During Mumei's "learning slang" stream last night, it struck me that one of the Millennials' key phrases -- "we did a thing" -- is another example of their annoying trend for emotional minimization.
Like, Gen X would say something is "totally fucking awesome" -- they intensified it with "totally," "to the max," "so," "for sure," etc.
Millennials would say something is "kind of amazing" -- they took away from the impact of "amazing" by saying it was only "kind of" amazing. They really meant full-on amazing, but their gay habit of minimizing all emotion prevents them from saying amazing or totally amazing or totally fucking amazing. They have to minimize it with kind of.
It wasn't until Mumei pointed out the contexts that the "we did a thing" phrase appears in, that it clicked into place for me. It's usually a really big deal -- a completely different hairstyle or hair color, getting engaged or married, etc.
They're trying to minimize the emotional impact of saying "We got married!!!" by turning a momentous event into merely "a thing" of no description or import. Of course, they mean it's a big deal, but their gay Millennial brains can't express emotion, so the biggest events of their whole lives become "a thing".
Have Millennial moms sunk to the low of posting their post-partum selfies, with the newborn in their arms, captioned, "so this morning i did a thing"?
They also preface the sentence with "so" as though it's a casual NBD situation, minimizing it further. (Gen-X "so" is an intensifying adjective or adverb, not an interjection -- "that new song is SO awesome!" or "I am SO gonna kick that guy's ass!")
And this relates to their lame and played-out trend of never using capital letters or punctuation or emojis -- doing so would indicate emotional tone of some sort within the words per se, as well as at a meta level, the writer cared enough to use capitalization and punctuation for the audience. It's mumblecore orthography.
"i couldnt possibly feel or care any less" is the message. So you're just an empty-inside depressive dork? Woah, mind blown, here's another trophy for your everybody-gets-a-trophy generation.
Good ol' Zoomers have started to give me hope about being neo-X-ers instead of Millennials 2.0. She pointed out that in the phrase "sending me", the speaker will often add on another bit like "sending me into orbit" -- that's an intensifier, not a minimizer! It's just like a bona fide Gen X example from the '80s that she discussed -- "gag me", which also could be followed by an intensifier like "gag me with a spoon".
Or, in the Gen X teen movie classic Heathers, "Fuck me gently with a chainsaw".
Mooms mentioned seeing Mean Girls several times (re: "fetch"), and that movie was inspired by Heathers. I had to pass this info along back in 2006 to my Millennial tutorees who were obsessed with Mean Girls but hadn't even heard of Heathers. Now I'm passing it on to Zoomers.
I think as neo-X-ers, Zoomers would resonate better with Heathers than Millennials did. The Zoomer girls from Hololive should do a watchalong! Gura, Mumei, Kronii, and Bae. Or at least watch it off-stream and gab about it together... or should I say, bump gums? Hehe.
December 14, 2022
Zoomers bringing back slang that intensifies emotion, not minimize it a la Millennials
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Psychology
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This reflects what I was noticing in my review of the 4th Matrix movie (a far better film than it has any right to be). That there's a serious vibe between the Zoomers and the Xers; it's the brain dead millenials - either loving Big Brother, or dressing up in 1930s regalia - who we can't reach.
ReplyDeleteSince Mumei asked for karaoke suggestions, I'd like to see her play to her Zoomer strengths and do some mature / adult contempo songs, and mainly from earlier decades instead of what was popular during her high school years.
ReplyDeleteZoomers are great at this (Goob is the other obvious example.) It's not to pander to ojisans with disposable income, or LARP as born in le wrong decade, it's to establish a canon of classics that make us all Americans (or under the influence of American culture). Millennials are too stuck in their own experience, especially the 2000s -- which is good, when that's what you want to hear, but not so much to span the history of American culture.
The common tone is "soulful frustration," which Mumei is great at channeling. And is very timely, with the cold weather, seasonal downer vibes, etc. Maybe this would be one section within the longer setlist, which might also include joyful Christmas music, etc. But it feels like the downer side needs to be acknowledged and channeled as well, at least to set up a contrast for the joyful stuff.
Also -- no giving up midway through a song! We're there to take in what you've decided to send out to us, not to hear the definitive rendition of a certain song. Once you start, just trust that we're going to take what you give. We're the audience, not a panel of judges.
