A Creative Look at Capitalism, Public Policy, and Pop Culture
- De-Sexed GenX Male Novelists?
Great essay by Katie Roiphe in this week’s Sunday Times Book Review arguing that, although the Updike-Roth-Mailer generation was (rightly) criticized on feminist grounds for the portrayal of sex in its novels, the current batch of male novelists–Wallace-Franzen-Chabon–has gone so far in purging problematic sexual scenes that we’ve lost something powerful and mysterious and vital.
From the final paragraph:
Compared with the new purity, the self-conscious paralysis, the self-regarding ambivalence, Updike’s notion of sex as an “imaginative quest” has a certain vanished grandeur. The fluidity of Updike’s Tarbox, with its boozy volleyball games and adulterous couples copulating alfresco, has disappeared into the Starbucks lattes and minivans of our current suburbs, and our towns and cities are more solid, our marriages safer; we have landed upon a more conservative time.
I found it a compelling argument. In scrubbing the anti-feminist aspects of sexuality, in some cases we’ve gone too far and sanitized sex as nothing interesting or worth caring about. It makes me think of the Homer Simpson doofus dad caricature that just won’t go away. For example, my biggest complaint with Modern Family, one of my favorite new TV shows this season, is that Phil Dunphy comes across as a total dork. A lovable, well-meaning, endearing dork, but a dork nonetheless. It’s hard to imagine him having much of a sex drive.
The other thing I loved about Roiphe’s essay was that it gave me some new authors to check out, authors that aspire to some measure of literary merit. I love contemporary fiction, but I’m not as up on it as I’d like to be. I’ve read Jonathan Franzen and Jonathan Safran Foer (who she also mentions as someone who goes to such lengths to avoid sexuality that his protagonists are children or virgins), but not Chabon or Wallace. Off to the ol’ Amazon wish list . . .
Popularity: 35% [?]
- More Mackey
John Mackey’s all over the place lately. This time he’s interviewed in the latest issue of Reason magazine. Reason is obviously a friendlier outlet than the habitually from-all-possible-perspectives New Yorker (on which I commented previously); no real tough questions or challenges here. But it’s an overview of what Mackey’s about that’s probably closer to what he’d present himself, which is definitely worth a read.
Best quote:
I feel like I’ve been in the jungle with a machete hacking out a path for organic food, conscious capitalism, the freedom movement, animal welfare, all the different causes I’m involved in. And sometimes people come up and they say, gosh, haven’t you gotten any further? I mean, they’re driving up an air-conditioned SUV to where I’m still in the jungle hacking away.… I like the quote by Michelangelo. He said, “Criticize through creating.” It’s easy to be a critic. It’s much harder to create something. I always want to encourage young people to take their passion for making the world a better place and channel it to help us create new solutions to our challenges.
Reason TV has a longer video version of the interview. (I presume it’s longer–I haven’t seen it yet but the video clip is an hour and the article took about five or six minutes to read.)
Popularity: 37% [?]
- John Mackey in the New Yorker
Big piece on John Mackey in this week’s New Yorker. (Coincidentally, Mackey also figured heavily in the last episode of Practically Ideal on conscious capitalism.)
Some parts made even me (as a professed Mackey fan) think. For example: (more…)
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- Podcast: Practically Ideal, Episode 4
I’m thrilled to report our latest podcast is on Conscious Capitalism–an issue near and dear to my heart. As it’s one area where I’m particularly idealistic, I’m thankful to Bob for playing devil’s advocate and keeping us practical.
We also respond to reader comments to our first episode from Marc and Adam about moderates and Climategate.
Bob, as always, keeps us up to date in the tech world by reporting on the latest from Google–the Nexus One phone and Chrome OS.
And we give in and talk about Tiger Woods. We do it for you, listeners; we know you’ve been dying to hear what we have to say. We wrap up by chatting about the movies we’d planned to see a few weeks ago and have finally gotten around to.
Listen here:
Download directly: Practically Ideal Episode 4 (Right-click and select “Save Link As…”)
Or via iTunes:
As always, music is provided courtesy of Devin Martin and David Wesson from the Emergence and Charles Jischke. I encourage you to follow the links and check them out further.
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- New Creative Presences in the Blogosphere
In the last couple weeks, two of my favorite people have started blogs.
