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Rob HorningPopMatters General Features EditorAbout Rob HorningRobert Horning has developed a substantial body of work in PopMatters' music reviews, concerts, film, and TV sections. You may have also seen his writing in Time Out New York and Skyscraper. In his PopMatters column, "Marginal Utility", Rob bridges the abstract and concrete aspects of consumerism. As we all know, consumerism is a popular topic with theorists, sociologists, and historical analysts that hang out in university offices and corporate conference rooms. Lest you think his column might read like an excerpt from an academic text, you will find that Rob's writing is as grounded and approachable as an everyday trip to the grocery store. Rob has a BA and MA in English Literature and was working on a dissertation for a PhD, but grew less interested in the subject matter of his study (18th century commercial fiction and book reviews), and found himself drawn to the stuff he was reading from outside the field: social theory, economics works, and sociology. That research, and his continued interest in it, is what generates his solid background knowledge for "Marginal Utility" and informs his music reviews. Features BooksBook Arbitrage[2.Jul.08] :. Joan Didion once wrote, "the hippies scorn money -- they call it bread." Rob Horning explains how best to reap the benefits of the secondhand bookstore's cash-or-credit system.  The Cut-Out BinAl Kooper, New York City (You're a Woman) (1971)[31.Jan.08] :. This album features some of the best of Kooper's original compositions and is free of his tendency to include reinterpretations of over-familiar songs.  MusicLosing California[5.Oct.07] :. After the Mamas and the Papas, unheralded songwriter John Phillips released one perfect solo album before disintegrating into addiction and self-recrimination.  The Cut-Out BinHall & Oates, Abandoned Luncheonette (1973)[22.Jun.07] :. Before their string of ubiquitous 1980s hits, this songwriting duo wrote surprisingly strange and pleasantly unpretentious soft rock.  MusicElectric Light Orchestra: Too Much at Once Can Blow the Fuse[16.Feb.07] :. Alone, ELO's pop mini-symphonies are perfect confections that captivate with their careful sonic details and ear-pleasing melodies and hooks. The Cut-Out Bin The Beach Boys, Love You (1977)The Cut-Out Bin The Carpenters, The Carpenters (1971)Columns Marginal UtilityThe Database of Self[2.Oct.08] :. Technology's ability to digitize everything threatens to reduce curiosity to trivia collecting and our sense of self to TK.  Marginal UtilityBrand Evangelists[25.Jul.08] :. Companies would like product placements in our personal narratives, and marketers are eager to show them how it can be done.  Marginal UtilityHurray for Hype[30.May.08] :. Enjoying popular culture is necessarily a social experience; hype supplies the ground rules.  Marginal UtilityRenters: Enemies of the Ownership Society[4.Apr.08] :. In light of the recently burst housing bubble and the resulting inflation, this renter is having a hard time maintaining sympathy for borrowers who went in over their heads, buying homes with far more space than needed.  Marginal UtilityThe Design Imperative[29.Jan.08] :. No longer a prole with a dirty toilet, thanks to that fancy toiletbrush in hand, one becomes a fledgling design critic and a curator of the tastefully appointed museum that used to be a one-bedroom apartment. Marginal Utility The Attention of Last ResortMarginal Utility Paul Krugman's 'The Conscience of a Liberal'Marginal Utility Financial FantasiesMarginal Utility Inevitable ConsumptionMarginal Utility Too Many MirrorsMarginal Utility Elitist Dumpster DiversMarginal Utility Disposable PersonalityMarginal Utility The Pleasures of PropagandaMarginal Utility The Fear of SuccessMarginal Utility The Patent Medicine ParadigmMarginal Utility Freedom from ChoiceMarginal Utility Virtual UtopiaMarginal Utility Sympathy for the MiddlemanMarginal Utility Oh, the Tangled Webs We WeaveMarginal Utility flag CreativityMarginal Utility The Underground EmpireMarginal Utility Headphones and Head SpaceMarginal Utility The Attention EconomyMarginal Utility The Snacks Attack SocietyMarginal Utility Shopping ParanoidMarginal Utility Information WhirlwindMarginal Utility Holiday Shopping: The Good FightMarginal Utility The Usefulness TrapMarginal Utility The Customer Is Always