Superficial subversion.

"Are you excited to move to New York?" I have recently come to dread this question as much as "So, what do you want to study?" (see: High School Graduation). Not because I'm NOT excited. Oh yes, I've been waiting almost two years for this moment. I'm just too tired to show you my overflowing excitement. Trust me. I am the most excited person you know.

I've had a bout of the wide-awakes at 3 am recently which is really fine. Seriously! I love working at 3am because I'm wide awake. I need to find a way to empty my brain before bedtime. Like in Harry Potter- I need a pensieve to extract the thoughts, the forever To Do lists, the workplans-movingplans-lifeplans.

Today, all of it- the exhaustion and the stress manifested physically in my body; just in the crook of my neck.

I was explaining Pilates to a few coworkers today and my reasons for why I cannot take Pilates ever again. The 70-year-old ladies farting was just too much.

This morning I listened to the All Songs Considered podcast featuring music producer Joe Boyd, who is responsible for musicians like Nick Drake and probably a whole iPod worth of music you've heard before. The man is simply profound in his spot-on analysis of music then and music now without being condemning to either era (the 1960s vs. present music culture). He has a new book out now and I am looking forward to picking it up soon.

He read the final paragraph from the book, which ends on a rather doom-and-gloom note, but what stuck with me the most was his assessment that the music industry has created music which is superfically subversive (hence, the title of my post). And with those words came a flood of clarity. Superficially subversive. It makes me really question what, if any "mainstream" art is truly subversive? Are we as people capable of being genuinely subversive or provoking? I have my doubts because its subversive to make witty commentary about hipster chic, which is being mass produced in a...you guessed it, superficially subversive way.

"But do you believe in something beautiful? Get up and be it." -Ted Leo

You may not like his music, but he's one of the most intelligent, thoughtful artists out in the world right now. I would highly recommend his interview in The Onion's AV Club from a few weeks ago.