Pop Culture
From X to Y: Tracking the Evolution of Gen Y Consciousness Through Music
Mar 27th
One of the things we are trying to investigate with this blog is the question, who are we? And because all of us writing on this blog are 30 or under, we’ve naturally been interested in what it means to be Gen Y– how the time period and cultural context we’ve grown up in have shaped the way we see and live in the world than someone who was born earlier.
One of the most illuminating ways to look into who we are as a generation that I’ve found is through music, so I thought I’d give you my take on the evolution of Gen Y consciousness through the popular rock music of the last 20 years. This is just the beginning, but hopefully it will open up some larger questions about who we are as a product of Gen Y culture. Read the rest of this entry »
The Fresh Prince of Self-Mastery
Feb 6th
I always knew that Will Smith was a great actor…and a pretty good musician too. I’ve also always admired the positive down-to-earth spirit that he conveyed on and off camera–a rare quality among Hollywood megastars. But I never knew what made the Fresh Prince so fresh until this week when I came across this video compilation of TV interviews with Smith in which he waxes eloquent on his spiritual philosophy towards life. He’s a true self master. Check it out: Read the rest of this entry »
MGMT on The Youth
Dec 12th
Starting as a little-known college band, MGMT made it big when their alternative single, “Kids,” became a pop hit, followed by the even more popular “Electric Feel.” Hailing from hipster-loving Brooklyn and my liberal arts alma mater, Wesleyan University, their super-catchy songs are a great expression of what the most-progressive, well-educated Americans are thinking and singing about right now. Here’s an interesting song that transmits their perspective on the culture and youth of today — I think the mix of irony and optimism is definitely worth some commenting. It’s an interesting contrast with the blog Tom Huston just posted on Lily Allen.
Lily Allen & the Gen-Y Condition
Dec 3rd
Many Americans haven’t heard of the young Gen-Y pop singer Lily Allen, but my British compatriots tell me she’s huge in the UK–right up there with that other poster girl for the state of our generation, Amy Winehouse. I discovered her a few months ago and still find her song, “The Fear,” simultaneously highly catchy and slightly disturbing. See the lyrics here. Check it out below:
Lily Allen – The Fear from Alex Gilbert on Vimeo.
(If you can’t play this vid in your country, try searching your local YouTube affiliate.)
Clothes Make Amen
Oct 5th
Junior year in high school, before I formally came down with the spiritual dis-ease, a Tibetan monk came to visit my class to talk about religion. When asked why he shaved his head and bore robes, the monk responded as if he was describing a prerequisite for embarking on the spiritual path: “So I’ll be ugly.”
Several years later, fully infected and on the search, I spent several months at an American Zen Center where I had the opportunity to talk with several Westerners who had taken on the role and life of a traditional monk. One day the topic turned to hair: “Why is it that Buddhist monks shave their heads, while Christian and Hindu monks tend to let all of their hair grow long?” I asked. “Well, they’re just different ways of letting go of who you think you are and caring what you look like. Some may grow long beards but you would never see them wearing a goatee or mustache” he replied. Read the rest of this entry »
Evolving the YouTube Generation
Jul 11th
This past Friday I interviewed Jason Silva and Max Lugavere, two 27-year-old producers and co-hosts of Current TV, the Emmy-award-winning cable network started by Al Gore in 2005 that has since become the fastest growing network in TV history. Picked out of hundreds of applicants, Silva and Lugavere have become the faces of the network, a role that earned them a reputation as pioneers within the emerging movement of web-enabled “citizen journalism” and “user-generated-content” the potential of which has been made so clear with the Iranian election protests. Read the rest of this entry »
Why We Need to Compare Ourselves to Others
Jun 19th
This past weekend, I watched Kobe Bryant win his fourth National Basketball Association title as his team, the Los Angeles Lakers, defeated their opponent, the Orlando Magic, four games to one in a best of seven series. While the victory was definitely a team effort, Bryant, who was voted MVP of the play-offs, stood out above the rest, not only for his incredible performance, but more significantly for the maturity and leadership that he demonstrated throughout the arduous 100+ game journey that led to the championships.
To be honest, I have never been a Kobe fan. For most of his career he has exhibited a kind of brash arrogance on the court that has often repulsed both his opponents and his teammates and his controversial escapades off the court have won him little praise in the public eye. But something was different about him in this series. Read the rest of this entry »
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