What are the classics of the 21st century thus far?

did you guys ever read my classic post on the first paragraph of The Corrections:

every once in a while i pick up the corrections and every time i look at the first paragraph it stops me dead in my tracks. and stops me from ever reading the book.

"The madness of an autumn prairie cold front coming through. You could feel it: something terrible was going to happen. The sun low in the sky, a minor light, a cooling star. Gust after gust of disorder. Trees restless, temperatures falling, the whole northern religion of things coming to an end. No children in the yards here. Shadows lengthened on yellowing zoysia. Red oaks and pin oaks and swamp white oaks rained acorns on houses with no mortgage. Storm windows shuddered in the empty bedrooms. And the drone and hiccup of a clothes dryer, the nasal contention of a leaf blower, the ripening of local apples in a paper bag, the smell of gasoline with which Alfred Lambert had cleaned the paintbrush from his morning painting of the wicker love seat."

this paragraph drives me a little crazy and the whole northern religion of things comes to an end. firstly, i REALLY want to know how apples ripening in a bag add to the "madness" and "disorder" of an autumn prairie cold front. secondly, i ALWAYS imagine that the storm windows are actually IN the bedrooms. Like, they are all on the bed shuddering. Though, that at least does imply some sort of madness. Thirdly, is the "gust after gust of disorder"...wind? Do empty rooms and yards free of children somehow add to the "madness" of a cold front? if there are leaves and acorns and ripening apples it can't be THAT cold yet. Are leaf blowers and clothes dryers ominous symbols of mother nature's fury? And are the trees smoking a lot of cigarettes and pacing a lot? What exactly makes them "restless"?

― scott seward, Wednesday, April 11, 2012 7:28 PM (9 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think we'll be alot more cool about videogames in the future, and some stuff will be regarded as classics that laid the ground for whatever futuristic entertainment we do end up with.

then Fizzles came along and knocked it out of the park:

I don't know, I feel the problem may be obscurely connected with wanting to do this:

The madness of the trees ripening in the mortgage of a minor light. You could feel it: gust after gust of disorder. The cold front restless in the sky: something terrible was going to happen. The sun low on the autumn prairie, termperatures falling, storm windows shuddering in empty bedrooms. No red oaks in the yard here. The children rained acorns on houses with no gasoline. The nasal contention of a clothes dryer, the drone of a leaf blower, paper apples in a local bag, the autumn prairie coming to an end. A cold front lengthened on yellowing zoysia. The smell of the whole northern religion of things with which Alfred Lambert had made morning love to the wicker seat after a paintbrush. HIccuping.

― Fizzles, Wednesday, April 11, 2012 8:24 PM (9 months ago)

this too. still drives me bonkers:

and even when i browse at random i find things like:

"It's the fate of most Ping-Pong tables in home basements eventually to serve the ends of other, more desperate games."

It's like one of those wise and pithy Tolstoy quotes...except....really? IS that the fate of most Ping-Pong tables in home basements? Maybe I hang out in the wrong prairie towns.

― scott seward, Wednesday, April 11, 2012 7:31 PM (9 months ago)

it'll all be in my book: Franzen Line By Line

right, now we just need CDWM voiceover dude to read that out

Freedom is even worse with that bullshit

http://www.nypost.com/rw/nypost/2012/08/23/news/web_photos/23.1N019.jesus3.C--300x300.jpg

_Think I'm probably with Scott tho - people will maybe point to the great US TV from the last decade and a bit. They certainly should - it seems to have the same grand ambitions and energy to achieve them of much that tends to be put in the masterpiece category. Easily outranks film in that respect._

Even if I like what I've seen I find that kind of talk insufferable really.

really? that surprises me slightly. wait, if I meant "film from the same period" (which is what I meant) is that any different?

I feel this period is a golden age for TV (bit strong maybe) comparable to the golden ages of film - popular, clever, imaginative, daring. Film during this period doesn't feel that strong to me. Mind you I did spend an awful lot of time since 2000 going to see films like Charlie's Angels II Full Throttle so maybe I get what I deserve.

Cloud Atlas- yes definitely.

Come Dine With Me is better than Franzen.

"The nasal contention of a clothes dryer" sounds like a clueless guy making fun of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."

tbf Celebrity Love Island was probly better than Franzen

guys EVERYTHING EVER is better than franzen

there, we can move on now

the anal contention of strongo

i mean don't get me wrong i'm always in favor of franzen-bashing in any form

that whole opening graf from the corrections reads like what a broken computer might spit out if you fed it a cormac mccarthy novel and a nicholas sparks novel

It's a mild Saturday afternoon, I'm trying to avoid the Anita Brookner novel on my table scowling at me, and I'd like some antifranzenation on this thread.

i have like a stack of books to get through that's almost as tall as i am, and instead i am seriously thing self-abusing thoughts like going to the library and trying to read freedom again

wait, don't get confused, franzen's nasal thing was a leaf blower. fizzles made it into a clothes dryer.

fizzles reimagining of franzen so much better. i really wish he would do the whole book. the re-corrections according to fizzles.

man Scott that first graf is just dire. How did this book become famous? It was entirely due to Oprah, right?

