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W. David Marx

@wdavidmarx.bsky.social
2.3K followers 143 following 557 posts

Author of Blank Space, Ametora, and Status and Culture. Newsletter at culture.ghost.io. Tokyo, Japan.

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Reposted by W. David Marx
New York Times Opinion @nytopinion.nytimes.com · 30/09/2026
“America will still dominate the giant pop-culture spectacle, and the monopoly on cool, on the other hand, I think is probably over, that it is a more kind of multipolar world of cool,” W. David Marx says on “The Opinions,” discussing America’s soft power and its changing influence around the world.
nyti.ms
Opinion | America Used to Be Cool. What Happened?
The world order is changing. So is the United States’ place in it.
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Garbage Day @garbageday.email · 28/09/2026
Why "Choosin' Texas" doesn't feel like a hit www.garbageday.email/p/why-choosi...
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Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
"Shklovsky repudiated the principle of artistic economy. He saw art as increasing the difficulty + span of perception "because the process of perception is an aesthetic end in itself and must be prolonged"; he saw art as means of destroying automatism in perception." Eichenbaum
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Matt Alt @mattalt.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
RIP Toyohiro Akiyama, whose jaunt to space and back down to Earth mirrored the rise and fall of Japan’s Bubble economy. The 1990 trip could also be considered humanity's most ambitious livestreaming stunt. blog.pureinventionbook.com/p/the-salary...
blog.pureinventionbook.com
The Salaryman Spaceman
A rocket-powered rise and fall that mirrored Japan’s own
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W. David Marx @wdavidmarx.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution did a long video on the connections between the history of denim production in Georgia and Japanese selvedge denim www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JSp...
youtube.com
Japan perfected ‘American’ denim. Can the South bring it back? | Full Episode
YouTube video by Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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W. David Marx @wdavidmarx.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I haven't published a newsletter in nine months, but I did today. Here is a new one about the fact that we no longer live in a world where the appreciation for fine art is a sinister tool of class distinction: culture.ghost.io/good-taste-i...
culture.ghost.io
Good Taste is Not What’s Oppressing Us in 2026
In an age where Donald Trump and tech barons hold the most political and economic power, Pierre Bourdieu’s ideas based on 1960s French Old Money may no longer provide the best guidance towards the eth...
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W. David Marx @wdavidmarx.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Roland Kelts and I try to explain why Japan is so popular right now... and Search Engine's math proves us right? www.searchengine.show/whys-everybo...
searchengine.show
Why’s everybody going to Japan?
A Japanese listener gets so many houseguests she starts a spreadsheet to try to figure out what's going on. Why has American tourism to Japan gotten so out of contr…
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W. David Marx @wdavidmarx.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
WSJ did a great video on Iron Heart denim including interviews with @trufelman.bsky.social and me www.wsj.com/style/fashio...?
wsj.com
How Japan Made American Denim Its Own—and Built a Cult Following
Watch how a Japanese biker makes the $500 jeans denimheads can’t get enough of.
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W. David Marx @wdavidmarx.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Criterion Channel @criterionchannl.bsky.social is now screening a deluxe edition of *Head*, the notorious 1968 Bob Rafelson psych-pop freak-out starring the Monkees. It's simultaneously a masterpiece and an artistic failure—a rare feat. www.criterion.com/films/27527-...
criterion.com
Head
Hey, hey, it’s the Monkees . . . being catapulted through one of American cinema’s most surreal sixties odysseys. The brainchild of Bob Rafelson, making his directorial debut; his producing partner an...
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W. David Marx @wdavidmarx.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
I had never noticed the backwards credits at the end of Bob Rafelson / The Monkees' Head (1968)
Backwards credits randomly inserted into the credit sequence of the 1968 film Head
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W. David Marx @wdavidmarx.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Always give someone a hard time if they pronounce a word correctly. It means they didn't learn it from reading.
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W. David Marx @wdavidmarx.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
"The Defiant Ones"
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EM Simpson @emsetc.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
I listened to two v interesting podcast eps this morning: 1. Cross over pod with @samsanders.bsky.social and Willa Paskin on @wdavidmarx.bsky.social's book www.kcrw.com/shows/the-sa... 2. @bookriot.bsky.social ep w/ "Canon Editor" Gilbert Cruz on NYT's thriller list! bookriot.com/listen/curat...
kcrw.com
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W. David Marx @wdavidmarx.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
The Banana Splits O.S.T. is all bangers
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W. David Marx @wdavidmarx.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Too hot for cotton this summer: I went full Marx-Linen
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W. David Marx @wdavidmarx.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Lollapalooza sux now. When I was younger, they literally could get the CEO of Goldman Sacks to spin. Now I don't see a single CEO, Chairman, or Board Member of a major financial institution on the artist roster... smh
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Patrick Macias @patrickmacias.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Gonna tell my kids this is City Pop
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DIE ZEIT @zeit.de · 26/07/2026
Warum fühlt sich Kultur heute so gleichförmig an? Es liegt nicht allein an Kapitalismus und Algorithmen, sagt der Autor W. David Marx. Sondern auch an der Linken.
zeit.de
W. David Marx: »Die Nullerjahre waren eine merkwürdige Zwischenzeit«
Warum fühlt sich Kultur heute so gleichförmig an? Es liegt nicht allein an Kapitalismus und Algorithmen, sagt der Autor W. David Marx. Sondern auch an der Linken.
