Category: BAD TASTE

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EFFDAT: A REPRINT

Steven Augustine

[Ed.’s note: This is just a quickie as I prepare a more voluminous post] It was the summer of ’14 and I was in a dark, dark place when I first posted about this. I wanted to punch the virtual blob of “public opinion,” which hadn’t had decent taste, admittedly, in decades (should I blame Madonna or Torture Porn?)… but this was a devastatingly low new low:  upon what planet of tasteless, hype-governed nitwits had I been shipwrecked? All I wanted to do was go home, to the Cultural ’70s, wherewhen Experimental Lit was reviewed in the glossies and John … Continue reading EFFDAT: A REPRINT

BAD TASTE, IDIOCIES OF A PREVIOUS ME, NO LOGIC NO JUSTICE, THINKING TO THE NTH ON THE TOPIC, VIDEOBITS3 Comments

ABORTION: UP THE SLIPPERY SLOPE

Steven Augustine

1ABORTION: THE IDEOLOGY At 20 weeks the fetus is about the size of a hamster, though it’s not as developed as a hamster. At 26 weeks the fetus is teetering on the edge of being a Proto Human. Facts, common sense and nuanced thinking indicates to me that aborting an unplanned/ unwanted fetus, soon after one has discovered that one has missed one’s period (this would be the speck-to-tadpole stage) is a useful or necessary medical procedure with no moral or ethical ramifications. Aborting the “hamster” at 20 weeks would be sad or even tragic. Aborting any not-malformed, non-life-threatening fetus … Continue reading ABORTION: UP THE SLIPPERY SLOPE

BAD TASTE, HUXWELLIAN, RANCID ULTRA-CACK, SPIN FOR KIDDIES, TRAILER-TRASHINGLeave a comment

APP-ALLING: OVER THE COUNTER COUNTERCULTURE (A COMMERCIAL)

Steven Augustine

Young Indie Alt Media Star FKA Twigs appears in a Spike Jonze video, with the lacerating title “Welcome Home,” about the circular route, around the dead rituals of Capitalism’s cheese-in-the-maze worship, to schizophrenia. But can the schizophrenia be monetized? Spike Jonze, the upper class video director who specializes in the mental illnesses of Serfs, addresses this question. In the video’s conceptual top layer, a mouse (trapped in a post-Blade Runner rainscape denied even the decorative mercy of neon lights) returns to her HomePod. Where has she been? Working? Wandering the streets? We’ll never know.  “Safely” within her HomePod again, she … Continue reading APP-ALLING: OVER THE COUNTER COUNTERCULTURE (A COMMERCIAL)

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GREAT MOMENTS IN CRITICISM

Steven Augustine

Rock critic Robert Christgau (the “Dean” of American Rock Criticism) reporting on the Monterey Pop Festival of 1967: Hendrix is a psychedelic Uncle Tom. Don’t believe me, believe Sam Silver of The East Village Other: “Jimi did a beautiful Spade routine.” Hendrix earned that capital S. Dressed in English fop mod, with a ruffled orange shirt and red pants that outlined his crotch to the thirtieth row, Jimi really, as Silver phrased it, “socked it to them.” Grunting and groaning on the brink of sham orgasm, he made his way through five or six almost indistinguishable songs, occasionally flicking an … Continue reading GREAT MOMENTS IN CRITICISM

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MONSTERS in (de)BASEMENT

Steven Augustine

Wow. I remember this show from when I was a kid; I remember finding the guy who played the Thurberish character frightening. This is so full of Wrong that it’s toe-curling, but was there a sinister purpose to it? Maybe it’s just an ill-advised hodgepodge of the writer/ director’s distorted POV. Maybe the curdling overlap between Old School Misogyny, and the double-thinking PC that came after,  spawned weird monsters. It was 1969, after all. The star of the “sitcom” announces several times that he “hates women” (go to 8:36) and that he hates his ten-year-old daughter, too. Cue: laugh track…! … Continue reading MONSTERS in (de)BASEMENT

BAD TASTE, CORPSE-GREEN CAT SHIT, ELEPHANT IN THE ELEVATOR, FAILED STATE OF THE ART, FUCKING SHIT I REALLY REALLY HATE, SHIT LIT, the lash or the cuddle: reviews, THE WAR ON TALENT, THINKING TO THE NTH ON THE TOPIC2 Comments

THE CLOAK ‘N DAGGER PENTAMETER: a review of Paul Beatty’s THE SELLOUT and a look at several other shitty books and why they’re Hyped

Steven Augustine

The well of culture has been poisoned with propaganda. It may not be as lethal as a literal well-poisoning but it is as sickening. Culture is now, essentially, the liquid that happens to be flowing through the pipes of The Media. It is no longer grounded in, or determined by, local conditions (via community gatherings, bands, local art movements, word of mouth, samizdat and any other low-budget repositories or propagators of Culture). The Media are global tools of their various powerful owners, obviously, and though these many powerful owners each have agendas of their own, and are probably more often … Continue reading THE CLOAK ‘N DAGGER PENTAMETER: a review of Paul Beatty’s THE SELLOUT and a look at several other shitty books and why they’re Hyped

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MILLENNIALS, PUH-LEASE

Steven Augustine

You’re kidding again, right? Right? You’re joking…. you’re pulling my leg… I know when I’m being pranked!  The good old Gaslight, eh? Eh?  Eh? Yep! Har! Good one!  Gooooood one. Hilarious, in fact. You really had me… uh… you really had me going there for… uh… for…. uh… hahaha….. [… chews hand off… ]   No, but, seriously…. what sort of Era is this….? Continue reading MILLENNIALS, PUH-LEASE

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TRYING TO SCRAPE THE BOTTOM OF A BOTTOMLESS BARREL AND DROWNING IN CAT SHIT INSTEAD

Steven Augustine

  Today I checked Soundcloud. Everyday  I check Soundcloud, I see a new track with thousands of “likes” and hundreds of thousands of listens and I assume these blockbusters are sappy-sweet and/or pornographic auto-pop with metronome beats , so I ignore them. Today I was curious. I clicked the first one I saw. I couldn’t believe how repulsively talent-free and idiotic it was. It made me want to spit blood-soaked chunks of my tongue at the screen. It was bad on a level I  wasn’t prepared for and couldn’t have predicted… and I’m usually pretty good at predicting how bad … Continue reading TRYING TO SCRAPE THE BOTTOM OF A BOTTOMLESS BARREL AND DROWNING IN CAT SHIT INSTEAD