Excuse me!
quoted 74 lines -----Original Message----->-----Original Message-----
>From: Lazlo Nibble [SMTP:lazlo@swcp.com]
>Sent: Tuesday, January 28, 1997 11:00 PM
>To: idm@hyperreal.com
>Subject: (idm) RE: Schoolhouse Rock
>
>>> In other words, when you're nostalgic about things it's because you
>>> appreciate quality when you see it, but when other people are nostalgic
>>> about things, it's because they're insecure fuckups without lives.
>>
>> No, when I like something that happens to be old it's not nostalgia. When
>> you like something BECAUSE it's old, then that's nostalgia. Please don't
>> tell me that Happy Days was a good TV show, or that Duran Duran was a
>> good band or that Atari Combat is as good a game to Mario 64..
>
>I'm sorry, I'd forgotten that the Fahey Committee had deemed "Happy Days",
>Duran Duran, and old Atari cartridges unsuitable for the attention of young
>moderns. I'll be sure to toss out all my DD CDs and 2600 carts (never was a
>big "Happy Days" fan) because you don't like them -- you are, after all,
>the arbiter of Appropriate Taste for all generations, past and present.
>
>> It's okay to realize that something that seemed cool when you were a kid
>> is not cool now, or that something that seemed dorky to you as a kid is
>> cool now.
>
>It's okay? Really? Can I get that in writing?
>
>Is it also okay to enjoy or not enjoy things for their own sake, regardless
>of
>whether or not they're "kEwL!"? I want to be sure, because, ya know, that's
>pretty much how I like to do things, and I'd be sorely disappointed if you
>decided that wasn't "KhO0l". I'd have to, like, realign my outlook on life
>and stuff, and I was really looking forward to being able to see Star Wars in
>a theatre again this weekend so I hope you can let me know whether that's
>"qUuLe" enough before I buy my ticket. I'm counting on you for this, Chris!
>
>> I think that one of the biggest reasons for nostalgia, and the reason it
>> feels so good for many people, is that it is an affirmation that you were
>> interesting when you were a kid, and that the things that shaped you are
>> enduring treasures.
>
>I get it -- people don't *really* "like" Star Wars or Duran Duran, they're
>just being tricked into THINKING they "like" Star Wars or Duran Duran by a
>combination of mammalian imprinting and clever market manipulation! Wow,
>it's
>all so clear to me now: nobody but you is capable of independent thought!
>
>Well, here's something for you to use that massive brain on for a while: why
>do you feel the urge to loudly and publicly degrade things that other people
>like, do, and think? Is it maybe just a way of affirming (tricking yourself
>into thinking) that you're more "interesting" than All Those Pathetic Idiots
>Out There Who Like Things You Don't, when in fact you're really just trying
>to
>distract us away from noticing that you're Horribly Afraid That People Might
>Make Fun Of You For Liking What You Like?)
>
>> I think that if everyone asked themselves before they bought the
>>"Schoolhouse
>> Rocks" CD last year "Is this even remotely good music?", that half of them
>> would not have bought it.
>
>You're right, they would have been much better off just randomly splatting
>their money away at the kinds of "really new, really innovative stuff" you
>buy, because as you're carefully established through a rigorous series of
>analyses, that "stuff" is "almost always good!"
>
>Meanwhile, I'll gladly stack "Three Is A Magic Number" up against "I Feel
>Love" any day of the week.
>
>(Criswell Predicts: Now it's time for Chris to try to excuse his dismissive,
>insulting horseshit by claiming that it was was "just his opinion".)
>
>--
>::: Lazlo (lazlo@swcp.com; http://www.swcp.com/lazlo)