ABC FeedsRebel Wilson tight-lipped ahead of giving evidence in defamation trial
The Hollywood star is being sued for defamation in the Federal Court by Charlotte MacInnes, who plays the lead actor in Ms Wilson's debut directorial film The Deb.
Panorama of the MountainsBook Review: Blank Space by W. David Marx
Author: W. David Marx
Title: Blank Space: A Cultural History of the Twenty-First Century
Narrator: Frits Zernike
Publication Info: Books on Tape, 2025
Summary/Review:
Living in a college town, I often find myself in crowds of students and noticing that they dress pretty much the same as when I was in college in the early 1990s. With some exceptions like the rise of athleisure making yoga pants casual wear, the everyday fashions of young adults was frozen 30 years ago. Which is strange, because of you look at photos of young adults from the 1920s to 1990s, the fashions vary widely between decades and even within a decade. Similarly, the 20th Century saw the emergence of new musical styles every few years but arguably no new genres have been born since the 1980s. This is not to say there isn’t good music, and a lot of artists are doing interesting things across genres, but a lot of pop songs from 2025 sound like they could’ve been released in 2000 and vice versa.
I was hoping this book would give me some insight into this flattening of culture. My experience is that this book is a good if sometimes exhausting litany of twenty-five years of pop culture, a litany of music, fashion, reality TV, and internet culture. But I don’t find myself always agreeing with Marx’s analysis of what created this culture. He does make a good point about artists being omnivores, thus the creative mashups and remixes of existing culture. But he also calls 21st century culture a “monoculture” when I find that cultural touchpoints are actually more fractured than in the 20th century. His examples of monoculture include frequent references to things I’ve never even heard of, like the Bathing Apes clothing line. I suppose though that it is harder for niche cultures to remain niche thus not allowing subcultures to persist.
The book is very depressing in its analysis, particularly charging the millennial generation with compromising with consumerism (a harsh analysis in my view). He frequently cites the philosophical battle of poptomism versus rockism. Now I previously understood poptomism as appreciating that popular music, even silly love songs, can still be good art while rockism insisted only white dudes with guitars were worth listening. But according to Marx, rockists are artists with ____ values who don’t sell out, while poptomism is assigning value to pop cultural artifacts solely based on their financial success. Marx also chronicles how right wing politics evolved within this cultural milieu. Conservatives when from “stuffed shirts” to selling themselves as cool and transgressive, an unfortunately successful counter-counter-culture in some sectors of society.
Overall, I think there’s a lot of interesting details in this book that can provoke further discussion even if I’m not always on the same page as Marx. In the introduction, Marx admits that his observations are limited to the United States and the fields of his specialties. But even within that framework, there’s a lot more to be said about 21st century culture than can fit in a single narrative.
Recommended books:
- Major Labels: A History of Popular Music in Seven Genres by Kelefa Sanneh
- How Music Works by David Byrne
- Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression by Jacques Derrida
Rating: ***
#21stCentury #Audiobook #BookReviews #Books #History #PopularCultureW. David Marx
<p>W. David Marx is a writer based in Tokyo. He has written three books. Blank Space is a cultural history of the 21st century. Ametora is a cultural history of American fashion in Japan. Status and Culture is a look at how culture works and why it changes centered around the fundamental human desire for status.</p>
Yuritopiaposadism [none/use name]Joe Rogan Claims School Tried To Indoctrinate His 5 Year Old Into Being Antiracist
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🌊 #wokeThis is another great video by @jessiegender about how #PopularCulture and #politics intersect to reflecf t a general ideological mindset. In this case, she makes the point for the lack of #politicalImagination in both modern #storytellimg and political discourse, as so many people aspire to simple order and predictability, which make them more susceptible to believe that there is nothing beyond the borders of #capitalism and #liberalism. #anarchy #solidarity
"Anti-Fascism" is the Leftism of Fools
ResearchBuzz: FirehoseAssociated Press: Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny top Spotify’s first all-time most streamed artists list. “It’s her, hi! Taylor Swift has topped Spotify’s first ever list of the most streamed artists of all time, published Thursday morning. She’s followed by Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny. That comes as no surprise: In 2025 the artist born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio was named the […]
https://rbfirehose.com/2026/04/23/associated-press-taylor-swift-and-bad-bunny-top-spotifys-first-all-time-most-streamed-artists-list/
Associated Press: Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny top Spotify’s first all-time most streamed artists list
Associated Press: Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny top Spotify’s first all-time most streamed artists list. “It’s her, hi! Taylor Swift has topped Spotify’s first ever list of the most streamed art…
Actor suing Rebel Wilson agrees bath incident was 'strange and bizarre'
By Isobel Roe
A young actor suing Rebel Wilson for defamation has given details in court about an incident at Bondi Beach, which she claims the Hollywood star has since mischaracterised.
Champoloo [he/him]Streamer 'Troll' Johnny Somali Found Guilty on All Counts, Sentenced to South Korean Prison Labor Camp For Public Nuisance Crimes
The AI & Culture area at SWPACA invites proposals on anything related to AI — as tool, cultural phenomenon, creative force, or subject of scholarship. All perspectives welcome; civility expected. Human presenter required.
Submit: https://swpaca.org/app | Deadline: April 27, 2026 | Contact: [email protected] #DigitalHumanities #CFP #AcademicMastodon #AIStudies #PopularCulture
Submit: https://swpaca.org/app | Deadline: April 27, 2026 | Contact: [email protected] #DigitalHumanities #CFP #AcademicMastodon #AIStudies #PopularCulture
Singer 'D4vd' arrested on suspicion of murder seven months after police in Los Angeles found decaying body of teen girl in trunk of his car
SorosFootSoldier [he/him, they/them]Hey you still haven't even shown us a photo of said pilot or their name and you're already making a fucking MOVIE out of it?!
