Alright, as many of you know I’ve been on a big END IRONY NOW ! kick.
Last night, I read an article my good friend Tammy wrote for the Examiner which was about my statements about irony “being on it’s way out”. I suggest you all read the article. I enjoyed it and agreed with Tammy’s thoughts which has prompted me to further explain my “post-ironic” ideology.
Just like Tammy, I do believe irony is one of the essentials of life. I find it incredibly entertaining, humbling and enjoyable in my every day life. I see it all the time and I love it. It inspires me on a regular basis and comprises the majority of my artistic endeavors and pleasures.
For example, yesterday Sabah, Brett and myself went to out for lunch. One of my biggest pet peeves in the entire world is when I finished eating fifteen minutes ago and my empty plate is still in front of me- taunting me, teasing me, reminding me of the smorgasbord I just stuffed through my gluttonous face that is now churning in my stomach. It disgusts me to no end and just makes me want to leave a horrendous tip for the shitty service- another pet peeve of mine. Anyway, so I’m starting to get antsy about the sixteen plates on the table and how they’ve been empty and untouched for at least eleven minutes and how the god damned waiter has walked by at least eight times and no one has taken these voracious reminders out of my fucking face when the waiter FINALLY decides it’s time to take them away.
He takes all of them… EXCEPT MINE.
WTF.
Okay, see now that is an example of natural irony.
And natural irony is good irony. You see, no one told the waiter to not clear my plate. He didn’t hear me say I hated when my plate wasn’t cleared. Just for some unknown reason he did not take my plate. That’s funny. That’s the kind of thing I write down in a notebook for safe keeping until I can insert it into some project I’m working on. That is a natural comedic device of the universe’s and I love it, appreciate it and hold it dear to my heart (however frustrating staring at my empty vermicelli bowl the size of Dodger stadium was). Natural irony reminds me I’m exactly where I need to be in life. Natural irony is what makes life fun. Natural irony comprises important pieces of this puzzle we call life and we need it to grow as people and to remember not to take everything so damn seriously, including ourselves.
Now the problem is that we have been living in an era of contrived irony- where people do things because it’s “funny” or “unexpected”. It’s using irony as a trend. It is annoying because it is happening at the will of some hipster who is trying to make a statement of some sort. I now expect everyone to be wearing what my parents were wearing twenty years ago. I expect you to wear that holiday sweater in March. I expect you to carry a briefcase even though you work at Out of The Closet. I expect you to have a stupid mustache that didn’t look good in ’85 and doesn’t look good now. I expect you not to shower and I expect you to quote obscure songs in every day conversation and I expect you to act a lot sleezier than you are and I expect to see your titties on HRO.
YOU DON’T SURPRISE ME.
Contrived irony IS on it’s way out. It NEEDS to be on it’s way out. Because contrived irony only distracts us from real irony- the kind of irony that is sparkling and inspiring. The kind of irony reminds us all to have a sense of humor. The kind that reminds us that there is something beyond ourselves connecting us all. The kind that reminds us that we’re human.
Turds on LastNightsParty wearing sunglasses at night and bow ties and ripped stockings and hearing aids … not so much.
Natural Irony = Seinfeld.
(Art inspired by satirical situations in life.)
Contrived Irony = Silverlake.
(Bullshit created by degenerates trying to differentiate themselves.)
I support Practicality & Natural Irony in ’09.
As well as Tammy blogging on the Examiner.com.
And you should support these things too.
