The more i learn about some things the more discouraged i get. I've been reading this book called Cannibal Culture, which is all about how western culture commodifies and appropriates other cultures. It's pretty good but its also rather depressing. It's one of those books that mentions a lot of problems but doesnt provide any alternatives, or very few.

I was just at Leathertongue and i was looking at this zine, i forget what it was called, but it had a review of the Baffler book, Commodify your Dissent. The Baffler is a really great zine all about cultural criticism and the like. I've been wanting to get their book for awhile, and also a book by the editor, The Conquest of Cool, also reviewed in this other zine i was looking at.

Anyway this was another example of learning about things, and getting all discouraged. These books analyze how what is hip or antiestablishment gets turned into product. I think about this sort of thing all the time, but they really reveal or come to some amazing conclusions.

The other day someone who i will not name to prevent problems, but someone i don't like very much was raving about how great this certain song was. And I really realized, I mean, for real, in my gut, not just the intellectual way that i had probably known this before, but deep down, i realized how normal it was to identify with things that are "cool" or "hip" or "weird" or "out there" or "strange". Millions of kids are out there feeling all alienated and just yearning, and they hear a song like, like whatever, like "Vaseline" by the Flaming Lips, or like "I'm a Creep" or whatever by Radiohead, and they feel so good because the song is exactly how they feel and its so special and it just hits the nail on the head and oh god this song is soooo important to me.... blah blah blah.

But millions of others are thinking the same thing. And that's why it sells, and that's why the band gets the super major label deal, and the label markets the hell out of the song. And then it dies. And everyone says "that's old and stupid".

Even the stuff that's cool forever. You're going to run into some asshole who also just loves it, and it means as much to his soul and spirit as it does to yours.

It's too much to bear sometimes, I'm telling you. What to do?

Of course the optimistic side of me says, "well you should take this as a positive thing, it means that all humanity is really the same, it means that this art is good because it's saying something successfully about a fundamental part of the human spirit." yes. isn't that what art is all about? Right?

The problem is, I fear that the more fundamental that thing in the human spirit is, the quicker the "art" is going to get bought and sold. Sex is one of the most fundamental things, and it sells, and is used to sell everything else in the universe.

Well, you see where i'm going with this.

And we just had a marketing presentation at work yesterday. jesus christ. Justin Hall was there. He's talent for zdtv. He sat next to me and listened to me groaning about how horrible the presentation was. I told him about the Baffler. I saw him write it down. Maybe he'll mention it and the meeting on his web site today.

Okay, i gotta go. go read what justin has to say. He's cool.