Of course Macy’s put up their Christmas decorations halfway through a September heat wave. I didn’t even blink when I saw it. No big deal.
Popular culture has made incongruity ordinary. We expect a twist, a surprise, a bit of a shock--- and are disappointed when we don’t get it. How rare for something to be only what it seems, or someone. Remember when “true blue” was a compliment? Okay, most of you are too young to remember literally, but you get the idea.
Everything has to be juxtaposed with something else to give it validity. Go ahead and offset an idea by acknowledging its opposite, as long as it’s not political. Political issues retain polarized identities in their purest form. Everything else has become a motley grab bag of ideas and execution. Look at the current fashions, if you dare. (Did I mention I was at a mall recently? Do rich kids not own mirrors?)
This blog is an example of incongruity in action. The journal-esque format implies an intimacy belied by public access. I brazenly publish my real name, and in so doing I limit what I am willing to confess for general consumption. Part of that is cynicism, part is professional restraint.
Dignity + the Internet? There’s incongruous for you. Wolfgang Puck putting strawberries in a green salad has nothing on that.
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3 comments:
Sadly, the little Puck man can't even call putting strawberries in his salad original at all. I've seen it many, many places over the years- including the most mundane of places, T.G.I.Fridays.
For a recipe (not from T.G.I.Fridays): http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1943,157161-241194,00.html
It's very rare that a juxtaposition in food is new, usually if it is, there's a reason. At that point I usually say, "well, at least it's interesting."
"Interesting"--- like the raspberry-granita covered raw oysters at Fleur de Lys? I think that's what I said at the time, though I'm happy I tried it.
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