hegemony rules

Or, maybe I'm the only one who misread this headline:

Posted by Adrienne at 10:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

<begin pity party>
This cartoon from gapingvoid totally summarizes my feelings about the "A-list" bloggers. No, I'm not an A-lister. No, I didn't get invited to Foo camp (unlike her and her and her - glad to see the ladies representing!).

I want to be all cool and say, "It doesn't matter, because I didn't want to go anyway," but every time I utter those words, I revert to being a sixth grader, mouth trembling, eyes watering, thinking about the time I wasn't invited to the party that everyone else in my grade was. I'd be lying if I didn't admit I have some serious geek envy going on. (Apparently, I'm not the only one - there's actually a group on 43Things dedicated to getting Foo camp invites.)

I guess this means that (a) I have to actually publish something related to my research that gets noticed by the 1% of people who care about what I do, and (b) I have to get noticed by the media, which means I need to both overcome my slightly introverted nature and be able to rock some pithy quotes on the fly.

What's interesting about the whole A-list blogger scene is that it totally reminds me of high school. Only this time, the drama nerds and the goths and the geeks have come together to rule the school. It reminds me that regardless of how egalitarian we'd like to think intellectual life is (ha ha), it's actually very hierarchical. Ok, so that's not the most profound statement. Sigh - yet another reason why I'm not an A-lister.
</end pity party>

Posted by Adrienne at 05:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

During my time in Asheville, I've noticed a couple of things about the residents who call this idyllic mountain town home. This is Hippy Town, USA (not to be confused with Hobby Town, USA). People here are very much into their bikes, dogs, hiking boots, anti-GWB stickers, and organic food. For the most part, I don't mind. It reminds me of an even more granola version of Seattle.

But there's one thing I just don't get. While I don't consider myself a fashion snob, I seriously loathe one particular accessory that seems to be all the rage here. These:

The plastic clogs with holes in them that come in at least 15 different colors, each more hideous than the last.

The company's web site lists a bunch of reasons why you should wear these atrocities:

1.) Really soft, super comfortable, molds to your feet
2.) Barely there, weighing only 6 ounces
3.) Vented so air passes through, keeping feet cool
4.) Non-marking slip-resistant soles
5.) Bacteria and odor resistant
6.) Ultra-hip Italian styling
7.) Port holes allow water and sand to pass through
8.) Can be sterilized in water and bleach
9.) Easy maintenance, just wipe clean
10.) Orthotic molded foot bed for ultimate comfort and support

No offense if you personally wear Crocs. I just don't get them. Enlighten me....

Posted by Adrienne at 01:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Warning: This post is extremely geeky and futher cements my place in the world as a geek grrl, not just a grrl who's happened to date some geeky guys. So, if you're uninterested in games, World of Warcraft (WOW), politics, or gnomes, you might want to skip this. (Of course, Dave Chappelle apparently likes WOW, so maybe it's gained some hipster cred. Whatever.)

At night, after a long day of teaching, dissertating and/or reading tomes like this or this, I often log on to WOW and complete a few quests involving: 1) transporting item "a" to place "b;" 2) killing boss "c" for loot "d" so NPC "e" can make potion "f;" 3) hitting peons on the head with a bat so they'll get back to work. Usually, I'll end the evening by flying back to one of the cities and selling off all of the useless crap that animals in the game carry around despite having no pockets or opposable thumbs.

I enjoy these evenings of mindless stealthing (I play a rogue) and socializing (A usually plays with me). I'm not a big socialite in or out of the game, but I have been enjoying the intelligent and engaging conversation that takes place in the guild to which we belong (TerrorNova). Guild conversations often revolve around the ethical issues of gaming research (many of its members are academics who work in/with virtual worlds), and I have found my guildmates to be generous and supportive of newbies like me to a fault.

So, what's the problem? Why am I posting at all if life in WOW is so hunky-dory?

I play on a PVP server. PVP, for the unintiated, stands for "player vs. player," and it means that characters representing the other faction (the Alliance) - who are at war with the Horde for mysterious reasons that I suspect have more to do with the marketability of Warcraft than with differences outlined in the game's sketchy mythology - can kill me and my Horde brethren.

Happier days on a non-PVP server - Skador and Arendt

Now, what's so bad about this, you ask? Well, it just so happens that Blizzard's poor implementation of the PVP system means that level 60 characters can: 1) kill a bunch of Horde characters having a funeral for a fellow friend who died in "real" life without penalty; and 2) hang out in areas where lower characters are questing and kill them repeatedly (which is called "ganking" or "griefing"), again without penalty. In WOW, there are things called "honorable" and "dishonorable" kills - the former is reserved for player characters who are at or above your skill level; the latter is for lower-level player kills. At the end of the day/week, players are ranked according to their honorable kills and win...absolutely nothing, except the right to run around and tell everyone that they've killed the most Alliance or Horde players.

