I Mean Really

Jude Law, as Alfie

My 300$ blazer is too big. I figured that out after watching Jude Law sport some of the best male fashion I have seen in a film since I watched The Life Aquatic last spring. I was lying in bed last night, eating a 200g bag of chips, drinking a 1.3L Super Big Gulp, and watching the critically detested remake of Alfie. I wanted to watch the old one starring Michael Caine, but of course the video store that I go to, the only one that will still rent to my delinquent ass, has little respect for classic cinema. So it was Jude Law or nothing, and it was well worth whatever shortfalls the film may or may not have had. Besides, I was too busy drooling over Alfie's perfectly tailored 2000$ jackets and Paul Smith shoes to really care if the movie was good or not. The credits rolled around 10:30, and I felt so inspired by all that dandy behavior that I brushed all the potato chip crumbs off my bed, hopped in the shower, put on my best shirt, and rode my bike out to the nearest bar. And just who should be sitting there, but Leroy, Remington, Eliza, Saturnino, and Velda.

It was Saturnino's birthday, and shots of Jagermeister were consumed at a dizzying pace, along with double whisky sodas, my drink of choice this summer. Leroy had mentioned that he had read my blog, and had looked at some of my online profiles; I love online profiles. He then proceeded to launch into a passionate, sobering, and eloquent soliloquy about how online culture is simply another vehicle for the spectacular nature of mass consumerism, and pop culture references that are based on elitism rather than actual experience. He seemed particularly amazed and disgusted by the story of my meeting, and eventually having sex with, a woman who was taken with one of my profiles on the net; in which I stated that I like to ride my bike with flip flops on.

Leroy was right, and it launched an intense debate as to where the real begins, and the fronted persona ends. I countered with the point that online culture emulates life, that meeting people online is no different than meeting people in the real world. You create a persona, one that is designed to attract,
and it's a vicious game of constant assessment. I make no bones about the power pop culture wields in my life, but I do accept and understand its evils. I would rather play with it, rather than fight it. The masses consume, and they will always win.

So there I was, I had just watched Alfie, and was sipping my whiskey, minding the blonde across the room in my outfit that was designed to impress, but the blonde wasn't biting. Instead, her older friend looked over and smiled, and I turned the other way. It's a nasty game.

Know what I mean?