When being a rebel is sanctioned by society, what is left to rebel against?
Hal Niedzviecki has a blunt message for the army of tattoo and piercing enthusiasts, bloggers, skateboard warriors, and anyone else walking around with the smug certainty that they are one of a kind: Individuality is the new conformity.
Niedzviecki’s meditations touch on everything from designer religions to webcasts, from reality TV to the endless “Everybody Is A Star†platitudes of global pop culture. He unearths the amateur underground and shines a spotlight on the self-help industry, Hollywood, and mainstream media. The result is a smart, witty, and impassioned argument that shatters the you-can-do-anything pop myth and exposes the paradox of individualism.
“Hal Niedzviecki is truly special, but not in the mass market way. He is one of the wisest, funniest and most acute cultural critics writing today. A sure-footed guide through a surreal landscape.†– Naomi Klein, author of No Logo
"Niedzviecki rightfully and painfully illustrates how the pull between competing interests creates bizarre contradictions between consumers and pop-culture-at-large. That's what makes Niedzviecki's groundbreaking new book so refreshing: he reminds us that pop culture itself isn't an absolute means to an end; it's the people who exchange it and want to be a part of it all that remain its most fascinating components. When we entirely lose sight of this fact, we risk being reduced to smiling, slack-jawed spectator caricatures that wouldn't seem out of place shilling plastic AmEx cards. " – Zachary Houle, www.popmatters.com
"I'm Special asks why we all seem to do the same damn thing in the name of individuality. It's about time somebody did." – Kim Hughes, The Toronto Star
Hal Niedzviecki is the founder of Broken Pencil magazine and the author of We Want Some Too: Underground Desire and the Reinvention of Mass Culture.
