Whatcha reading?

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Flex
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Flex »

Great little book. The striving to be better and live one's ethos can be worth it after all.

Addendum: this is replying to Kory's post on the last page.
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Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a rolling hoop
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a ton of lead
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Kory
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Kory »

Flex wrote:
18 Oct 2017, 5:09pm
Great little book. The striving to be better and live one's ethos can be worth it after all.

Addendum: this is replying to Kory's post on the last page.
I am constantly inspired by them, even if some of their politics were half-baked.
"Suck our Earth dick, Martians!" —Doc

Silent Majority
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

Image
28) The Comedians: Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrels and the History of American Comedy. The book is excellent in its first two thirds, uncovering forgotten stories of mafia nightclubs, black men in blackface, the building of the modern entertainment industry (my favourite fact was that a consortium of vaudevillians, correctly sensing a threat, banded together to spread expensive and aggressive lies about these newfangled radios being very dangerous; causing housefires and damaging your hearing) and a whole host of other great stories. Then it gets to the seventies and harrumphs its disinterested way through a quick bulletpointing of the last forty years of comedy. Very readable, I quickly blasted through its 360 pages. A perhaps unnatural emphasis is placed on Marc Maron at the end. The podcaster was responsible for getting the writer of this book some wide attention before publication and it can't help but feel like repaying a favour may have impacted on the conclusion.
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Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Silent Majority wrote:
23 Oct 2017, 7:08am
28) The Comedians: Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrels and the History of American Comedy. The book is excellent in its first two thirds, uncovering forgotten stories of mafia nightclubs, black men in blackface, the building of the modern entertainment industry (my favourite fact was that a consortium of vaudevillians, correctly sensing a threat, banded together to spread expensive and aggressive lies about these newfangled radios being very dangerous; causing housefires and damaging your hearing) and a whole host of other great stories. Then it gets to the seventies and harrumphs its disinterested way through a quick bulletpointing of the last forty years of comedy. Very readable, I quickly blasted through its 360 pages. A perhaps unnatural emphasis is placed on Marc Maron at the end. The podcaster was responsible for getting the writer of this book some wide attention before publication and it can't help but feel like repaying a favour may have impacted on the conclusion.
No surprise that the same thing happened in the music industry with regards to radio and recorded music, electrification/amplification, synthesizers, video, digital, etc. As often as not, the ideological argument against any new technological introduction is that it's inauthentic and unnatural, and especially that it's the audience who suffers (so noble, these musicians). Which isn't to say that there can't be merits to the criticism—any new technology does have social consequences—but the bulk of it is self-interested.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Silent Majority
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
23 Oct 2017, 7:47am
Silent Majority wrote:
23 Oct 2017, 7:08am
28) The Comedians: Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrels and the History of American Comedy. The book is excellent in its first two thirds, uncovering forgotten stories of mafia nightclubs, black men in blackface, the building of the modern entertainment industry (my favourite fact was that a consortium of vaudevillians, correctly sensing a threat, banded together to spread expensive and aggressive lies about these newfangled radios being very dangerous; causing housefires and damaging your hearing) and a whole host of other great stories. Then it gets to the seventies and harrumphs its disinterested way through a quick bulletpointing of the last forty years of comedy. Very readable, I quickly blasted through its 360 pages. A perhaps unnatural emphasis is placed on Marc Maron at the end. The podcaster was responsible for getting the writer of this book some wide attention before publication and it can't help but feel like repaying a favour may have impacted on the conclusion.
No surprise that the same thing happened in the music industry with regards to radio and recorded music, electrification/amplification, synthesizers, video, digital, etc. As often as not, the ideological argument against any new technological introduction is that it's inauthentic and unnatural, and especially that it's the audience who suffers (so noble, these musicians). Which isn't to say that there can't be merits to the criticism—any new technology does have social consequences—but the bulk of it is self-interested.
Those "home taping is killing music" guys must have had a bunch of strokes in the Napster days.
a lifetime serving one machine
Is ten times worse than prison


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Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Silent Majority wrote:
23 Oct 2017, 8:21am
Those "home taping is killing music" guys must have had a bunch of strokes in the Napster days.
We were confidently told by such visionaries as Gene Simmons that file sharing was going to mean the end of music. Nobody was going to make music anymore because these damned pirating kids had broken the old system. Yeah, looking around today, it's a fucking desert for new music, isn't it? It's almost like musicians gotta make music or something. Arguably, the bigger problem for making a living as a musician is less piracy than that there's too much competition and it's difficult to stand out enough to get some traction. Fragmentation, not mass theft. Which was the result of that same technology shift—digital distribution, home recording—that was supposed to kill music altogether.

In sum, Gene Simmons is a moron.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Kory
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Kory »

Silent Majority wrote:
23 Oct 2017, 7:08am
A perhaps unnatural emphasis is placed on Marc Maron at the end. The podcaster was responsible for getting the writer of this book some wide attention before publication and it can't help but feel like repaying a favour may have impacted on the conclusion.
Maron is rad. I'll welcome it.
"Suck our Earth dick, Martians!" —Doc

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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

Kory wrote:
23 Oct 2017, 1:06pm
Silent Majority wrote:
23 Oct 2017, 7:08am
A perhaps unnatural emphasis is placed on Marc Maron at the end. The podcaster was responsible for getting the writer of this book some wide attention before publication and it can't help but feel like repaying a favour may have impacted on the conclusion.
Maron is rad. I'll welcome it.
I've been listening to the dude on and off for seven years, I can't help but like him in spite of myself.
a lifetime serving one machine
Is ten times worse than prison


www.pexlives.libsyn.com/

Kory
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Kory »

