May 2012
20 posts
“Cyberpunk today is mainly like a Pantone chip in the Pantone culture-wheel. “Those pants are sort of cyberpunk.” “That video has a sort of retro-cyberpunk feel.” We know what that means. If someone says “her attitude is very cyberpunk”, I don’t think we’re as certain of what’s meant. I’m not sure what this means, but I do think it indicates something. In a cyberworld, there’s no need for the suffix, and ours is a cyberworld. In a cyberworld, cyberpunk is punk. But it’s not punk if you call it “cyberpunk”.”
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“Forget about Kurt Cobain for a second: For kids like me, the Beastie Boys invented the 90s. Technology was changing fast and the world was shrinking rapidly. Between their music and label/magazine Grand Royal, the Beasties showed how to reach out and scoop up all the best parts. New York hip-hop and punk rock, Japanese pop, Jamaican dub— all of it could be gathered and re-assembled into something that reflected who you were. This sort of cultural mixing was nothing new, but the Beastie Boys brought it to the mainstream. They were ambassadors, but their hipness didn’t look down on anybody. It felt inclusive.”
—Mark Richardson remembers MCA. (via pitchfork)
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Curious quote re. fame from Frank Langella:
The other thing about fame is, you know, when you’re in the boat of fame, you tend to want to pull the gangplank up behind you, and keep anybody else off that boat. […] I think the best place to be… if you ever read Ortega, a wonderful book called Revolt of the Masses, he says the best place to be is in the water, trying to get to shore and never getting there, because that means you’re alive, you’re trying. […] Once you get to shore, once you get there, what else is there?
