Franchise

Next single to be "Do You Wanna Go to a Tapas Bar Later?"

Can I just say that while the ironicization of the internet continues apace, taking arms against that sea of overwrought sarcasm and snippiness is a guileless faction that I will call Get to the Pointiveness, or GP.*

GP is to snark what Hemingway was to Melville: a good-natured "Whatever, I'll be at the beach." Compare an old-guard columnist with an up-and-coming one on a subject like the economy (which apparently has something wrong with it). First, Maureen Dowd, Op-Ed columnist for the New York Times.

In a move that would have made his mentor, Robert Rubin, proud, Geithner beat back the populists and protected the economic royalists. The new plan offers insufficient meddling with Wall Street, even though Wall Street shows no sign that the hardscrabble economy has pierced its Hermès-swathed world.

I am not rich enough to know what Hermès is supposed to be. An iodine solution? Anyway, Ben Cohen, British ex-pat and boxing journalist living in LA, has a much less ironic, GP-esque tone.

There is much evidence to show that nationalization wouldn't be that difficult (while there are many banks, the big ones are responsible for the majority of the problems), and it would be far more democratic than allowing CEO's we've never heard of controlling how our money is spent. While American culture is currently different to the more socialist prone Europe, there is no reason why it can't revert to the Keynesian economics that pulled it out the great depression 80 years ago.

Even the heyday of intrigue-laden advertising, targeting increasingly jaded consumers, has drifted into what is essentially tautology. A very GP Facebook ad I just saw runs,

If you loved Adam Goldberg in 2 Days in Paris, you may love his music, LANDy. Or maybe you won't! Featuring Flaming Lips' Steve Drozd.

The real kicker for me, though, was taking a look at the Billboard Top 20. Today's hits skew to the direct, if not indiscreet. Katy Perry's "Thinking of You", Soulja Boy's (feat. Sammie) "Kiss Me Thru the Phone," Lady GaGa's (feat. Colby O'Donis) "Just Dance," and my favorite, Kelly Clarkson's "My Life Would Suck Without You."

This is good for the soul, I think. There's such a thing as too much irony, after all.

*VOS!

Le monde littéraire se trouve dans un état de sarcasme perptuel depuis quelques années. Cependant, il y a un mouvement (quoique naissant) qui répudie ce ton hautain et essaie de convaincre les lecteurs à travers du langage simple et des arguments sincères. En particulier, les pubs sont de plus en plus directes. "Si le filme 2 Days in Paris de Adam Goldberg vous a plû, peut-être que vous aimeriez son album, LANDy, aussi. Ou peut-être pas !" Même dans le monde musical, les chansons ont des titres de plus en plus francs. Kelly Clarkson, la première vedette de la Star Academy amricaine, a sorti un single entitulé "My Life Would Suck Without You (La vie serait merdique sans toi)". Succinct, n'est-ce pas ?

日本文化には少ないんですけど、ここ数年英語圏のメディアには皮肉が流行っていると思います。ブロッグや社説などには物事をそのまま伝えたり、理論を素直にしたりしません。風刺ばかりです。でもそういう傾向に対してもっと簡単な言葉遣いが普及している気がします。広告も例外ではありません。今後のCMなどが消費者の衝撃を狙っていると思いますが、今日目にしたのはもっとシンプルでした。

「もしあなたが『パリでの２日間』というアダム・ゴルドバーグ監督の映画がお気にいたなら、彼の音楽も聴けばお好きになるでしょう。まあ、聴いても好きじゃないかもしれませんけど。」

そして、こういう簡単化が音楽界にも広がっている模様です。ケリー・クラークサンの「君がいなかったら私の人生がくだらなかった」という歌が大人気があります。ポプ歌というとやはりそういう気持ちが普通ですけど、こう直接に表現するのが珍しいのではないか。