Silent Majority wrote:
23 Oct 2017, 1:10pm
Kory wrote:
23 Oct 2017, 1:06pm
Silent Majority wrote:
23 Oct 2017, 7:08am
A perhaps unnatural emphasis is placed on Marc Maron at the end. The podcaster was responsible for getting the writer of this book some wide attention before publication and it can't help but feel like repaying a favour may have impacted on the conclusion.
Maron is rad. I'll welcome it.
I've been listening to the dude on and off for seven years, I can't help but like him in spite of myself.
You mean you normally wouldn't?
"Suck our Earth dick, Martians!" —Doc

Silent Majority
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

Kory wrote:
23 Oct 2017, 1:26pm
Silent Majority wrote:
23 Oct 2017, 1:10pm
Kory wrote:
23 Oct 2017, 1:06pm
Silent Majority wrote:
23 Oct 2017, 7:08am
A perhaps unnatural emphasis is placed on Marc Maron at the end. The podcaster was responsible for getting the writer of this book some wide attention before publication and it can't help but feel like repaying a favour may have impacted on the conclusion.
Maron is rad. I'll welcome it.
I've been listening to the dude on and off for seven years, I can't help but like him in spite of myself.
You mean you normally wouldn't?
I'd probably have less time for him if I'd encountered him at this point in my life, opposed to listening to him being a thoughtful, aggressive failure from the age of 20.
a lifetime serving one machine
Is ten times worse than prison


www.pexlives.libsyn.com/

Kory
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Kory »

Silent Majority wrote:
23 Oct 2017, 6:14pm
Kory wrote:
23 Oct 2017, 1:26pm
Silent Majority wrote:
23 Oct 2017, 1:10pm
Kory wrote:
23 Oct 2017, 1:06pm
Silent Majority wrote:
23 Oct 2017, 7:08am
A perhaps unnatural emphasis is placed on Marc Maron at the end. The podcaster was responsible for getting the writer of this book some wide attention before publication and it can't help but feel like repaying a favour may have impacted on the conclusion.
Maron is rad. I'll welcome it.
I've been listening to the dude on and off for seven years, I can't help but like him in spite of myself.
You mean you normally wouldn't?
I'd probably have less time for him if I'd encountered him at this point in my life, opposed to listening to him being a thoughtful, aggressive failure from the age of 20.
I only got into him about three years ago. Maybe if you were more of a failure like me, you'd be open to it.
"Suck our Earth dick, Martians!" —Doc

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Audio, started today:
Image
The title is taken from the lament of a black politician in South Carolina in the 1890s, referring to Reconstruction, but Coates appropriates it to the Obama years. Obama's great sin, Coates says in the introduction, again alluding to Reconstruction, is that he demonstrated black competency and normalcy. White racism relies on black deviance to justify their marginalization. So it's not black people achieving power, but proving they can exercise it ably and for the general good. Anyway, this book is a collection of essays Coates wrote over the past eight years or so. He's a marvellous writer and communicator, a rare public intellectual who is able to tackle thorny issues without reduction to cliche or lazy thinking.

Bedtime, started last night:
Image
Coincidentally, another example of a public intellectual, albeit several generations ago. The historian who sought to make history, Schlesinger was the muscular liberal Cold Warrior who loved first FDR and then the Kennedys. His historical work never strayed from his political purpose, so you know you're getting a proud, even arrogant centrist perspective, but he never hid his intent.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Silent Majority
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
24 Oct 2017, 1:14pm
Audio, started today:
Image
The title is taken from the lament of a black politician in South Carolina in the 1890s, referring to Reconstruction, but Coates appropriates it to the Obama years. Obama's great sin, Coates says in the introduction, again alluding to Reconstruction, is that he demonstrated black competency and normalcy. White racism relies on black deviance to justify their marginalization. So it's not black people achieving power, but proving they can exercise it ably and for the general good. Anyway, this book is a collection of essays Coates wrote over the past eight years or so. He's a marvellous writer and communicator, a rare public intellectual who is able to tackle thorny issues without reduction to cliche or lazy thinking.

Bedtime, started last night:
Image
Coincidentally, another example of a public intellectual, albeit several generations ago. The historian who sought to make history, Schlesinger was the muscular liberal Cold Warrior who loved first FDR and then the Kennedys. His historical work never strayed from his political purpose, so you know you're getting a proud, even arrogant centrist perspective, but he never hid his intent.
How long is the Coates audiobook? I'd been put off by the title which I read as ur-liberal, but now I know where it comes from, I'll move it up the list
a lifetime serving one machine
Is ten times worse than prison


www.pexlives.libsyn.com/

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Silent Majority wrote:
24 Oct 2017, 3:42pm
How long is the Coates audiobook? I'd been put off by the title which I read as ur-liberal, but now I know where it comes from, I'll move it up the list
12–13 hours, I believe. Yeah, the title is distinctly racially oriented, not spectrum politics, and Coates' work is, generally, what does it mean to be African American in the 21st century.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Silent Majority
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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by Silent Majority »

Kory wrote:
23 Oct 2017, 7:22pm
Silent Majority wrote:
23 Oct 2017, 6:14pm
Kory wrote:
23 Oct 2017, 1:26pm
Silent Majority wrote:
23 Oct 2017, 1:10pm
Kory wrote:
23 Oct 2017, 1:06pm


Maron is rad. I'll welcome it.
I've been listening to the dude on and off for seven years, I can't help but like him in spite of myself.
You mean you normally wouldn't?
I'd probably have less time for him if I'd encountered him at this point in my life, opposed to listening to him being a thoughtful, aggressive failure from the age of 20.
I only got into him about three years ago. Maybe if you were more of a failure like me, you'd be open to it.
Sir, I'm quite the failure, let me assure you.
a lifetime serving one machine
Is ten times worse than prison


www.pexlives.libsyn.com/

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