Anyway, onto the suggestions -- not requesting every one specifically, but to give a fleshed-out picture of what I'm talking about. Even if she doesn't perform them, they're worth listening to, to get a feel for certain zeitgeists of the past.
Musical theater from its peak during the late '50s through the '80s. One specific request: "Think of Me" from Phantom of the Opera.
ReplyDeleteDisney renaissance, especially "Part of Your World" from the Little Mermaid, and "Reflection" from Mulan.
Seasonal Affective Disorder anthem: "I Am a Rock" by Simon & Garfunkel
Sad songs from the Seventies (and early Eighties):
"SOS" by ABBA
"If I Can't Have You" by Yvonne Elliman
"Little Jeannie" by Elton John
"Love Hurts" by Nazareth
"Making Believe" by Emmylou Harris
"Angel of the Morning" by Juice Newton
"Gypsy" by Fleetwood Mac
"The Most Beautiful Girl" by Charlie Rich
"Without You" by Harry Nilsson (or belted by Mariah Carey)
"Rainy Days and Mondays" by the Carpenters
"Dream Weaver" by Gary Wright
"Too Much Heaven" by the Bee Gees
"Slow Hand" by the Pointer Sisters
"Islands in the Stream" by Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton
"Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler
* * *
From the late '80s:
"Always on My Mind" by Pet Shop Boys (hi-NRG spin on a sad early '70s song)
* * *
From the '90s:
"Hold On" by Wilson Phillips
"Nothing Compares 2 U" by Sinead O'Connor
"Hey Jealousy" by the Gin Blossoms
"Mr. Jones" by Counting Crows
"I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston (don't kill your cords, tho)
* * *
From the 2000s:
"I'm With You" by Avril Lavigne
"100 Years" by Five for Fighting
"You're Beautiful" by James Blunt
"According to You" by Orianthi
* * *
From the 2010s and 2020s:
"When I Was Your Man" by Bruno Mars
"All Too Well" by Taylor Swift (or "Back to December" for seasonal value)
"Dancing on My Own" by Calum Scott
"Driver's License" by Olivia Rodrigo
* * *
Finale, either take-out before encore, or the final encore number:
"Leaving on a Jet Plane" by John Denver or Peter, Paul & Mary
*fake-out before the encore
ReplyDeleteBanned from the forum, begging for screenshots
ReplyDeleteUn-priv'ing my content, why won't they tweet me?
And I'm sending a text-wall
Not a reply or fave on my posts
I keep bantzing on my own...
Idols in a stream
ReplyDeleteMore than avatars
No AI could dream
All that we've become
Climb right through the screen
To our wonder-world
And life online won't go under, ah ha
As IRL's torn asunder, ah ha
Twitter thought they had us by the balls
ReplyDeleteWith tone policing peds ruling the halls
Fucked up an election after a few calls
Now there's nobody walking the empty malls
Oh, Tee-And-Ess wants my ass to surrender
We should put 'em all in a blender
This is a thing we ought to remember
Cause it'll make 'em juicy and tender
So bitch wants us to consider an amnesty
That whore's just stupid and so nasty
To think we'd forgive that ugly trash queen
She can break mirrors with what we can see
You got banned by your intellectual inferiors?
How 'bout kicking some of their smug posteriors?
They're too busy stuffing things in their interiors
To see the death blow coming from their superiors
BANTZ THIS, MOTHERFUCKERS.
Aimee Terese's twitter has been unbanned.
ReplyDeleteBoomers and millennials really are too much alike to get along. They might fight over what battlefield the striving contests are fought on and what the rules are but they are both locked in a death battle for status and relevance.
ReplyDeleteIn an alt timeliiine
ReplyDeleteI'd relieve your weight
So I don't have to state
You were the one to graduate
The one to graduate
Big thanks to Mumei for the karaoke-thon last night, which I watched 100% of live.
ReplyDeleteSome staples of hers -- '80s musicals (Les Mis), Taylor Swift, even a brief line from "Always on My Mind' (which I didn't realize she'd sung several times before).
But more than that, quite a few nods to the sharky chanteuse -- her own song "Reflect," but also "Stereo Hearts," where she specifically asked "Didn't Gura sing this?" Yes, over a year ago -- either that's some memory, or Mooms has been revisiting the Goobinator's catalog during her downtime.
