“Mostly because you can sweat almost anything down to this basic biological truth: Culture is a mating ritual. We are looking for ways to differentiate ourselves so as to attract one another. That is the deep dark secret of everything we do. It might be that black and white.” — via Riff Market’s “RE HIPSTER […]
Could I have “unfriended” someone in the 18th C.?
Recently, Michael Quinion explained that the term “unfriend” is much older than Facebook. In a recent edition of WORLD WIDE WORDS (Issue 667, Saturday, November 28, 2009) he suggests that the word originates in medieval Scotland: The noun certainly is, with evidence going back to medieval Scots, its sense ranging from that of a person […]
Re:Public – A Review of VANDAL SQUAD & An Interview with Author Joseph Rivera
My new column for ArtCat Zine is up so check it out. I review & talk to the controversial author of Vandal Squad, Joseph Rivera (pictured above). A former member of New York’s anti-graffiti police team, Rivera has written a very intriguing book about the graffiti world through the eyes of a cop. Here’s an […]
The Value of Criticism
I came across this quote today by the 19th C. English writer & critic Matthew Arnold: “…Arnold said that ‘first-rate criticism has a permanent value greater than that of any but first-rate works of poetry and art,’…”
Faster Hipster, Kill, Kill
It was only a matter of time before hipster lit (hip-lit?) hit the bookstands with full force. Rayo Casablanca’s 6 Sick Hipsters is the latest entry to the genre and check out a review I came across (italics mine): The premise of Casablanca’s 6 Sick Hipsters is enticing: someone is murdering those atrocious denizens of […]