Elephant

Check out this cool video. The whole movie is actually in our library...



Zizek is the philosopher I was assigned to look into. He has a lot of ideas about global capitalism and the little (and big) conundrums that come with it. I watched a talk he gave about consumer charity. I've noticed that funny notion, buy this and we'll fold in a charitable act. It just gets easier and easier to keep spending, and boy do we. You used to have to set aside money at the end of the day for charity, but why do that when you can make the act of charity much more obviously selfish by getting something solid out of it in the process. Get away from my door, you UNICEF kids. I drink Starbucks every day. Check it:

"It’s our commitment to do things that are good to each other and the planet. From the way we buy our coffee, to minimizing our environmental footprint, to being involved in local communities. It’s doing things the way we always have. And it’s using our size for good. And because you support us, Starbucks™ Shared Planet™ is what you are a part of too."

Selling ethics. That's ripe.

Moving on. Folks, I'm starting to get worried about or friend Nicolas and his "radicant" cultural atmosphere. He had me with the global cuture thing, but now it seems like he wants to eat the cake too. So we're in the veritable cesspool of culture. This is art. This isn't. But it is. Anything is. Blah blah and back and forth and constant change, etc. Things are disposable. Trends are disposable. I don't feel like he's helping us move out of this. Sure, sure "alter" is different than "post," I get it. You're supposed to combine elements of inspiration from across a very broad field. It's supposed move beyond the white western world's concept of rootedness. COOL. But it sounds to me like things are just going to get blander and blander.

And things are already pretty bland. It takes kind of a lot for me to be shocked anymore. And even when I am, I'm like "pff. is that all you're relying on? shock value?" And no one likes a preacher. It seems to me that no one actually likes anything, we're all just pretending so we'll look cool on the playground.

I say: make stuff. Then die. Let other people talk about it later if they want to.