PopMatters: Marginal Utility Dealing with contemporary consumerism, capitalism, and the life it permits. 2009-07-10T12:09:29Z Copyright (c) 2009, PopMatters.com ExpressionEngine tag:popmatters.com-marginal-utility,2009:07:10 Fear of specialty stores tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.107962 2009-07-09T19:10:35Z 2009-07-09T19:10:35Z Rob Horning Why did people think house prices can't fall? tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.107861 2009-07-08T01:38:38Z 2009-07-08T01:38:38Z Rob Horning Real men use their tools tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.107655 2009-07-04T21:13:07Z 2009-07-04T21:13:07Z Rob Horning New York... ]]> Death of the blogosphere tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.107620 2009-07-03T23:39:13Z 2009-07-03T23:39:13Z Rob Horning Slowing down tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.107557 2009-07-02T12:30:15Z 2009-07-02T12:30:15Z Rob Horning Tell 'em that it's human nature tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.107503 2009-06-30T16:12:29Z 2009-06-30T16:12:29Z Rob Horning Placebos as performance tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.107468 2009-06-29T17:17:14Z 2009-06-29T17:17:14Z Rob Horning "A beginning is a very delicate time." tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.107287 2009-06-25T22:02:59Z 2009-06-25T22:02:59Z Rob Horning The end of autonomous curiosity tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.107233 2009-06-24T20:31:01Z 2009-06-24T20:31:01Z Rob Horning Wired article by Fred Vogelstein about the supposed war between Facebook and Google that's coming, I found myself becoming increasingly irritated and skeptical. Though actually,... ]]> Chitchat and tittle-tattle tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.107154 2009-06-24T14:31:08Z 2009-06-24T14:31:08Z Rob Horning New Grub Street. Failed author and up-and-coming literary agent Whelpdale presents his idea for a... ]]> The energy of conspiracy theorists tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.107131 2009-06-23T19:26:49Z 2009-06-23T19:26:49Z Rob Horning John Is Dead tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.107107 2009-06-23T17:45:36Z 2009-06-23T17:45:36Z Rob Horning Semaphore signals tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.107011 2009-06-22T22:51:06Z 2009-06-22T22:51:06Z Rob Horning New Grub Street, a thoroughly depressing look at the business of manufacturing literature, of belles lettres for sale, and all the petty... ]]> Health insurance and personal responsibility tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.102298 2009-06-20T18:26:12Z 2009-06-20T18:26:12Z Rob Horning Dumb movies tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.102261 2009-06-19T14:58:01Z 2009-06-19T14:58:01Z Rob Horning Medical waste tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.102187 2009-06-18T21:00:29Z 2009-06-18T21:00:29Z Rob Horning Digital anarchy tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.95331 2009-06-17T20:35:43Z 2009-06-17T20:35:43Z Rob Horning Corporate 99-cent stores tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.95249 2009-06-17T20:00:14Z 2009-06-17T20:00:14Z Rob Horning Exploitation as business model tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.94863 2009-06-10T18:59:14Z 2009-06-10T18:59:14Z Rob Horning Blaming everyone and no one tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.94804 2009-06-09T21:32:03Z 2009-06-09T21:32:03Z Rob Horning Customer satisfaction and American Idol tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.94767 2009-06-09T14:26:53Z 2009-06-09T14:26:53Z Rob Horning Hooverville Williamsburg tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.94732 2009-06-08T21:24:45Z 2009-06-08T21:24:45Z Rob Horning Leave deciders alone tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.94676 2009-06-07T19:57:17Z 2009-06-07T19:57:17Z Rob Horning Predictably Irrational and the extrapolations he makes... ]]> Working for free tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.94592 2009-06-05T21:20:42Z 2009-06-05T21:20:42Z Rob Horning Creative writing and crippling self-consciousness tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.94530 2009-06-04T23:19:40Z 2009-06-04T23:19:40Z Rob Horning New Yorker, Louis Menand reviews The Program Era, a book by Mark McGurl about the institutionalization of creative-writing programs. Creative writing classes are an easy target... ]]> Thoughts on Yellowstone tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.94402 2009-06-02T18:50:49Z 2009-06-02T18:50:49Z Rob Horning Prince movies tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.94393 2009-06-02T18:42:07Z 2009-06-02T18:42:07Z Rob Horning Under the Cherry... ]]> Meme moments tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.94210 2009-05-30T17:39:35Z 2009-05-30T17:39:35Z Rob Horning Sundry music-related matters tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.94126 2009-05-29T10:25:04Z 2009-05-29T10:25:04Z Rob Horning Un-games tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.93942 2009-05-26T16:56:08Z 2009-05-26T16:56:08Z Rob Horning Since I am always complaining