These New Age practices took on the moniker woo-woo, which origi-nated in rationalists' pejorative name for pseudoscience. Such rationalist cri-tiques began to feel as outdated and shrill as the liberal triumphalism of the Obama era. With technocracy delivering nothing but a hypercapitalist econ-omy and the chaos of Trump's presidency, woo-woo emerged as a potential counterbalance. Manifesting, astrology, and other mystical practices offered not just solace but also a sense of agency. Most critically, woo-woo aligned perfectly with capitalism, as magical thinking often became a tool for build-ing profitable personal brands and working toward future fortunes

"Most critically, woo-woo aligned perfectly with capitalism, as magical thinking often became a tool for building profitable personal brands and working toward future fortunes." — W. David Marx

If the film Pavements wanted to beat into my head that I'll never ever understand what Malkmus's actual deal is, then amazing work everyone

Cool that they invented Will Poulter so there's someone to play him in a biopic

Culture that outmoded previous paradigms, even when it's centuries old, is the culture that still enjoys extraordinary value today, so yeah

Spoiler: it's carrots

Utdrag fra Blank space av W. David Marx. Om Yiannopoulous, Kanye og American Apparel-grunderen som ikke ville vært allierte før internett.

«But they could bond over their shared contempt for liberal decency».

God bok!

I’m actually not sure we can come back from “prediction markets for war crimes”, as a society. I think this might be it for us.

Rygterne om kulturens død er stærkt overdrevne - Føljeton

Til mine dansktalende venner

www.foljeton.dk/post/rygtern...

I think status and culture is coming to Portuguese but no offers yet for Blank Space

Les artistes sont-ils de moins en moins créatifs ? Dans son ouvrage “Blank Space”, dont le titre fait référence à une chanson de Taylor Swift, l’écrivain américain W. David Marx avance l’idée que nous nous trouvons aujourd’hui face à un “épuisement cu...

In France, they invite erudite professors on the radio to debate and debunk a summary of a summary of my book:

www.radiofrance.fr/francecultur...

There should be! I pitched an "Ametora of Japanese indie music" but publishers wanted Blank Space instead. I'd love to do it someday

One of the challenges of writing a cultural history of the 21st century is that you have to recognize the following reality about what people see as "culture" today

"How can he say there's no creativity when there's [a very interesting artist who is in no way a household name, which is my point]!"

I never make the claim that there's fewer creative people, just that there is less innovation *in the system* and less from the representative stars of our era

I know I brought this upon myself by writing a sprawling book, but I feel like 75% of the debates about BLANK SPACE are people arguing against a summary of a summary of what I actually wrote

I've requested multiple times!

Not to go all Harold Bloom, but the stronger artists of the next generation always reshape the history to explain their own emergence. Joy Division explained the subsequent decades of music in a way that Christopher Cross couldn't.

The Hilarious Decline of MAGA’s Brief Cultural Relevance A year ago, everyone was doing the “Trump dance.” Now the president is too scared to show his face at the Super Bowl, and the right’s “alternative” halftime show features the cringey, washed-up Kid Ro...

"The biggest story of the last year is that Trump has, in a very short amount of time, squandered most of his political capital by running a belligerent, unlawful, and fascist regime. But the second biggest is that the right has squandered all of the cultural capital his election brought them."

It took me three attempts... You have to just make it part of your life for a long time

Interestingly, a similar thesis was made by this book, though not as a positive thing: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/769187...

The author's claim was that once you equate fame/wealth with success (above e.g. artistry, insightfulness) many things go to shit.

Robin Williams came into Tokion, and was looking at a shirt and I said we also have it in other sizes and he made a very animated WHUZAA sound and gesture and then bought something and left

Thanks for reading. I don't think cultural omnivorism is a "problem" and I show throughout that it could be quite creative; it just has a logical end point that we hit in the 2020s where there's nothing left to blend that creates the same effect

Pictures of our February Literary Thursdays guests—W. David Marx, Brian Jones, Victor Luckerson, and Brianna Holt—and their book covers.

Our virtual Literary Thursdays series brings you live conversations with amazing writers.

Learn More about our February guests: @wdavidmarx.bsky.social, @brianjoneseducator.bsky.social, @vluck89.bsky.social, and Brianna Holt!

queenslibrary.org/calendar?sea...

#BlackHistoryMonth

My new book Still In A Dream: Shoegaze, Slackers, and the Reinvention of Rock, 1984-94 is out in June on @whiterabbitbks.bsky.social . It's a love letter to the music of my youth and a flashback to the most exciting time of my writing life. Pre-order geni.us/StillInADream

That's very young. My memory is that he released a punk rock album before he went to Harvard.

The only good part of the first "Melania" film is the Wes Anderson-esque opening credits sequence where they got Paul Simon to sing a cover of Paul McCartney and Wings' "Mamunia" with every instance of "Mamunia" replaced with "Melania"

What do Kanye West, Taylor Swift, Mark Zuckerberg and Donald Trump have in common?

As cultural critic @wdavidmarx.bsky.social argues in his book Blank Space, they are all representatives of a single MONOCULTURE that has taken over the planet...

Full convo HERE 👇🏻

youtu.be/d_fwbtnUr5Y

a blue background with the word chromastone10 in the middle ALT: a blue background with the word chromastone10 in the middle

meu deus o w david marx citando vampire weekend e pulp no mesmo parágrafo de análise cultural do capitalismo tardio estou assim

Have the show runners considered opening an episode with Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life" and ending it with Underworld's "Born Slippy"?

The Industry score is nice but the soundtrack declines to ever be more obscure than a high schooler's mixtape from 1998

Oh wow, how did you ever think to use Henry Purcell's Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary? Was it possiblely because it's already famous as the main theme in A Clockwork Orange?

"If you watch an episode of Cheers, you might hear references to foreign filmmakers, to classical musicians, to Russian novelists. The level of assumed knowledge back then was far greater; now, TV is rarely adventurous in its allusions."