Use Your Allusions?
Tuesday, a student played a song by Twenty One Pilots in class for a presentation, and this was the first time I heard the band and I told the students that Twenty One Pilots sounded a lot like Neutral Milk Hotel and the class said, "What?" and I had to explain to them about Neutral Milk Hotel and Jeff Mangum, and the next day one of the students, in preparation for "improv night," was dressed all in white: white shirt, white socks, white shorts, white tennis sneakers and a white headband and I told him he looked ready for Wimbledon and, once again, the class said "What?" and I had to explain to them about Wimbledon: the grass courts, the strawberries and cream, the fact that it's a tennis tournament . . . and I think I'm going to stop alluding to things in class, because it's too exhausting.
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8 comments:
From which Arthur Miller play did Twenty One Pilots get their name?
I don't think they are an interesting band in any capacity whereas NMH is one for the ages, so yet another Dave brain pattern I can't follow.
For all whites, I did a FB post on Hillary's 3rd debate outfit and Kenny Powers in his La Flama Blanca suit - did not get a lot of love but it was apolitical, merely a fashion observation.
Friday AM, commenting away here...
There is a huuuuuuuuge difference between not knowing about Neutral Milk Hotel and not knowing about Wimbledon. Maybe not in NJ. That place baffles me.
. . . but served me very well circa 1989-1995.
Lecky and Clarence are correct. I don't hear NMH in Twenty One Pilots, and everyone knows what Wimbledon is (even in NJ). I think Hillary's ivory pantsuit was a riff on Claire Underwood's ivory dress from Frank's state of the union speech where he sinks her run for Congress.
dave, that song you heard my kid sing on facebook was a twenty one pilots song. i kinda like them, in the sense that the lyricist is clearly wrestling with demons and writes honestly about it.
wow-- lots of information here-- i have only heard one twenty one pilots song and it definitely sounded like neutral milk hotel, i don't know about the rest of their oeuvre, but the youngsters like them.
sorry to step on the older hipsters' toes by comparing them to neutral milk hotel (who i love as much as any ageing hipster).
there was one girl who knew wimbledon is a tennis tournament, the rest of them had no clue. they were familiar with the super bowl, the world, series, and the world cup . . . i checked (but not the ryder cup). my curriculum is eclectic.
Wimbledon ignorance must be a central Jersey problem, like referring to Taylor ham as "pork roll."
All My Sons is the play, faulty plane parts from the protagonist killed 21 pilots during WWII. It's a higher death toll than this blog but you have time....
my faulty blogging harms no man
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