Category: Culture

Culture by Joe WilcoxJul 19, 20139:24 am

Rolling Stone's 'The Bomber' hits target

Last night I came home from San Diego Comic-Con Day 1 to find the newest Rolling Stone open, facedown on the living room carpet; the controversial cover, with Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, stared up like Jim Morrison. I had heard about the controversy over the photo, and accusations that the magazine somehow glorified the bomb suspect, for days. So had my wife, who finished Janet Reitman’s riveting account, soon as we both settled in for the evening.

Anne never reads Rolling Stone. But the cover caught her attention enough that she consumed this one article, neglecting the New Yorker, which also arrived in the mail yesterday, coincidentally containing a smart editorial defending RS editors. She doesn’t approve of the cover, and yet it clearly was effective enough. As an editor, I must commend Rolling Stone for doing with a picture what tabloids like the New York Post or online aggregator Huffington Post does with snarky headlines: Get people to read the story.

Living by Joe WilcoxJun 17, 20136:35 pm

Beggers can be Choosers

I am at IKEA and some guy asks for change. But I rarely carry cash and tell him so. I reach in my pocket and pull out four pennies. He looks and says, “I’ll ask […]

Living by Joe WilcoxOct 15, 20126:07 pm

Our Half Decade in San Diego

Five years ago today, my wife, daughter, and I relocated to #sandiego . We came here to be close to my father-in-law, who turns 91 before this year ends. Much has changed since Oct. 15, 2007.

Society by Joe WilcoxAug 18, 20127:03 pm

Free Pussy Riot!

Punk rock roared across the globe as I started college in the late 1970s. Punkers protested their disco-loving, Baby Boomer siblings as much as “The Man”. UK punkers tapped into deep frustration among a younger population struggling for identity and future in face of global economic uncertainty.

Punk music then is much different than now. Then it was a lifestyle choice rooted in rebellion. Today, for bands like Green Day, punk, and all its garnishments, is fashionable. Mascara, colored hair, and tattoos are about fitting in to a larger, accepted social group. The real energy behind bands like the Sex Pistols is gone.

Society by Joe WilcoxJun 23, 20122:23 pm

'We Do Business the Old-fashion Way'

My fake mafia money-lending TV commercial (making a point about how attitudes have changed regarding what’s a high interest rate):

Scene opens with a handsome, greying man dressed in dark suit and tie standing by a burning fireplace, holding a glass of red wine. The hue is yellow.

Living by Joe WilcoxJan 4, 20121:40 pm

Christmas Uncommon

There’s something wrong with American culture and emphasis on the individual. I got to thinking about it today when yet another neighbor dragged another dried-out Christmas into the common area and out into the back alley—this one spewing white spray-on fake snow to go with the pine needles.

I live in a small apartment complex—nine units and delightful common courtyard. Six of the units had Christmas trees this year, all live cut. (On Christmas Eve, we put up a 3-foot fake from Walgreens).

Society by Joe WilcoxNov 23, 201011:50 am

What iTunes Really Means to The Beatles

This morning I tweeted: “I put Beatles albums in my daughter’s iTunes library years ago. Suddenly, now that Beatles are top iTunes downloads, she’s listening.” That succinctly explains what The Beatles get from the exclusive distribution deal with Apple. There are millions of Millennials who aren’t acquainted with Beatles music, and they might never be with their parents listening to it. But everything changes if their friends are Beatling.

Culture by Joe WilcoxSep 16, 20107:03 pm

Oh My Goodness

Earlier today, Michael Gartenberg, my boss from when we both worked at JupiterResearch, retweeted Pete Bernard’s “development goodness,” which linked to Sam Jarawan post “Why I love Windows Phone 7 Development.” Somebody has got to save the world from all this goodness.

Living by Joe WilcoxSep 6, 20104:18 pm

Mama Knows Where to Get the Goods

What a simply smart idea—set up outside the grocery store and collect food donations for the needy. September 5, 2010, I spotted Mama’s Pantry in front of Ralph’s supermarket in San Diego, Calif.’s Hillcrest neighborhood. on. The concept of fundraising food shoppers is so mind-boggling sensible, it’s stunning more charities don’t go to the food source—the local market.

Living by Joe WilcoxJul 23, 201011:35 pm

The Roles We Play

I am catching some down time in the Press Room at the San Diego Convention Center. Outside in the hall, Comic-Con rumbles on with a crowd I would estimate to be at least three times the size of Day One. The noise and bustle makes taking good photos or conducting video interviews difficult. So I’m shacked up with my laptop in this quiet place, contemplating what Comic-Con is all about: Role playing.

Many attendees have come here as someone else. For a day, or even a few, they take on another persona. They become someone else—perhaps whom they would rather be, but most certainly not who they are. They can be heroes and even stars, for most anyone well-costumed will be repeatedly stopped for photos. Comic-Con lets them be not just someone else but someone special.

Culture by Joe WilcoxJul 21, 20105:05 am

Does the Net Necessitate Social Media?

It’s the question I seriously ask in context of web users’ constant state of distraction and increasing inability to concentrate for long periods. Nicholas Carr’s book The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains looks at this state of distraction. I’ve blogged posts: “Internet Attention Deficit Disorder” and “Of Course, Technology Changes You.” Are people losing their minds, so to speak, only to gain another—group mind—through online social interaction?

Living by Joe WilcoxJul 20, 20104:06 pm

China's 'Unimaginable Riches'

Along the eight-hundred-and-fifty mile border with China, everybody knows someone who knows someone who has been to China, and has heard the tales of the unimaginable riches on the other side. Barbara Demick For Americans […]