WrongMarginal Utility Buy Me BeautifulMarginal Utility The Consumer in the KitchenMarginal Utility The "Me" SyndromeMarginal Utility Inefficient IntimacyMarginal Utility Meters, Purple People Eaters and The Revolution BetrayedMarginal Utility In Search of Real AmateursMarginal Utility Indecent ConsumptionMarginal Utility An Etiology of BoredomMarginal Utility Traveling the Public/Private DivideMarginal Utility Celebrities and the Barnum EffectMarginal Utility Thrift Store GentryMarginal Utility Convenience and the Cost of Free MusicMarginal Utility We're All Walking Sandwich Boards, These DaysMarginal Utility The New Sumptuary Laws for Modern-day SubjectsMarginal Utility The Mystery of Consumer Demand, or Personality as InventoryMarginal Utility The Myth of the Rebel ConsumerReviews DVDsPlagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea[30.Nov.07] :. They seem to be on one of the last American frontiers, where native optimism can still stubbornly face down an inhospitable climate, environmental wreckage, and state neglect to make for an unencumbered life that seems wholly one's own.  MultimediaBig Oil[11.Jan.07] :. With Big Oil, you can finally indulge your fantasy of fashioning virtual Nigerias of chaos and plunder, without burdening your conscience with the consequences.  MusicAndy Kim: How'd We Ever Get This Way/Rainbow Ride[2.Nov.06] :. With his unaffectedly yearning tenor and laconic delivery, Brill Building songsmith Andy Kim made bubblegum music suitable for adults.  MusicThe Open Mind: The Open Mind[6.Oct.06] :. '60s psychedelia purged of all whimsy, wonder, and utopian overtones, the Open Mind's heavy, druggy anthems foreshadowed 1970s hard rock  DVDsBob Dylan: Bob Dylan:1966-1978 After the Crash [DVD][29.Sep.06] :. This is a fan-made product, albeit a good one, when judged against bootlegs and fanzine stuff, but judged against real documentaries, it's a bit of a drag. Music The Triffids: Born Sandy DevotionalMusic Broadcast: Future CrayonMusic The Ides of March: VehicleMusic Sebadoh: IIIMusic The Pipettes: We Are the PipettesBooks Play Between Worlds by T.L. TaylorMusic Nilsson: Son of SchmilssonMusic The Guess Who: The Best of the Guess WhoBooks Household Words: Bloomers, sucker, bombshell, scab, nigger, cyber by Stephanie A. SmithMusic Delta 5: Singles and Sessions 1979-1981PopMatters Pick MusicPatti Smith: Horses/Horses[23.Nov.05] :. What's surprising about Patti Smith's Horses is how subversive it still is, despite its having long since been canonized as one of rock's most important and influential works. Music Bango: BangoMusic Terry Reid: SuperlungsMusic Fursaxa: LepidopteraMusic Def Leppard: Rock of Ages: The Definitive CollectionFilm The Girl from Monday (2004)Music Smog: A River Ain't Too Much to LoveMusic Pat Benatar: Greatest HitsMusic Jandek: Glasgow SundayFeatured Article MusicGene Autry: The Essential Gene Autry[26.May.05] :. Two-disc collection of the singing cowboy's truly essential tracks is a quintessential piece of Americana. Music Dungen: 1999-2001Music Ella Fitzgerald: Sings the Jerome Kern Song BookMusic Shivaree: Who's Got Trouble?Music My Morning Jacket: Early Recordings, Chapter 2: LearningMusic Lydia Lunch: Smoke in the ShadowsMusic Puffy AmiYumi: Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumiMusic The Bee Gees: Number OnesMusic Entrance: Wandering StrangerDVDs The Nutty Professor (1963)Music Swell Maps: A Trip to Marineville / Jane from Occupied EuropeMusic Kimya Dawson: Hidden VagendaMusic Giant Sand: Is All Over the MapMusic The Frenchmen: Sorry We Ruined Your PartyMusic Shocking Blue: At HomeMusic Little Wings: Magic WandMusic Heart: Little Queen / Dog & Butterfly / Bebe Le Strange [reissue]Music The Red Krayola: Singles 1968-2002Music The Flatlanders: Live '72Music George Jones: The Definitive Collection: 1955-1962Music Brian Eno: Another Green World [reissue]Music Patti Smith: Trampin'DVDs Ween: Live in Chicago [DVD + CD]Music Lloyd Cole: Music in a Foreign LanguageMusic Kiss: Alive!Music Various Artists: Ultimate '80sMusic 50 Foot Wave: self-titledDVDs The Beatles with Tony Sheridan: The Beginnings in Hamburg: A Documentary [DVD]Music Bobby Conn and the Glass Gypsies: The HomelandMusic R. Stevie Moore: Nevertheless OptimisticMusic The Gits: Frenching the BullyMusic Jeff Kelly: For the Swan in the HallwayTV Survivor All-StarsMusic Tom Waits and Crystal Gayle: One from the Heart: Original