Leaving the Portland airport, seeing the architecture of the homes and evergreen trees made me feel like I was back in Seattle. But as we drove into downtown Portland, two things stood out, distinguishing Portland from Seattle–namely, the Willamette River and the bridges, one after the other, a few rising high above it. Water features prominently in Seattle, but the water there is like an amoeba surrounding it, whereas in Portland, the Willamette is a strong line, cleaving the city in two, creating western and eastern sections. The Western side is more of the urban core, including the downtown area. The Eastern side is more suburban, with several portions of the longer streets and avenues filled with shops, restaurants and even movie theaters, creating a kind of charming main street vibe. I really like Seattle, but I might like Portland even more. The food scene seems just as good as Seattle, if not better, and they have probably the best bookstore I’ve been to. I want to talk about that store and also a used vinyl/cd/video store which I really liked as well.
Category: music
Thoughts on Taste
Reading Criterion.com’s Trash and Treasure at the Razies, I came across the following quote, which I liked:
People “distinguish themselves by the distinctions they make,” writes sociologist Pierre Bourdieu in Distinction: “between the beautiful and the ugly, the distinguished and the vulgar”—between art and trash. “Art and cultural consumption are predisposed, consciously and deliberately or not, to fulfill a social function of legitimating social differences.” We reveal ourselves through our preferences; like a space telescope photographing faraway light from the beginning of the universe, our esteem for a particular film is a lens that sees backward in time, to the economic class, educational history, and subcultural sensibility in which such preferences are forged. You are what you like—and, crucially, you aren’t what you don’t. To prefer this to that is to align yourself with these people instead of those, an assertion of in-group belonging through a common agreement about what tastes are unpalatable. Per Bourdieu, “all determination is negation; and tastes are perhaps first and foremost distastes, disgust provoked by horror or visceral intolerance.”
As a reaction to the quote, I want to explore some of the following questions in this thread:
- What is taste (art, etc.)?
- What is good taste?
- Is having good taste important?
Music 2024
What are you listening to in 2024?
Themes For My Song Class
In my upcoming rock/pop discussion class, participants will be selecting, listening and discussing songs based on themes. I have some of the themes already, and I thought hearing song suggestions, or even theme suggestions, from others would be fun.
Here’s one theme I had in mind that I wanted feedback on:
Continue reading “Themes For My Song Class”Pop Hits from Celebrities
How many can you name? (Exclude songs from musicals or Disney animated films.) Here are some off the top of my head:
Continue reading “Pop Hits from Celebrities”Rolling Stone Magazine’s 500 All-Time Great Songs (2021)
I’m currently moderating a group that will be listening to and discussing songs from the Rolling Stone magazine’s 500 all-time greatest songs (2021 edition), with participants choosing one song per week from the list. I’m going to use this thread to comment on the songs.
Music 2023
What are you listening to in 2023?
An Alternate Approach to Best of the Year Lists
As I see the best of the year lists popping up, I once again think about another approach I wish critics would employ–namely, instead of identifying the best works relative to other works within a given year, identify the works in a given year that compare favorably with the all-time great works. One drawback here is that none of the works may meet this criterion. For me, I don’t see this as a drawback. Here’s the reason why (and this will explain my overall mindset with regard to this topic).
Continue reading “An Alternate Approach to Best of the Year Lists”
How Was Barnes and Noble Able to Turn Things Around?
Barnes and Noble is doing so well financially that they plan to open thirty new stores in 2023. That caught my attention, and I think it’s great news. Why is the store thriving? That’s the question music critic, Ted Gioia, tries to answer in this post. I agree with some of the reasons he cites (e.g., appointing a better CEO who decentralized decision making), but I’m dissatisfied with the overarching reason he offers–namely, that the new CEO loves books.
In this thread, I’ll explain the reason I feel this way, as well as offer an alternate explanation that seems more compelling. (In spite of this slight disagreement, I recommend reading his post.) OK, let’s begin.
Continue reading “How Was Barnes and Noble Able to Turn Things Around?”Favorite Song in Intermediate School
I was recently asked this question, and I had a hard time answering it. In reality, I don’t think there’s an answer–that is, I didn’t have <i>one</i> favorite song. Indeed, I don’t have one all-time favorite song. It seems like an impossible question to answer.
And yet, I wanted to try and answer this, so the best song I could come up, within a relatively short time, was Toto’s “Africa.” Really, I think I could probably think of a better song to mention, but I was pressed for time.
But I’m not pressed for time now, so I want to see if I can find a better pick–i.e., a pick that comes closer to my favorite song–or, one of my very favorites–during the intermediate years.
What’s you favorite song during intermediate school years?