Pompeii at the kiosk

[imomus]

Well, here I am on the subway wearing my Chinese ear protectors and reading European Cultural Policies 2015, a collaboration between Iaspis, EIPCP and åbäke. I'm not exactly invested in my American environment, am I? I've got my flight back to Berlin on May 26th, and after that I'm participating in a group show at London's Blow de la Barra gallery, then spending the rest of the year writing some weird fake music encyclopaedia for a French publisher (and of course releasing my "friendly album" Ocky Milk in August).



I haven't watched any American TV in my time here (I've been chilling with Chibi Maruko Chan and Shimura Ken tapes at Hiroko's Place, my favourite Japanese Cafe in SoHo, instead), but I do get glimpses of the American soul. Down here on the subway, for instance, there are kiosks selling American magazines. Not the ones I read (Metropolis, Cabinet, The Onion) but the ones, you know, normal Americans read. People who aren't Eurotrash visiting for biennials.

So today I thought I'd just scan the headlines on some magazine covers I photographed in a kiosk window yesterday, and see what kind of glimpse they provide into the American soul. These are just partial titles and headlines, stacked fragments, shards of a culture. I have no idea who the celebrities are. I try to think of this stuff as Pompeii-style disjecta, and piece together what the culture producing it must be like... and what it'll be like in 2015.

1. Gaming mag: The Outfit: ze Germans vill not easily be defeated.

2. Music mag: The Roots: love them now. Mobb Deep: the sound of revenge.

3. Mothering mag: With two new babies, two movies and a wedding, Mo'Nique has the last laugh. Why weight doesn't weigh her down. Gabrielle: why her marriage failed. Ne-Yo: he's nobody's puppet.

4. Maxim: Looking for trouble? Jamie Lynn Sigler, a soprano to die for. No pain, no gain, The Coach Who Loved to Torture.

5. XXL: Shots fired. Friend killed.

6. Slam: The next big thing: Greg Oden is about to own the game.

7. Men's fashion mag: 400 stylish items guys need for spring. "I'm happy being sexy" meet Alpha Dogs Olivia Wilde. Eminem and Obie Trice talk rehab and getting shot.

8: The Sound: Off the chain! DMX on Jay-Z, Irv Gotti and his own drama. Does the dog still have bite? PLUS: Ice Cube laughs last.

9: Sm? magazine: Winky Wright puts out a hit on the boxing game.

10. The Illest K? mag: Rochelle Aytes rides 'em rough!

11. Vibe Vixen: 141 ways to let your natural beauty shine. Fake dates, how to avoid them.

12. Vibe: Busta: the untold story. Rihanna lathers up.

13. Glamor: The illustrated guide to a great sex life (don't open this on the bus!). The summer cancer warning every woman should read. Your body's most flattering dress, find it, buy it, believe it.

14. All-new Buffie the Body: Love, sex and lingerie issue. Special collector's issue! Win a phone call from Buffie.

15. DO? Witness or snitch. Failure is not an option. The diva's.

16. Ebony: Single, sexy and searching: Top Bachelors of the year. The Hollywood Shuffle: what's behind so many celebrity breakups?

17. Black: Our must-have complete sex guide.

18. Men's Health: 10 ways to grow muscle fast! Look your best ever! 100 instant upgrades. 15 foods that fight fat.

19. FHM: From the lips of Jenny McCarthy: "Devour me like a big bad wolf!" Special report: Ice cold beer, chill warm brews in 32 seconds.

20. Elle: A cut above: how to choose a great plastic surgeon. 35 best organic beauty products.

21. FHM bonus: 100 sexiest women in the world 2006.

22. Vogue: Knightley News: Keira on costars, clubbing & conquering red carpet jitters. Summer's new lengths: bare knees and ankle boots, short sleeves and long lashes. Exclusive: from prisoner to president: Chile's first female leader

23. Cosmopolitan: How to heat up sex: naughty (but easy) tricks to try tonight. Bond with your man in the car, on a date, before work, after a fight. Sexy summer beauty tips. The touches he'll beg for again and again.