Motion Picture SoundtrackMusic Beat Happening: Music to Climb the Apple Tree ByMusic Birdsongs of the Mesozoic: The Iridium ConspiracyMusic DrugMoney: Mtn Cty JnkMusic Clear Horizon: self-titledMusic The Minders: The Future's Always PerfectMusic The Bevis Frond: New River HeadPopMatters Pick FilmPower Trip (2003)[8.Jan.04] :. The real villain, as Power Trip portrays it, is the corrupt Georgian government, led at the time by Eduard Shevardnadze. Music Joan Baez: The Complete A&M RecordingsFilm My Architect (2003)Film In My Skin (2002)Music Azure Ray: Hold on LoveMusic Jad Fair and Jason Willet: SuperfineMusic The Gossip: Undead in NYCFilm Prey for Rock & Roll (2003)Music Shutdown 66: Welcome to DumpsvilleMusic Quasi: Hot ShitMusic Alasdair Roberts: Farewell SorrowMusic Van Morrison: What's Wrong With This Picture?Music Shirley Horn: May the Music Never EndMusic Little Wings: Discover Worlds of WonderMusic Tokyo Sex Destruction: Le Red Soul Communitte (10 Points Program)Music Nanang Tatang: MukiMusic East River Pipe: Garbageheads on Endless StunMusic The Walkabouts: Slow Days with NinaMusic Mötley Crüe: Dr. FeelgoodMusic SushiRobo: The Light-Fingered Feeling of SushiRoboMusic Velvet Crush: Free Expression (Expanded)Music Friends of Dean Martinez: On the ShoreMusic Dead Meadow: Shivering King and OthersMusic Les Baton Rouge: Chloe YurtzMusic Joy: self-titledMusic Thomas Truax: Full Moon over WowtownMusic Ursa Minor: Silent Moving PictureMusic Nina Nastasia: Run to RuinMusic The Trouble with Sweeney: I Know You DestroyMusic The Byrds: The Essential ByrdsMusic The Osmond Family: Osmondmania!Music The Vexers: self-titledMusic Rick Nelson: The Best of Rick Nelson (20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection)Music Portastatic: The Summer of the SharkMusic Erase Errata: Other AnimalsMusic Stereo Total: Oh AhBlog postsMarginal UtilityUbiquitous measurement[3.Oct.08] :. On his blog a few weeks ago, Kevin Kelly celebrates what I complained about in this recent column: the growing ability to monitor and measure everything. I argued that fashioning databases of... Marginal UtilityPrivacy and publicity[2.Oct.08] :. Considering that Sarah Palin has declared her belief that the right to privacy is guaranteed by the Constitution, this August 2008 Scientific American article by Daniel Solove about how... Marginal UtilityJoe Six-Pack goes to Washington[1.Oct.08] :. 3 Quarks Daily linked to an interview with Sarah Palin conducted by conservative Hugh Hewitt. I don't advise reading the whole thing, unless you want to vomit, but the bit highlighted by 3QD is... Sound AffectsPunk's not dead, it's buttery[1.Oct.08] :. Good to see that former antichrist John Lydon is appearing in an ad for Country Life butter. Where would we be if punk hadn't upended the establishment and ushered in a whole new set of values based... Marginal UtilityPublic and private selves[30.Sep.08] :. In continuing to think about whether social networking is engineered to make us more narcissistic, I picked up Christopher Lasch's study The Culture of Narcissism, the dour condemnation of... Marginal Utility Band as brandMarginal Utility Fomenting narcissismMarginal Utility Demise of the Mediterranean dietMarginal Utility The take-away lifestyleMarginal Utility Bad bailoutMarginal Utility Risieria San SabbaMarginal Utility How to fight GooglephobiaMarginal Utility Regarding "Channels of Desire"Sound Affects Growing Up at the Side of Chairman MaoMarginal Utility Broadcasting the selfMarginal Utility Is music still a product?Marginal Utility The subtext of "Drill baby drill"Marginal Utility The roots of kleptocracyMarginal Utility The Numerati, by Stephen BakerMarginal Utility The credit experienceMarginal Utility Against curiosityMarginal Utility Can't save, won't saveMarginal Utility Happy nationsMarginal Utility Beyond the threshold of BurgertimeMarginal Utility The Aldi alternativeMarginal Utility The birth of the wrongnessMarginal Utility Wrongness and Family GuyMarginal Utility Brand anorexiaMarginal Utility Harmful efficienciesMarginal Utility Fear of mergingMarginal Utility The enduring creative class and the myth of samizdatMarginal Utility How brands prime behaviorMarginal Utility Advertising as creative destructionMarginal Utility "The exceptionalist fallacy"Sound Affects Stereotyping musical genresMarginal Utility Don't worry, be happyMarginal Utility Fashionable apathy and the