{"id":3130,"date":"2010-07-14T06:54:07","date_gmt":"2010-07-14T14:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/?p=3130"},"modified":"2010-07-14T06:59:30","modified_gmt":"2010-07-14T14:59:30","slug":"one-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2010\/07\/14\/one-day\/","title":{"rendered":"One Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

So I’m sitting at the kitchen table, my feet atop it, searching for enough light to read my Kindle, thinking that this book has become generic, that it’s disappointing me and then…<\/p>\n

Did you get that e-mail today?\u00c2\u00a0 The page everybody’s passing from Boing! Boing!, about the making of 10cc’s "I’m Not In Love"? <\/p>\n

\n
The Making of 10cc’s melancholy ’70s Moog hit, "I’m Not in Love"<\/a><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I’m not in love with that song, but I’m a huge 10cc fan.\u00c2\u00a0 I heard "Clockwork Creep" on Sirius XM yesterday and it made my day, that someone else remembered, knew too.\u00c2\u00a0 Anyway, if you watch this video you’ll be impressed with the effort, the attempt to build something good and satisfying.\u00c2\u00a0 That doesn’t seem to be the goal these days, people just want to get famous and rich.<\/p>\n

Rich.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s another thing that was addressed in "One Day"<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 How you reach a certain age and realize that’s where you are, you make peace with your surroundings, your economic status, you’re happy, assuming you’re in a relationship.\u00c2\u00a0 Are you in a relationship?\u00c2\u00a0 Or are you hobbled by your idiosyncrasies, convinced the lonely life is satisfying as you secretly yearn for companionship, and connection?<\/p>\n

I didn’t start with "One Day"<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 I caught up on the newspapers first.\u00c2\u00a0 Two days worth.\u00c2\u00a0 Of course I read the highlights, the headlines online, but I was looking for the peripheral stories, the ones that make all the difference, like the one in yesterday’s "Times" about compilation Websites, like the HuffPo.\u00c2\u00a0 The new one is Techmeme. <\/p>\n

\n
Techmeme Offers Tech News at Internet Speed<\/a><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I had the idea of doing one of these years ago, so it makes me feel good the concept is being verified.\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, I do feel left out, but is my core mission money or art?\u00c2\u00a0 Am I a writer or a businessman?<\/p>\n

Maybe you’re both.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe that’s the conundrum of life.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re everything in this imperfect world that’s become ever so much more incomprehensible.\u00c2\u00a0 You struggle to make sense of it, and you can’t.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe that’s the younger generation’s advantage, they know it’s not supposed to make sense, that you can’t see everything and know everything and that it’s more about your core social group than individual achievement.<\/p>\n

And this was all an intro to writing about Jennifer Egan’s "A Visit From The Goon Squad".\u00c2\u00a0 Can’t recommend it. Recommendations have to be so good that everyone will stick through the enterprise to get to the sweet, sticky center.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’re recommending something, it had better be instantly gripping, or you’ll endure the backlash.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, don’t you know?\u00c2\u00a0 We’ve all got standings in our head, of credibility.\u00c2\u00a0 Push too many losers, push too much stuff at all and we start to ignore you, you’d have to lay fallow for years and come up with a killer rec for us to start paying attention again.<\/p>\n

So I’m not recommending "Goon Squad", even though the framework is the music business.\u00c2\u00a0 But if you want to take a chance, the plot twists and the insights will creep you out and thrill you.<\/p>\n

But that’s not really why I’m writing about it either.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m writing about it because of the two chapters at the end, where Egan writes in the future.\u00c2\u00a0 Or, as we used to say about Frank Zappa records, "How did he (she) come up with this shit?"\u00c2\u00a0 With one chapter done completely in PowerPoint.<\/p>\n

All a long-winded story to tell you that we talk about that which takes risks, which pushes the envelope, to quote Chuck Yeager. Dr. Luke?\u00c2\u00a0 Katy Perry and "California Gurls"?\u00c2\u00a0 What’s there to say, they created a confection for radio play.<\/p>\n

But Jennifer Egan…\u00c2\u00a0 She truly tried to do something different, she was shooting for the stars and there’s plenty to discuss.<\/p>\n

I’ve had my Kindle for a little over fourteen months.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve read over forty books.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s the digital era for you, change the format and we consume more.\u00c2\u00a0 Doubt me, just look at music.\u00c2\u00a0 People might not be paying, but they’re listening.<\/p>\n

And now I’m way off point.<\/p>\n

The point is the way David Nicholls described what happened to a character in "One Day"<\/a>, 88% of the way in, was so good that I was shocked, so good just like the elements of "I’m Not In Love".\u00c2\u00a0 Egan triumphed, she tests limits and creeps us out all the way through, Nicholls loses the plot sometimes, or it’s too much about plot, the structural device.\u00c2\u00a0 But when we experience truly innovative thinking, it stops us in our tracks.\u00c2\u00a0 Doesn’t matter if it’s books, movies, music, painting or sculpture.\u00c2\u00a0 The truly great shocks us and has us asking, HOW DID THEY COME UP WITH THAT?<\/p>\n

That element has been lacking in mainstream music and films for far too long, no wonder they’re declining. \u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Because it’s all about wonder.<\/p>\n

We want a smile on our face.\u00c2\u00a0 We want to kick back and look at the ceiling, thrilled to be alive.\u00c2\u00a0 We want you to dig down deep and show us what you’re made of, shoot for the head and heart instead of the wallet.<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So I’m sitting at the kitchen table, my feet atop it, searching for enough light to read my Kindle, thinking that this book has become generic, that it’s disappointing me and then… Did you get that e-mail today?\u00c2\u00a0 The page everybody’s passing from Boing! Boing!, about the making of 10cc’s "I’m Not In Love"? The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,5,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","category-online","category-the-media"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-Ou","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3130"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3132,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3130\/revisions\/3132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}