I guess this system is set up so you're supposed to feel bad if you're a 60th level priest (which means, essentially, that you're invincible to all but the biggest and baddest in Azeroth), and you kill a puny level 30 hunter with one hit.

I say supposed to, because as far as I can tell, the honorable/dishonorable kills thing means nothing. As far as I can tell, PVP attracts a certain level of, shall we say, immaturity, where high level characters have no problem camping some newbie's corpse and killing her over and over again. Sometimes, they'll even gang up with each other to prove that the other faction knows who's boss, going on a killing spree that litters the countryside with dozens of skeletons.

You might be asking at this point, so what? I mean, who cares if people in this virtual world are killing each other - it's just a game, right?

To which I respond, no, it's not just a game. How many articles have to be written about the real world implications of online activities before players start realizing that there are PEOPLE attached to the characters you're killing?* Llokye (my female troll rogue) and Skador (my male dwarf hunter) may not be "real," but I've spent a lot of time in the game with them. I'm not really offended when they're killed (or kill) some boar or an NPC in the game because I know that those characters are computer controlled and that they exist in 1s and 0s only. I am, however, very annoyed and frustrated and freaked out when I log on for five minutes in a zone to complete the last part of a quest and get ganked four times in a row. The worst part of it is that I can't even communicate with my attacker, since the two factions don't speak the same language. So, I am, effectively, mute. And helpless. And dead. That's a bit too close for comfort for my tastes, given humanity's seemingly endless love affair with genocide and torture.

So, why would I be on a PVP server at all? Well, because of the guild, and because I had no idea what I was getting into. I just assumed that individuals on a PVP server would try to "kill honorably" (this is an oxymoron, I know, but go with me here).

I guess I can see the value in PVP, just not how Blizzard has implemented it. I mean, first-person shooters have a large portion of the gaming market, and I know that this is a for-profit affair. If players on PVP servers really want to fight each other, they should at least make it fair; a substantially higher level character should be penalized in some real way for killing a substantially lower level character. Right now it feels like there are a bunch of bullys roaming Azeroth, randomly killing other helpless players who are effectively gagged. And, I have no way to vocalize that I'm *not* a threat and that I'm *not* interested in fighting. The best I can do is use an emote like /dance or /hi and hope that my fellow players take pity on me.

All of this is to say that I wish there were some way to change servers so I didn't have to deal with this conflict. Seriously, I like Llokye, and I don't want to start all over again with a new character, but she's living in an imaginary world that is a bit too close to the "real" one - except there are no penalties for killing.

* Julian Dibbell's classic tale, A Rape in Cyberspace, is probably the most famous and relevant one in this case.

Posted by Adrienne at 01:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A few highlights from the cross-country sojourn (Seattle to San Antonio) in no particular order:

• Most surreal sign seen in several states: "High winds may exist" (tres existential)

• City along the route in which I'd most like to live: Seattle (duh)

• Surprisingly pleasant town despite horrific white power graffiti (misspelled, of course): Idaho Falls, ID

• Grimmest stretch of highway: I-10 between El Paso and San Antonio

• Worst hotel along the way: A very sketchy Red Lion in Post Falls, ID (courtesy of Priceline)

• Best hotel along the way: The El Dorado in Santa Fe, NM (courtesy of Priceline)

• Worst waiter in a chain or hotel restaurant: Tied between the jerk at the Cracker Barrel outside SLC who kept interrupting while we were having a "serious conversation" and the server at the Holiday Inn restaurant in El Paso who managed to mess up my order, forget our Tabasco sauce, and keep us waiting 20+ minutes for a replacement for my breakfast without really apologizing

• Longest day: Idaho Falls, ID to Cortez, CO

• Shortest day: Cortez, CO to Santa Fe, NM

• City whose adherence to adobe-looking structures is very cute at first but quickly grows on one's nerves: Santa Fe, NM

• Best food: The Shed in Santa Fe (OMG - the red sauce is amazing)

• Easiest way to distinguish between southern NM and western Texas: The preponderance of Texas state flags on cars, businesses, houses, etc.

• Most beautiful part of the country in which I'd prefer not to live: SE Utah

• Most surreal moment of the trip: Witnessing a margarita making class at the Holiday Inn Airport in El Paso, in which guests donned sombreros, danced around making their drinks, and then received certificates for their accomplishment

Posted by Adrienne at 09:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"Dealing with" makes it sound like this move is something to be endured, rather than enjoyed. It's true; right now I feel as though living in San Antonio is like living in an alien culture - alien, that is, if you're used to Seattle. However, I suspect that most of the country is more like Texas than Seattle.

