I spent most of the time I’d allocated to reading this trying to work out how the actress did that with her arms, sat here at my kitchen table attempting to make my palms-up hands parallel to the ground other than when held in front of me. I had to give it up, of course, and raced to the end only to find, with some relief, but mixed with a smidgeon of disappointment, that it was impossible. So thank you for that. And for everything else too.
On the subject of Fight Club, another big cultural touchpoint of that time was the Radiohead album Ok Computer.
"Fitter, happier, more productive. Not eating too much. Regular exercise at the gym three days a week. Getting on better with your associates, employers and employees... a pig in a cage on antibiotics."
The artwork for that album by the artist Stanley Donwood could have been lifted from a scene of that film almost- whitewashed infographics and aeroplane safety cards. My friends and I were all convinced should have had No Surprises as the song at the end, instead of Where is My Mind, which has sort of a 'lol what am I like' quality to it. "A heart that's full up like a landfill, a job that slowly kills you, bruises that don't heal".
The other thing worth mentioning is just how good the music of the film is generally, and how ubiquitously it's been reused for documentaries and TV.
I seem to remember the book was far darker and pointed, and there was far more of the apocalyptic manifesto, which in the film gets compressed into a single line about stalking deer through New York. It really prefigures the 2000s and 2010s obsession with post-apocalypse and cultural decline.
- Where Is My Mind is a fantastic song whose power has been dulled by overuse (partly due to its inclusion in Fight Club)
- Fincher’s background in TV ads and music videos means that the film looks amazing (he is a technically brilliant director) which obviously clashes in interesting ways with its commentary consumerism. What the film says and how it looks are sometimes incongruent.
- The focus on terrorism by militias is very 90s (Oklahoma bombing). And now very 10s (everything).
- It’s also very End of History. Both in Fukuyama’s fear that liberalism leads to a kind of bored nihilism. And the very US-centric nature of the story. There are no wars for these guys to go off and fight because the USA is the hegemon.
How long before the inevitable backlash about saying trans people should be seen as having privilege in certain domains such as sports and as such is deleterious for others?? You are going to get cancelled by Easter. And in case anyone questions my position I agree with you.
The more I hear about Spotify the more horrified I've become (I'm a musician). I've never subscribed to Spotify, always had an instinct that there was something dodgy about them. When my record and CDs were all stolen, I was heartbroken. There was no way I could replace them all (I had over 1,500), so when I needed to choose a streaming service, I went with Deezer instead. I had a lot of issues with Deezer about a year into my subscription, a good ten years ago, when they were looking to sell up and their customer service was non-existent. I looked into alternatives, including, reluctantly, Spotify, but of the first four albums I searched for, three weren't available! These weren't obscure albums: two were collections of Depeche Mode remixes: ‘DMR1’ & ‘DMR2’ and the third was ‘Focus 3’. The sale didn't materialize, the issues were resolved and their customer service is now excellent, second to none. I'm glad I persevered with them. For my eclectic tastes they have a far better catalogue, they pay artists better royalties and seem to be run by genuine music lovers & enthusiasts. I've even found a couple of rarities I thought lost forever: a Charlie Parker 10" EP recorded on the eve of his first a performance so moving it brought me to tears when I first heard it, which is why my dad gifted it to me. The other was an LP that I received from the French family I stayed with on my school's exchange visits: Claude Bolling et son orchestre: ‘Les Succès de Django Reinhardt’, a recording of Django Reinhard hits arranged for big band (Claude Bolling's probably best known for having been Brigit Bardot's musical director). If you're looking for an alternative to Spotify, I'd recommend them, give them a try. Actually, I recommend them anyway. Spotify need to be taught that their greed and pedalling of AI generated crap is going to cost them. If you treat your customers with contempt you deserve contempt in return.
I really enjoyed the fight club podcast. As for it's setting, it must be Delaware. Where else could you find so many credit card companies in one small place to bomb?
I still have good memories of leaving Blockbuster behind and watching all the foreign films, documentaries and nostalgic tv I wanted by renting Netflix DVDs. It’s incredible how awful it is now in comparison.
