Joe Martinez: As a pop culture “guru,” what do you define pop culture as in 2009?

Chuck Klosterman: To be honest, right now, it seems like pop culture is the only culture anyone cares about. I don’t see a lot of interest in things that would be considered high culture, even sort of by academics. It seems like even the “New Yorker” basically covers popular culture. It seems to be more central to the way people living than any other tier of arts and entertainment.

JM: What role has the Internet played in driving the whole pop culture craze?

CK: When I say this, it will sound bad, and I don’t know if it’s good or bad. What the Internet has proven that people are more interested in gossip than news. I do think pop culture in America is taken more seriously than it was even 10 years ago.

The fact that it’s now totally acceptable to write about Twilight seriously, or Britney Spears seriously … has prompted a lot more people who would have felt uncomfortable focusing their career on that. So now, there’s smarter people writing about technically dumber things.

JM: Where do you see the journalism field heading? Do you think people will have to be generalized like yourself and dabble in everything?

CK: Probably the opposite. One thing I feel lucky about is I might be the last of the generalists, who writes about music and then writes about sports and writes about film and writes about politics. Now the expectation is that if you want to be in journalism, you have to be an expert in a very thin slice of culture.

In music coverage, for example, the big rock writers would write about all genres of music that were important. They would write about rock, they would write about hip hop, if disco was happening, they’d write about disco; if metal was big, they’d write about metal.

Now the expectation is you will be somebody who is the person who really knows about dance hall music. and you will write about exclusively about dance hall. I feel very lucky that just by chance I started my career just before the internet really happened; it existed … just before blogging really took off.

Because of that, I was able to position myself as someone who writes about things in kind of an abstract, big way. I don’t have to be a specialist. I think specialization is the probably more the future than a multi-purpose writer.

JM: Your new book, “Eating the Dinosaur,” is your first return to the essay format since “Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs.” How has your writing changed since then?

CK: Hopefully, I’m smarter. Did the style change? My style is no style. I try to figure whatever is the clearest, most entertaining way to write about whatever I’m interested in. I don’t really have a style. When I wrote “Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs,” I was 28, and now I’m 37, I got married in September. I moved from Ohio to Manhattan.

I sort of became involved with a lot of friends who were frankly just smarter than I was. And I learned a lot of stuff from them in very short of amount of time, particularly about the relationship between music and politics and film and class; things that I had thought about, but not as sophisticated as these people did.

Hopefully, I made these essays smarter although, you know, they may be less entertaining.

My main goal always is to entertain people, more than anything else. I think “Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs” probably was funnier, even if the essays weren’t as good. If you’re going to be a commercial writer, people want to enjoy the experience of reading the book more than learning anything.

JM: Besides 9/11, what will people remember the current decade about?

CK: The last presidential election will become very significant over time for three reasons. One, the obvious, we elected a black president, kind of a game-changing moment.

Two, I think that Sarah Palin as a character, when people look back on that, is going to seem as though a real sort of low point in the American conservative movement. Where basically every cliché people have about the Republicans was sort of manifest through this one person, who was completely unqualified. It was almost like a Hail Mary pass thrown in the third quarter of that election.

The third thing, this applies to Palin and Obama, was, it was the first time in my lifetime where the biggest factor in the success of both of those people was their relationship to popular culture. Obama became this figure that people who had never been interested in politics before were suddenly obsessed with. And that Palin was this figure who the fact that she was a moose hunter was more important than anything she had done politically.

Actually, it sort of makes me a bit nervous. I’m glad Obama won, but it does make me nervous that a lot of people suddenly became very politically active despite the fact that they knew almost nothing about politics, but they liked this guy. I think that causes a lot of social confusion over time, when people sort of think that this person is going to change my life and have no idea why.

I think that that election, people will probably look back quite a bit and say that was an interesting moment to be an American.

An exhibit displaying clothing, food, senses of style and taste of previous generations of Isabella County residents is at Central Michigan University’s Museum of Cultural and Natural History, Rowe Hall Room 103. This exhibit is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. “Mid-Michigan Fashion” is on display at the museum until Dec. 13.

Chuck Klosterman

Author and journalist Chuck Klosterman will speak at 7 p.m. today in Warriner Hall’s Plachta Auditorium to give a talk about how pop culture affects society. Klosterman is best known for his book, “Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs.” The event is free.

Christmas Outreach sorting

Volunteers are needed to sort donated items for the Christmas Outreach of Isabella County today and Tuesday in Finch Fieldhouse Room 110. Sorting takes place from noon to 4 p.m. Volunteers are asked to dedicate at least two hours of time to the project.

School of Music Recitals

An honors recital will take place at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the Music Building’s Staples Family Concert Hall. The Symphony Band and University Band will perform at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Staples Family Concert Hall. The concerts are free.

Looking into the Past

Today is the last day to attend “Looking into the Past: Photos and T-Shirts from CMU’s Annual Pow-Wow,” in the Bovee University Center’s Multicultural Education Center. Regalia, photos and T-shirts are all on display. This exhibit is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and is free.