Adam Hansen, ideation consultant extraordinaire, now has a blog where he riffs on all things innovation. If that blows your skirt up even a little, you’ll want to read everything that cat writes.
Brian Johnson, conscious capitalist (founder of eteamz, Zaadz, and PhilosophersNotes) and self-actualization inspiration, has finally started putting some energy into his blog at PN.com. Now I can link to a stream of thoughtful content more detailed than his Twitter feed.
Rock on, fellas. My blog links have been updated to include these new projects.
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- Podcast: Practically Ideal, Episode 3
Now that we’ve set some groundwork for our views, we apply our practical idealism to the topics of same-sex marriage (which we like) and President Obama’s decision to send more troops into Afghanistan (on which we have mixed feelings).
Bob’s Tech Report covers the fiasco surrounding JooJoo/CrunchPad and addresses Facebook’s ever-evolving privacy policies. The Pop Culture Update is about Bob’s attendance at the Muse concert and both of us talking about our favorite live bands.
Listen here:
Or download: Practically Ideal Episode 3. (Right-click and select “Save Link As…”)
As always, music is provided courtesy of Devin Martin and David Wesson from the Emergence and Charles Jischke. I encourage you to follow the links and check them out further.
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- Practically Ideal on iTunes
Everything’s worked out and you can now subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. I know that makes it so much easier. Hell, I’m probably going to listen to the ‘cast via iTunes myself.
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- Podcast: Practically Ideal, Episode 2
Our second episode is now in the can and ready for download. We continue talking about our practically idealistic approach to libertarian politics, this time emphasizing what we do believe instead of only what we’re not. These two blog posts by Tyler Cowen on progressivism and conservatism serve as a backdrop to our discussion.
Bob reports on two new map applications from Google and Microsoft, and we talk upcoming movies.
Listen here:
Or download: Practically Ideal Episode 2. (Right-click and select “Save Link As…”)
Music is provided courtesy of Devin Martin and David Wesson from the Emergence and Charles Jischke. I encourage you to follow the links and check them out further.
Popularity: 65% [?]
- Podcast: Practically Ideal, Episode 1
I’ve been out of commission sick for a couple weeks, but I hope you’ll find it’s been worth the wait when I tell you I’ve started a podcast along with my friend Bob Caswell and recorded the first episode.
Listen here:
Or download: Practically Ideal Episode 1. (Right-click and select “Save Link As…”)
Just like this blog, it’s about politics (especially libertarianism and conscious capitalism), technology, and pop culture. (The blog post this episode is based on is this one about a “new” libertarianism.) We had fun recording it and I hope you enjoy it, but I will admit that you can tell it’s our first try. We welcome feedback of any kind.
A special thanks to Devin Martin and David Wesson from the Emergence and to Charles Jischke for the use of their music. I encourage you to follow the links and check them out further.
I hope to get listed on iTunes soon, so keep an eye out.
Popularity: 60% [?]
- The Economist Out, Vanity Fair In
Does anybody subscribe to the dead tree editions of magazines anymore? Well, yes. I do. And this month it was time for me to reevaluate and renew my subscriptions.
Although I do enjoy being able to read magazines on the couch or on the subway, what I really like is imagining that my magazine choices say interesting things about me. I tell myself they’re a fashion or design choice, communicating to my houseguests and fellow commuters something about my tastes. For a few years I’ve subscribed to the Economist (intended personality statement: interested in political issues; not afraid to get a bit wonky; and generally pro-market but not dogmatic about it) and the New Yorker (patient enough to read in-depth articles and appreciate complexity; appreciative of a literary point of view; and–let’s be honest–a bit of snobbery).
But this year, I’m switching things up. I’m keeping the New Yorker. Now that I’ve moved from Brooklyn to Chicago, I’d probably keep it for the title alone. Some of my favorites writers are contributors: Malcolm Gladwell, Jeffrey Toobin, and Ryan Lizza spring to mind. I adore the team of critics, especially Sasha Frere-Jones, Nancy Franklin, and Alex Ross. And I have to admit to being regularly filled with glee by the high-falutin’ style. (I know–pathetic, but it’s true.)
The Economist, on the other hand, isn’t making the cut. (more…)
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