blog independence day

today is the first day that i post a real post for the blog for my class. this particular post is in response to the article "popular culture in the twenty-first century" by bill ivey and steven j. tepper. it's in our text called text messaging by john alberti. basically, the article starts off by talking about the change in pop culture as related to the elite vs. the masses at the turn of the century from th 19th to the 20th. then, as technology arose, the line between the two started to blur. now, in our day and age of expenditure, the line is starting to reappear as those with less resources ingest that of the generic and mass produced arts.

there was much in the article to think about. suddenly there are these non-professional musicians and artist that were creating these masterworks as if they were classically trained. suddenly, we are awashed in culture and diversity and i think it's brilliant. whenever i yearn for passion in an art form, i have no dearth of examples to explore. the downside is one simple question: where to start? it's no wonder that there has become a line between the elites and masses again. in order to fund our lavish tastes, we have to work more and do more in order to provide security of life and entertainment. suddenly, there's no time to explore the diversity of artful cinema, food, music, etc. only those who have the time and resources to do so can venture in and slake their thirst. this often leads to snobism unfortunately. these elites only "like" the art because they can put another badge of honor on their scout shirt of pride. i know what it's like not to have the time and resources. i'm a full time college student that works. i am often too tired and don't have enough time or money to indulge in artistic fantsy. i'm gulity of watching movies that hollywood says i should watch (although i do try to pick ones that are hollywood but are still good movies). however, i try to make some time to explore something that i haven't before. i once just started listening to ambient music ( a genre i had never encountered before). i would listen to anything and write down anything that i heard that i liked. now i love artists such as brian eno, chuck wild, jon serrie, kintaro, and many others that i would not know about if i had not tried it out. i didn't have any help from anyone i knew. i was the first in my groups of friends (as still am) that listens to ambient music. trying out new bands like explosions in the sky or mogwai mixed musical forms that i take splendid pleasure from. a great way to do this is run winamp on your computer. it's a program that streams music and plays like a radio station without the commercials. it has lots of genres and is where i started my immersion in ambient music. i'm sure you could find plenty of examples in other forms. in closing, i see the line differentiating the elites between the masses growning ever bolder and more defined. i think that the spirit of diversity that has arisen in our culture due to technology doesn't have to die out, but can be reasonably and practically kept alive and growing. i think and hope that we, as the masses, can keep that line fuzzy and faded.