24. Vanity Fair: A heartbreaking memoir, Anderson Cooper, the shock of his brother's suicide.

Can we see any themes running through that? How about revenge, disintegrating social bonds, shooting, weight gain, rough sex, muscle, celebrity, surgery, cancer and death, just to get the ball rolling?

Comments

[kojapan.livejournal.com]

Sensationalism?

Sex and Death

[j03.livejournal.com]

Are European or Japanese news stands so different?

Re: Sex and Death

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Yes.

[hello-mike.livejournal.com]

Hate, sex and violence, oh yeah.

Was this a subway station kiosk? I'd like to look at the same thing here (Canada) and I'd like it to be as equivalent as possible. I'm in Alberta, though, the Texas of the North, so it'll quite probably be very disappointing to me...

[scola.livejournal.com]

Because in other countries -- countries with good souls -- the Common Man reads expensive design journals, as well as magazines featuring lots of photographs of urban youth fashion trends.

If I wanted to, I could get on a plane to your beloved Japan, track down a certain variety of periodical vendor, and emerge with a smarmy rant contending that the Japanese Soul was mostly about schoolgirl-tentacle-rape and gigantic mechanized killing machines.

It's not hard to trash the "soul" of a given people by glancing over their lowest popular culture... but it's not particularly meaningful either.

[vertigoranger.livejournal.com]

yes, but the sooner you admit your culture is horrid the sooner you have made a breakthrough. I have.

Admitted that your culture is horrid, that is.

[zenmonkeykstop.livejournal.com]

Hey, check out the feminization arms race on that culture...

Whooo!

Work that fragile body image!

[(Anonymous)]

I couldn't agree more. But, I'm more interested in your cans and watch. What are they and why did you choose them? Was it quality or style?

eDwin ;)

[imomus.livejournal.com]

I went on a spree in Chinatown on Wednesday, buying:

a digital watch, three plain t shirts, an apron, incense, shampoo (no more tears!), new black plimsolls, a pink stripey belt, some headphone-style ear protectors.

Total bill: $15.

[gogogh.livejournal.com]

No Economist? No Dwell? No Blackbook? Something?

[imomus.livejournal.com]

It's just what that kiosk in that subway station chose to display, and what I could see of his titles. I do mention Cabinet, Metropolis and The Onion in the piece, but this is very much "how the other half lives". Except it isn't the other half, circulation-wise it's the other 90%.

[cheapsurrealist.livejournal.com]

"The public wants what the public gets"

Sex sells. The soul of capitalism.
Oh and death, that sells to.
And war. Can't keep that stuff on the shelves.
Truth? Sales have been kind of flat lately.

[stanleylieber.livejournal.com]

The only thing that sells nearly as well is criticism of same.

[henryperri.livejournal.com]

What would that newsrack have looked like pre-1967? Congratulations, leftists.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

What would that newsrack have looked like pre-1980?
Congratulations, rightists.

[cityramica.livejournal.com]

I have no idea who reads these magazines. No one I know, that's for certain. I have no idea who these "average Americans" are even though they are apparently everywhere...and i guess I see them as extras and backdrop many places I go.

ain't it grand to be a snob discerning, worldly, educated consumer/individual? I sure as hell think so. It's hard to talk to many, many people about say, music and art, however.

my issue of Cabinet came in the mail yesterday and I was tickled floridly magenta. i've read it regularly for a while, but just subscribed after you posted the bit about that symposium a while back.

[j03.livejournal.com]

There are many things to love about Cabinet. My favorite thing is their brilliant covers. Cabinet always stands out on a news stand full of brash shouting magazine covers with a weird, subtle quietness.

It's like a person standing quietly with a sardonic expression on her face in a room full of wildly gestiuclating and shouting celebs.

[desant012.livejournal.com]

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

[henryperri.livejournal.com]

that's easy. it's a sailboat.

