uh.. I'm bored so I'm going to keep writing...

Apr 04, 2005 20:23

SOME QUOTES THAT REMIND ME OF ME:

"Stand up wherever you are, go to the nearest window and yell as loud as you can, "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore."
Peter Finch in "Network

"That so few now dare to be eccentric, marks the chief danger of the time. "
John Stuart Mill, 1806-1873, British Philosopher, Economist

"The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud. "
Coco Chanel

"The nail that sticks up will be hammered down."
Japanese Proverb

"Except in a few well-publicized instances (enough to lend credence to the iconography painted on the walls of the media), the rigorous practice of rugged individualism usually leads to poverty, ostracism and disgrace. The rugged individualist is too often mistaken for the misfit, the maverick, the spoilsport, the sore thumb. "
Lewis H. Lapham, 1935-, American Essayist, Editor

"I never know why these people talk to me. I would not talk to me. "
Michael Moore

"I passionately hate the idea of being with it; I think an artist has always to be out of step with his time. "
Orson Welles

"I'm not the public. "
Lauren Bacall, on being told that a store was not open to the public

DID YOU KNOW??
In pre-revolutionary France, "prode femmes" were proud, wise, virtuous women. It was a respectful and flattering term. By the time "prude" showed up in the English language in the early 1700s, however, there was nothing kind about it anymore.
Women, it turned out, could be TOO wise, too proper--for men's liking, at least, especially if it meant they weren't interested in sex.
"Prude" has been used ever since--not just in English but German and French too--against people perceived as uptight, usually women with proper manners or conservative ideas about sex (although now men are called "prudes" too).

THE HISTORY OF PUNK
The style and attitude of punk rock--mohawks, anarchy and leather jackets--are what most people think of when they use the word "punk." But back in 16th century England, a "punk" was a prostitute.

By the 1920s, "punk" had developed into a slur for men who were the willing or unwilling submissive sex partners of other men in jails. As punks tended to be on the younger side, the word's meaning morphed into "juvenile delinquent." When the '50s rolled around, people hurled the term at young, leather-jacketed street toughs and hot-rodders.

In the 1970s, "punk" was co-opted by two young New York fanzine creators who welcomed the notion of being considered delinquents. They wrote about the new music that was emerging in reaction to the monster rock that ruled the airwaves, and named their zine "Punk." The music--from bands like the Ramones, Blondie and the diverse set of "street rockers" that coalesced around New York's CBGB--came to be known as punk, too.

From New York, "punk" music spread to England, where it became associated with the politics of anarchy and developed an aggressive aesthetic sensibility, thanks in no small part to the Sex Pistols. Punk became a revolt against conventional life and politics as well as music. This is where the classic punk look developed--safety pins, torn clothing and dyed, spiked hair--as an in-your-face attack on the mainstream.

These days, "punk" refers to a look, an attitude, an ethos, a style of music or a person who seems to espouse any of these. It can be hurled as an insult to label someone as degenerate or antisocial, or it can be worn as a badge of pride. Beyond that, however, the definition of punk has become confused (it can be a pretty touchy subject) because of its commercialization and the development of so many kinds of punk music and communities: racist skinheads, non-racist straight-edge skinheads and crusty punks, just to name a few.

For more about punk as an art movement, check out Greil Marcus' "Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the Twentieth Century" and for more about the birth of the music scene, see "Please Kill Me: the Uncensored Oral History of Punk."
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