The Murder of a Piano

Fr. Z of WDTPRS might call it the "Devil's Book," and the Left may consider it the "paper of record," but I cannot consider my morning complete without reading the daily edition of the New York Times.  Most of what it contains is pure drivel; the news reporting is obviously biased; and everything is skewed so far left.  I wonder sometimes whether the journalists and editors even realize the tenor of what they publish.

Of course, the NYT also has a lot of great material. It is, for starters, of great value insofar as it provides a unique insight into the mindset of the typical educated, dare I say, "intellectual" leftist.  But there are other things to appreciate.  The weekly dinning section, for example, is superb.  And the arts reporting can be interesting, at least when it doesn't involve coverage of some new exhibit featuring, say, unshaven co-ed hipsters giving monologues in the nude while performing taichi amongst piles of garbage on a black light-lit stage.  You know the sort of "art" to which I refer.

But even "modern" art and commentary can be thought-provoking, even touching.  I found the video below especially compelling.  It is an "opinion" video that I found via another blog.  The video auteur finds an abandoned piano outside his apartment video and he films it over the course of what seems to be two days.  It is fascinating to see how people interact with the instrument.  And it is all the more depressing to see what becomes of it.  No spoilers, I promise.  

But the video also provides a critique of just what we value in contemporary culture, especially when it comes to the average person's appreciation for the arts and his tendency to value the material over the sublime.  I may be reading "too much" into the video, and I don't mean to criticize economic motivation simpliciter, or self-interestedness as such.  Indeed, a love for free markets and homesteading (which is ultimately what can be used to describe the appropriation of this piano - oh darn, there's a spoiler!) doesn't commit one to dispel any and all appreciation for what is (popularly understood to be) of little economic value, or to somehow accept as given the cultural shift we've experienced towards greater (and more callous) consumerism and materialism.

Anyway, enjoy the video!