Silent Auction & World Water Event

The Central Michigan University Clean Water Initiative is holding a silent auction from 2 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Bovee University Center Rotunda. Auction items, T-shirts and other purchases support student research and an effort to bring clean water to poor families in India. The event includes a “World Water Event” presentation at 6 p.m. The project hopes to bring 200 HydrAid filters to Ahmedabed, providing clean water to 2,000 people for a decade.

Photography Exhibit

“Click! The Photography of Juanita Baldwin” is on display in the Charles V. Park Library’s Baber Room. Baldwin, a photographer from Okemos, has had her work shown in numerous solo and juried exhibitions throughout Michigan and the United States. The exhibit is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The exhibit is free.

Public Relations Student Society of America

The Public Relations Student Society of America will meet at 8 p.m. Tuesday in Moore Hall Room 105 for its general meeting. There will be free pizza, giveaways and more for all general staff members.

Winter Warmth Drive

Modern Rock 91.5 is collecting non-perishable food, toys and winter clothing for the Isabella County Christmas Outreach Program. Donations may be dropped off at the station’s office at Moore Hall Room 183.

Rock Sale

The Central Michigan University Geology Club is hosting a rock sale from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today through Friday in the lower level of the Bovee University Center.

Free HIV testing

The Central Michigan District Health Department is offering free HIV tests Tuesday. For more information, call 773-5921, ext. 8409. Free food is available and there is a free $10 gift card for the first 100 testers.

Two of the speakers are high-profile comedians Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter of Comedy Central’s “Michael and Michael Have Issues.” The third speaker is journalist and author Chuck Klosterman.

We commend Program Board for bringing speakers of great student interest to CMU.

Black and Showalter are scheduled to speak in Plachta Auditorium at 7 p.m. Nov. 4. Though the two are comedians, they will not perform standup. Instead, they will speak about their show and incorporating comedy into their speech.

Klosterman, the author of “Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto,” is scheduled to speak at 7 p.m. Nov. 30 in Plachta Auditorium. He has written for Spin and Esquire magazines.
Both events seem intriguing and will hopefully attract many students.

Fabolous was the first big show that Program Board, in conjunction with On The Fly Productions, put on this year and it was a flop. Attendance was low, ambience was poor and Fabolous’ DJ mistakenly referred to CMU as Michigan State.

It’s great to see Program Board heading in a new direction with the entertainment it is bringing to campus.

Trey Parker, the creator of South Park, came to CMU a few weeks ago and was a big hit with students. He paid his way to Mount Pleasant and was intellectually stimulating. Hopefully, the speakers coming in November will have the same effect Parker had when he visited CMU.

Some students may not be too familiar with any of the speakers. But with backgrounds they have, it should be enough to attract a good audience to at least come out and hear what they have to say.

Next month will be the true test of how well Program Board is spending its money. From how it currently stands, Program Board is heading in the right direction by diversifying the people they’re bringing to campus.

Chances are the gamble will pay off.

Comedians Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter will lecture on making a comedy television show at 7 p.m. Nov. 4 at Warriner Hall’s Plachta Auditorium.

Journalist and author Chuck Klosterman will talk at 7 p.m. Nov. 30 in Plachta Auditorium. Both events are free and open to the public.

Program Board lecture chairwoman Nikki Burnstein said although Black and Showalter are not performing stand-up, their presentation will contain comedy in it.

“I thought it was interesting, because it’s a little different from a normal lecture, because they’re comedians,” the Farmington Hills junior said. “But they’re promoting their tour as a lecture series, and they’ll be talking about what it’s like to make a TV show.”

Black and Showalter have appeared in MTV’s “The State,” the film “Wet Hot American Summer,” Comedy Central shows “Stella” and their current “Michael and Michael Have Issues.”

“I’ve seen a lot about them on Comedy Central,” said Coordinator of Student Activities Damon Brown. “They’re taking their act and turning it into a lecture, so that’s really interesting.”

Burnstein said she is expecting a large audience turnout for the comedians.

“It’s focusing on their show ‘Michael and Michael Have Issues,’ and they’re going to go into the behind-the-scenes of what goes into making a comedy television show,”

Burnstein said. “It’s in Plachta, so I would hope they have to open up the balcony for the show.”

The author

Brown said although the Klosterman lecture has been planned for some time, the Black and Showalter lecture is a recent addition.

“We’ve had the Chuck Klosterman (lecture) booked, we’ve been working on that since the summer,” Brown said. “Then the Showalter and Ian Black one, they just started touring. That’s one that just kind of fell into our laps. We really wanted to get them in this semester — it was a great opportunity to bring folks of that caliber to campus.”

Klosterman has written for Spin and Esquire magazines and is author of the books “Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto,” and the upcoming “Eating The Dinosaur.”

“He’s an author, and I thought it was an interesting (lecture),” Burnstein said. “It’s a very opinionated thing, and it’s very interesting to hear people’s views on life and pop culture and things like that.”