[snallison.livejournal.com]

um yeah, like this song http://evolution-control.com/sounds/The%20Evolution%20Control%20Committee%20-%20Rocked%20By%20Rape.mp3

[silenceinspades.livejournal.com]

isn't the u.s.' death fascination in full swing because it's loosing it's superpoweriness and it's culture is becoming dated? wasn't the same thing happening in victorian england? isn't that why everyone has skulls on their shirts?
oh and also the fact that jesus is all set to bring the world to an end with the american holy war. right?

[cap-scaleman.livejournal.com]

It happend in the Roman Empire too. In the course of about 200 years. So maybe in 150 years...

[larameau.livejournal.com]

why worry about really essential things like how you are being governed, and by whom, or how your environment - both physical and mental - is getting more and more polluted, or what YOU can do to improve all these things, when you can drug yourself with games, sports, gossip, "muscle, celebrity" and the culture of death?

in italy we have soccer, that's "the drug of the nation": thousands and thousands of young people, who are getting angry and fighting verbally or even physically over soccer matches - wasting precious energy that could be directed against their real problems, mostly caused by a sick mafioso culture

[beketaten.livejournal.com]

That spoke for itself in a disturbingly Warhol-esque manner. Most people in this world are stupid, as I've always thought. This is just what they need to confirm that it's okej to be stupid because everyone accepts it.
But not me. Not you. I need to move to Sweden... x_x

[notkoan.livejournal.com]

As a recovering Japanese magazine addict, I have to admit that Momus has a point about the mainstream magazines in Japan having a different general quality than American mainstream magazines. I suspect that once he has the time to get around to replying in detail, he would point out that mainstream Japanese magazines have a softer, gentler quality. At the risk of generalizing, I would venture that most Japanese people don’t have quite the same taste for aggressive sexuality that Americans do. Even the most titillating mainstream magazines in Japan tend to feature women of a very cute variety. I think mainstream Japanese magazines tend to speak more to contentment than anxiety, but that’s something you see in certain mainstream American magazines, too, especially more domestic ones about interior decorating and such.

And I’m always surprised at how niche-driven popular Japanese magazines are. Whereas most American women’s fashion magazines are aimed at adult women in general, Japanese magazines will break their audience down by age groups (20s, 30s, 40+) and style (EGL, ganguros, Harajuku-types), with little to no overlap in between. As for men’s magazines, one thing I like about Japanese magazines is that men’s fashion magazines are actually about fashion, and are not thinly veiled wanking material. There’s something refreshingly honest about that. In Japan if you want some maturbatory material, you just buy porn, not the latest issue of FHM and claim you want to “read the articles”.

But these types of magazines are not without problems. While there’s something charming about having magazines that cater to a variety of niches, and these magazines present an appearance of variety while reinforcing an extreme level of conformity within the niches. I mean, look at any random issue of those “rich college girl” fashion magazines like CanCam, and you’ll see quite the soul-sucking parade of identical girls sporting identical recent season Chanel bags. And the overt embrace with commerce in these magazines is, while somewhat honest, very depressing.

So while I can agree that there are certain general tendencies that differ between Japanese and American mainstream magazines, I wouldn’t make the implied point that Japanese mainstream culture embodies better values. I think the stacks of diet ads that pad out the rear of every issue of Non-no is just about as depressing an indictment of the society they came from as the greasy covers of every issue of Maxim.

[niemandsrose.livejournal.com]

thank you...

Jenny McCarthy

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks for mentioning the above - I foolishly glanced at her book
whilst waiting for the bus, where discussed how she had to circumcise
her son so he would have a "Cute" member. I was reminded of my theory
that the US is so violent compared to the EU because the majority of males have been mutilated in infancy....angrael, indeed.

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

Procrustean Seeing, indeed.

[samuellsamson.livejournal.com]

We're all screwed. Or, you know, trying to get screwed.

