What single work of creation would you remove from the world?

[Beebo]

The most obvious: https://cosmicshambles.com/ninelessons and https://www.sundayassembly.com/story. Explicit attempts to recreate "church" without God.

Going away from the obvious (for those of us who live in a country with a Christian-based culture) - most religions have prophets and holy texts, and a priesthood who are the only people with the arcane knowledge necessary to interpret those texts - and usually ways for the ordinary person to attain that knowledge. They often also have founding figures who had the initial revelation, a shared set of stories - often ones about the founding figures which the founding figures might find a little surprising, and foundations and institutions set up to spread the word. All of this contributes towards a sense of community, either expressed through regular meetings or through self-definition as different from other groups of believers.

Prophets: Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchins, Daniel Dennett
Holy Texts: The Origin of Species, The Blind Watchmaker, The God Delusion, God is not Great, Why God does not Exist
Priesthood: Anyone with a PhD in a science-based subject who is willing to stand up and talk about religion, often without a great deal of knowledge of the subject.
Ways to attain that knowledge: degrees in science
Founding figures: Galileo Galilei, Charles Darwin
Stories: "Eppur si muove", Darwin delaying publication of Origin of Species, supposed silencing of atheists, "Religion is the source of all evil", "Religious wars have been deadly"
Foundations: Dawkins foundation, Humanist associations, Rationalist association, Secular Society
Self-definition as different: I refer the honourable members to the refrain throughout the thread...

Ever get the feeling you have wasted your time?
I don’t think Dirk was really interested in your answer after all.

 

[Dirk]

Ever get the feeling you have wasted your time?
I don’t think Dirk was really interested in your answer after all.

I wasn't.
Still, it kept him busy for a few minutes.

 

[jefmcg]

Catching up ...

The Big Brother pilot or whatever it was that sold C4 on investing. By destroying that single artefact the nation would be saved decades of shoot and shitty spinoffs, TOWIE, Celebrity This Or That, et al would never have existed.

I applaud this idea, but I don't think reality TV could be stopped. There was a show on Australian TV very much like Big Brother in the 90s. The residents went to work each day, but had to be at home in the evening. Interactions were filmed, and included in some bigger program. I don't believe it was a progenitor of BB, but it kind of shows that if BB hadn't been made, someone else would have made something similar, and we'd still be where we are today.

And the Peking State Opera.
How did I manage to fall asleep listening to that lot banging saucepans together

Without the Peking Opera, then no Peking Opera School, and without that we would never have got the works of Jackie Chan and Samo Hung amongst others. It has to stay.

Because I don't like it, I think it is all Crap, it's not singing, it's not music, I don't understand it, people like it good for them.

Please watch this, then tell me you don't think it's music (repost)

View: https://youtu.be/LBSuwa8mf9o?t=60

Is it The Philosophers Arms?

No. Obviously I'm the only one who listens to The Slate Culture Gabfest.

Traditional weddings.

I think if we get rid of Queen Victoria, we'd loose a lot of the wedding crap. Can I regard a monarch's reign, rather than the person, as a cultural artefact. Oh, yes, it's my thread. I can!

I believe the word "footy" is a home counties affectation used by people who like to present an image of being down with the people.

This is footy:

I would, it must be said, lament the loss of Jackie Brown.

IMHO, Tarantino has made two good films, Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. Jackie Brown marks the beginning of his fall. One of the few ties I have fallen asleep at the cinema.

------
OK, all caught up.

 

[petek]

Hangovers

 

[Beebo]

Catching up ...

OK, all caught up.

Will you be revealing the answer from the podcast soon?

 

[jefmcg]

Will you be revealing the answer from the podcast soon?

The Slate Culture Gabfest

 

[John the Monkey]

IMHO, Tarantino has made two good films, Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. Jackie Brown marks the beginning of his fall. One of the few ties I have fallen asleep at the cinema.

His genius may be that he's so divisive, even his detractors are split. Reservoir Dogs is just so mannered - the sort of film one's younger cousin might make, if he were given a few million for good mock GCSE results. I've not seen Pulp Fiction in a good while, but remember it being filled with a similar number of people talking to each other like people do in films - chronological innovations aside, I can't say I'd look forward to a rewatch.

 

[nickyboy]

His genius may be that he's so divisive, even his detractors are split. Reservoir Dogs is just so mannered - the sort of film one's younger cousin might make, if he were given a few million for good mock GCSE results. I've not seen Pulp Fiction in a good while, but remember it being filled with a similar number of people talking to each other like people do in films - chronological innovations aside, I can't say I'd look forward to a rewatch.

