Unpleasantness
We all run up against disagreeable moments, especially around this time of year. Those closest to us know how to push our buttons best. Many of us may be a bit on edge because, well, let’s not go into it.
Or, let’s go into it a little. Maybe you love the tune but hate the song. Maybe regularity has eluded you. Maybe you are just too smart for your own good, which can be annoying to everyone, even you. Or maybe you find a perverse pleasure in unpleasantness.
Just in time for the holidays, all are addressed below, with our very best wishes for a happy holiday season.
Smells Like Teen Spirit
The original recording by Nirvana was angry, loud, even grating to those not in tune to “Grunge.” While the rough sonic texture of the song was part of its message (the words, when one could understand them, were not entirely cogent), to the refined set, it was repellant. But the message must get through! say the fans of the legendary band. And so it must. To the rescue comes Rhythms Del Mundo, a global group of musicians whose expertise is smoothing over these kinds of things. Now Smells Like Teen Spirit is a cool, lubed groove, with sensuous vocals and a catchy hook. Message delivered, unpleasantness avoided, let’s get this cocktail party started.
Ground Flax
Unpleasantness doesn’t always pop up like a demon in the night. Sometimes it builds over cheeseburger lunches and chocolate fondue, growing to an immovable obstacle, wholly uninclined to budge. Discomfort mounts. As does the tremulous awareness that at any moment the situation could change, forcing an emergency evacuation to a plumbed, private space right then. Don’t put yourself in the path of this kind of suffering. Get ahold of some ground flax. Put it in your smoothie, your yogurt, your coffee, for Pete’s sake—just wash it down. In return, it will grant you a life of sunny sailing, glorious mornings, and carefree, confident days.
Eight Struggles of Being a Highly Intelligent Person
If one thinks of oneself as highly intelligent, the struggles are part and parcel. If one doesn’t think of oneself as highly intelligent, schadenfreude may ease one’s not highly intelligent mind; smart people are unhappy. Struggling. Ooooh. But wait. If smart people are struggling and unhappy, does that mean that struggling, unhappy people are smart? If not, which came first? Oh boy, this is turning unpleasant. Go away. Oh, no, wait, the video is nice. Very round.
Antiques Road Trip
To be honest, there is some pleasure in certain kinds of unpleasantness. Take BBC One’s Antiques Road Trip. It’s a buying-up contest: two people get 200£ to start and then travel to little antique shops to buy low and sell high at the auction at the end. It’s fine as a premise. But the candy-coated unpleasantness here is priceless. The players are antique dealers or auctioneers, and as hard as they try, knowing that this is their big break, they just can’t stop being uncomfortable—fumbly, bumbly, passive-aggressive— in front of the camera. Some of their awkwardness is shielded by the bad production values (which are fascinating all on their own). Even so, the homemade, underfunded vibe is sheer, geeky, uncomfortable fun. Like a whole goofy show made of bloopers.
A note on unpleasant people
On a radio call-in show, Tig Notaro was asked by a worn-down condo dweller what to do about her obnoxious neighbor’s constant notes of complaint left under her door, and disapproving remarks at attempts to add flowers here and there outside. Ms. Notaro’s answer was brilliant:
When you see her coming, just know that she’s going to be rude. Of course she’s going to be rude. She is rude. Go on doing what you’re doing and just nod and smile. She didn’t let you down.