about how technology accelerates life, transforms it into something we feel compelled to consume more and more quickly rather than experience, I was intrigued by this... ]]> Slacker security tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.93896 2009-05-26T05:03:15Z 2009-05-26T05:03:15Z Rob Horning Alone in the woods tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.93817 2009-05-24T21:27:30Z 2009-05-24T21:27:30Z Rob Horning Costs of free tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.93320 2009-05-15T16:21:37Z 2009-05-15T16:21:37Z Rob Horning Using consumers for housing bets tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.93235 2009-05-14T03:48:22Z 2009-05-14T03:48:22Z Rob Horning Thinking man's filter tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.93158 2009-05-12T22:31:02Z 2009-05-12T22:31:02Z Rob Horning Family photos as entertainment tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.93090 2009-05-11T23:21:38Z 2009-05-11T23:21:38Z Rob Horning Brand hegemony tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.92869 2009-05-09T20:13:47Z 2009-05-09T20:13:47Z Rob Horning Chinese saving tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.92857 2009-05-09T01:58:09Z 2009-05-09T01:58:09Z Rob Horning Digital fetishes tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.92850 2009-05-08T16:25:04Z 2009-05-08T16:25:04Z Rob Horning Speed eating tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.92759 2009-05-06T15:08:38Z 2009-05-06T15:08:38Z Rob Horning Credit-card convenience tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.92686 2009-05-05T16:50:26Z 2009-05-05T16:50:26Z Rob Horning Attention grabber tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.92665 2009-05-05T03:11:12Z 2009-05-05T03:11:12Z Rob Horning Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life, a book about why we find it difficult to concentrate. Miller points out how technology has made it... ]]> The strange suspicion of advertising tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.73814 2009-04-30T15:04:00Z 2009-04-30T15:04:00Z Rob Horning Is authenticity born in recessions? tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.73779 2009-04-29T11:46:00Z 2009-04-29T11:46:00Z Rob Horning Hiding tastes tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.73777 2009-04-28T16:23:33Z 2009-04-28T16:23:33Z Rob Horning NYT piece by Joanna Kaufman wonders whether the Kindle will rob people of the opportunity to do what I talked of yesterday, judge people based on what sort of books they own. How will the... ]]> Box of books in the trash tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.73687 2009-04-27T13:47:38Z 2009-04-27T13:47:38Z Rob Horning Comments on comments tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.73671 2009-04-26T18:25:42Z 2009-04-26T18:25:42Z Rob Horning Undoing ideology with policy tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.73575 2009-04-24T22:00:04Z 2009-04-24T22:00:04Z Rob Horning Red rocker and knight rider tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.73608 2009-04-24T21:06:22Z 2009-04-24T21:06:22Z Rob Horning Defending the authenticity quest tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.73517 2009-04-24T00:00:16Z 2009-04-24T00:00:16Z Rob Horning Crybaby bankers tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.73429 2009-04-21T15:40:50Z 2009-04-21T15:40:50Z Rob Horning New York magazine schadenfreude-fest about pouty investment bankers, who from behind the cloak of anonymity complain about how... ]]> The treadmill of ambition tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.73365 2009-04-20T14:24:41Z 2009-04-20T14:24:41Z Rob Horning Yearning for ubiquitous anonymity tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.73225 2009-04-18T21:17:22Z 2009-04-18T21:17:22Z Rob Horning The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism, Daniel Bell claims that "discretionary social behavior" rises discretionary income, with the result that "the more idiosyncratic aspects of... ]]> Jeans on tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.73219 2009-04-17T17:26:13Z 2009-04-17T17:26:13Z Rob Horning A hipster lost generation tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.73166 2009-04-17T13:36:58Z 2009-04-17T13:36:58Z Rob Horning Hobby economy tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.73162 2009-04-16T14:22:28Z 2009-04-16T14:22:28Z Rob Horning Technological determinism and convenience bias tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.73119 2009-04-15T14:21:50Z 2009-04-15T14:21:50Z Rob Horning Information costs tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.73034 2009-04-14T15:04:14Z 2009-04-14T15:04:14Z Rob Horning The "gleefully frugal" tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.73013 2009-04-13T21:20:42Z 2009-04-13T21:20:42Z Rob Horning The Death of the Hipster tag:popmatters.com,2009:pm/blogs/marginal-utility/9.72950 2009-04-13T13:58:34Z 2009-04-13T13:58:34Z Rob Horning n+1's "What Was the Hipster?" panel discussion at the New School on Saturday, but went away a bit unfulfilled. There was little evidence presented that hipsterism is over, that it... ]]>