Nihilism and Culture

Something I'd like to do some more thinking about is the relationship between nihilism and cultural innovation. There's certainly something intuitive about the way a culture that sees no future for itself might feel free to engage in free cultural play; with no future to plan for, there is no need to be responsible and risk averse.

One obvious example is the art and music of Weimar Germany; in a visit to New York last weekend I caught an exhibition at the Neue Gallery of Otto Dix's work from that period. It's awesome, disturbing stuff. The suite of 50 etchings called "Der Krieg" is a relentless indictment of war - torn and mutilated bodies,  rotting flesh, piles of corpses at the front, with debauchery and violent sexuality behind the front lines. It's not a fun exhibition, but absolutely worth seeing. 

A more recent example is the New York City of the late sixties to the late seventies. There's a new movie, Rubble Kings, that explores the way the gangs had almost completely taken over the city by the mid-seventies. But at some point, somehow, things started to change, and the violent gangland impulses  were sublimated into the creative energies of hip hop. Here's the trailer - it looks fantastic:

especially the 50 

Authentic new york

I love photographs of New York from the seventies and eighties. The Handcaper sent me this photoessay of the NYC subway from the early eighties:

The Manhattan Cupcake Bubble

New Yorkers obsess about three things: Real estate prices, the lousy subway service, and where to find the latest novelty food. From lobster rolls to miniburgers, ramen noodles to meatballs, one of the certainties about life in Manhattan is that cool comfort food fads don't wait around for long. 

Which is why I'm surprised to see the WSJ report that one of the main drivers of the jobs recovery in Gotham is... cupcakes:

David Arrick, founder of Butch Bakery, which bakes and delivers ‘masculine cupcakes’ (varieties include Beer Run, a beer-infused concoction, and Tailgate, a salted caramel flavor) from its commercial kitchen in Long Island City, said he’s gone from a one-man to a five-person operation since opening last November. “Cupcake businesses are the paradox of the recession,” he said. “We are in a recession but yet the cupcake industry is thriving.”

How long can this go on? God only knows. But you have to wonder about an analyst who writes, seemingly with a straight face, the following:

“One segment of the industry that seems to be adding the most outlets is cupcake cafes.  This could be a fad, or not,” Barbara Byrne Denham, chief economist at real-estate services firm Eastern Consolidated, wrote in a report Thursday.

"Could be a fad, or not"? Is she serious? Thanks for this insight Barbara, let me cut you your consultant's cheque. Or would you like to take that in poutine futures?

How suburban values saved New York

That's pretty much the gist of my article in yesterday's New York Post. I like the lede graph:

Aside from the perennial concerns over real estate prices and where to find the latest novelty food, nothing causes New Yorkers more anxiety than the safety of their city. But while for ages the worry was that New York was too violent, the growing sense is that it is now far too safe. For more than a decade now, people have worried that Manhattan has turned into “Manhattanland,” an urban theme park suitable only for tourists. Worse, the relentless steamroller of gentrification seems to be steadily transforming all of the five boroughs into one giant homogeneous suburb.