Thursday, May 05, 2005

The Odd Musings of Mrs. Nickboy

Hi All!

This is kind an "inside" post that might not make sense to alot of you, but I am stirred to write this morning by something I saw in the St Paul Pioneer Press.

The local blogging community makes great sport of pointing out the idiocies of Minneapolis Star Tribune columnist Nick Coleman, who's eBay handle is "Nickboy." I know, because he outbid me on a 100-year-old brass VIP ticket to the Grand Opening of the State Capitol.

Hi wife, Laura Billings, writes for the St Paul Paper. Not as fun to tease as Nickboy, just a dreadful and annoying writer.

Today she opens her column with this literary gem:

"Our dental care is better. Our french fry technology is much improved. And, "American Idol" notwithstanding, so is our taste in pop music. (My italics.)

Wha?

A shopworn cliche' followed by a strange comparison, ending with an incomprehensibly ridiculous conjecture.

As Bowie sang, "O god I could do better than that!"

Just for example, try "Our fries are better than their chips." Not the greatest prose not necessarily true, but better to her point.

But as subjective as musical taste is, I wonder where Laura has been for the last 4 decades? both sides of the pond have ruled the pop music world, but which continent gave us the British Invasion, Punk Rock, Combat Rock and U2? Many of the old bands are still productive and there is a new wave consisting of great song craftsmen like Blur.

We could all make our own lists -- I just scratched the surface to argue her contention.

It's moot anyway, because the charts tell us that current tastes in music are equally abysmal on both sides. Rap and Hip Hop, Hip Hop and Rap. Bloody 'orrible.

The rest of the piece made the good point about the British election cycle being much shorter and more substantive than our political marathons. But the opening paragraph subverted everything that followed.

Thank god she's on pregnancy leave half the time, so precious ink can be spilled on something worthwhile.

Cheers!

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