[(Anonymous)]

man, i love momus records, but i so can't wait for you to leave NYC. i don't think people should be place's they obviously don't want to be. like army brats. now, i've read your site for sometime, and i can understand your gruge with NY, thats fine. but, have you really ever been to a combini in japan? can there be more sex. (though in the form of comic / manga, and rape) and instructiions on what is,and how to be "cute".
there are good magazines everyone. and to make a judgement on ny based on one subways subway stand is insane. and, honestly. B.S. entry.
i think your the one obsessed with this death culture. i hope you can re-find your happiness in berlin.

trevor.

[sparkligbeatnic.livejournal.com]

My apprehensions about my recent very brief visit to the USA - my first since the Bush re-election - were completely ill-founded. The border crossings were quicker and easier than expected though I did have a silent laugh at the cheap & crummy webcams they seem to have installed everywhere for their biometric security program.

Everyone I met was friendly, polite, generous. A women I asked for directions on the subway even went out of her way to help me. NYC felt safe, completely unthreatening, friendly.

Perhaps the only culture shock I felt was at a beef-intense restaurant I was taken too. I had a tuna salad.

whuh?

[(Anonymous)]

i'm sorry, but since when do the magazine marketing departments, publishers, bored editors, and over-deadlined features writers actually represent an entire people? do you really think a tiny minority of individuals desperately attempting to sell magazines (advertizing, actually), and thereby please greedy stockholders and boardmembers (bored members) truly have their ink stained fingers on the pulse of average america? what is average america again? cuz when i look at the news/tv/movies all i see is some businessman's/woman's idea of what might sell - i don't hear the voices of actual americans coming through their media. i do hear the voices of advertizers and marketers. i'll second the words of someone above in that i've never seen anyone read any of these publications. i'm sure someone must, but it seems more likely that these publications sell an imaginary ideal of the sick-glitz, diet-in-a-glass, celebrity-plastic-surgery-revenge marketed version of america. momus just fell for the marketing. maybe instead of slamming a nation of people you've never actually met (although i know you've been to the midwest momus, because you briefly talked to me there), you should instead reserve your bile for the marketing creatures and the interdependent webs they inhabit -- all of whom are swiftly becoming a global phenomena.

Re: whuh?

[uchuufuku.livejournal.com]

I don't think you're making much sense-- these type of magazines are products with a very short lifespan, made to be sold in as large numbers as possible, as quickly as possible. Of course it's a "tiny minority" of individuals who produce them, but they don't exist in some self-sustaining vacuum of guesswork and misguided marketing, it is actually their job to have their "ink-stained fingers" on the pulse of their average demographic. Believe it or not, that's how they remain in business!

momus

[nananaina.livejournal.com]

I was really disappointed by this post but at the same time glad that you have no fear of taking out all your shallowness and open all your prejudices without intending to appear more radical than you could be! well, I'll still going to try to attend the 20th, even it will be a human challenge.

hugs! and cheers to your clever readers.

[butterflyrobert.livejournal.com]

Can we see any themes running through that?

Lot o' them thar blackies runnin' amok!

[(Anonymous)]

I'm sure Momus' wide black readership will be very offended at this implication!

[stanleylieber.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised there wasn't more sex in these headlines. On the magazines I see while standing in line at the grocery it's virtually all that's mentioned.

[wingedwhale.livejournal.com]

FIND HIS G-SPOT! MAKE YOUR TUMMY LOOK SMALL WHILE RECIEVING ANAL!

It seems like a lot of people are reading the wrong thing from this post. I did get a little frustrated reading these magazine descriptions, but the moral to be gleaned is that these magazines reflect something about US culture, even if it's not "every American reads this and agrees 100% and this is all America is about."

A few discussions, I think, reached the conclusion I was expecting, which is that artifacts of Puritanism and ultra-religious ultra-conservative culture still exist in this country. (And fatalism).

It could be worse. People could be reading "Atlas Shrugged."