MANILA, Philippines - Yes, and if your eyeballs haven’t completed a triple somersault after reading that title, then I’ll be the first to say it: this is ridiculous. “How to be cultured.” It sounds like what the father leaning over his son would say in a Philippe Patek ad in the back of Forbes magazine.
Ask yourself, “Why would I want to take advice from a stuttering tomboy with feet too wide for Tod’s?” God forbid we take advice from someone who can’t pronounce “mille feuille.” No problem, I wouldn’t take advice from me either. But this is why I also search for advice elsewhere.
Tumblr’s reblog situation is like an incestuous family tree, and to name just one blog would be useless. Its young audience and contributions tend to take the artists away from their portraits (some don’t know who Burroughs is, though the man has pretty great portraits up on Tumblr), but the breadth of their digging is commendable. Good images abound regardless in style blogs like jesuisperdu.tumblr.com or theimpossiblecool.tumblr.com. Outside Tumblr, there’s the design industry favorite, Yimmy Yayo.
When David Lynch films become mass market, wake me up. Even local films get shot down by the costs of distribution. Not making it to a Cinemalaya screening is forgivable. But even access to cult classics takes the sweat out of you. Criterion looks pretty (cultured) on the shelf but it’s also pretty pricey. Good thing there’s Open Culture. While the website looks about as high-tech as the time you went into Nokia to ask about an iPad problem (okay, that was me), it also sends you to free university lectures even at the places that rejected you (okay, that was me too).
It’s not only the design-studio commissioned minimalist layouts that promise good content. But okay, sometimes it does — look for magazines that go heavy on the cultural reportage. Take the newsstand glory publication Monocle. Widely available with a wide coverage of places, it’s like a world phonebook and sets the bar for the life we all want. Never been to the place we just discussed together in detail? Neither have I.
Magazines specialists kill me with their expensive frou-frou art magazines that even make French sound a little mainstream. Dear God, if I got convinced that these dime-a-dozen artists are the next big thing then I wouldn’t be much different from my childhood self when I read Tiger Beat and gave some “obscure” boy bands a chance. I’ll avoid the Cosmopolitan free lip gloss for Dazed and Confused or iD.
Culture is not about round-rimmed glasses or cuffed trousers. Culture isn’t a scramble suit, it’s just you with an extension pack. Don’t listen to me or anyone.