And whether she knew it or not, Mooms sang something that Gura was the only Holo-EN to have sung before, also over a year ago -- "The One That Got Away". (Katy Perry in general is not very common among Holo girls' karaoke, but this song is the kind of tender wistful piano ballad that is more on their wavelength.)
It was a wonderful performance overall, but especially for her cheering up the chumbies in a way that only another Holo talent could have done for us, beyond the fans' own efforts to keep one another's heads up.
We won't forget it, owl fren. :)
BTW, it wasn't like she was trying to imitate or stand in for Gura during some downtime, as though she were expecting us to accept a substitute for our one-and-only oshi.
ReplyDeleteIt was the opposite -- like she had been feeling the same pain we were, and channeled that community-wide sentiment into her setlist, speaking for us and to us, to let us know we're not alone.
After all, who are bigger fans of Holo girls than other Holo girls? Mooms not only misses a streamer like we do, she also misses her behind-the-scenes friend and colleague.
Not to get too morbid or doomer, but while I'm in this mood, I think when/if there are further graduations, there should be some kind of memorial karaoke using EN songs (while JP ones could be archived).
Specifically, "Nightshift" by the Commodores -- about the contemporaneous deaths of two mega-stars in the R&B music world, Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson. Who better to channel the community-wide grieving than other members of the R&B world, who knew them? And it does strike a hopeful note, not just wallowing in grief.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrkEDe6Ljqs
Probably have to save that until Gura graduates, which hopefully won't be for a very long time. But that's when it would be appropriate.
And there are two lead singers, one covering each verse, so Mumei could share duties with another singer.
Not to put a damper on the mood, just trying to help make plans while my mind is in that direction.
Men only want one thing, and it's disgusting:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2cRsL-E3eg
And "Vanilla Twilight"! One of the most distinctly Goobalicious songs. :) She's the only Holo who sings it (several times), along with an assortment of minor songs by Owl City, not only "Fireflies". And consistently, from her debut through recently.
ReplyDeleteShe clearly has a very fond spot for them -- and therefore, so do we, because they make us think of that one person who likes them so much.
I thought of writing something about her, called "Hydrangea Timeline" -- after her favorite flower. But I was binging that song during the summer, and she wasn't really on a break then. Now, though, maybe it'll hit differently and I can flesh it out.
Or make it from one of her fellow Holo girl's perspective, like Fauna longing for her to join her in the magical coziness of the Minecraft world again (sigh).
I actually requested Mumei to sing it however-many months ago when she asked for suggestions. I think she tested it for a few seconds, but backed off and went with "Fireflies" instead.
Very pleased to see her feeling comfortable and confident enough to do it this time (without me requesting it, probably just thinking of "what songs remind me of Gura's set-lists?"). Maybe she was reminiscing about the time Gooba sang it, and kept calling out Mumei's name (who was chiming in in her chat), with the idea to sing an Owl City duet. (Unfortunately, tech limitations prevented it.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2WaYOKvHkU
If the two of them ever stream an IRL meet-up, I hope they promise each other to sing a duet to "Vanilla Twilight". The simple way would be to harmonize, with both of them singing every line. But it could also work as a back-and-forth duet between two separate voices, like two colleagues or friends who wish they could stay closer to each other socially, yet find themselves separated. Similar to a romantic duet between a bf and gf, but with Platonic friends.
Kind of like how Councilrys sang "Secret Base" for Sana's graduation, which was originally about a boy-meets-girl scenario, but could be adapted to any close social bond.
Something to think about...
Taking trips to Buffalo NY is a totally Canadian thing (without going into the relevance of this statement). No American ever visits Buffalo (literally, none -- Americans would laugh at the idea of making it a destination, if they'd even heard of the city). But it is a destination for Canadians in the Greater Toronto Area, and the only nearby big-city attraction for them aside from Toronto itself.
ReplyDeleteSimilar to Canadians from the Windsor, Ontario area visiting Detroit MI -- no Americans ever visit Detroit (literally, none -- Americans would rather jump into an active volcano than make Detroit a destination for travel). But it's right across the river from Windsor. If I heard someone say they made several visits or trips to Detroit growing up, I would know they were Canadian rather than American (and from the Windsor area specifically).
Being Canadian is nothing to be ashamed of (inherently), nor could Canadian nationality serve as a doxx -- there are tens of millions of them, it doesn't narrow down anywhere near to the individual, personal level.
