Reflections on POP 205

The last four months have been interesting, to say the least. Perhaps I’ll recount the many wonderful adventures that occurred during that time, but not now. I discovered some rather humorous asides in the margins of my Survey of Popular Culture notes: which proved distracting while studying. You see, I’m not like the majority of individuals in the world. I actually enjoy learning things. Shocking? I know. Take a moment to gather yourself. I’ll wait… So instead of just taking the barebones, slide by with a C minus, kind of notes, I write down everything (especially if its amusing). So here are some of the seemingly random observations/facts garnered from a particularly provocative course.

· There’s a girl sitting close to the front whose, no joke, holding her hair back with a ribbon tied up in a bow. Really honey? It’s large enough to catch my attention from the middle of this sizeable auditorium. You look like you’re in grade school.

· Apparently 5^th grade social studies books, about our country, begin page one with The Pledge of Allegiance and a picture of George W. Bush… gross.

· T-shirt Logic, taken from a girl two rows in front of me: Keep it simple! Do it well! Do it often! Someone is really excited about mediocrity.

· Ronald Reagan once pointed to a homeless man on the street and said something to the effect of, “Look at that man exercising his right to freedom.” Wow.

· Farmers and factory workers are different.

· Professor Kuwahara share secret of good grades: read assigned material once before class, once after, and again before the test. “Try it. If it doesn’t work, don’t do it again.”

· The Cat in the Hat was found too fun for education by the Iowa educators who commissioned it.

· There is a cute blonde who, out of boredom, seems to be spinning a half full water bottle on its cap. To what end? One can not say for sure.

· I tend to prefer politically correct terms over their counterparts: illegal immigrants versus non-documented aliens, guess which is which.

· I’ve found a new phrase that grates my very being: Cracker-barrel Philosopher.

· The ratio of men to women in this class is a little less than 1:6. One of these girls is keeping busy during the lecture by coloring in a Beauty and the Beast coloring book. I wonder what the ratio of freshmen to upperclassmen is.

· McDonalds is at the top of the fast-food hierarchy. It is followed by Burger King, whose total gross can barely average to 50% of what McDonalds generates. Who knew?

· The city of Detroit may have taken extreme and shady measures to insure the automobiles became the national standard for transportation.

· George Washington was a gold digger? He married the older Martha for the money. Also, Abraham Lincoln kept his pornography collection in the White House. Yeah, you read that right.

· Jim Morrison was a very interesting guy.

· Popular media started the cooptation of Rap music by mentioning, every chance they got, that the Beastie Boys were Jewish (which meant safe and white). Unbelievable.

· Look up the failed television cop drama/musical Cop Rock for a good long laugh.

A Bit Of Catching Up

Lists sure can be a fun and creative way to convey a whole range of things. Today I utilize such a tactic to answer an inquiring public’s call for a very unmannerly absence, and for your entertainment.

      1.)    Sarcasm, wielded with a sense of humor and in a non-combative way, is one of my favorite social lubricants. Let me provide an example: Surprise! You’re Diabetic! I would really like to make a whole series of screen printed t-shirts sporting an array of sobering realizations prefaced with a genuinely cheerful “Surprise” and flanked with exclamations. But seriously, if you find yourself with an uncanny urge to urinate every hour, on the hour, you might want to visit your family doctor or, if you’re in the middle of final exams week, an urgent care facility. And quenching an insatiable thirst with two large glasses of orange juice isn’t a good idea for anybody. Period.

2.)    Hospitals are amazingly interesting places. One question still haunts me: why does a surprisingly attractive brunet continually come seeking blood from my veins circa 3am? And why does she leave so soon?

3.)    My parents lived in Key West, Florida, when I was very young for nearly three years. And my father’s father for roughly two years while serving in the Navy many years before that. After returning there as an adult, vacationing with both parties, it wouldn’t be horrible to keep the tradition going. And my earliest memory may indeed be a fabrication constructed over the years. I’ve read about such things, and, after experiencing it first hand, understand just how fragile our past really is.

4.)    Bowling Green, Kentucky, isn’t a horrible place to be stuck when traveling across country. I’d go as far to say pleasant. Very friendly and knowledgeable mechanics. Their futile efforts to revive the white Pontiac Bonneville were greatly appreciated.

5.)    Used car salesmen are fascinating. When you sit down to negotiate an interest rate in the future, wait until they offer it to you clearly. Then ask them, “Is that YOUR buy rate?” Their jaw will really hit the floor. No joke!

6.)    It may surprise you which one of your creative endeavors might capture the passions and minds of others, land you an interview with the BBC radio show Culture Shock, and a guest starring spot on CNET’s hilarious Podcast called The 404. So just watch out for that. Ok?