Thanks for sharing the Rumble story from NY Times. I’ve never heard of Rumble. It’s terrifying that people are relying on that platform as their sole source of news and information. Talk about sowing the seeds of fear, uncertainty and doubt. This is so depressing. It’s worse than Fox News because it seems to provide the illusion that the listener is being offer multiple perspectives as there is different reporters, journalists and featured guests. But, it’s all moving the conversation down similar rabbit holes. In reference to what is understood of narratives and neuropathways in the brain — the constant reinforcement of similar narratives is ‘hardwiring’ beliefs. It becomes much more difficult for people to engage in cognitive flexibility. As they say, “when states become traits” — rigidity begets more rigidity.
This is totally unrelated — but I just wanted to say how much I loved the Decoding the Gurus end of the year podcast with you. You’re all so hilarious together! I especially enjoyed the references to Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson at the rally. I had my headphones on while listening to the quiz you gave the guys. My husband said to me, “why are you laughing so hard? I’m trying to work!” I wish Matt and Chris were here on Substack with you. It would be great if they could translate some of their wicked humor into Substack articles because we need more irreverance and guru take down around here.
I spent most of the time I’d allocated to reading this trying to work out how the actress did that with her arms, sat here at my kitchen table attempting to make my palms-up hands parallel to the ground other than when held in front of me. I had to give it up, of course, and raced to the end only to find, with some relief, but mixed with a smidgeon of disappointment, that it was impossible. So thank you for that. And for everything else too.
I'm doing it right now.
And me - are we missing something?
Me too...
On the subject of Fight Club, another big cultural touchpoint of that time was the Radiohead album Ok Computer.
"Fitter, happier, more productive. Not eating too much. Regular exercise at the gym three days a week. Getting on better with your associates, employers and employees... a pig in a cage on antibiotics."
The artwork for that album by the artist Stanley Donwood could have been lifted from a scene of that film almost- whitewashed infographics and aeroplane safety cards. My friends and I were all convinced should have had No Surprises as the song at the end, instead of Where is My Mind, which has sort of a 'lol what am I like' quality to it. "A heart that's full up like a landfill, a job that slowly kills you, bruises that don't heal".
The other thing worth mentioning is just how good the music of the film is generally, and how ubiquitously it's been reused for documentaries and TV.
I seem to remember the book was far darker and pointed, and there was far more of the apocalyptic manifesto, which in the film gets compressed into a single line about stalking deer through New York. It really prefigures the 2000s and 2010s obsession with post-apocalypse and cultural decline.
Ha, yes, Fitter Happier would be perfect. Or Blur’s Yuko and Hiro.
- “For the score of Fight Club, Fincher, who started in music videos and was knowledgeable of the music scene, originally wanted Radiohead to produce”: https://screenrant.com/every-song-in-fight-club-movie/
- Where Is My Mind is a fantastic song whose power has been dulled by overuse (partly due to its inclusion in Fight Club)
- Fincher’s background in TV ads and music videos means that the film looks amazing (he is a technically brilliant director) which obviously clashes in interesting ways with its commentary consumerism. What the film says and how it looks are sometimes incongruent.
- The focus on terrorism by militias is very 90s (Oklahoma bombing). And now very 10s (everything).
- It’s also very End of History. Both in Fukuyama’s fear that liberalism leads to a kind of bored nihilism. And the very US-centric nature of the story. There are no wars for these guys to go off and fight because the USA is the hegemon.
How long before the inevitable backlash about saying trans people should be seen as having privilege in certain domains such as sports and as such is deleterious for others?? You are going to get cancelled by Easter. And in case anyone questions my position I agree with you.
