14 September 2015

The Jargon of Sincerity

I'm all for a little forthrightness, but Christy Wampole makes a couple of assumptions I'd question. She seems to take umbrage at the mere existence of fads--if there's a fad for fixies, so what? It'll pass.  (And why, by the way, is this an 'outmoded mechanism'?).

Worse, Wampole mistakes some honest pursuits for fads. Why should we dismiss an interest in vinyl, or in SLR film cameras, as ironic faddishness in the first place? You can argue for vinyl or film on their merits--better sound quality, for example, or the tactile pleasures of working with knobs, dials, and levers versus Graphical User Interfaces.

Finally,  who's to say that something lived ironically can't ultimately be appreciated for its unironic charms? (Why assume, IOW, that 'outmoded fashions' are destined to remain outmoded?) I say this as someone who's contemplating revisiting the handlebar moustache for a third time--I've just come to like the way I look as a Frito Bandito.

Observe a 4-year-old child going through her daily life. You will not find the slightest bit of irony in her behavior. She has not, so to speak, taken on the veil of irony. She likes what she likes and declares it without dissimulation. She is not particularly conscious of the scrutiny of others. She does not hide behind indirect language.

Ironically enough, one of Wampole's prescriptions to a 'self-infantilizing' generation is to take on the earnestness of a child. But that's already been done, Christy, by Zeitgeist poster children Animal Collective. Fucking hipsters.

01 September 2015

Going Greener with the Cleaners

I'm trying to go a little greener around the house--or if 'green' has too low of a signal-to-noise ratio for your taste, perhaps I should just say that I'm trying to make my life a little less toxin-filled. To that end, here's a recipe that I'm gonna try for homemade dish soap. And I'll try not to think about the fact that the original source of this is someone who willingly calls herself Mommypotamus.