Here’s an example of prose written in what I call the ‘bullying nerd’ voice. Not up-to-date on all the new gadgets? Well, get with it Grandpa! Your way of life is over! Ever wonder why some of us are so ambivalent about the brave new digital world? (If anyone needs me, I’ll be in my local record store.)
Rufus F.
Rufus is a likeable curmudgeon. He has a PhD in History, sang for a decade in a punk band, and recently moved to NYC after nearly two decades in Canada. He wrote the book "The Paris Bureau" from Dio Press (2021).
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I have to take that in stride, though. “Grandpa” was probably copping the same attitude when he was buying Beatles songs on 45 RPM records and hauling his portable turntable to the beach! 🙂Report
I should probably admit that I own a portable record player as well as a non-portable stereo with turntable.Report
As for my curmudgeonly frustration, just remember this: I went through the 80s with people saying to me, “You still buy records?! Nobody buys records now! Get with it- by the 1990s, they’re not even going to make records!” And then in the 90s I heard, “You still buy records?! Nobody buys records now! In the new millenium, they’re not even going to make records!” Now, it’s, “Okay, sales of records are increasing, while those of every other format are declining. But why are you still buying records?! They’re going to soon be obsolete!” (Incidentally, my answer has always been, ‘I just think they sound better’. And usually what they say is, ‘So what! Nobody buys them anymore!’)Report
Like actual vinyl records? Gotta admit, I didn’t know the labels still made records. Got me there.Report
I think we as a culture should come to grips with the fact that everything is doomed to fail and stop being surprised when they do.Report
But it’s different this time! The old rules don’t apply!Report
Ah,what rules? I don’t think every danged thing has failed thus far. Certainly plenty of things will change, some will fail, others will be revived, and lots of new things will come into being. And probably all at the same time. You know, when I was 15, I had a teacher tell us that, with absolute certainty, everyone would own a high-definition television within five years, and the other kind (whatever it is that we have) would be totally obsolete because nobody would want them anymore. That was twenty years ago. And does anyone remember when they were saying that everyone was going to have a laserdisk player by 1990?
I don’t know. Maybe I’m quioxtic. I just don’t think change is as unidirectional and absolute as people make it out to be. I could be wrong, but I suspect that twenty years from now there will still be a few bookstores left, and maybe a few record stores too. The town I live in just added a new record store and another music store replaced 1/2 their CDs with a new wall of records, so maybe our town is just moving backwards in time.Report
Not Disco, pops. Disco is here to stay.Report
After reading the linked article, my main reaction occurred reading the authors claim that what he sees today points to a world where there are no celebrities.
What fucking planet does he live on?Report
I felt like he could well be right about any or all of these things. I just find it irritating, and mildly coercive when someone says, “The new way of doing X has some advantages over other ways of doing X. I prefer the new way of doing X. In conclusion, all other ways of doing X are invalid and doomed to fail.”Report