Whatcha reading?

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Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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An observation about Straight Edge versus hippies. The latter looked to drugs as a means of freeing the body of cultural restraints, that conventional life kept people from discovering their authentic selves. From there, a better, more honest world can emerge. Straight Edge completely reverses the formula. It's abstaining from all the things hippies thought were the keys to freedom—drugs, free love—that will help a person find their authentic self and make a better world. Hippies embraced the irrational, while sXers emphasize the rational. Each were reacting—aggressively—against the prevailing norms of their society, united only in the intensity of their rejection of conventional living.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Whatcha reading?

Post by tepista »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
20 Jul 2020, 3:41pm
An observation about Straight Edge versus hippies. The latter looked to drugs as a means of freeing the body of cultural restraints, that conventional life kept people from discovering their authentic selves. From there, a better, more honest world can emerge. Straight Edge completely reverses the formula. It's abstaining from all the things hippies thought were the keys to freedom—drugs, free love—that will help a person find their authentic self and make a better world. Hippies embraced the irrational, while sXers emphasize the rational. Each were reacting—aggressively—against the prevailing norms of their society, united only in the intensity of their rejection of conventional living.
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Dr. Medulla wrote:
20 Jul 2020, 3:41pm
An observation about Straight Edge versus hippies. The latter looked to drugs as a means of freeing the body of cultural restraints, that conventional life kept people from discovering their authentic selves. From there, a better, more honest world can emerge. Straight Edge completely reverses the formula. It's abstaining from all the things hippies thought were the keys to freedom—drugs, free love—that will help a person find their authentic self and make a better world. Hippies embraced the irrational, while sXers emphasize the rational. Each were reacting—aggressively—against the prevailing norms of their society, united only in the intensity of their rejection of conventional living.
I know my time being straight edge (I was a typical made-it-to-sophomore-year-of-college edge breaker) was driven hugely, hugely, hugely by my disgust and rejection of the prevailing booze-and-dope youth culture of high school and such. Once I left that specific context of my life, the drinking and drugs felt less like a part of mainstream cultural conformity. Back then, the jocks, hippies, and bullies (not to mention the square-ass adults) were all drinking and doing drugs, so what's left for a self-styled countercultural punk to do? Embrace straight edge, obviously.
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Flex
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a bowl of soup
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a rolling hoop
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a ton of lead
Wiggle - you can raise the dead

Pex Lives!

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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tepista wrote:
20 Jul 2020, 3:47pm
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"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Flex wrote:
20 Jul 2020, 3:50pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
20 Jul 2020, 3:41pm
An observation about Straight Edge versus hippies. The latter looked to drugs as a means of freeing the body of cultural restraints, that conventional life kept people from discovering their authentic selves. From there, a better, more honest world can emerge. Straight Edge completely reverses the formula. It's abstaining from all the things hippies thought were the keys to freedom—drugs, free love—that will help a person find their authentic self and make a better world. Hippies embraced the irrational, while sXers emphasize the rational. Each were reacting—aggressively—against the prevailing norms of their society, united only in the intensity of their rejection of conventional living.
I know my time being straight edge (I was a typical made-it-to-sophomore-year-of-college edge breaker) was driven hugely, hugely, hugely by my disgust and rejection of the prevailing booze-and-dope youth culture of high school and such. Once I left that specific context of my life, the drinking and drugs felt less like a part of mainstream cultural conformity. Back then, the jocks, hippies, and bullies (not to mention the square-ass adults) were all drinking and doing drugs, so what's left for a self-styled countercultural punk to do? Embrace straight edge, obviously.
And punk encourages that kind of harsh rejection anyway. Discovering punk meant getting rid of all my old records and changing my clothes and changing my interests. If my shitty town had other punks, I would have changed my friends.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Just finished this, the (I think) newest entry in the series along with D'Angelo's Voodoo. I quite liked it. This is an album that was toward the bottom on my list of 70s Bowie when I first got into him, but it has shot way toward the top since then, so I was glad to see it get this treatment (the Low entry was full of stuff I already knew, so I found it less valuable). The book is written by an English professor, so focuses a lot on the lyrics, specifically what Bowie means when using the pronouns "I," "you," and "we," and the power those hold over an audience. He connects this power to authoritarianism and fascism in a couple interesting passages.
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Five books away from the gold, and I might have to drop this one, it's a major snooze-fest. It seems to be nothing other than the history and stats of a fictional baseball team, and I can't make heads or tails of it.
"Suck our Earth dick, Martians!" —Doc

Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Tub book started this morning. I've had this for two decades and never thought to open it. Maybe because it's 700 pages. Given my deteriorating vision, I expect it to take two and half months to finish.

