Gone to Croatan

The state of the traditional media, in numbers.

Comments

[JAT]

I thought this was going to be about Andy Griffith getting a presidential medal. Close.

[The Wine Commonsewer]

Music sales are off and downloads are up. The implication is clear. But all it really means is that the Boomers are finally done replacing their records with 8-tracks that they replaced with casettes that they replaced with CD's.

[Butthead]

I hate to bring this up...but have you noticed how much media sucks? Sideways, Closer...terrible bands, boring games, awful TV shows except for a few. There are like 8 good writers in English in the world, more or less. I have a hard time thinking of anything good ever.

I mean...here I am, watching a few more TV shows, reading a few books, buying good DVDs and video games, and reading stuff on the internet. Just like the numbers reflect. Seen any good movies? Read any interesting books? PLEASE. I am so lonely. I wish something were good. I would go buy it right now. Tell me.

[Toxic]

Butthead: the Baroque cycle is both new and good. By Neal Stephenson. There's plenty of good music--- just don't expect to hear it on the radio. And you can always head back into the past. BTW, there's actually quite a bit of good stuff on TV. But most of it's on cable. You have to dig a litte.

And I feel the same pop culture fatigue. For me it started with the Spice Girls, so basically since I had a driver's license.

It's not that nothing good is happening. It's that you have to get your info from different sources.

My theory here, and I have no evidence whatsoever for this, is that the explosion of information has lured people away from the old media, both viewers and artists. The media companies, in response, have been trying to capture the deeply average segment of the population, where most of the people are. They're all fighting for the hump on the bell curve, so to speak. Which leads to a lot of material that is deeply mediocre by definition. Cf. Avril Lavigne, Spears, the rash of crappy movies, etc... I mean that when a movie or music or tv exec feels threatened by change, he moves back towards the old reliable product. And since they control the major info channels, we get stuck with a lot of crap in the traditional mediums.

And of course the internet is exact opposite. It caters to specific, sometimes hyperspecific interests, and captures a lot of the time of the weirder follks. So look for pop culture to get worse before it gets better.

[Rich Ard]

"I hate to bring this up...but have you noticed how much media sucks? Sideways, Closer...terrible bands, boring games, awful TV shows except for a few."

Isn't it always that way, though? I mean, there have always been more Huey Lewises than Jackson Brownes.

[dead_elvis]

The tail might be getting longer, but the quality of the thick part stays the same. That is to say, it's always pretty much sucked.

[Phil]

Rich Ard, with the exception of "Runnin' on Empty," "Somebody's Baby," "Tender is the Night" and in a generous mood "Lawyers in Love," I will take one Huey Lewis over a dozen Jackson Brownes any day of the week.

[taktix]

Xbox 360 will bolster video game sales. I kinda have my finger on the pulse of the video game market, and some of the new games WILL revolutionize the market.

One notable: Oblivion, a next-gen Role Playing Game that gives you a massive world and lets you roam around at will. The guys that made this got forestry data from U. Maryland just to design the forests, which are about Five square miles of the game world.

[Number 6]

Toxic- You beat me to the punch. I was also going to suggest Neal Stephenson's stuff.

As far as music goes: I can't help. Everything since about 1993 has sucked.

Network television is beyond salvation.

And newspapers are competing to see how much like the National Enquirer they can be. The Wall Street Journal and the Christian Science Monitor are the only tolerable ones I know of.

[JDM]

"I will take one Huey Lewis over..."

I don't even know what the rest of this sentence says. My eyes grow dark after my brain processes that opening phrase.

[JDM]

"I was also going to suggest Neal Stephenson's stuff."

Bleh. I read most of Quicksilver, which was much better than the unreadable Snow Crash, but I don't see why people like this guy so much. Although I have to admit I don't see why anyone likes any modern authors.

[Toxic]

To each his own, JDM, but Neal Stephenson is high on my top ten list. I like his mix of humor, science, character, and just general kick-assery.

[Hakluyt]

Jesse walker,

Nice North Carolina reference, BTW. Have you been to Roanoke?

[Mike]

As far as music goes: I can't help. Everything since about 1993 has sucked.

You people sound like a bunch of grumpy old men.

"In MY day we had GOOD music like Ole Blue Eyes! These kids today don't appreciate good TV like Andy Griffith! When I was in the WAR we didn't need no eye Pods! Rose! Where are my HEART PILLS? These whippersnappers today..."

[Hakluyt]

Mike,

He he he. Damn straight. I completely agree. There is lots of good popular music being produced right at this moment.

[Number 6]

Hak-I'm open to suggestions.

[robert]

hakluyt,
several times i've seen you make NC references are you in the triangle? i have had trouble finding libertarians in the land of john edwards and jesse helms

[Hakluyt]

robert,

Well, 99% of my books are in the Triangle (along with my wife and my cat and a couple of my older computers and mu gas grill). Right now I am away from home and will be until some time in December. Of course, there is an issue of whether you want to hang with a pariah, outlaw, desperado, etc. like myself. 🙂 All I can assure you of is this: I don't wear an a eye-patch.

Number 6,

When I get to my CD, etc. collection I'll be more than happy to make some recommendations.

[Stevo Darkly]

"In MY day we had GOOD music like Ole Blue Eyes! These kids today don't appreciate good TV like Andy Griffith!

At the risk of revealing how very old I actually am, I'm going to update this for my generation:

"In MY day we had GOOD music like Night Ranger! These kids today don't appreciate good TV like Fall Guy!"

Plus I'll add, "In my day, we had three kinds of music stations on the radio: Adult Rock, Classic Rock and Adult Contemporary. And if you turned on the radio, chances are a 20-year-old song from Fleetwood Mac's Rumours was playing simultaneously on at least two of them! And we liked it!"

In my opinion, the media don't suck nearly as much as they used to. Or at least there are more choices, so the 1% that doesn't suck is easier to find because it's more plentiful in absolute terms.

[Jesse Walker]

Have you been to Roanoke?

Several times.

[Stretch]

What I can't understand is what has prompted the rash of remakes in the last decade or so. Certainly, selling a known property is generally more secure than taking a risk on something new and crappy sequels have long been a part of the cinematic landscape.

But this obsession with actually remaking every movie that people once liked seems really odd, as I'm sure Hollywood executives didn't just figure out that they could make money by doing so.

Part of the reason could be that recent advances in technology have prompted profitable "updates", but that certainly doesn't explain something like The Manchurian Candidate, unless you consider color a recent advance. It's also possible that this has always happened and I'm only just beginning to realize it.

[citizengnat]

The Gourds are my favorite band of all time, and they are still working. As for books check out Will Christopher Baer for something new and good you've probably never heard of.

I wonder about the remakes too. Thing is, some of them are better than the originals.

[Hakluyt]

Stretch,

It's also possible that this has always happened and I'm only just beginning to realize it.

Any culture tends to rework and restage what it has done in the past.

[Hakluyt]

Stretch,

Indeed, its pretty rare to see wholly "new stuff" in IMHO. Dostoyevsky's Notes from Underground is certainly an almost wholly new work, but that ain't common.

[Hakluyt]

Jesse Walker,

Any recommendations, warnings, etc. about Roanoke?

[Jesse Walker]

Oh, I haven't been there since I was a kid. I enjoyed the museum, outdoor theater, etc., but I have no idea what it's like these days and couldn't give any specific recommendations.

But you should definitely check out the Outer Banks, especially Ocracoke.

[Hakluyt]

Jesse Walker,

Thanks for the info.

? la prochaine.