Las Vegas: Paying a Price to be Left Alone

It's sometimes funny how often you can look at a thing and then suddenly it gives you a new idea. A recent trip to Las Vegas helped focus an idea that we probably had been working on for awhile, but it took Vegas to tease out.

Reading some of our earlier posts on theories of consumption and wealth, as put forward by the likes of Thorstein Veblen, we have, in the past, toyed with the idea of purpose and uses of wealth. Last week, Vegas helped illustrate that wealth is anti-social and insular. Walking around the tourist areas, proved the inspiration for this.

Tourists areas are by nature supposed to attract people, giving one ample opportunity to study crowds and crowd behaviours, so one of the interesting things we noticed about Las Vegas was the general trend that geography and social density are related to wealth. True, this has been pointed out before, that zoning permits tend to group like economic groups together, something that is reinforced through real estate prices. Also it is true that the distribution of wealth is uneven, there are the numbers of wealthy people decreases as the value of wealth increases. However, quite a few tourist areas are free, or have a significant portion of their attractions available for free. This leads one to suggest that the distribution of tourists, whose goals are to see attractions, would be relatively even across destinations.

This is not true, however, in part because the ancilliary services (like food and souvenirs) to support these attractions are expensive. The prospect of visiting an attraction and paying six dollars for a cup of coffee dissuades a number of people, in effect turning the extra few dollars per cup into a premium some are willing to pay in order to have a cup of coffee in less crowded conditions. A survey of restaurants can yield the same interpretation: witness the crowding of buffet lines and the sparse attendance of the Michelin-starred restaurants. With restaurants particularly, but also many other services, such as shopping, not all of the price differential can be attributed to what we'll call a "privacy premium". Part of the price differential is to recoup costs from superior or rarer ingredients, as well as the higher real estate prices. Furthermore, some higher end shops also include a more personalized shopping experience as part of their price differential: fewer customers in a store increases the likelihood that the shopper can receive individual attention, either informally or through appointment. This extra attention can often help identify a better suited item for purchase, just as eating more expensive food can result in eating food with healthier ingredients.

Again, we find wealth a fascinating area of study, especially the ways in which the possession of even a little bit of wealth helps to reinforce or maintain the benefits of wealth.

Cinema Whispers

Face it, you're all talking about it . . .

Elliott Smith We Miss You

The Sixties Are Finally Over

Back in March, in a post entitled "The Ghosts That Haunt Us (Richard Nixon Lives)", we mused about the ebb and flow of revolutionary and counter-revolutionary movements, specifically in the context of the French Revolution and the tumultuous American 1960s. At the time, we talked about the current Bush II government having its roots in the Nixon administration, and drew some analogies to the French Revolution, in the wake of Barack Obama's presidential victory last night, we'd like to extend that idea, suggesting that now, finally, the United States can begin to move past the divisions that erupted during the 1960s. No longer will they haunt every political argument. Sure, the short-term  will probably see a lot more talk about the 1960s, but a post-Obama U.S. will be one that faces new problems, instead of rehashing old ones. A post-Obama U.S. will finally admit, the Sixties are over.

Back in March we talked briefly about the reign of Louis Phillipe, the last King of France, and so-called Citizen King after his liberal tendencies. Louis Phillipe came of age during the French Revolution, that starting date of which most historians point to 1789. That his coronation came in 1830 does not lessen the claim that Louis Phillipe was a child of the Revolution. Despite ten years of Revolutionary government, followed by reign of Napoleon, who pronounced the Revolution officially over, the return of the Bourbon monarchy after a twenty-five year absence saw an effort to unwind many of the changes made during the Revolution. After the death of Louis XVIII in 1824, matters only escalated under Charles X, creating support for the liberal backlash that enabled Louis Phillipe to assume the thrown in 1830.

Part of what happened in the years after Napoleon was the aging of the Revolutionary generation. The men of 1789, who might have been in their thirties and forties at the time, were by 1815 in their sixties and seventies, and by 1830, in all likelihood, dead. The generation that had to live during the transition from Napoleon to the Bourbons did much to give rough shape to what the legacy of the Revolution would be, and it was their children that grew up to support Louis Philipe in 1830.