It's hot here. Like 97 degrees hot. And the humidity...well, let's just say that most outdoor activity that occurs between the hours of 9am and 7pm is pretty much akin to pulling on a suit made of plastic wrap, followed by a coat of the warmest wool, topped off by a balaclava. (The hat, not the dessert.) Amazingly enough, I've found myself obsessively reading Weather.com and wishing that I lived in Phoenix where it's in the 100s, with only 20% (as opposed to 95%) humidity. Clearly, all my time growing up in Florida had been undermined by 7 years in Seattle.

This is car country. A and I are trying our hardest to combat it by walking to our local grocery store and restaurants, but it's hard work. Sidewalks here are in short supply, whereas jackasses who yell out their car windows and whistle - presumably at me, for as attractive as A is there's also a fair amount of homophobia here (perhaps unsurprisingly) - are not.

This is military country. There are something like 5 bases (of various permutations) in San Antonio. Many, many, many cars have yellow ribbons and/or George W. stickers here. I can only assume that the few cars that don't are simply keeping their patriotism under wraps. However, I have seen a couple of newspaper stands tagged with the words "End this War," and there's a sense that even here, people are not happy that their kids, siblings, and lovers are being wounded and killed for no reason.

People like new things here. The newer the better. This is exurban central - leave the loop and you're faced with huge houses, strip malls, and massive churches.

Despite the title of this posting, there are a lot of charming things here, like the amazing confluence of cultures (Latino, Texan, southern), the beautiful downtown, warm nights that encourage late night drinking at the local icehouses, breakfast tacos at Twin Sisters, and the awesome grocery store down the street that seriously challenges the wares at Larry's or Metropolitan Market or the QFC on Broadway.

Sigh. I still miss Seattle. My friends. The scenery. The coffee. The political climate.... Anyway, more soon.

Posted by Adrienne at 02:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I just saw a truck with a window sticker that had a pink Calvin peeing on the word cancer. Even more disturbing is this eBay auction, in which the seller claims she's creating custom versions of the Calvin sticker to support medical bills for her turtle, Lucky.

I'm all for people supporting cancer research and helping their pets and whatnot, but c'mon. Not only is Calvin peeing on anything totally lame and un-funny, it is so '99. (Ok, maybe there are a few rare exceptions that are completely funny and ironic - ones that a certain someone created but never distributed - but those are few and far between.)

More run-ins with annoying bumper stickers can be found at DailyKos.

Posted by Adrienne at 12:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Something's up. I'm not sure what it is, yet, but I have the distinct impression that my brain is in the process of being rewired by an as-yet-unknown force that has left me with little will and even less impetus to blog. It may have a little (ok, a lot) to do with my exams and dissertation which keep peeking their heads around the corners of my mind and often descend upon me late at night, shaking me awake from my normally sound slumber with whispers about a future that is both exciting and terrifying. It may also have something to do with the fact that GWB is almost certainly going to win the election - thus proving, once again, that Americans ingest jingoist propaganda with the same voraciousness that they eat Big Macs. Or, it may have something to do with my temporary change in venue and the extreme contentedness I'm feeling (thanks, A), which has left me wondering if my will to write is inversely related to my happiness - a scary proposition that I refuse to contemplate when in my right mind. (The tortured artist thing is so played out.)

Those are all excuses, however, which mask a much larger question - if I love writing so damn much, why is it so hard to do? Why do I struggle with the structure and cadence of each sentence as though each might be my last, as if someone at my funeral might actually say, "Well, she was a good writer some of the time, but did you see the split infinitive and comma splice in her last blog posting?" And then, of course, the over-analytical, slightly OC part of me kicks in and wonders if all of these questions are a veiled (and narcissistic) attempt to procrastinate.

Some stuff that I didn't write but found interesting (and especially good if you're wanting to procrastinate):

• Lossless, pleather, DSL, and dream catcher are now official entries in the 11th edition of the Merriam Webster dictionary.
  
• Craftster, the hipsters' crafting Web site, finally has its own blog. Recent postings include patterns for iPod cozies and a listing of sources for button making.
  
• Adbusters has created an anti-brand - Blackspot Anticorporation - to market their anti-sweatshop, Chucks-inspired sneaker. Naomi Klein is mad.
  
• I stumbled upon the blog of death and thought of the famous Emily Dickinson poem.
  
• Edward Tufte, he of information design genius, has made one of his newest book chapters available online. Mmm...arrows!

