do with civil rights, women's rights, and gender rights, has come out of the culture of jam derived from the slamming together of african voodoo and celtic protestantism. poe. twain. handy. joplin. gershwin. (catholic and jewish spice do not substantially alter the mix to my ear). (thoreau, emerson, whitman; they don't have negroes on their mind?) culture is the path of freedom. the institutions of culture work to inhibit culture. that is the mission for which curators are trained in their ivy league schools. that is the mission of the suits in the record industry. how to slow things down. i say max anderson and the whitney ain't the throttle, they're the brake. ya'll best get off that brake because the bush family and their armaggedon buddies are looking to destroy your world. exploding plastic inevitable. 1:46:44 PM    comment []

thomas jefferson zilchard founded dos passos the year after the civil war. it was his intention to lead his 'family' to the very southern polar reaches following the steps of arthur gordon pym. thomas and his immediate forebears had followed an exterme form of southern domesticity for while multiple families were common enough among southern planters, the zilchards had scandously behaved like maharajahs. jefferson davis: "if everyone was like that damn thomas zilchard, hell, i'd be a republican." the zilchards had several especially splendid collected walter scotts - the culprit in the mindwarp of southern "chivalry" as cited by Twain. moreover they had a secret trove of literature reputed to be from the parisian sojourn of that jefferson for whom t.j. would be named. the expurgated tomes un-sent to the library of congress. the zilchards cultivated a great respect for that found within the pages of books. they were really fucked up by this unfortunate trait. 1:02:05 PM    comment []