We have often referred to the 1960s as a failed revolution, but this assumes that all revolutions have as their aim a political regime change. As a social revolution, the 1960s have left the United States a vastly different place than where it was in 1959. Watch AMC's Mad Men and you get to see some of those differences, but there are all sorts of formalities, traditions, and rituals that did not survive the 1960s. The back and forth between Republican and Democratic presidents can be seen as part of an on-going debate over which aspects of the 1960s should be allowed to endure, which carried forward, and which overturned. 

Just as Louis-Phillipe absorbed the lessons of the Revolution in his youth and they provided a context for society under his reign, Obama is literally a child of the sixties (born 1961), and they provide part of the framework for his vision of the United States in a way that George W. Bush (born 1946), Hillary Clinton (born 1947), and John McCain (born 1936) cannot match. For Obama, the sixties were a reality to be lived, not argued over. 

The sixties are over. The future is now.

Who Says There's No Global Warming

Everybody wandered around town today in something of a daze. The first day of turning the clock back an hour left everyone somewhat off their game, but the real confusion lay in the recent warm weather. The high today reached 17 degrees celsius - an unsual feat for a northern Canadian prairie city. True, Calgary is home of the fabled "Chinook" or "snow-eater" a warm high pressure system responsible for unseasonably high temperatures in winter, and the telltale Chinook-arch cloud formation was visible all last week, but nevertheless it makes one wonder . . . 

Flotsam and jetsam

Here's another piece of classic internet effluvia that looking for information on Joy Division yielded - a short clip from a review of the biopic Control:

The line we loved was the opener: "Any biography of a fringe performer with a cult following must give the uninitiated some clue as to what the fuss was about"

Our answer is no. 

Granted, Ray Bennett goes on to argue that such efforts are necessary for the film to move beyond a narrow circle, which is true, but that presupposes a desire to move beyond a narrow circle, as if that were the goal of all film, music, or art. Certainly, Control's lack of effort is in keeping with the music of Joy Division. That same turning your back on fame is echoed in the sentiment behind American Hardcore, where American punks deliberately tried to avoid mainstream success. In fact, somewhere out there is a whole catalogue of deviancy literature on the efforts of subcultures to keep themselves below the radar. 

Who Killed The Electric (Mini) Car

Seriously, it's hard to believe the following news report. BMW is announcing that they are coming out with an electric version on the Mini Cooper - great news to electric car fans. However, we question how many electric car fans have not seen Who Killed The Electric Car. Obviously not BMW. They are still running the electric Mini on the same leasing plan that GM did - at the end of the lease period that cars are to be returned to BMW. You can't be serious.

For an article, click here.

WWJD vs. WWNS

We'll be honest. After almost a decade of looking at "What Would Jesus Do?" bracelets, the iNietzsche application  for the iPhone with it's  "What Would Nietzsche Say?" function  makes us giggle. After all, when it comes to timely advice, who would not want to turn to a man who said:

"That passion is better than Stoicism and hypocrisy, that being honest in evil is still better than losing oneself to the morality of tradition, that a free human being can be good as well as evil, but that an unfree human being is a blemish upon nature and has no share in any heavenly or earthly comfort; finally, that everyone who wishes to become free must become free through his own endeavour, and that freedom does not fall into any man's lap as a miraculous gift" (Untimely Meditations, 1876)

We're All Marxists Now

Yes, the above is something a common phrase around here, often used to reference Marx's idea that technological change causes economic changes which in turn leads to political change. We are currently finding this notion hard to resist, as computers and the internet represent some pretty major techonological changes, the impact of which is only now starting to be understood.

However, here's a little news headline from Germany (via the UK Guardian) that suggests we're not the only ones thinking this way. Click here.

