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July 06, 2006
Starry Night
My neighbor has an oil replica of Starry Night on his wall.
Also, this post might sound snobby, even though the whole point is I'm not. A snob.
When I was younger, I reveled in Madonna, Michael Jackson, Boy Meets Girl even. I was Waiting for a Star to Fall.
Then teenagehood happened. And my 20s.
And I abhorred the mainstream.
If there was even a whiff of NYT Bestseller, I wouldn't touch that book with a 10-foot pole. When I was reviewing Oprah's Book Club recipients for an entertainment site in the late 90s (OMG, I just wrote "late 90s" like it was a decade in which I WAS OLD ENOUGH to be doing something substantial. Or at least something that SEEMED substantial in my 22-year-old mind.), they all started out in the dog house. Their artificial success smacked of failure to me.
I remember sitting in the parking lot during college, belting out the lyrics to "Glory Days" (then, no one I knew was patriotic, so listening to Bruce was like, the Anti-Cool), and thinking, "If only I could be one of those people. Those people who shop at The Baby Gap. And have babies. And live on a cul-de-sac for chrissakes. And not think about it. Just read 'Like Water for Chocolate' and that's the closest they get to world travel." One of those people whose glory days were in high school, when they were cute and blonde (no offense, Laurie, you lovely blonde!), and could just wink their young girl's eye and the night was theirs.
I still have that thought now and again, I won't lie, when I look around at people seeming to enjoy themselves when their primary extracurricular activities are the gym and shopping. It's LA.
But for the most part, I've grown up.
Proof positive? The British version of The Office? I used to think it was the best. I was all like, "Yeah, dude, I watched that on the BBC? Like two seasons ago? Yeah." But now? I am so into Pam and Jim. I don't care it's the watered down, less-controversial love-story version of the original. And you know what, high school D&D friends? I liked Terminator 2 better! I admit it! Even with the overblown special effects! I even liked the second Bridget Jones book! Better! (Not the movie, tho, even us pop-culture converts have our limits.)
Each year I get closer to cul-de-sac. And I don't care any more. Because you know what you crave sometimes, in LA's smog-hazed, celebrity-filled, car-choked streets?
A starry night.
Posted by jen at July 6, 2006 10:52 PM
Comments
Wait, you liked the second Bridget Jones book BETTER? You lose me there. I never got into the whole Thai prison plot.
Also, the US version of the Office is so much better than the UK. People who say otherwise just think anglophilia makes them appear smarter. (How's that for anti-snob snobbery? ;))
Posted by: Gwen at July 7, 2006 12:05 AM
ok the second terminator was waaay better so whoever argues that it isn't, hasn't seen either movie. secondly,i agree with gwen. i love the british version, but the american version is better. how can you not love jim with his big nose??? *sigh*
Posted by: Penny at July 7, 2006 12:33 AM
Totally agree. Love Pam and Jim.
And people (not you, clearly) who write off the mainstream ONLY because it's mainstrem drive me nuts. (I define people as those over the age of 25ish, since that's about the point at which it gets annoying to me.) That's just as closed-minded as writing off people in counter-culture, etc, because JUST it's not mainstream. Actually, you've given me a lot of food for thought...thanks!
Posted by: wenders at July 7, 2006 04:27 AM
The problem with trying to be anti-mainstream is that the global (or local) consciousness is right there with you, so all the anit-mainstreamers are filtering themselves right into the same anti-mainstream choices. And even the anti-anti-mainstreamers are following the same pattern, so that we can all breath a collective sigh of relief and admit that the US version of The Office is better (it's Steve Carell, for goodness' sake) and that we're addicted to "So You Think You Can Dance." (oh, is that just me?)
You know, I have to admit that it was hard to read this post without thinking of Klimt's The Kiss and its prominent position in your dorm room. You were anti-anti-mainstream as a wee teen (or maybe just mainstream--you were friends with me, afterall).
Let's revel in this revealing moment!
Posted by: Urs at July 7, 2006 10:49 AM
I was trying to explain this exact thing to a friend the other day and you did it so much better. Growing up in Seattle in the "grunge years", anti-mainstream was mainstream, and all I secretly wanted was to be a yuppie when I grew up. Now I am getting very close to cul-de-sac and proud of it!
Posted by: Kristine at July 7, 2006 12:38 PM
Remember, punk is a frame of mind. If anti-mainstream is mainstream in your group/school/city/state, then being mainstream is, like, totally punk. Which, by definition, is anti-mainstream. So really, when you're anti-anti-mainstream, you are in fact, irono-mainstream, which makes you anti-mainstream, so really, you'd have to... wait... I, uhhh... I forgot where I was going with this.
Posted by: Jeff at July 8, 2006 04:27 PM
i love that you are singing 'closer to culdesac' to the Indigos' song. :)
at first i thought the second bridget just was not going to live up to the first...until about the last 10-15 pages when I was laughing so hard I thought I might pass out... :)
Posted by: carolyn at July 10, 2006 04:08 AM