We Know It's Over

This morning I sit in front of my Mac browsing the online headlines and drinking reheated Italian espresso (I know - why wouldn't I just make another fresh pot? Because I hate waste, that's why.) I'm trying not to look outside and face the incessant fog that has bared down on this city over the last few days, ruining my mood and my hair.   I'm on CBC.ca first, searching for a story that muffled partly into my brain during the snooze alarms, without luck thus far, I'm still astounded and shaking my head over that American Airlines Airbus ditching successfully into the Hudson yesterday. Thank God everyone was safe and I hope there was only luggage in the cargo below.  Which reminds me to type this:  People, please, do not take your animals when you travel. Do not subject these beautiful creatures to such lunacy. Cats and dogs and bunnies don't have any desire to travel. Get a babysitter, take your Ativan and wear sensible shoes so that you can stand stable on the wing of the plane.  This is my sincerest advice. 

Back to my favored newsfeed (the CBC of course), and I found a fabulous piece, "Our favourite pop culture mementoes of 2008".  So I abandon my quest to find the story of the artist Andrew Wyeth who died early this morning in Philadelphia, the one who painted "the hidden melancholy" of landscapes and people; but I'll get back to that later.

Signs of sentimental journeys still hit the airwaves and cyberpaths, bidding farewell to 2008. Top album and best-of lists continue to attract web-hits daily. 2008 is thankfully over but what a year it was for souvenirs of pop culture.  I have to admit Pop Culture is something that intrigues me. And even though my iconic sayings is "People - they're the worst", I still have to wonder what makes people tick, gets our attention, what trends pave tracks into our psyche, raising buzz and hairs on the backs of our necks.  I find it even more interesting to understand what is separated in pop culture - like what is the difference between popular and mainstream. What's just plain cool and what's just plain boring.  What's real or what's just fake transmissions of propaganda - or as I like to refer to it, pop-aganda.  There is a difference, trust me. I just spent five years watching a few executives call out 'marketing trends' and 'identify' target markets - and they were so wrong that they now sit on a whole ton of weak designed, overpriced home inventory they can't flog to to their grandparents. 

The article of 100 mementoes of 08 does have some head-scratchers for me though. I mean, where was I when some of these things were popular or even newsworthy?  Hartwick will be pleased with Part I's inclusion of There Will Be Blood, of which they also make note of its creepy soundtrack - totally.  

The endorsement of  Canadian writers' brainchild, Joyland.ca is a true plus - this is the little website that could story that in short order features webfeeds from New York, Chicago, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, as a go-to spot for readers of short fiction; so kudos to Emily Schultz and Brian Joseph Davis.   Part 2 of the article names Mad Men as "TV's sharpest, most stylish drama" - which I wholeheartedly and religiously agree.




100 Mementoes also reminds me to spend some of my retirement release money on Julien Temple's documentary movie, The Future Is Unwritten, the "gloriously unsentimental appraisal of the late, great Clash frontman Joe Strummer", though I'm a little horrified to classify dear Joe Strummer as 'pop culture' - I mean, Joe Strummer is more cool iconic as opposed to popular cool.  



And while I'm at Chapters, I'll heed the article's Part 3's advice and purchase Lush Life by Richard Price, Lower East Side poet's eighth novel telling of that district's alteration.  


Though I haven't seen a single episode of the televised series Swingtown, due to the fact that Canadian Molly Parker (I adore Molly Parker) has a staring role and it being set in the beloved 1970's, I'll be making every effort to get the DVDs from Rogers.   

Finally I'll mention their elective of Man On Wire, a film based on the true story topic that my extreme anxiety will only allow me to view it's trailer.