Saturday, May 12, 2007
Culture Wars
Last night downtown Chicago hosted a "celebration of diversity and culture" ultra-creatively dubbed "Looptopia" (I guess "Loopapalooza" seemed a little too cute). The brochures for the event depicted people swallowing fire, performing acrobatics, and enjoying laser light shows, but for me it consisted mainly of standing in line and shivering. As it turned out, the four or five events comprising the bulk of the evening's entertainment after midnight were ill-equipped to handle the several thousand exceedingly intoxicated and questionably attired twentysomethings who crammed into the loop hoping to be Lootoped. Accordingly, the evening devolved into a mob of people standing in Millennium Park and arguing with the police. I have to admit that it was pretty cultural.
We did at least make another stop at the Art Institute, which was especially fun due to the flash mob of semi-retarded suburbanites attempting to make heads or tails of Matisse and Dali. The guiding star for many of today's art connoisseurs appears to be whether or not an artwork would look good emblazoned on a t-shirt or some beach towels. We made a special stop in the contemporary wing to enjoy the choruses of "I don't get it" and "How is that art?" that typify the region. Plus, I got in trouble with a sassy guard for setting off a motion sensor by standing too close to a Buddha. Who says religion is cold and inaccessible?
Last night downtown Chicago hosted a "celebration of diversity and culture" ultra-creatively dubbed "Looptopia" (I guess "Loopapalooza" seemed a little too cute). The brochures for the event depicted people swallowing fire, performing acrobatics, and enjoying laser light shows, but for me it consisted mainly of standing in line and shivering. As it turned out, the four or five events comprising the bulk of the evening's entertainment after midnight were ill-equipped to handle the several thousand exceedingly intoxicated and questionably attired twentysomethings who crammed into the loop hoping to be Lootoped. Accordingly, the evening devolved into a mob of people standing in Millennium Park and arguing with the police. I have to admit that it was pretty cultural.
We did at least make another stop at the Art Institute, which was especially fun due to the flash mob of semi-retarded suburbanites attempting to make heads or tails of Matisse and Dali. The guiding star for many of today's art connoisseurs appears to be whether or not an artwork would look good emblazoned on a t-shirt or some beach towels. We made a special stop in the contemporary wing to enjoy the choruses of "I don't get it" and "How is that art?" that typify the region. Plus, I got in trouble with a sassy guard for setting off a motion sensor by standing too close to a Buddha. Who says religion is cold and inaccessible?
