ON THE 14 — I like hearing about these things. It may even be a wind-up, but it makes me happy.
Have you ever heard of steampunk?
It’s a club, dance movement. Apparently. The music is goth in the US, but in the UK it’s a more pleasant mix of music hall, jazz and… punk. Try The Men That Will Not be Blamed for Nothing as a sample of it.
And the basis is a throwback to Victorian style, the industrial revolution and the values that go with all that. People dress up in goggles and pith helmets… Anything ancient and crank-shaft like.
What I like about it is that it has a socio-political explanation as well. It’s a hearkening back to ‘simpler’ times… Before quantitative easing or double dip recessions, when we could debate real issues like the proposal of that madman Darwin about the monkeys thing.
What’s not to like about that?
What is potentially of interest to people who won’t be going down to the clubs in a hurry (that’s me) is the idea that we are returning to some more small-c conservative viewpoints. That will influence company values, strategies and what people look for in their employment.
/df
Hey I thought you Canadians enjoyed clubbing (or is that just seals?)
Please forgive this awful joke but credit is due to Stuart Francis (he is a Canadian, it almost justifies it)
Not the first time I have heard it. But still well deserved. I must say I have never been invited to a seal hunt. It’s not my thing. But I can congratulate you Sean for being the 100th comment on this blog. We’ll have to think of a prize.
How do you feel about fur?
/df
David, You and Stuart (Stewart?) Francis must be in the minority of Canadians with a sense of humour (joke!) It reminds me of the time when Jerry Sadowitz (a fellow Scot) famously opened the Montreal comedy festival with the line “Hello, moose-fu#*ers” and was promptly knocked unconscious by a large guy in a lumberjack shirt.
100th comment! WOW! 5 weeks into my own blog and I was proud of 4 comments (until I realised 2 were spam!). I like the idea of a prize but not sure about fur. At the moment I tend to sneeze about fur as I’m suffering with hayfever.
Sean,
It’s actually part of a quiet Canadian plot to take over the world. If you think of any funny American you can think of… they’re Canadian. Same goes for the smart ones (Gladwell, Galbraith). But I wouldn’t want to be too jingoistic either. Most of us are descended from Scots anyway. So we’re nothing if not modest… and slightly dark.
/df
P.S. The ‘Just for laughs’ story is probably a Chinese whispers version of what happened to Richard Belzer when he made fun of French Canadians.