Ramble: Cultural & Other Trends...

Just thinking of trends and wondering if decorations for the holidays will be cut back in our feeling of austerity. Is under-the-top going to be the way to go?  Well, anyway, my decorations aren't up. But here are other trends I've noticed...

• This morning I clicked into something VERY clever: NYTimes technology columnist David Pogue's gadget-choosing advice.  His Pogue-O-matic is the cleverest online story/advice column and the way he has illustrated this personally is pretty darn cool and anyway, Pogue is fun to watch if you don't even look at the gadets.  As far as media trend stories, this is a step worth noticing.


• Over Thanksgiving my children went to the teen vampire flick and pop-culture juggernaut Twilight which seemed like Sex and the City to pull in the females. A cultural take (go to the link for more on the morality slant): "This not the first time vampires in pop culture have been a perfect expression of the currents and anxieties of their time. In fact, one might argue that that is their purpose.  With immortality, a killer instinct, and a life on the fringes, Vampires are a perfect conduit for musings on the human condition." 


• Mullato Mutts: After our Golden Retreiver Hallelujah died we weren't interested in dogs and my son wants us to get a shelter dog mutt.  I've looked into the cultural trend of designer dogs called hybrids. Labradoodles and puggles are the most popular and there are now over 400 hybrids registered w/ the American Canine Hybrid Club. Will Obama's selection show his cultural duality perspective, too, and fuel this trend?


• From Global Trends 2025: the whole international system—as constructed following WWII—will be revolutionized and ...with 1.5 billion more people, will put pressure on resources—particularly energy, food, and water—raising the specter of scarcities emerging as demand outstrips supply. Water is becoming a huge issue in Santa Fe already and the pollutants from fracing technology in drilling for natural gas is a concern in the Southwest.


• The soft power of American Culture started with the Hollywood movies (more Hollywood tickets are sold outside of the U.S. than within it) and continues on its long roll even while opinions of America or American power has declined. One example of our cultural influence: The television program “CSI” is now more popular in France than in the United States. 

Dogumentary most popular film: Santa Fe's film festival started this week and the most popular film is Weiner Takes All: A Dogumentary and I think it is about racing dauchsunds.

Off to check out the films and get decorations up. Cultural Cheers!

Comments

[Marianna Scheffer]

I loved my cockapoo, who lived to be almost 19. She was very peppy and hard to train but extremely loving.
A cat is one thing--a cat box and not letting them claw the furniture is about it-- but a dog requires a lot of commitment, a task not to be taken on lightly.
Someone gave me a puppy that was very nice a while ago, but after four hours with it I gave it back. I realized it would take a primary commitment of six months to turn it it into a pet I could live with.

[tut-tut]

Labradoodles are just expensive mutts. Why perpetuate that trend when there are so many dogs languishing at shelters? This push to create a "breed" just really appalls me. I have an acquaintance who has one, but never saw its parents. They were mysteriously "unavailable" whenever she went to see the litter.

I'm sorry if I sound a bit shrill, but I"ve been spending a lot of time lately at the shelter with our fostered kitten (soon to be adopted), and with the economy the way it is, many who are losing their homes are ending up in rentals that don't accept pets. So the pets end up at the shelter. And so it goes.

[allison]

Our son adopted a corgi/daschund mix from the shelter and he is one of the sweetest, smartest mutts we've ever seen. We also have a border collie we got from a shelter and he is wonderful. Shelter pets are the way to go; kudos to the Obamas.

[Kathy H]

There was a NY Times Magazine article awhile back about purposely cross-bred mutts. They're adorable and precious when the breeding works, but when it doesn't, puppy mills are known to destroy the "unsaleable" dogs. Purchasing one of these just perpetuates the industry.

Of course, if you find one in the shelter...that's a different story.

[carron e.]

TWO WORDS...POUND PUPPY Get one! Actually you don't have to get a puppy, there are now so many dogs being put to sleep every day because their owners just walked off and left them with a foreclosed home. I agree with all who say not to support puppy mills by buying a breed dog. Close to where you live, Espanola has a very active humane society and shelter in need of homes for adorable pets. People who have dogs live longer and you will increase your happiness quota immensely! In Santa Fe there is a huge community of doggie daycare/doggie hotels/ doggie sitters. More than you could imagine. To help you when you are out of town. Just do it...go to the shelter...get a dog...save the life of some precious animal who is just waiting for you !