11 June 2007
Do I Really Need to Say This?
Who gives a rat's ass about The Sopranos?
Yes, I understand it has been the critical television success of the past five or so years. I understand that it is well written and appealing. I understand that it has captured a broad critical swath, incorporating both left and right in its (rather uncritical) collection of fans, especially among those who see themselves as defining or being the cultural vanguard.
I think we glorify gangsters too much. I know that The Godfather and The Godfather, Part II are great movies. The Godfather itself was a tidily written novel, if nothing to phone home about. I can deal with that. Those movies and that novel told us about a time and place in our history. The Sopranos is about now, and its nudge-nudge, wink-wink that it is cool for a psychopathic gangster to be an icon of popular culture is disgusting.
But, recall, I'm someone who closes his eyes when they show the bullet penetrating the skull of the deceased on CSI (any flavor).
Do we really need to be further desensitized to the violence and mayhem that follow crime, organized or un-?
Eff the Sopranos. Besides, I live, work, and play around too many New Jersey and Long Island transplants to have spent my time watching characters ostensibly set in New Jersey, Long Island, etc.
Enough. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Next: Why Lost sucks.
Yes, I understand it has been the critical television success of the past five or so years. I understand that it is well written and appealing. I understand that it has captured a broad critical swath, incorporating both left and right in its (rather uncritical) collection of fans, especially among those who see themselves as defining or being the cultural vanguard.
I think we glorify gangsters too much. I know that The Godfather and The Godfather, Part II are great movies. The Godfather itself was a tidily written novel, if nothing to phone home about. I can deal with that. Those movies and that novel told us about a time and place in our history. The Sopranos is about now, and its nudge-nudge, wink-wink that it is cool for a psychopathic gangster to be an icon of popular culture is disgusting.
But, recall, I'm someone who closes his eyes when they show the bullet penetrating the skull of the deceased on CSI (any flavor).
Do we really need to be further desensitized to the violence and mayhem that follow crime, organized or un-?
Eff the Sopranos. Besides, I live, work, and play around too many New Jersey and Long Island transplants to have spent my time watching characters ostensibly set in New Jersey, Long Island, etc.
Enough. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Next: Why Lost sucks.
Labels: culture, pop culture, sopranos
11 February 2007
Superstar, the Compleat Video History
Here, at Matt Welch's place. With Bette Midler, Burt Bacharach, Rita Coolidge, Leon Russell (I still <heart> Leon Russell (just last night listened to him sing "Crystal Closet Queen" about Little Richard), Sonic Youth, and starring Bonnie Bramlett. Featuring Karen and Richard Carpenter.I don't know Bramlett's work well. Beyond the Delaney & Bonnie stuff, the single performance of hers I'm most familiar with is an exquisite backup vocal on Lowell George's performance of "Heartache" on his underrated solo album Thanks, I'll Eat It Here. Beautiful voice.
Welch's piece is based on the link to this Wikipedia entry that he saw in this post at Scott MacMillan's blog.
I guess I'm surprised that anyone who's listened to that song for most of our lives wouldn't know that it was about groupie sex, even if Richard Carpenter did change "sleep with me" to "be with me." I guess I just took it for granted that people understood that "Superstar" and "What's Your Name" were two sides of the same story.
Extra credit: Find the secret Lowell George tribute in the opening paragraph!
Labels: bonnie bramlett, carpenters, matt welch, music, music history, pop culture, superstar