_Think I'm probably with Scott tho - people will maybe point to the great US TV from the last decade and a bit. They certainly should - it seems to have the same grand ambitions and energy to achieve them of much that tends to be put in the masterpiece category. Easily outranks film in that respect._

Even if I like what I've seen I find that kind of talk insufferable really.

really? that surprises me slightly. wait, if I meant "film from the same period" (which is what I meant) is that any different?

Thought you meant film from the same period in the first place as you're talking about US TV "from the last decade and a bit".

I think I've had about a dozen or so really awesome experiences at the cinema, mostly foreign*. Its challenging not just in what it talks about, but the way it does in narrative terms. HBO or whatever still restricts that, it needs something seemingly comprehensible and immediate. Also because of censorship a lot is said about how cable shows can show whatever but they often revel in this to the extent of overdoing it.

For TV this is all great, but I don't know I still think the audience knowing who the killer is before Columbo gets to him...its all in that line as much as a break with the past into a more advanced future.

Know this doesn't equate to 60 hours but the quality is def there.

* Charlie's Angels (can't remember which exact one, been years) had so much energy and fun and excitement, record needs to be set straight on that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OBlgSz8sSM

Iirc there was a lot of pre-publication hype about the Corrections because Franzen, an "experimental" writer, had written an essay in Harpers arguing for a return of the age of the big social canvas realistic novel. Turned out that tv did that kind of thing better than he could.

and he had no idea what social realism meant either

david foster wallace is the stone temple pilots to franzen's yo la tengo.

don't worry that doesn't make sense.

i just think of grunge and alt-rock when i think of these guys.

chabon the only one out of the imaginary group of people that i always lump together that i have really enjoyed. and he came first. really dug mysteries of pittsburgh and the short story collection. at the time they came out anyway.

so okay anyway you got lynch, malick, japanese animator dude, pixar, and the cloud atlas. what about genius painters? where did they all go? remember art galleries? i vote for betsey peyton cuz i used to get stoned with her when i was a kid.

oh and music-wise, i could make a long list of metal albums and experimental/electronic/electroacoustic/noise albums that i think are works of art and masterpiece-y upon request.

Let's not forget that "classic" actually means "5% of people have read/seen/whatever it, everyone knows how to make jokes about the famous bits". All submissions to include an apposite knock-knock joke from the year 2150, please.

lots of south park episodes

Let's not forget that "classic" actually means "5% of people have read/seen/whatever it, everyone knows how to make jokes about the famous bits".

you know any Mayor of Casterbridge jokes?

amanda palmer's mini-ukulele-opera got MORE to the core point of connection and crowdfunding and money and energy and art and love than jonathan franzen

cue the slate piece about how kickstarter has not yet funded a "classic" anything

Kickstarter funded the comic book Satan Is Alive! A Tribute to Mercyful Fate. It's a stone cold instant classic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9KMgg7T_sg

http://www.metrojolt.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/2011Kaputt.jpg

I think we'll be alot more cool about videogames in the future, and some stuff will be regarded as classics that laid the ground for whatever futuristic entertainment we do end up with.

Everything Katamari has made the world a more beautiful place.

Tom McCarthy's Remainder, as mentioned above, leaps to mind as "destined for classic" status.

There Will Be Blood too.

Safe choices there.

Jaime Hernandez's current work will probably stand as a whole, the patch of Ghost Of Hoppers thru The Love Bunglers - that's another safe conservative bet, but Jaime is one of the greatest artists (in every sense) alive, a genuine monument.

WRT Chris Ware - "Lint" and that sci-fi story, both in the "Rusty Brown" cycle, are contenders. "Lint" will leave you breathless.

21th-C Classics:

Half-Life 2
Saints Row 3
GTA: San Andreas
Red Dead Redemption
Fez
Rez
Ico
Shadow of the Colossus
Journey
the Walking Dead
Civilization 4

i agree w/ exactly one of those

barcelona under guardiola

Wanted to float Jonathan Strange And Mr Norrell out there as a potential candidate.

hahaha what, that thing is so forgettable

I have forgotten essentially every detail about that book

you won't forget it when I drop it on yr head

adventure time
la mala educacion
scott pilgrim (film)
film socialisme
inland empire

i didnt really like pulphead but its v possible i was literally stoned everytime i tried to read it. theres some piece abt him going 2 a churchy bonaroo or s.thing? it's really not good iirc