Mind Spill: August 27th 2017

dm_160607_ojmiauscracialclip

It’s been a while since I’ve last done one of these, but it’s about time I start writing about some of the things on my mind these days. These Mind Spill articles, much like the current US government, is an assortment of losers in a way. They’re different ideas and thought trains that I think are interesting, but not quite so interesting that they deserve to be developed further into their own article. So here are some things I’ve been thinking about that you now know I believe aren’t worthy of more than a few seconds of your time.

Continue reading “Mind Spill: August 27th 2017”

Popular Culture Has a New Responsibility, Whether it Likes it or Not

Star Wars Protest

In the age of Trump, millennials, a generation raised by popular culture, have been looking to it to draw meaning and make sense of the world. Everything that happens these days is apparently just like that one moment from Harry Potter, every time someone gets fired it brings to mind a shocking character death on Game of Thrones, every government official is just like that villain from Star Wars; even that horrific Charlottesville march and the President’s equally horrific response to it reminded people of that one time this character did that thing in this book/movie/TV show. We can argue until we’re blue in the face about whether or not this is a dumb way to look at the world, but it’s the way things are now for a lot of people. As we begin to isolate ourselves through technology and media, those things become enormous influences to us. The irony is that pop culture has become less explicitly didactic, TV creators these days aren’t interested in teaching word for word blatant lessons of the day, and more writers are content with trusting audiences to figure things out for themselves. We have such a diverse group of people consuming media in these increasingly confusing times, and in a lot of cases, people are taking the wrong lessons.

Continue reading “Popular Culture Has a New Responsibility, Whether it Likes it or Not”

Love In This Club?

Usher Club

I went to a club about a week ago, and it was an interesting experience. As one could probably tell from the quantity of Good Wife articles I’ve written on this site, I’ve never actually been to one before, and a lot of my preconceptions were blown away. For one thing, a club feels like a sad to place at its core. I don’t mean that it makes you sad or that I was sad being there, but it feels like a place who’s essence is based on something more depressing than the music suggests. Another thing I noticed is that it’s basically impossible to have a conversation because of how loud the music is. I mean, I knew it’d be loud, but I didn’t realized you literally had to scream into someone’s ear for them to know what you’re saying. Because of the noise, most communication is done through body language and gestures, and this is key because you can read a lot more from a person’s behaviour than you normally would in a setting where you’re distracted by what they’re saying. Finally, as a friend said to me, people there are mostly just there to bone, which really contributed to the depressing vibe of the place overall.

Continue reading “Love In This Club?”