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W. David Marx @wdavidmarx.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
"Jay-Z wants his journey from the Marcy Houses in Brooklyn to the most exclusive boardrooms in America to be rendered as a chapter in the civil rights movement."
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W. David Marx @wdavidmarx.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
Poptimism: "Every billionaire is a policy failure—except the musician I'm writing a hagiography about."
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W. David Marx @wdavidmarx.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Very sad news. I worked under him during my summer internship at Kōdansha and he was impressive how seamlessly he could move between being a TV talent and a serious magazine editor. I had hoped to run into him again someday...
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W. David Marx @wdavidmarx.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
TOMORROW I'm speaking at Temple University, Japan Book Talk | Blank Space: A Cultural History of the Twenty-First Century Date: Thursday, July 16, 2026 Time: 6:30pm - 8:00pm Register here:
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W. David Marx @wdavidmarx.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
Due to the extended length of this football match, NHK-E is having to delay its normal programming: "Vegetable Time"
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W. David Marx @wdavidmarx.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
The Hawk Tuah President www.nytimes.com/2026/07/04/u...
nytimes.com
Nearly a Million Investors Lost a Total of $3.8 Billion on Trump Crypto Coin
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HLLLYH @hlllyh.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
In 2004 and 2005 if you went to a Mae Shi show and handed them a mixtape or mix CD to listen to in the van they would give you a copy of the Mae Shi 2004 Mix Tape, a collection of their 3000 favorite songs in about 70 minutes. Now you too can enjoy a copy.
A really cool cover of the mae shi 2004 mix tape,which appears to be a collage of all the cover art from the records featured on said mixtape.  Images include Joni Mitchell, the Champs, Easy-E, Glass Candy and Judee Sill.
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Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
art imagines new things, upends social norms, says the unsayable, builds alternate worlds, designs counterlogics, revels in curiosity+ exercises fundamental human capacity for creative representation this is why art intrinsically sides with freedom, good discoursing on art this morning, everybody!
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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
New issue of Popeye, a Japanese menswear mag, looks great. It's a rare all-English edition and looks at how people from 18 different countries dress. Very aligned with my view of style: diversity and differences are good, and dress is a form of social language. Avail at Kinokuniya.
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W. David Marx @wdavidmarx.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
I will never understand the jump to "you must be an idiot" to people making good faith interpretations to clear changes to the structure of cultural flows in the 21st century. We can all see and hear a *relative* lack of stylistic change in the *narrative-defining* culture of our times.
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W. David Marx @wdavidmarx.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
"Tech companies promised us their apps would free us from the gatekeepers and institutions that lorded over the 20th century only to replace them with basically the exact same thing those institutions offered us, but worse." — @ryanhatesthis.bsky.social www.garbageday.email/p/there-s-no...
garbageday.email
There's nothing to watch on YouTube anymore
Read to the end for an Australian town everyone on Reddit agrees is haunted
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W. David Marx @wdavidmarx.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
American is coasting on its mid 20th century cultural capital www.nytimes.com/2026/05/10/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | How American Cool Dies
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W. David Marx @wdavidmarx.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Instagram is the creation of a global phone book where virtually anyone can call you and leave a message. Definitely some downsides!
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Unpacking Japan @unpackingjapan.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
How Western culture and fashion come to Japan: This week, we sat down with writer W. David Marx to talk about the history of fashion and pop culture in Japan. Full episodes on YouTube!
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W. David Marx @wdavidmarx.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
It would have been a lot less confusing for everyone had I become a ceramicist
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the Jarvis Cocker of the Chicago lit scene @yoadrianididit.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
"Most critically, woo-woo aligned perfectly with capitalism, as magical thinking often became a tool for building profitable personal brands and working toward future fortunes." — W. David Marx
These New Age practices took on the moniker woo-woo, which origi-nated in rationalists' pejorative name for pseudoscience. Such rationalist cri-tiques began to feel as outdated and shrill as the liberal triumphalism of the Obama era. With technocracy delivering nothing but a hypercapitalist econ-omy and the chaos of Trump's presidency, woo-woo emerged as a potential counterbalance. Manifesting, astrology, and other mystical practices offered not just solace but also a sense of agency. Most critically, woo-woo aligned perfectly with capitalism, as magical thinking often became a tool for build-ing profitable personal brands and working toward future fortunes
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W. David Marx @wdavidmarx.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
If the film Pavements wanted to beat into my head that I'll never ever understand what Malkmus's actual deal is, then amazing work everyone
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W. David Marx @wdavidmarx.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
Culture that outmoded previous paradigms, even when it's centuries old, is the culture that still enjoys extraordinary value today, so yeah
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Cornelia Kristiansen @cokristiansen.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
«But they could bond over their shared contempt for liberal decency». God bok!