power eliteMarginal Utility Hipster hatredMarginal Utility Eating symbolsMarginal Utility Connoisseurship and snobberyMarginal Utility The myth of critical distanceMarginal Utility The Truman Show DelusionMarginal Utility Looking for cluesMarginal Utility Tired of making choicesMarginal Utility The lost culture of thriftMarginal Utility Zygmunt Bauman's Does Ethics Have a Chance in a World of Consumers?Marginal Utility Hyperopia hypeMarginal Utility Face managementMarginal Utility Fanny and Freddie Got FingeredMarginal Utility Advertisements for ourselvesMarginal Utility Everybody is a starMarginal Utility Random friendsSound Affects Corporate rock apotheosisMarginal Utility A Minsky momentMarginal Utility Antisocial networkingMarginal Utility Starred items are foreverMarginal Utility The Eiffel Tower as fountain of illogicMarginal Utility Other people's mixtapesMarginal Utility The romantic appeal of the "long tail hypothesis"Marginal Utility Anonymous authorityMarginal Utility Environmentalism as aspirational brandMarginal Utility Copyright of MurakamiMarginal Utility The return of vinylMarginal Utility The time cost of free goodsMarginal Utility Precious momentsMarginal Utility Bogus babymaking crisesMarginal Utility The copyright industry arms raceMarginal Utility The great bourgeois virtuesMarginal Utility Versioning and the KindleMarginal Utility More on the promotional cultureMarginal Utility Absorbed with gadgetsMarginal Utility Evaluative criticismMarginal Utility Financial fictionsSound Affects The Whitburn ProjectMarginal Utility Snakeskin Jacket SyndromeMarginal Utility Avant-garde marketingMarginal Utility The travails of the megawealthyMarginal Utility Rob Walker's Buying InMarginal Utility Ostentatious gastronomyMarginal Utility Turning goods into experiencesMarginal Utility Why are oil prices so high?Marginal Utility Anecdote of the Boalsburg Memorial Day FestivalMarginal Utility Dead brandsMarginal Utility Having more money vs. buying cheaper goodsMarginal Utility The homeownership cultMarginal Utility Taste the musicMarginal Utility Manufacturing neuroticismMarginal Utility The end of record storesSound Affects The New Yorker's 100 essential jazz albumsMarginal Utility The conserver societyMarginal Utility "The Hype Cycle"Sound Affects Black Metal BakingMarginal Utility Protest brandingMarginal Utility Participatory surveillenceMarginal Utility Wealthy timeMarginal Utility Peyton Place and the roots of reality entertainmentMarginal Utility Difficult theoryMarginal Utility Defying the stimulusMarginal Utility Green thumb strategyMarginal Utility The unheard musicMarginal Utility The "atmosphere of craven conformity"Sound Affects The Most Unwanted SongMarginal Utility Social surplus or accursed share?Marginal Utility Inferior goods and the lump of consumption fallacyMarginal Utility Homeownership ideologyMarginal Utility A fifth column at the Wall Street JournalMarginal Utility Silent raveMarginal Utility Jettisoning aesthetic fundamentalsMarginal Utility Caring about the music businessMarginal Utility "Starve your neighbor"Marginal Utility Grounded planesMarginal Utility Deconstruction time againMarginal Utility Housing as "forced savings"Marginal Utility The return of MalthusMarginal Utility Triumph of the willMarginal Utility Only weirdos rentMarginal Utility Social gamingMarginal Utility Trash-outs as performance artMarginal Utility No smilesMarginal Utility Beating ZippyMarginal Utility Gimmie shelterMarginal Utility Twilight of the English professorsMarginal Utility Enemies of the ownership societyMarginal Utility Bear Stearns less valuable than A-RodMarginal Utility Feeling sorry for sexMarginal Utility The Fed's latest bailoutMarginal Utility Secrets of the Emperors ClubMarginal Utility The end of A&RMarginal Utility The end of the sexual class system, circa 1970Marginal Utility Social-conservative theory, an oxymoron?Marginal Utility Consuming the idea of productivityMarginal Utility Kids as consumer goodsMarginal Utility Twelve steps to financial disasterMarginal Utility Socialism's moral failureMarginal Utility Too many stores?Marginal Utility Country-fried bigotryMarginal Utility Feeling singleMarginal Utility Bastiat and the consumer's point of viewMarginal Utility Two-year lifespan of social networksMarginal Utility Stimulating spending and manufacturing optimismMarginal Utility Cutting credit cardsMarginal Utility &nb |