The latest post from my imaginary friend Philalawyer (in the latest sign that Western Civilization is swirling around the the great drain of irreversible decline, his book is out in paperback, btw, and is just the perfect stocking stuffer for a young child or your grandmother) -- Books You Might Enjoy Reading, Part I -- mentions one of my favorite books by one of my favorite writers: "Class" by Paul Fussell. In addition to telling Jackson that he is a High Prole by birth, "Class" indirectly gave Jackson and his ilk the moniker of Generation X.
Short version -- in his book, after his semi-serious/semi-tongue in cheek dissection of class in America, Fussell describes the new ideal class, the X class, which will drink Bud from a can while listening to Chopin on a Walkman after having sex in the afternoon. (I paraphrase.) In short, Fussell was talking about a group that would recognize the markers of class and the consciously disregard said markers, and pick and choose the best from each.
Fussell's paean to dope smoking at the polo match with a bong made from my grandmother's Hummel figurines reportedly inspired some Canadian dude to write a book (a book that I will re-read, now that I think about it) and thereby name my juh-juh-juh-generation.
Fussell is also a war hero who detests the glorification of combat, wrote an amazing book about WWI ("The Great War and Modern Memory"), and who (rightfully, in my opinion) defended the use of nuclear bombs to end WWII in "Thank God For The Atom Bomb."
Monday, November 30, 2009
Friday, November 27, 2009
When Black Friday comes
Howdy.
What have I been up to?
1. Well, I had a trial a couple of weeks ago. It was a bit of an unusual case for me in that I was not representing The Man. I won (of course!), though I didn't get the moon and the stars I pleaded for in closing, my eyes filled with tears and my voice thick with outrage. The Man is taking it up on appeal. A waste of time, I think -- the basis they are stating has a very high threshold. Whatever. I fricken beat them.
2. My trusty laptop had an unfortunate encounter with the laws of gravity. Sadly, the is one loss under the law that is Not Appealable. So, I bought a new one via eBay, and am very happy.
3. I had a pretty cool Halloween, which was quite unexpected.
4. Something bad happened. I won't post it here because of outability concerns (remember those?), but it sucked, albeit more for others than it did for me.
At any rate, my Thanksgiving Resolution is to write more, and since this is my outlet to the public (such as my reading public is -- hi, Mom!), this place will -- assuming the resolution is kept -- have a few more posts, which will come a little more often.
What have I been up to?
1. Well, I had a trial a couple of weeks ago. It was a bit of an unusual case for me in that I was not representing The Man. I won (of course!), though I didn't get the moon and the stars I pleaded for in closing, my eyes filled with tears and my voice thick with outrage. The Man is taking it up on appeal. A waste of time, I think -- the basis they are stating has a very high threshold. Whatever. I fricken beat them.
2. My trusty laptop had an unfortunate encounter with the laws of gravity. Sadly, the is one loss under the law that is Not Appealable. So, I bought a new one via eBay, and am very happy.
3. I had a pretty cool Halloween, which was quite unexpected.
4. Something bad happened. I won't post it here because of outability concerns (remember those?), but it sucked, albeit more for others than it did for me.
At any rate, my Thanksgiving Resolution is to write more, and since this is my outlet to the public (such as my reading public is -- hi, Mom!), this place will -- assuming the resolution is kept -- have a few more posts, which will come a little more often.
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