007: Plastic spoon show

Early on in the break, I was doing dishes. There were obviously more dishes around due to Eric's presence, although the volume of the load has nothing to do with the story. I had this plastic serving/mixing/stirring spoon resting in the lower tray. It slipped through the grate and was melted on the heating element, sliced in two as if by lightsaber. It was a shame, too, because I liked that spoon. I finally got around to replacing it today, with a metal one.

As promised, I took the day off. It was maybe not necessary, but it was a good precaution. I got up at my usual time (okay, I slept a little later than I would've otherwise done) and after a routine pre-procrastination of webcomics & assorted distractions, got down to writing my response for music.

I started with a long-winded intro that would've been blustery enough for an 8- or 10-page paper. About the Monkees, and how they fit into, manipulated and exposed the "Culture Industry" described in the Adorno/Horkheimer (there's a hell of a duo name) article, I had a lot of big thoughts. I had to restrain myself, pare down my intro, and keep my content snappy.

I don't know how it's going to turn out. I make some decent points, probably not as academically as I might. I use a couple quotes, mostly relying on summary of the article. I think the strength of my thesis (if I did it properly) is that I don't assert that the Monkees were in any way revolutionary, but that their existence, their story, exposed a number of difficulties in the classification that Adorno and Horkheimer (it's fun to say in my head when I type) level on the entertainment industry. My conclusion was that the reality is more of a compromise, and that the industry isn't so stagnant and resistant to change as they would've thought. But that's just my interpretation, having skimmed the article. I'm a bad student. I've come to terms with it.

I chose the Monkees because they have a very particular place in this argument, and because I sense that nobody else will realize that. I might've chosen the Beatles (easy topic) or Nirvana (only slightly less easy) and even considered Beck (nobody thinks about Beck.) I know an awful lot about the Monkees, too. In my overanalytical preteen internet geek days, I wrote an article about them for one of my little sites.

Work was quiet. Dead quiet. I was mostly just there with Jaime, we spent time shooting the shit, doing busywork.

Big things have happened. Been listening to a lot of female-vocalist synth-rock. Metric, Paramore, Sounds, Ida Maria, Tegan and Sara, that kind of thing. There's a lot of it. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Dragonette. A lot of this stuff, we have on the playlist at work. Not sure if I'm just letting myself be brainwashed or if I'm just getting on a kick. But if I knew I was being brainwashed, it wouldn't be a brainwashing.

Food for (not particularly deep) thought. Keep on rockin'
-Scott