Election Results

The last week provided a lot of chatter in our office regarding the Canadian Federal Election, and they ranged from the reluctant prediction of a Conservative majority at 157 seats, to almost nothing changing (how right that almost was!) to a Liberal-Conservative tie. It was the prospect of a tie that generated the most controversy, not necessarily because it was wrong (though it was), but because it was based on some troubling long-term trends that last night's voter turnout indicated might in fact be right.

To begin with, we had the suggestion that Canada is in for a string of minority governments, probably for the next seven to ten years. The idea for this is based on demographics. Currently, the most populous demographic in Canada is the aging Baby Boomer generation.  The Boomers and their parents also happen to be the demographic most likely to vite. If you accept the argument that people grow more conservative as they age, then this becomes the premise used to predict a Conservative win.  

The Liberals meanwhile are thought to be favoured by the "middle-classes" and more importantly the so-called Generation X cohort. The suggestion is that this particular group is currently the most frustrated and jaded politically. In part because this was the group most hurt by the Chretien/Martin cuts of the 1990s. Attempts to influence the direction of those policies was blocked by the presence of numerous middle-aged Baby Boomers  who had joined the political process in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This group is therefore leaving the Liberal Party and in many cases the political process altogether. Last night's voter turnout at 59% has the distinction of being the lowest turnout in over a hundred years. Previously, that honour was held by the election that Paul Martin won (two elections ago) in which 60% of the voters showed up and gave Martin a minority. Furthermore, this is complicated by accusations that the "middle-class" is shrinking.

Despite their success last night, the tie scenario predicted the NDP losing seats based on the belief that they are "too much about unions" (indeed, fears about the economy might have helpd them out in Ontario). Union membership is declining, especially amongst youth, who are finding the workplace a radically different place than post-WWII factories. Layton perhaps has sensed this and is trying to transition his party to something else with their green platform - the notion of a tie was based on the Liberal's ability to steal voters away from the NDP.

Which brings us to the environment.

When Canadians are polled the environment is constantly one of the top issues. However this consistently fails to translate at the voting booth. With the prediction of a tie, the premise hear, and indeed the one that further projects a series of minority governments, is that the environment is one of THE major issues of the millenial generation, a generation that is widely suspected of failing to vote by the widest margins. Demographically, it also outnumbers Generation X. Thus, the environment ought to be seen as a kind of bellweather of voter participation. The first election that sees both an uptick of voter participation and votes for environmental policies will signal the entrance of the millenial generation. The next majority government will only occur once the millenials have fully entered the ring.

This is also why the heat is on the NDP. The Greens are nipping at their heels, and have none of the baggage the existing parties have and thus are capable of wooing voters disenchanted with the current political system.

Mako, A Man for Many Seasons

Something we just stumbled upon, and it leaves us shaking our head. Born in Kobe, Japan, Japanese-American actor Kobe (he became a citizen in 1956), started acting in 1962 with an appearance on The Lloyd Bridges show, at the age of 29. Since then, he worked almost continuously until his death in 2006, although his last film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, where he provided the voice of Splinter, was not released until 2007. Seriously, from 1962 to 2007 (forty-five years), he appeared or contributed to at least one project per year excepting 1985, and 2002 (perhaps needing a break after taking a turn in Pearl Harbour). We are hard-pressed to think of another acting career as consistent and are super-impressed. To check out his full v.c., head on over to his entry at IMDB.

Music Update

Here's a quick rundown on what we've been listening to:

The new Okkervil River, The Stand-Ins, has been on steady play lately, despite it's unexpected polish. The album art makes us think mid-period Social Distortion, but the song-writing belies a much stronger pop sensibility.

 

The Streets, Everything Is Borrowed, is causing something of a stir, as half the office is finding it a brilliant mixture of self-awareness and retro-style beats. The other half claims it as sappy platitudes over cheesy muzak. Bring on the cage match.

Surprisingly, Sloan's Parallel Play has only managed to get on air twice, as it's polished pop seems somewhat less so when stacked next to Okkervil River. 

Or, perhaps it's because certain elements have fallen in love with the Minutemen and Gang of Four again and are holding our radios hostage. 

There are worse things that could happen, we suppose.

