In response to previous comments, yes kate purpuse is a dangerous word. But not when you consider how everything in life is connected. That makes nothing purposeless. It is how I can say that every thing that happened in the entire course of human history changed my life. Even if I don’t know about it. Purpose – very loose. And yes I read the introduction and appreciate the fact that this book comes from an old and perhaps frustrated, but nonetheless perhaps wiser, perhaps more sentimental Tolstoy. John I don’t think that assuming a culture has a common set of metaphors means that there is underlying absolutes about something. I can say my soul is black and nearly all Westerners will be creeped out by that. That is what I mean by a common metaphor.
This leads me in to chapter two. Tolstoy talks about how there is no “beautiful” deed or music in the Russian language. In Russian, the word beautiful only applies to visual pleasurefulness. This separates the “good” from the “beautiful” a bit. IIIInteresting. Ok ok short chapter tolstoy closes out by quoting two people on what art is… Schasler and Veron… Schasler kinda says, “either you define art with flowery empty words or you clumsily try with awkward philosophic terms… no wait there’s a mix of those too as well.” Veron kinda says, “there’s an absolute beauty. art is sorta a physical manifestation of it… which is why its so different cuz each work of art shows the ideal from a different angle.” I am having trouble with these two quotes… why are they compared? what am I supposed to learn about the one from the other? maybe I am reading one or both wrong…
Ok Tolstoy I’m waiting for you to blow my mind. You are not doing it yet. You are like Charlie Peacock in this book “At the Crossroads.” You talk a lot about the question and do not talk about the answer much. I am well aware of the questions. I am well versed in why we should ask them. I am even ready to throw off my own biases and listen to you, wizened old man that you are. Okay okay, bring it on already! perhaps tomorrow.
So i’m reading Tolstoy’s “What is Art?” now. Kate said it made her angry so it would probably make me really angry. But Tolstoy doesn’t like Wilde, so I agree with him there. Aestheticism is silly. But Tolstoy doesn’t like Beethoven, so he complete and utter moron. But Tolstoy doesn’t like Wagner, so I think I need to listen to more Wagner.
Ok, chapter one goes into great detail to set up art as a”big endeavor” sort of thing. Thousands of people, some paid much, some paid little, all being criticised harshly when they make mistakes… Tolstoy asks, “What for? What is the sense of all this?”
“So on is quite ata a loss as to whom all these things are done for. The man of culture is heartily sick of them, while to a real working man they are utterly incomprehensible. If anyone can be pleased by these things (which is doubtful0, it can only be some young footman or depraved artisan, who has contracted the spirit of the upper classes but is not yet satiated with their amusements, and wishes to show his breeding.”
There is some of me in that. It happens. There are times when I prove the opposite of myself, as well, to be fair.
Tolstoy closes out the chapter saying that all artists of a particular movement all disown artists of all other movements…. the old romanticists deny the parnassians and the decadents, the dadaists deny all who came before, the tolstoy’s deny the aestheticists… its the natural lot of artistic movements. Tolstoy says this is sort of a problem, since it is evidence that we do not agree on what is meant by art, and what is valuable in art.
OK OK reactions. Chapter one is not so groundbreaking. kate asked me once what I thought about art for art’s sake. i think i said it was cool sometimes, but that I prefer my art to have some driving force behind it. Really I am just overcompensating for people who are overly pragmatic. What I believe is always somwhere between what I think and what I say. I do like art with a purpose, gasp, maybe even a use. I just define these things very very loosely, and don’t ever throw things out rashly.
Tolstoy sets up the opera rehearsal as a big spectacle. Then he isolates it, making it appear very very foreign to us. But art does not exist in a vacuum. ANYTHING put inside of this strict mental isolation becomes foreign, pointless, nihilistic… Meaning is all metaphor. Part of being an artist is knowing how to manipulate the collective set of metaphors that a culture (or all of humanity, preferably, but that is not always possible) is familiar with. This is probably the primary reason for me to view popular music as a valid medium for creating art. That said, it is seldom done. That gets us into the art/craft distinction and I have such a hard time remembering thoughts that i had previously organized (that’s one of the reasons I have a blog) that I can’t talk about that tonight. Plus I’m a little tired. Comment if you care but this is straightforward (pretty boring) stuff so far.
I am finally getting around the posting my Shostakovich paper. I would love for many of you out there to read it. I hope I made it clear and lovely and everything.
Download the thyng hyre.
Now, on to other business. The End of The World. To quote my source, “Destroying the Earth is harder than you may have been led to believe.” And he’s right. Oh sure there are thousands, perhaps millions of feasible ways to end all life on the planet, or to make the planet unihabitable for a very long time, but what if you are hell-bent on actually making this chunk of molten iron cease to exist?? You have a significantly more challenging project.
This site will help you on your quest to eradicate the universe from terra’s offending presence. A number of more-interesting-than-they-should-be “solutions” are presented, their feasability evaluated, and the earliest possible timeframe until their completion is also given. Seriously, this is good stuff and you need to check it out. They even mention breifly the possibility of a vogon constructor fleet coming to vaporize the planet. Good reading, along with the guide on how to move the earth. A good afternoon’s enjoyment.
Just look at them.
You know you want to be a European Beard SUPERSTAR!!!
I saw something about this on the news about fine minutes ago. The blogging could not wait!!
Greets from home. Things are quiet here but at least I have my studio. And a new guitar.
If you don’t know about Google’s new homepage thingy, I am telling you. in fact, even if you do know about it, I am still telling you. Imagine that. Go there, set one up, live in information bliss.
On my homepage is New York Times, BBC, and Wired News, as well as a healthy helping of slashdot, the weather, in addition to quote and word of the day. Amazing.
Well as it turns out, Brittney Spears is a fan of Radiohead. Before your world is rocked too hard, look at this picture:
Oh PHEW we are saved! She’s got Pablo Honey in her hand. I no longer feel the need to burn my two copies of Kid A.
In other radiohead news, the UK’s Channel4 poll voted OK Computer as the #1 greatest album of all time. Consequently, days later, OK Computer jumped hundreds of spots to shoot back up to a #4 sales position on the charts. Which is funny. Maybe people needed to be reminded how good of an album it really is? Who knows.
I’m reading this wonderful book “Dada and Surrealism: A Very Short Introduction” that my second favorite person in the world gave me from Oxford. Many people ask me what Dada is. Many people think they know what surrealism is from the paintings of salvador dali and the like. In an effort to clear up the confusion once and for all about these important philosophies (perhaps the most important influences on contemporary art today), I have provided the following two working definitions of my terms:
dada philosophy is that it is the year of the Eucharist the body and the body of Christ, is a film about the Runaways DVD The Runaways record, Cherry Bomb in a Cairo bazaar popular with tourists and locals. alike
surrealism is defined as a series of Unfortunate Events a Series of UNFORTUNATE Events a Series of UNFORTUNATE Events a Series of UNFORTUNATE Events a Series of UNFORTUNATE Events a Series of UNFORTUNATE Events and surrealist philosophy is defined as the amount of the credit is subtracted from. the total tax amount. due. for the month
Thank you Google Talk for the scholarly insight.
I do hope that this clears things up.