enshittification...this word is now 'seared' into the Wernicke's of my temporal lobe...I won't be able to forget it
The more I hear about Spotify the more horrified I've become (I'm a musician). I've never subscribed to Spotify, always had an instinct that there was something dodgy about them. When my record and CDs were all stolen, I was heartbroken. There was no way I could replace them all (I had over 1,500), so when I needed to choose a streaming service, I went with Deezer instead. I had a lot of issues with Deezer about a year into my subscription, a good ten years ago, when they were looking to sell up and their customer service was non-existent. I looked into alternatives, including, reluctantly, Spotify, but of the first four albums I searched for, three weren't available! These weren't obscure albums: two were collections of Depeche Mode remixes: ‘DMR1’ & ‘DMR2’ and the third was ‘Focus 3’. The sale didn't materialize, the issues were resolved and their customer service is now excellent, second to none. I'm glad I persevered with them. For my eclectic tastes they have a far better catalogue, they pay artists better royalties and seem to be run by genuine music lovers & enthusiasts. I've even found a couple of rarities I thought lost forever: a Charlie Parker 10" EP recorded on the eve of his first a performance so moving it brought me to tears when I first heard it, which is why my dad gifted it to me. The other was an LP that I received from the French family I stayed with on my school's exchange visits: Claude Bolling et son orchestre: ‘Les Succès de Django Reinhardt’, a recording of Django Reinhard hits arranged for big band (Claude Bolling's probably best known for having been Brigit Bardot's musical director). If you're looking for an alternative to Spotify, I'd recommend them, give them a try. Actually, I recommend them anyway. Spotify need to be taught that their greed and pedalling of AI generated crap is going to cost them. If you treat your customers with contempt you deserve contempt in return.
I really enjoyed the fight club podcast. As for it's setting, it must be Delaware. Where else could you find so many credit card companies in one small place to bomb?
A suggestion for next week’s links comes from the next Substack in my inbox after Bluestocking - the particularly Scottish flavour of judicial misogyny mapped - https://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glasgow-news/map-murdered-scots-women-shines-30611969
Direct link to the Google map —> https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1IK24kE0dVolaXRZqWAb0CWosaGdS5bc&ll=55.84555044741285%2C-4.2469297692227315&z=15
That's a truly shocking read. Thanks for sharing.
I still have good memories of leaving Blockbuster behind and watching all the foreign films, documentaries and nostalgic tv I wanted by renting Netflix DVDs. It’s incredible how awful it is now in comparison.
Never have I felt so much like an unsophisticated rube as in the 15 minutes I spent trying to figure out what was terrible about Irish Wish.
Awesome roundup this week.
And after studying Lohan's arms, I cannot figure out the photoshop error haha!
Thanks for sharing the Rumble story from NY Times. I’ve never heard of Rumble. It’s terrifying that people are relying on that platform as their sole source of news and information. Talk about sowing the seeds of fear, uncertainty and doubt. This is so depressing. It’s worse than Fox News because it seems to provide the illusion that the listener is being offer multiple perspectives as there is different reporters, journalists and featured guests. But, it’s all moving the conversation down similar rabbit holes. In reference to what is understood of narratives and neuropathways in the brain — the constant reinforcement of similar narratives is ‘hardwiring’ beliefs. It becomes much more difficult for people to engage in cognitive flexibility. As they say, “when states become traits” — rigidity begets more rigidity.
This is totally unrelated — but I just wanted to say how much I loved the Decoding the Gurus end of the year podcast with you. You’re all so hilarious together! I especially enjoyed the references to Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson at the rally. I had my headphones on while listening to the quiz you gave the guys. My husband said to me, “why are you laughing so hard? I’m trying to work!” I wish Matt and Chris were here on Substack with you. It would be great if they could translate some of their wicked humor into Substack articles because we need more irreverance and guru take down around here.
Thanks! I always have fun talking to Matt and Chris.
Thank you. I’m going to make more time to read your articles. I’ve gone down a few rabbit holes myself. But, I’ll find myself eventually.
I've lived in England for 18 years. LOVED the pub story. Thanks for sharing
Yep we did Fair Play and nope it does not work when the other person doesn’t … care :-/
Irish Wish is a brilliant film and I won't hear another word on the matter!
Oh dear, I think this has convinced my Noted Romantic Comedy Enthusiast husband to watch it this weekend.
I don’t think I’ve ever disagreed out loud with a podcast as much as I did that Fight Club one - perversely, I enjoyed listening to it a lot. 🤷♂️