Letters to the Editor
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Counterculture does not equal baby boomers
You need to separate out "baby boomers" from the "counterculture." If you were born after about 1953, you were never really a part of the true counterculture. The anti-countercultural rage of punk was an invention of boomers -- mostly born in the 1950s -- reacting against a counterculture narcissism that was felt quite palpably by babies of the mid-'50s.
I mean, come on. Half of the Pixies were baby boomers (that is, born between 1946 and 1964).
I don't really care if rock is dead. As long as Sonic Youth and Radiohead get to keep on making records, it will seem alive to this old man.
Also, if you really hunger for art films, you're a fool for concentrating on feature-length films. Here's a recommendation, CP: go watch "Street of Crocodiles."
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Camille in a Nutshell
"In general, aspiring young performers emerging from the bland white middle class in America seem to be having trouble expressing or controlling emotion, with its myriad of subtle gradations. Unless they hail from the gospel-rich South..."
How true. Only those who grew up in the gospel-rich south, like Mariah Carey, can truly produce...
"And then Mariah Carey, who has phenomenal natural range, has unfortunately spawned a girly epidemic of glossy, manufactured faux crescendos."
Oh. Well, maybe Mariah's a bad example. The point is, aspiring young performers from the bland white middle class couldn't possibly express...
"In contrast, I've been deeply impressed with the visceral intensity and exquisite poetic shadings of Kelly Clarkson's moody "Irvine,"..."
To recap: Gospel-tinged southern performers like Mariah Carey are able to express and control subtle emotions, and are responsible for a girly epidemic of glossy falseness. Bland white middle class performers like Kelly Clarkson are incapable of producing true art, and are intense, exquisite, and poetic. Whatever Camille is drinking, I want it straight, no chaser.
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A bit of a cheap shot
I think the comment made about cinema's current "hyperactive visual style" is a bit of a cheap shot. Should directors limit themselves to only tried and true methods of editing? As art evolves, naturally it changes. The slow methodical look of 60's and 70's art films are a product of their time and certainly many directors working today venerate and copy that style. Film is amalgamation of sight and sound and as such, should the visuals not be developed and teased out to their full potential? Peter Greenaway has what some might call an ornate and hyperactive visual style and i would consider him the greatest filmmaker working today.
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Camille's music
I'm guessing that Camille has never heard Cat Power, since the Kelly Clarkson song is a bad rip off of most every song they ever recorded. A lot of hip hop acts right now are taking inspiration from alt rock. Camille needs to listen to some of the new Canadian music: Broken Social Scene, Arcade Fire, etc. Then try to say that rock is dead.
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I also enjoy...
... the sub-academic letter-writers who try to ride to equal heights of self-glorification on the coattails of Paglia's intellectual smoke and mirrors game (or 'visionary ideas', as they call them). This time, I particularly enjoyed the self-identifying Catholic who used Hegel and Nietzsche as examples of people who didn't 'understand' the transcendent and classical art. This one goes on to offer the notion that 'no thing can define itself' as a bit of wisdom unrecognized by these thinkers. Yes, that's right, attacking Hegel for not realizing 'that no thing can define itself,' along with a shot at Nietzsche for not 'comprehending' classical tragedy. You can't make this stuff up, folks.
To my ambitious, little Catholic: Please dear, a lifetime of dinner parties and a handful of Paglia essays are no substitute for a good liberal arts education, no matter how many of your intellectually bankrupt friends take you seriously. Stop before you hurt yourself.
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Rock is dead?
Jeez, Camille, if I relied on Matt Drudge for my music, I'd probably think rock was dead too.
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Waste of Time
"In some cases, what once seemed suggestive and profound now feels tortured and pretentious."
This applies pretty well to her own work.
Why does Salon let this woman write about politics and world events? That is not her realm of expertise at all. She is hardly more knowledgeable than cable tv news show hosts. She has only a very surface level understanding of what makes the world of politics work the way that it does, yet the tone of her writing oozes certainty. She really proves that to be a collosal dumb-ass, it helps to be over-educated, since that leads to more sweeping statements and ridiculous intellectual cocksureness, if that's a word.
Oh, and rock is dead? I should give up on rock n roll and start listening to Kelly Clarkson? The Rolling Stones are still where it's at? Really? Thanks for that, grandma.
This lady really should use her to key strokes to write high culture essays that I will never read rather than pollute salon.
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Uh huh.
I'm guessing that Camille has never heard Cat Power, since the Kelly Clarkson song is a bad rip off of most every song they ever recorded. A lot of hip hop acts right now are taking inspiration from alt rock. Camille needs to listen to some of the new Canadian music: Broken Social Scene, Arcade Fire, etc. Then try to say that rock is dead.
Except that Cat Power is a person, not a group of people. And the continuous Clarkson bashing from a number of readers is getting tedious. Otherwise, I agree about the Canadian music suggestion.
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Camille P
When OH When will this OLD poseur quit running her mouth. Art
is DEAD Only old rich farts Care about Art. The general public saw the art SCAM long ago .....For example the great so-called wine experts BLEW their scam, when this year the winner of their Prestigeous award as the Best WAS NON OTHER THAN A $2.00 BOTTLE OF PLONK. SO MUCH FOR the cultured set.......POSEURS ALL
I'm glad I'm common.
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Art Movies rise from the ashes
Yes RIP, but hey don't despair..
There are some great beautiful smart funny dark edgy sexy political A** Movies since Bergonioni.. No really!
try these:
"Urga" by Nikita Mikhalkov (1991)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103176/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_to_Eden
"Salaam Cinema" by Mohsen Makhmalbaf (1995)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114329/
"Visitor Q" by Takashe Mike (2001)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visitor_Q
"Bamako" by Abderrahmane Sissako (2006)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0814666/
"The Lives of Others" by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (2006)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lives_of_Others
several of the films of Lucian Pintilie
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0684596/
"Reconstituirea" aka 'Reconstruction' (1968)
"Terminus Paradis" (1998)
"The Afternoon of a Torturer" (2001)
Pretty sure if you love Bergman you'll get off on Lucian Pintilie
http://www.kinokultura.com/specials/6/nasta.shtml
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Oh, on a pop note, what do you think of Lily Allen's songs?
enjoy the films I hope
Jason