It's interesting that (I think) we agree that Ex Machina is a wonderful film, but we seem miles apart on Tarantino, at least on Pulp Fiction and Hateful Eight

The comment upthread about Beijing Opera reminded me.....I just can't get to terms with this at all. But there are worse forms of Chinese Opera than Beijing; Sichuan and Guangdong. They are horrendous and I don't know a single Chinese person who likes them. I think I'd rather listen to Death Metal than these

 

[CharlieB]

Just going to add to the rap music debate, because I'd really appreciate an answer to the question I'll pose at the end of this (rant).

I've spent a lot of years commuting by bike through North and North-West London. Over that time I've heard a lot of rap music and its sub-genres pouring out of cars.
All I've picked up is that it's angry, hate-filled, misogynistic, inter alia.
As I work for a community radio station, I do have to keep my ear to the ground with regard to current music, and enjoy most genres (I bought over 50 albums of new music last year).
I acknowledge that artistes like Kanye West and Stormzy regularly garner 4 and 5 star reviews, Wiley got an MBE in the NY honours for his contribution.
Believe me, I have listened to some of this material to try to understand the critical appeal.
All I'm hearing is music carrying the adjectives I've used above.
When a friend on Xmas day explained to me after lunch that rap music was poetry, I was a little puzzled, to say the least. How hard can it be to rhyme 'mutha#####r' with 'sucker', or 'bi##h' with 'witch'?

So what am I missing?

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Please watch this, then tell me you don't think it's music (repost)

I don't think it's music,

 

[AndyRM]

@CharlieB

That's gangsta rap. One of many, many genres.

Check out... Tricky, Wu Tang Clan, Jurassic 5, Saul Williams for a totally different experience.

ETA The Beastie Boys.

 

[pplpilot]

Just going to add to the rap music debate, because I'd really appreciate an answer to the question I'll pose at the end of this (rant).

I've spent a lot of years commuting by bike through North and North-West London. Over that time I've heard a lot of rap music and its sub-genres pouring out of cars.
All I've picked up is that it's angry, hate-filled, misogynistic, inter alia.
As I work for a community radio station, I do have to keep my ear to the ground with regard to current music, and enjoy most genres (I bought over 50 albums of new music last year).
I acknowledge that artistes like Kanye West and Stormzy regularly garner 4 and 5 star reviews, and believe me, I have listened to some of this material to try to understand the critical appeal.
Wiley got an MBE in the NY honours for his contribution.
All I'm hearing is music carrying the adjectives I've used above.
When a friend on Xmas day explained to me after lunch that rap music was poetry, I was a little puzzled, to say the least. How hard can it be to rhyme 'mother#####r' with 'sucker', or 'bi##h' with 'witch'?

So what am I missing?

Absolutely nothing. I also think it's utter shite. I can't stand it In the same way I can't stand 'Modern jazz' that to me sounds like a load of pots and pans in a tumble dryer with a 2 year old standing next to it blowing into a recorder. Shite.

 

[AndyRM]

A few others now that my brain has woken up... De La Soul, Drapht, Biz Markie, KRS-One.

Plus if you don't like the gansta lyrics you can usually get instrumental versions, I'd recommend anything by Dr. Dre or RZA for those.

 

[John the Monkey]

It's interesting that (I think) we agree that Ex Machina is a wonderful film, but we seem miles apart on Tarantino, at least on Pulp Fiction and Hateful Eight

The comment upthread about Beijing Opera reminded me.....I just can't get to terms with this at all. But there are worse forms of Chinese Opera than Beijing; Sichuan and Guangdong. They are horrendous and I don't know a single Chinese person who likes them. I think I'd rather listen to Death Metal than these

Possibly of interest, if you've not heard it before - the Filmspotting podcast revisit Reservoir Dogs;
https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/filmspotting?selected=FLM9705784809

(One presenter is a Tarantino fan, one a Tarantino sceptic).

 

[John the Monkey]

A few others now that my brain has woken up... De La Soul, Drapht, Biz Markie, KRS-One.

Plus if you don't like the gansta lyrics you can usually get instrumental versions, I'd recommend anything by Dr. Dre or RZA for those.

We should also probably point out that what Stormzy and Wiley do is Grime, which is a vibrant, homegrown form - whilst I recognise the critiques further upthread, there is an emerging trend of sorts for a "conscious" grime - even the examples thought less so will touch on victimisation by the Police, whilst artists like Ghetts have written about larger societal injustices. Stormzy has pointed out that artists within the "classic rock" canon have sung about drugs and women (without particularly wholesome attitudes toward the latter) without the sort of censure that rap and grime artists receive. (Which doesn't make those attitudes right, of course).

Nipping back to hip-hop/rap for a moment, Lowkey's "Ghosts of Grenfell" is one of the most moving things I've heard in a few years, part tribute, part memorial, part protest song.