American Hardcore

Yesterday we took time out of our oh-so-busy schedules to watch the documentary on early American punk, American Hardcore. For perhaps the first time, the historical focus has finally started to shift form the early CBGB days, London, and late 1970s Los Angeles, to the development of hardcore punk in Washington, Southern California and New York. It was odd to watch the documentary with local counterculture historian Sean Marchetto present, as the film seemed to vindicate several points he made in his University of Calgary Masters' Thesis, Tune In, Turn On, Go Punk.

"The conversations I was having with people in 1999 was very different from what people are talking about now. Books like Legs McNeil's Please Kill Me and Clinton Heylin's From The Velvets to the Voidoids were really all that were out there. Hardcore was still to recent, people were still trying to remember the beginnings."

One of the things that Marchetto seemed particularly pleased about were the brief discussions about hardcore punks and their broken homes, "You'd read these early oral histories about people coming to New York or L.A. and there'd be suggestions that they came from broken homes. Rarely would they come out and talk about their family life, though Henry Rollins and Lydia Lunch have been rather upfront, but instead they'd talk about showing up at the bus stop in a particular year. If you took that year and worked backwards from their birthday, or their approximate age in 1999, it turned out a lot of these people were fifteen, sixteen, or seventeen when they started getting involved in what turned out to later to be hardcore.  Groups like Bad Brains and Black Flag were older though, and you could tell that they belonged to that earlier generation of punks because they were the originators."

"There has to be some kind of connection between punk, and the counterculture in general really, and family life. Ideally sociologists and psychologists would find this a fertile area of study."

Driving Through Traffic and Into the Past

As we noted earlier via Twittter, we are currently reading Tom Vanderbilt's Traffic: Why We Drive The Way We Do (and what it says about us). Halfway through, Vanderbilt makes the rather poetic notion that driving in traffic (as opposed simply driving) is driving into the past. He says this based on the observation that each driver is reacting to an event that has occurred in front of them, driving towards the event horizon so to speak, while at the same time the locus of that horizon expands outwards to engulf more and more traffic, much in the manner that the light of stars now reaching our eyes burnt out millions and millions of years ago. 

On the campaign trail

Suprisingly, we are less than enthused about the upcoming Canadian election and it is taking real effort on our part to stay interested and informed. The Conservative Party's campaign slogans, "Dion - he's not worth the risk" seem to acknowledge implicitly that Harper himself is no catch, but is at least marginally better than Dion. Dion, for his part, is generating all of the ideas in the campaign, something ideally, ought to indicate that he should win - if, Canadians agree. Layton, meanwhile, appears to be tarred with fallout over Tony Blair, even though the two superficially have nothing to do with each other. However, Layton, like Blair, we suppose, is seen as a vigourous and well-spoken leader who's modern style is at odds with the blue-collar roots of his party, and after Blair, that is generating significant doubts. 

"Modern style" is an interesting term to crop up in the campaign as well. All three of the major leaders are from the same social generation and have many of the same foundational views on things, unlike a certain other presidential campaign south of the border. This is mostly a problem for Layton, as the world has changed and the NDP have yet to find a new position as a true left alternative (whatever that may mean, and it's clear that NDP doesn't know).

Who will win? Harper is fear-mongering in a time of economic uncertainty. Dion is suggesting solutions. How afraid of the future Canadians actually are will determine the winner. 

Tweet of the day

Twitter user ParisLemon offers a brilliant summary of the news worth knowing today:

"Stock market is crashing, but the new kings of leon album sounds good."

Music Update

Just a quick summary of some of the things that we've been listening to over the past few weeks. The new Michael Franti & Spearhead album, All Rebel Rockers, really took us by surprise at it's overall danceability - kinda like when Chumbawamba released Tubthumping and everyone wondered at the disappearance of the politics, subsumed as they were in the background. Speaking of good feelings, Montreal's Hexes and Ohs appear to us to have inherited Sassy Magazine's Cute Band Alert mantle. Don't believe us, check out this video for "H-H-High School" from their new album Bedroom Madness.

