The Geecologist

Charmaine Champagne

• Author: The Fiery Furnaces

| Category Toons

Of all the excellent songs on 2009’s I’m Going Away by The Fiery Furnaces, this has to be one of my favourites. Punchy guitars, upbeat and a juicy chorus. Love it!

Tags: champagne, charmaine champagne, jukebox, the fiery furnaces

Read more | Comments (0) | February 25, 2010

Washed up photography

• Author: The Geecologist

| Category Img

Here are some lovely shots of flotsam and jetsam washed up on beaches.

Tags: debris, flotsam, jetsam, oceans, photographs, sea, washed up

Read more | Comments (0) | February 24, 2010

The Comfort of Things

• Year: 2008
• Author: Daniel Miller

| Category Truth

The big fear is that as modern life becomes more ‘modern’ and empowering, it actually fragments society into mere isolated individualisms and loses any sense of purpose or order.
Attempts to combat this have included:

• Nationalism, trying to draw people together under the shared auspices of their relation to a nation (works particularly well in wartime).
• Communism, bringing people together under a global ideology of equality of labour.
• Modernism, bringing people together under a common search for progress.

The liberal market is a threat to society as it reduces us to individuals who merely express ourselves to the degree that we choose a particular commodity. Although perhaps we could be united by the ideological commitment to the market itself?

Tags: communism, daniel miller, equality, fragmentation, liberal market, market, modernism, nationalism, society, the comfort of things

Read more | Comments (0) | February 18, 2010