Sinister: SNOB=NO B&S?

[3]

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>From: Heather Marie Propes <asbuch at xxx.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.  
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