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From: Heather Marie Propes <asbuch@midway.uchicago.edu>

And yet, the whole subject of mullets, white trash, and bad taste in general brings a larger problem to the surface for me, that is, who is in charge of defining bad taste?

why do you seek or need someone in charge of defining standards of taste for you? I ask this as someone who was indoctrinated

into the study of art history during its flirtation with "poststructuralism," when you were taught to feel guilty if you asserted that you actually liked a Flemish painting better than a work by an untaught American folk artist, or a work depicting dogs playing pool on a piece of velvet (excuse the kitschy, trendy examples) because, after all, the divisions between "high" and "low" culture, have supposedly been obscured in the postmodern era.

why do you pay people to indoctinate you or teach you guilt? And yet, when you dare to assert that

something reveals bad taste, you get a whole host of people calling you a snob and suddenly you don't feel so liberal anymore. This is a true dilemma for me, because I like to think of myself as a liberal and a fairly open, cosmopolitan person. Yet, I believe that there are certain distinctions. How can these be justified? How can you not sound like a snob?

Heather

Hmmmmmm.....perhaps one could start by not throwing around pejurative classist snob put downs like "white trash" while snickering and giggling at haircuts you don't find hip enough. Sorry, but it's one thing to simply wander off topic, and another when that thread devolves into a bunch of squishily privileged student types ridiculing those that don't have the leisure to coast through life getting makeovers and new hairstyles every three months while collecting Pulp b-sides. So the haircut looks foolish to you. Great. Hopefully they are in turn laughing along at the realm of chumps buying magazines, heading into salons, replacing last years "Friends" hair cut with this year's "Ally McBeal." Hey, I know. Let's hear something about Belle and Sebastian...... The band made their recent American tour laminates out of black and white stills from "Leningrad Cowboys Go America", the hilarious film about the Finnish (?) bands misadventures across the U.S. Sarah designed them, with the title "Belle and Sebastian Go America." Looper are releasing a full length album/cd on Sub-Pop next spring. Sub-pop seems to be carving out a niche releasing off shoots and side projects of interesting bands, as they will tentatively also be releasing a full length by Music Tapes which is Julian's Neutral Milk Hotel off shoot. If anyone on the list hasn't checked out Neutral Milk Hotel's records yet, they are worth your while. "On Avery Island" from 96 is mostly 4 track fuzz folk, this year's "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" is cleaner and yet still an entire world to get lost inside. Merge puts them out here in the States while the recently collapsed Blue Rose label in England issued them in the UK. +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list please mail "sinister@majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo@majordomo.net". For list archives and searching, list rules, FAQ, poor jokes etc, see http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +---+ "legion of bedroom saddo devotees" +---+ +-+ "the cardie wearing biscuit nibbling belle & sebastian list" +-+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+