Back East
My return from Tejas has been accompanied by a riot of green out back--or maybe that's just the contrast with the, um, rather grey-brown expanse of the Permian Basin--and a comment by Matt Yglesias about the death of Alex Chilton.
He notes that he first learned about Chilton and Big Star because of the Replacements' song "Alex Chilton."
And he notes further than he learned of the Replacements because of They Might Be Giants' "We're the Replacements."
To Yglesias, this is a sign that everything feels like a copy of a copy, but spuffyduds noted that it could have gone further. Suppose he'd only learned about They Might Be Giants from the movie They Might Be Giants?
But of course that movie is a copy of a copy, as it concerns a madman (played by George C. Scott) who believes he's Sherlock Holmes and convinces his lonely psychiatrist Dr. Watson (played by Joanne Woodward) to join him in solving a case. So Yglesias could have learned about that by reading either the original Holmes stories or the tale TMBG is clearly updating: Don Quixote de la Mancha.
Let's assume it was the Holmes stories, though. Then Yglesias could have learned about Holmes by the references provided in Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's pomo extravaganza The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and have learned about Moore from his work on Captain Britain, and have learned about Captain Britain from reading Spider-Man comics, and have learned about Spider-Man comics from seeing Spider-Man 3, and have learned about Spider-Man 3 from seeing Topher Grace (Venom) on That 70s Show, and have learned about That 70s Show because of Cheap Trick's theme song, "In The Street," and have learned about that theme song because it was originally done by...
Alex Chilton and Big Star.
I think that defies the laws of causality, but of course there is no law west of the Pecos.
He notes that he first learned about Chilton and Big Star because of the Replacements' song "Alex Chilton."
And he notes further than he learned of the Replacements because of They Might Be Giants' "We're the Replacements."
To Yglesias, this is a sign that everything feels like a copy of a copy, but spuffyduds noted that it could have gone further. Suppose he'd only learned about They Might Be Giants from the movie They Might Be Giants?
But of course that movie is a copy of a copy, as it concerns a madman (played by George C. Scott) who believes he's Sherlock Holmes and convinces his lonely psychiatrist Dr. Watson (played by Joanne Woodward) to join him in solving a case. So Yglesias could have learned about that by reading either the original Holmes stories or the tale TMBG is clearly updating: Don Quixote de la Mancha.
Let's assume it was the Holmes stories, though. Then Yglesias could have learned about Holmes by the references provided in Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's pomo extravaganza The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and have learned about Moore from his work on Captain Britain, and have learned about Captain Britain from reading Spider-Man comics, and have learned about Spider-Man comics from seeing Spider-Man 3, and have learned about Spider-Man 3 from seeing Topher Grace (Venom) on That 70s Show, and have learned about That 70s Show because of Cheap Trick's theme song, "In The Street," and have learned about that theme song because it was originally done by...
Alex Chilton and Big Star.
I think that defies the laws of causality, but of course there is no law west of the Pecos.