Sep
20
Links on Culture for September
Beer cooler status symbols, wet putty cars, and how #oldmoney isn't very Old Money
The last few months have seen
4 min read
Latest
Sep
02
21st Century Culture: Boring or Static? (Or both?)
Whether the 21st century ecosystem of pop culture is suffering from stasis is a separate question from whether its output
5 min read
Aug
22
My New Book: Status and Culture
A sneak peek into my new book that links individuals’ fundamental desire for social status to the formation of taste,
4 min read
Jul
21
Notes on Our Tasteless Era
Recent journalism, criticism, and social media posts suggest a surge in bad taste across art, fashion, and media. What does
7 min read
Jun
23
Vanilla, Peaches, and All the Other Lesser Smells
The scientific search for fundamental human taste preferences is commendable but our "evolutionary instincts" can't explain the full complexity of
4 min read
Jun
08
The Sociology of John Mayer’s Outfit Guidance
John Mayer's "point-system" for balanced creative dress reveals a few key
realities about how culture works
Guitarist and songwriter John
4 min read
May
26
Future Sounds: Cheap Gear and Easy Samples
Does the democratization of electronic music tools change how we hear the
sounds?
Like many others in the late 1990s,
5 min read
May
11
Art versus commerce in the NFT Era
With no more "art for art's sake" nor "selling out," we have landed upon a new
resolution in the long
5 min read
Apr
28
Notes on The Nineties
Thoughts on Chuck Klosterman's The Nineties: A Book and the lived experience of
the Nineties, a particular decade
I. Remembering
6 min read
Apr
01
What is Culture? Part Seven: Summary and Bibliography
Wrapping everything up, with a few clarifications and some suggestions for
further reading
We started with a near-impossible mission: Define
3 min read