Finally Portland, Oregon's Jaguar Love have grown on us substantially. Their album, Take Me To The Sea, is filled with classic metal moves, but with a freedom and reckless abandon akin to The Bronx.

Best of Summer Movies, L'Enfant

We watch a lot of movies in our office; typically once a day someone shows something, either after the coffee buzz has worn down and everyone has entered that mental no man's land of three o'clock, or else late into the evening when folks are too wired to go home. Our tally for the summer stands at seventy-three films.

The two most noteworthy are perhaps David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises (2007), and a Belgian film entitled, L'Enfant (2005). Eastern Promises, is filled with all the tension and edgieness that one expects from a director like Cronenberg who is capable of arguing that filmed car crashes can be high art. Further, as his second time working with actor Viggo Mortensen, he is able to coax out perhaps one of Mortensen's most nuanced performances. Concerned with the migration of Eastern Europeans into the West (specifically London), the film looks at the descent of some of these travellers into the world of organized crime and human traffically. A visually stunning, and not just for the extensive tatoos of the Russian mob characters (including Viggo), it left us awed.

If Eastern Promises captivated with it's stunning intensity, L'Enfant was something else entirely. Filmed in a cinema veritie style, it had none of the production value of Cronenberg's studio/art house movie. One never forgot that Eastern Promises was entertainment. L'Enfant, on the otherhand was different. The film explores the struggle of a young couple who have just had a baby. We never really find out their ages, but a rough estimate is that he is perhaps twenty, and she sixteen or seventeen. He, Bruno, is a neighbourhood hoodlum, having roped two local grade school boys into his "crew", and the threesome commit all manners of petty crimes. The film begins when she, Sonia, returns home from the hospital with the baby and finds that Bruno has sublet her flat, and is currently living down by the riverbank. She is upset at the fact that Bruno appears unconcerned, and Bruno slowly begins to realize that his lifestyle must change. 

The baby presents several challenges that neither Bruno or Sonia are capable of dealing with, likely owing to their youth and absence of family network. Despite the added financial burden of a baby, Bruno demonstrates little understanding of money, using his ill-gotten proceeds to by clothes, rent cars, even a baby seat for said car, only to sell or barter the goods away hours later for a fraction of their cost. When Sonia, in a bout of post-partum despair that she wished the baby had never come, Bruno takes that as a sign to contect his fence and arranges to have the baby sold. From there, the film is on, through many twists and turns. At no point is it "entertaining" but just as much, never let's the viewer go. At times, one feels like Alex the Droog being forced to watch the images of violence accompanied by Beethoven's Fifth.

The Watchmen Addendum, Part II

While The Watchmen's opening negation always stuck with us, clearly linked to it's cause, the other memory we had of The Watchmen lay dormant for a long time. Well over a decade later, after reading the The Watchmen, we came across an interview with Jimi Hendrix in which he claimed "I don't want to be a clown anymore", referring to the fact that he felt people expected pyrotechnics and not musicianship from his performances. Something about the remark struck us with half-filled rememberances of existential angst. Re-reading The Watchmen, we came across it:

"Man goes to see a doctor. Says he's depressed. Says life seems harsh and cruel. Says he feels all alone in a threatening world where what lies ahead is vague and uncertain. Doctor says 'Treatment is simple. Great clown Pagliacci is in town tonight. Go and see him. That should pick you up.'

Man bursts into tears. Says, 'But doctor . . .

. . . I am Pagliacci.'"

Watchmen Addendum, Part I

One of the key moments in The Watchmen that resonated with us for years, was in fact the opening lines:

"The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout "Save us!" . . .

". . . and I'll look down, and whisper "No.""

Obviously the film makers charged with editting the trailer for the movie were struck with it as well.

Years later, when reading Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged (soon to be it's own movie, with Angelina Jolie), and found ourselves disagreeing with the celebrated Rand over how her protanganists' own "No" played out, it was perhaps because we were still hung up on The Watchmen and looking for something a little more dramatic, with a touch more nihilism.