I know Canadians don't have as strong of a sense of national pride as Americans, but it's only going to make us bully you guys more if you're secretive about it, as though you were embarrassed (then we smell blood in the water). As long as there's nothing deviant about it, being loud-and-proud will make us respect your identity more.
It's OK to be Leaf. :)
Good stuff lately, Agnostic.
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to make a comment about the "beards are for intrasexual competition and not for attracting women" observation. I just read Schopenhauer thought beards should be banned because they're obscene and they "please women".
What a ridiculous 19th century assessment. I have a beard and it has only ever reduced how many women want to get near my face. No, they want a man they can make out with (like a fellow girl/woman, the lezzing out part of sex), not a bunch of fucking hair everywhere. It's obviously for fighting off other men by making yourself look "puffed out" or flanged as in Orangutans.
Anyhow, keep it up man.
Irys is a Carpenters fan! I was looking back at that list of suggestions to Mumei, thinking who else might have performed some of the staples of the Sad Seventies.
ReplyDeleteSearch YouTube for "hololive carpenters" -- and boom! a flood of results for Irys (the only one in EN to sing them). She even had a three-song run of theirs on a CHRISTMAS karaoke last year, including "Rainy Days and Mondays".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNV8DDDTxro
I felt that -- that was the most miserable Christmas ever. After struggling to put the family back together and somewhat succeeding during the 2010s, it all started falling apart with the excuse of covid. Well, the end of 2021 was more or less the end of all that hysteria -- and yet, absolutely nothing. Less togetherness than any time during the 2010s.
And this one isn't going to be much better, even though covie is even more ovie than a year ago. It was always just an excuse to break shit apart for good, no matter whether it was the family, the economy, the government, the schools, or whatever else.
Anyway... I thought why she had so many of their songs, since as a Millennial most of her setlist is from the 2000s. Then I said, her dad must be a fan, because Irys is the most daddy's-girl of the Holo girls. And so, part of her wanting her dad's approval and trying to reach out and bond with him over something he likes, would be older music.
Then right before she starts singing one, she says, "Why do I know so many of their songs? I guess from my dad". Bingo!
That reminded me of Gura singing, seemingly out of nowhere, "If You Leave Me Now" by Chicago. Not hard to imagine the father of a daddy's girl thinking of this song when his little girl is moving away from him, socially or geographically.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djLCdycejr8
But then she's a total daddy's girl, too -- her favorite smells being a gasoline-y garage and rubbery tires must come through his hobbies.
And all of those '70s easy listening songs she's so fond of. Like, what Zoomer is going to put Engelbert Humperdinck in her setlist? A daddy's girl whose Gen X father imprinted on the music of his childhood.
So in general, it seems like daddy's girls will be better conservers of earlier culture -- they first started to hold it dear in order to bond with their father, who is naturally going to be into earlier culture than that of his daughter. And she'll want to hold onto it forever, so that bond doesn't weaken.
Awww...
Aimee Terese has a soft spot for '60, '70s, '80s music, and she's a total daddy's girl, too. I don't know if that's the only reason, but it's easy to imagine.
ReplyDelete"hey daddyyyyyy, whatcha listenin' toooo??? :)))))) "
"He's called Jackson Browne... why, do you like it, too? "
"yeaaah, it sounds really niiiice... can i sit here and listen to it with you??? :))))) "
"Of course, baby, of course. :) "
Although as imaginary bf & gf we were opposites-attract in several ways, one key dimension we were all sync'd up on was her being a daddy's girl and me being the type to have a daddy's girl for a daughter, when/if I had kids.
She's gotta be somebody's Aimee
She must be somebody's Aimee
... Welcome back, again, glad to see you're still at it, giving 'em hell on the hellsite, special fren. :)
Oh no, Aimee's autism levels fell dangerously low and had to stay in a hospital to have them restored. :(
ReplyDeleteBut at least she's on the mend and will back to full-spectrum shitposting strength tomorrow. :)
I liked that Moon Boy book you posted from your childhood, I knew it had to have been from the '80s because that was the last time there were sincere sentimental kids' books (not ironic, self-aware, meta-, etc.). 1989, as it turns out.