Also the Mary Trump book has been largely a snooze. It's mostly been an airing of grievances over how her father was treated. But he's dead in the narrative, so perhaps she'll finally get to the person people actually want to hear about.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Finished the book on straight edge. Good for discussion, I think, tho I found it a bit too local for my liking. That is, it may reveal much about the straight edge scene in Denver at the end of the 90s, I would have liked more attention to historical context. In that respect, it reflected what the author argued about straight edge's strengths and weaknesses—that it's governed more by personal relationships than systematic critiques. Change yourself and be a positive role model to those you meet, but beyond that is suspicion. There's a modesty there, but also a naivete. But that also reflects the odd dynamic of generally leftist ideals (anti-racism, anti-sexism, environmentalism, animal rights) married to rightist behaviours (abstaining and often hypermasculinity). They see a better world in their ideals but actually enacting that beyond the self is stymied. I bounced back and forth between being impressed by the discipline and the ideals and being turned off by the intolerance for those who slip and contempt for those who grow up and wish to expand their horizons. It seems to me something that is more useful as a therapeutic device—discipline to get one out of uncertain adolescence—than something meaningfully political.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Always admired his poetry, but never got around to reading his short stories for some reason. They're like those Flannery O'Connor stories SM reviewed not too long ago, just in more exotic settings. With his mind so firmly set on tragic endings, it's hard to believe his early death was merely accidental.
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Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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I expect to finish listening to Mary Trump's book tomorrow. It really is pretty meh, largely because she's torn between being part of the family and feeling let down by them. Boo hoo. After that is a neocon lament for democracy:
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Will she consider how much neoliberalism has produced the faux populist authoritarianism she abhors? The magic 8-ball is not optimistic.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Dr. Medulla wrote:
24 Jul 2020, 7:00pm
Will she consider how much neoliberalism has produced the faux populist authoritarianism she abhors? The magic 8-ball is not optimistic.
It's not optimistic about anything anymore.
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Dr. Medulla
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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Kory wrote:
24 Jul 2020, 7:02pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
24 Jul 2020, 7:00pm
Will she consider how much neoliberalism has produced the faux populist authoritarianism she abhors? The magic 8-ball is not optimistic.
It's not optimistic about anything anymore.
I keep shaking it and the damn thing keeps coming up "Outlook not good." I think it's broken.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: Whatcha reading?

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Dr. Medulla wrote:
20 Jul 2020, 3:57pm
Flex wrote:
20 Jul 2020, 3:50pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
20 Jul 2020, 3:41pm
An observation about Straight Edge versus hippies. The latter looked to drugs as a means of freeing the body of cultural restraints, that conventional life kept people from discovering their authentic selves. From there, a better, more honest world can emerge. Straight Edge completely reverses the formula. It's abstaining from all the things hippies thought were the keys to freedom—drugs, free love—that will help a person find their authentic self and make a better world. Hippies embraced the irrational, while sXers emphasize the rational. Each were reacting—aggressively—against the prevailing norms of their society, united only in the intensity of their rejection of conventional living.
I know my time being straight edge (I was a typical made-it-to-sophomore-year-of-college edge breaker) was driven hugely, hugely, hugely by my disgust and rejection of the prevailing booze-and-dope youth culture of high school and such. Once I left that specific context of my life, the drinking and drugs felt less like a part of mainstream cultural conformity. Back then, the jocks, hippies, and bullies (not to mention the square-ass adults) were all drinking and doing drugs, so what's left for a self-styled countercultural punk to do? Embrace straight edge, obviously.
And punk encourages that kind of harsh rejection anyway. Discovering punk meant getting rid of all my old records and changing my clothes and changing my interests. If my shitty town had other punks, I would have changed my friends.
I think you must have been listening to a lot of crap music then. Maybe you just had bad taste. ;)
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