Utdrag fra Blank space av W. David Marx. Om Yiannopoulous, Kanye og American Apparel-grunderen som ikke ville vært allierte før internett.
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Julia Carrie Wong @joolia.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
I’m actually not sure we can come back from “prediction markets for war crimes”, as a society. I think this might be it for us.
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W. David Marx @wdavidmarx.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
Til mine dansktalende venner www.foljeton.dk/post/rygtern...
foljeton.dk
Rygterne om kulturens død er stærkt overdrevne - Føljeton
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W. David Marx @wdavidmarx.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
I know I brought this upon myself by writing a sprawling book, but I feel like 75% of the debates about BLANK SPACE are people arguing against a summary of a summary of what I actually wrote
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W. David Marx @wdavidmarx.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Not to go all Harold Bloom, but the stronger artists of the next generation always reshape the history to explain their own emergence. Joy Division explained the subsequent decades of music in a way that Christopher Cross couldn't.
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Alex Shephard @alexshephard.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
"The biggest story of the last year is that Trump has, in a very short amount of time, squandered most of his political capital by running a belligerent, unlawful, and fascist regime. But the second biggest is that the right has squandered all of the cultural capital his election brought them."
newrepublic.com
The Hilarious Decline of MAGA’s Brief Cultural Relevance
A year ago, everyone was doing the “Trump dance.” Now the president is too scared to show his face at the Super Bowl, and the right’s “alternative” halftime show features the cringey, washed-up Kid Ro...
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Zach Weinersmith @zachweinersmith.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
Interestingly, a similar thesis was made by this book, though not as a positive thing: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/769187... The author's claim was that once you equate fame/wealth with success (above e.g. artistry, insightfulness) many things go to shit.
penguinrandomhouse.com
Blank Space by W. David Marx: 9780593833995 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice · A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of 2025 · A People Best Book of November 2025 · An NPR Most Anticipated...
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W. David Marx @wdavidmarx.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
Robin Williams came into Tokion, and was looking at a shirt and I said we also have it in other sizes and he made a very animated WHUZAA sound and gesture and then bought something and left
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Queens Public Library @qplnyc.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
Our virtual Literary Thursdays series brings you live conversations with amazing writers. Learn More about our February guests: @wdavidmarx.bsky.social, @brianjoneseducator.bsky.social, @vluck89.bsky.social, and Brianna Holt! queenslibrary.org/calendar?sea... #BlackHistoryMonth
Pictures of our February Literary Thursdays guests—W. David Marx, Brian Jones, Victor Luckerson, and Brianna Holt—and their book covers.
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Simon Reynolds @simonreynolds.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
My new book Still In A Dream: Shoegaze, Slackers, and the Reinvention of Rock, 1984-94 is out in June on @whiterabbitbks.bsky.social . It's a love letter to the music of my youth and a flashback to the most exciting time of my writing life. Pre-order geni.us/StillInADream
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W. David Marx @wdavidmarx.bsky.social · 31/01/2026
The only good part of the first "Melania" film is the Wes Anderson-esque opening credits sequence where they got Paul Simon to sing a cover of Paul McCartney and Wings' "Mamunia" with every instance of "Mamunia" replaced with "Melania"
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Smart Cookies podcast @smartcookies.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
What do Kanye West, Taylor Swift, Mark Zuckerberg and Donald Trump have in common? As cultural critic @wdavidmarx.bsky.social argues in his book Blank Space, they are all representatives of a single MONOCULTURE that has taken over the planet... Full convo HERE 👇🏻 youtu.be/d_fwbtnUr5Y
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barb @bbyreis.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
meu deus o w david marx citando vampire weekend e pulp no mesmo parágrafo de análise cultural do capitalismo tardio estou assim
media.tenor.com
a blue background with the word chromastone10 in the middle
ALT: a blue background with the word chromastone10 in the middle
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W. David Marx @wdavidmarx.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
The Industry score is nice but the soundtrack declines to ever be more obscure than a high schooler's mixtape from 1998 Oh wow, how did you ever think to use Henry Purcell's Music for the Funeral of Queen Mary? Was it possiblely because it's already famous as the main theme in A Clockwork Orange?
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