I got all kinds of cool stuff for my nephew when he was little, about 10 years ago -- vintage kids' books (his fave was The Three Robbers, originally from 1961), action figures, Super Nintendo, most recently a red buffalo plaid wool hunting cap that he always wore in winter.
But now he's a teenager and isn't really into literal or figurative hand-me-downs anymore. It's all about the Roblox bideo gamebz with the kids these days.
I couldn't help but think, "OMG, he's just like me" while reading through Moon Boy. Magical creature full of boyish charm, who lands seemingly from another planet, during the dark night of someone's life, brightening it up -- but who is summoned back before too long, since the sun is about to come up, and his presence won't be needed any longer, having gotten the person through the night, and the person will have the sun soon enough. He may be needed in some other place, for some other person, who has yet to hold a Moon Boy in their hands during the dead of night.
It seems like the day is breaking for you, and you'll find your Sun Husband before long (anyone reacting with "yeah, me" is too generic to win Aimee over). If I'd been meant to play the role of husband-and-father, it probably would've already happened by now. I was meant to be the Moon Boy in people's lives instead. :)
Sounds contradictory cuz girls -- especially daddy's girls -- are usually looking for someone who reminds them of their dad. But once daddy's little girl is all grown up and on her own, it does reduce the father to a kind of Moon Boy role -- he's no longer the brightest source of light in her life anymore, nor the one that she relies on for the longest duration of the day. He only gets to be a part of her world every now and then, and not very intensely at that.
So maybe I am father-like in a way -- like the father of a daddy's girl who's left the home, and who can't help but long for a surrogate daddy's girl daughter in her absence.
Other notable daddy's girls in the Twitter take-o-sphere, BTW, include Marina (@shamshi_adad), and the ghost of Alison Balsam (@foolinthelotus), whose infectiously affectionate live-photo-essay of her visiting her dad's bachelor pad was one for the ages. (Her mom usually appeared in her vignettes as knocking on her room's door as a teenager, causing her to wave away pot smoke).
ReplyDeleteBoth are manic-phase births (late '90s, early '80s), and were / are Manic Pixie Dream Girls to someone.
Also, @pequenosdre (before she privated).
I don't think any of these girls are very high-T -- pretty girl-like, actually -- but they have a handful of masculine interests, which did not come from an inner curiosity caused by their own high T, but which they absorbed from wanting the approval of their dads and adopting the interests he had, so they would share interests and get to hang out together doing those things. It's an outcome of social bonding, not an individual thing, as though they were tomboys.
For Marina, something involving Soviet material technology or military history in general.
For Alison, horror movies, Nine Inch Nails, provocative / shock culture.
And for Dre, using tools for practical / fix-it purposes.
I wonder what guy interests my non-existent daddy's girl daughter would've picked up from me? Differential equation modeling? Buying and restoring cool old stuff from thrift / antique stores? Watching cute anime avatars singing Sad Seventies staples?
What might have been... hehe.
All the Disney princesses are daddy's girls, naturally. Some go even further by making the maternal figure in the home a wicked stepmother.
ReplyDeleteCultural right-wingers have always complained about Disney being too feminazi, especially since their renaissance. Namely, for making their protags female so often, as though to link up with the broader trend of portraying badass butt-kicking babes, where male protags should have gone instead.
And that's true enough regarding the young male audience -- I can't imagine they were hyped about any of the renaissance-and-after ones aside from Aladdin or Lion King.
However, they're movies for the whole family, and now the father is finally brought into the picture. Well, as long as he's a mama's boy and therefore the father of a daddy's girl (or the type who would be, if he had a daughter).
So they're not just pandering to a female audience, let alone a specifically feminist one -- "wicked stepmothers? Ummmmmm, sexist much????" They're after a huge male audience too -- the fathers of daddy's girls. Hehe.
The '90s must have been pure uncut crack for Boomer dads with daddy's girls. One of those real "this is what they took from you" / "press ESC to go back" / "men only want one thing, and it's disgusting" moments -- bonding with your daddy's girl over a Disney renaissance movie.
Even more so considering how ubiquitous those Disney VHS tapes were back then. It wasn't just a one-and-done thing when the movie was theatrically released -- it would continue forever after the home video release. :)
The masculine urge to spend 2 hours in negative windchill clearing snow off the patios, carport, and two cars, for an elderly woman neighbor and oneself, on Christmas Eve.
ReplyDelete(Yes I will post something for Christmas)