tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10506214.post111529610140028966..comments2024-01-23T13:41:41.463-05:00Comments on The Forager Blog: The Boundaries of GeekdomJon Hastingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01030406521787423155noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10506214.post-1115898030415242172005-05-12T07:40:00.000-04:002005-05-12T07:40:00.000-04:00i tried leaving the following comment at your old ...i tried leaving the following comment at your old blog, with reference to a post about comics and opera - sorry to fill up your comment space with something not relevant to todays post.<BR/>paste)<BR/>As someone who collects comics as well as hosts an opera program, I found your analysis to be relevant as well as fairly accurate, with the following exception: <BR/>*quote*If anything, contemporary opera could learn a thing or two from comics, especially of the super-hero variety: make bold, colorful choices and celebrate larger-than-life heroics; take inspiration from the lowest of junk culture as well as the most cutting-edge science and technology (a la Warren Ellis' Planetary, for example); don't try to be taken seriously, in fact, shun any and all attempts at cultural respectability and academic relevance.<BR/>*endquote*<BR/><BR/>Considering that one of the more recent opera premieres was an opera based on the "Jerry Springer Show", I think it is safe to say that the opera world is heeding your call. The cartoon South Park devoted an entire episode to opera, and although opera still has "snob cachet" (which makes me crazy) it is still around, although most people only hear it is television commercials now.<BR/><BR/>As an aside, I would recommend spending some time on the opera-l newsgroup if you want to see people motivated by nostalgia. There is CONSTANT discussion about the singers today can't measure up to X,Y, and Z from the past...<BR/><BR/>anyway, great post.<BR/>WOD<BR/>(endpasteOpera Galhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15794049741942246401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10506214.post-1115312737018710802005-05-05T13:05:00.000-04:002005-05-05T13:05:00.000-04:00David,I think you're right to draw distinctions, b...David,<BR/><BR/>I think you're right to draw distinctions, but I think its only fair to recognize the many similarities between these kinds of work. As for the "outsider": well, sometimes it can be good to see fan culture from the outside. It can help to put things in perspective.<BR/><BR/>More later,<BR/>JonJon Hastingshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01030406521787423155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10506214.post-1115311010830470622005-05-05T12:36:00.001-04:002005-05-05T12:36:00.001-04:00uh, I don't *know* about that...god, I need sleep!...uh, I don't *know* about that...<BR/><BR/>god, I need sleep!<BR/><BR/>DaveExpos 1983 Blog https://www.blogger.com/profile/10798243137456349089noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10506214.post-1115310974300903532005-05-05T12:36:00.000-04:002005-05-05T12:36:00.000-04:00well, see, I don't about that... do you have to be...well, see, I don't about that... do you have to be a music geek in order to be able to diffentiate between a punk and a metal aesthetic? these things might all sound like noise to the proverbial "outsider", but why grant that outsider any authority? isn't the point of criticism to draw meaningful distinctions? again, the main reason I am interested in drawing this particular distinction is that I think that, where these texts are concerned, there's been entirely too much "lumping together" done already... my ongoing point, I suppose, is that superhero comics (with notable exceptions--i.e. Morrison & Gruenwald especially) have drifted (thanks, in large part, to "geek broadcasting" which reached its apotheosis with the hiring of Raimi to codify the "outsider's spider-man") from something analogous to punk (in the 60's and 70's) toward an "fanboy" aesthetic reminiscent of heavy metal/the WWF (from what I gather when I hear about the Conventions and read message boards!)<BR/><BR/>one thing I really want to explore (arising from the discussions that Rose Curtin initiated a few weeks ago) sometime soon is the "fanboying" of superhero comics... I'm convinced that it is directly linked to the rise of the direct market...Expos 1983 Blog https://www.blogger.com/profile/10798243137456349089noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10506214.post-1115308982113209672005-05-05T12:03:00.000-04:002005-05-05T12:03:00.000-04:00Kill Bill has -- toy tie-ins??? I guess that doesn...<I>Kill Bill</I> has -- <I>toy</I> tie-ins??? I guess that doesn't really surprise me, because it is that sort of movie.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com