7.)    Having an inbox brimming with well over 5,000 individual regrets from complete strangers can be an amazingly powerful catalyst for someone to live their life with a renewed courage and perspective. To the mostly faceless multitude, thank you.

Stereotypes Can Be Fun… Sometimes

Perusing the articles found at the New York Times website is always a joy. They are, more often than not, provocative, entertaining, cultured, engaging, interesting, and manage an elevated vocabulary. Of course, listing these reasons means only one thing. Yes, I am white.

Scouring the site lead me to Why Blog? Reason No.92: Book Deal by Allen Salkin, which in turn led me here. Stuff White People Like, founded recently by Christian Lander in January 2008, is truly uncanny in its accuracy, hilarity and sarcasm. Dinner Parties? Of course I love dinner parties. American Apparel t-shirts? I own at least four. Public Radio, Plays, Apples Products, Netflix, Arrested Development, Snowboarding, 80s music, David Sedaris, Coffee? Apparently I can’t help it. I’m white. You have to check this site out!

I can’t wait for my $300,000 book deal.

Problems Solved

Life sure is full of tough questions. Say, am I trustworthy? What makes a good party? Am I ready to start going steady? What is Communism? Is bacteria my friend or foe? And what about juvenile delinquency? The answers are not always easy to come by. Thankfully the fine folks at Coronet Films are ready to help. You’ll soon discover that today isn’t all that different from yesterday, circa 1950. Well, not too different. I’ve never taken a date to a taffy pull, but it might be time to try something new.

Here are a few of Coronet’s finest, including a link to the rest here.

What To Do On A Date (1950)
Shy Guy (1947)
Dating:Do's and Don'ts (1949)
What Makes A Good Party? (1950)
Going Steady? (1951)

In all seriousness, The Internet Archive is an invaluable resource for not only old, now public domain, gems such as these. With tons to explore, you’ll be glad you did. Inspiration and nostalgia have never coupled so well. I wonder if they’ve watched Coronet’s Film titled How Much Affection?

Epigrammatic and Sugary

Who has time to read anymore? Well, there are a multitude of reasons to make an effort to. In fact, read Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave and any lame excuses you may have once had will quickly disappear. You’ll understand when you read it. Regardless of one’s reading habits, you need only be a designer to enjoy this brainchild of Khoi Vinh.

Abriefmessage.com collects numerous critiques on design kept within the limit of 200 words or less. Each presentation is unique, and the entire site is an example of impeccable web design. Great, insightful, and concise stuff. Take a right, check it out!

But what else would you expect from Khoi Vinh, the man responsible for the redesign of the New York Times web presence? He was recently interviewed in Print magazine’s April 2008 issue. Worth keeping an eye on. He too has a blog.

What's In A Name?

Titles are important. Beyond mere summations, they are capable of arresting curiosity, awakening emotional fervor, and even rousing corporeal action. Careful deliberation was taken in the christening of this, my first, blog. I decided that Disturb the Universe was a label with just the right amount of existentialistic kick and sunny disposition to best suit my vision… Apparently someone else did too. 

So what does Lost in the Wash do for you? Anything? There is a certain playfulness to be appreciated by anyone who has ever laundered socks, that’s for sure. And given the seemingly inevitable aggregative nature of blogs, Lost in the Wash could even work as a clever metaphor: a hub that examines those aspects of culture which might otherwise be overlooked while hastily taking care of business. Hey, that works!

But there is more to the origin of the title, more entertaining than escapades to local laundry mats.

King John, the first of England, is probably best known for signing Magna Carta. What was Magna Carta? Nothing special. It’s just regarded by historians to be the first step taken towards modern democracy. Don’t worry about it. Surely you’ve heard of King John of England? He was the major adversary of Robin Hood, a purely fictional individual made popular by Disney’s animation department? Well his story is far more amusing than all that nonsense.

The king was generally detested by his subjects once being crowned. He was given the nicknames of “Lackland” for losing all of England’s territory in continental Europe to France, and “Soft-sword” because his weapon of choice was more suited for the bedroom (if you know what I mean). John was a wicked man. Not only was he known for hitting women, but he also has young nephew castrated whereupon the boy died of shock. To make a long story short, John had to go.

He spent the end of his days out running the Prince of France, the exterminator requested by the English people, and met a fascinating end near the shores of a marshy region of eastern Britain known as the Wash. His sluggish baggage train, which included the Crown Jewels, thought they could surely navigate directly across the region before the tide came in. They were very wrong. Nearly all was lost to the Wash. John barely escaped, caught a cold, and died with in days. But not before consuming a large number of peaches, which he believed would cure the illness. People circa 1216 CE sure were silly. Isn’t history fun?

So there you have it. The Royal Crown Jewels of King John of England are still, to this day, lost somewhere in the Wash. How’s that for added metaphor? Titles sure are important. I hope you will enjoy this blog.