Category Archives: Blogs' Archive

One thing I love about facebook and this whole social medium thing which has infected the internet until it has become the internet, in much the same way that the internet sort of evolved out of nothing, with a bit of help from Al Gore, to give meaning to the existence of computers, is that not only does it  provide an environment in which we can circulate great art, music, and writing (and some pretty hideous art, music, and writing because if you are anything at all like me, some of your friends are going to have truly lame taste, it’s human nature), but it also provides an environment in which entirely different concepts in art, music, and writing can be tried out, disseminated, and some of them may evolve into something great.

…and then there are the poorly drawn cartoons. They’re not all xkcd, but a lost of them are funny.

Flash mobs would never have existed without social media, and flash  mobs are awesome.  Earlier today I was watching an awesome performance, a large crowd of people sitting on the floor of a gymnasium, it looked like, banging cups in accompaniment to a pretty awesome singer, in Gaelic, I think.  It was impressive, not just because of the music, but also because of the co-ordination of that large group of people.  Of course, similar things have been done before, there are marching bands and drill teams and flash card sections at football stadiums, but it’s cool to watch and it comes to me via facebook.

A couple of months ago I saw a woman who made an art form out of decorating her room.  I haven’t seen that copied yet, but I don’t see why it shouldn’t be, and improved upon.  There’s a lot that can be said with the space inside 4 walls.

I also saw, just today, a female photographer who digitally inserted herself into her childhood photos, creating a fantasy world where the little girl could see what she’d grown up to be.  It was kind of cool, but totally replicable, and I expect to see lots of people doing that now, with varying results.

Then there were these two geezers, who call themselves Dead Parrot, I guess because it’s funny to name your comedy team after a famously funny routine by a much more famous and more funny comedy group.  The concept is cool, although I  thought their execution of it was totally lame.  They take actual comment threads and re-enact them, which would be much funnier if they would start with interesting threads, but it winds up being a couple of old guys saying “fuck you” a lot in deadpan voices.

Somebody could do better.  Not necessarily me, but somebody.

The Genie’s out of the bottle, the monster is out of the cave

when I see someone wearing those glasses, I’m going to smile and wave

There are two topics I’d like to touch on tonight.  First, it’s now pretty clear that New Jersey Governor Jabba the Hut Chris Christie really did order the closing of 3 lanes of traffic leading up to the George Washington bridge just to deliberately fuck up the citizens of Fort Lee because their mayor refused to endorse him.  This is evidenced by several staffers e-mails saying stuff like “Ha Ha, we really fucked up the traffic in Ft. Lee, that’ll teach ’em.”

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie blocking entrance to George Washington Bridge

Of course, as scandals go, it’s sort of minor league.  Nobody got killed, nobody was imprisoned or tortured without a trial, no money was involved, and no underage male hookers.  Why all the whoop de do?  Well, despite the seeming small potatoes aspect of it, it is still people in politics using their position to deliberately fuck people up, which is wrong and should be enough to cause the loss of an office.  But also, it’s something everybody can relate to.  I suspect a solid majority  of the people of New Jersey have driven across that bridge at some point, and a large percentage of them have been stuck in traffic while crossing.  They aren’t going to take kindly to this.

The other topic I want to talk about is Google Glass.  First off, I think they should be called Google Glasses and from this point forth I’m going to.  A glass is something you drink from, and they aren’t that.

A friend of mine posted on facebook today that he’s quite worried about the invasion of privacy aspect.  Once they’ve got facial recognition, someone wearing them will be able to look at you and, if you’ve got any kind of web presence at all, your facebook page or whatever will pop up and they’ll see your name and everything about you.  Which is kind of scary, especially if there are warrants out for your arrest.

On the other hand, for someone like me, who blogs every day, spends hours on facebook, attends poetry readings, loves karaoke, and teaches for a living – in short, someone who is obviously desperate for attention and has a pathetic craving for recognition, the idea has a certain appeal to it.  Not as somebody who wants to wear them, just as somebody who wants to be noticed by somebody wearing them.

I’m the kind of guy  who, if he knows where there is a security camera on the metro or on the street, will stand up a little straighter  while walking by, look directly at the camera and smile.

It’s not even a “fuck them” kind of smile, although it should be, considering my anti-authoritarian politics.  I’m just narcissistic as hell.  I really am.