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Aug 29 08: suckadelic darth blowout!
Yes, that’s what I said. Suckadelic Darth Blowout.
I was first exposed to this phrase by a chain of and-now-click-this that started with Amyknitty at the knitty blog. My immediate reaction, upon seeing the phrase out of the corner of my eye, was surely the same as yours: Best. Band Name. Ever.
But no, it was a piece up for bids as part of a pop-culture auction at Christie’s, where they sold Elvis memorabilia and Sopranos costumes and limited-edition vinyl sculpture-toys like this bunny. Which sold for $625, hello. Suckadelic is the artist(s?); Darth Blowout is the piece. And lucky for you — if unlucky for Suckadelic — it went unsold. You can still buy it for your very own via the Suckadelic website for a mere $1,500.
But what, you might ask, is Suckadelic? Beyond a word that it is really fun to write over and over? My best thumbnail summary is probably geek mashup fabulosity. Remixing of culture is their game: take a Stormtrooper doll and reproduce it in pink plastic a bunch of times, and you have Gay Empire Attack!, which Christie’s sold just fine. Or make a sculpture that is a simultaneous homage to Andres Serrano and Matt Groening and call it “Piss Bart.” (I don’t want to know what’s in the jar. Let’s not ask.) Those get filed under “Art” — filed under “Toys,” you find pseudo-Boba Fett figures that come with turntables and beatboxes, or Micronauts re-envisioned as Playskool Little People, all in their own totally respectable blister packs. (Apparently the difference between art and knicknackery is mass production. Andy Warhol, white courtesy phone, please.) And there’s music too: hip-hop samploramas with titles like Star Wars Breakbeats and Supervillains. Not as expensive as the art, but still: cool don’t come cheap.
I love it that somehow, people are finding ways to turn dorkiness into street cred. I mean, let’s take a moment to send radiant thoughts of fannish adoration at Jonathan Coulton and his songs about love and mad scientists and giant squids and heartbreak and deranged computers. Yay.
The geeks truly are taking over the world. Fear us.