Nocturne/Mildly entertaining ourselves to death

Kept awake into the wee hours--well, past the wee hours--into the wee hours is normal for me--by the neighbours' kid's party yestereve. His crowd is actually pretty well-behaved by standards I remember from my own late adolescence--no loud music, little that really qualifies as shouting, and they usually knock off around two or so--but our house is pretty close to the next on that side, and there's a driveway between that's all concrete between two brick walls.

In other words, a big echo chamber, suitable for amplifying even mumuring conversation and projecting it into our bedroom.

So myself and my lovely wife wound up sitting up late, nattering on why there seems so little in the culture/entertainment area of our lives that passes as halfway worthwhile of late. Been in a dry run re movies, books, plays, little coming out that's much exciting (with the singular exception, I'd think, of Zhang Yimou's Hero, which I expect will justify its running time despite some grunting from certain corners about Yimou's rather compromised subtext on authority--gee guys, let's remember who he has to apply to for approval of his works--Yimou has rarely disappointed me).

I got on a riff re two possibilities explaining this. Either (i) we're all amused to death, spoiled with too much culture, or (ii) it's a subtle effect of the globalization of culture--an alienation that creeps in when so much of what we see, read, and watch is marketed to an audience of billions, stripped of a sense of place, often subtly or not so subtly infantile in its construction to appeal to a sort of cultural common denominator. I named in my early morning meditation even a number of actually quite respected works of late--The Life of Pi (really not that smart a book, sorry, by my call, despite the accolades heaped upon it around these parts--all feelgood ecumenism, random insults to one's intelligence, and no balls ) and Saving Private Ryan--heavy on the crass emotional manipulation.

Could be those things I guess. Or a combination of both, perhaps. And a third possibliity is I'm just getting brutally cynical and demanding in my old age.

There was more in there. Found myself musing on the popularity of the 'yes, it's incredibly stupid, and barely a giggle at best, but it's funny because we're not really trying too hard to be funny, hip, right?' humour that seems so popular in some corners of the net of late. But that could get to be an awfully long essay.

Maybe I'll write that one in a few days. If there's nothing on TV.