Posted by Adrienne at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On days like today, I often reflect on why I choose to ride the bus to work. As I push aside all of the obvious practical environmental reasons, I'm left with the conclusion that the real reason I take the bus is because I learn stuff about the world. My appetite for learning new things is insatiable (unlike my appetite for destruction - thanks Klosterman), and so I am drawn to the new perspective the bus offers me on the world and my small part within it. For example, today I noticed the following:

• Billy Idol's 1990 ode to underage lust, "Rock the Cradle of Love," sounds painfully dated - much more so than songs off of 1983's Rebel Yell.

• Cold K has tagged the 43.

• The Kerry/Edwards campaign might need to rethink their chosen slogan. Why? Well, imagine if the "o" were replaced with an "a" on the following bumper sticker:
  "A Stranger America" - I'm surprised the GOP hasn't thought of this yet

• There is a very, very, very fine line between long shorts and capri pants. While the former may look fine on most men, the latter certainly does not.

Posted by Adrienne at 11:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Some linky new favorites:

• EBoy, a design firm out of Berlin, continues to mesmerize me with its pixelated and pixilated pictures of people and objects. It makes me all nostalgic for the old-school Wallace and Gromit icons from Iconfactory.

• Stay Free! has an interesting media literacy curriculum for high school teachers. One of the suggested activities involves analyzing Maxim magazine's press kit...a real winner.

• Speaking of educational sites, the CDC has an awesome set of disease cards that provide important information for the curious child who is dying to know more about HIB or recreational water illnesses. (via web zen)

• If you're looking for ephemera related to political events or popular culture, check out The Authentic History Center. The site has images and audio and even a really good collection of political cartoons related to 9/11, some of which are incredibly chilling in light of the quagmire in which we now find ourselves.

• I'm admittedly a little bit of a nerd. That's why I got so excited when I stumbled across New Scientist magazine's favorite science Web sites.

• Having always harbored a secret desire to write a great novel (see above nerd comment), I was fascinated by this recent story from the BBC about an exhibit of imaginary books that haven't been written. It made me realize that perhaps my secret desire is shared by millions of others - making me, once again, less unique than I would like to think I am. (Apparently, I'm also a tad narcissistic.)

• Along those lines, I've often wondered what it takes to be a truly creative individual. According to Gaping Void's guide to being creative, I'd better start avoiding crowds. I also figure that this lame bunch of links will clear out enough space in my head so I can really get to work on my novel.

Posted by Adrienne at 06:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

As you may have noticed by my distinct lack of postings during the last two weeks, I've been away. In Thailand. And, yes, it was a fantastic vacation. How can relaxing on the beach with a fabulous traveling companion be anything other than great?

I did take some pictures and learned a few things:

1. Globalization means that there is a Starbucks in Chiang Mai, one on the island of Koh Samui (which until the 1990s only had power a few hours a day), and one in the MBK mall in Bangkok (actually, there are 36 stores in all of Bangkok). And yes, I did purchase coffee at all three, even though it pained my snobbish Seattle heart to do so - but I was desperate!

2. In other big-companies-taking-over-the-world news, statues of Ronald McDonald in Thailand are altered so as to greet Thais and farangs properly. (And, no, I didn't eat there, I swear.)
   
   Ronald McDonald wais; Adults and children cower in fear

3. Green tea potato chips do not taste that good. But orange soda is better.
   
   Interesting idea whose time has not yet come
   Cutesy characters on soft drinks get me every time

4. Apparently, Laura Bush is a huge reggae fan. Don't believe me? Check out this blurry but slightly readable article from one of Bangkok's newspapers.
   
   I still can't believe this staggeringly-bad headline...

5. As my friends M and L told me during after their trip to Singapore, there really are hotel signs warning guests to not eat durian.
   
   Look, mom...no durian!

6. Thai food is amazing. I loved everything I ate, and I'm worried now that I won't be able to go to a Thai restaurant here in the States without pining for the real deal.

7. Comment spam sucks, especially when it happens on vacation. I came back to a blog filled with 4300 comments, and even I know that I'm just not that popular. I'm still deleting them, so please bear with me.

(I just realized that this posting makes it sound like all I did was buy stuff and take stupid pictures of American storefronts while I was away. Am I really that shallow?)

Posted by Adrienne at 05:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

You may have noticed a dearth of postings to my weblog recently. This is mostly because I've been quite busy preparing for my trip to Thailand. I'm not expecting to blog much while I'm there, unless there's some intensely interesting news or a remarkably pithy link I must share.

A few travel links seem to be in order, don't you think?

• London Blog - Rants from a Prisoner of Mother England
  
• The world clock - find out what time it is in Abu Dhabi
  
• Top 10 freaky hangover cures - some from around the world
  
• Tales of Asia
  
• I go, you go - travel journals and pictures
  
• Manual of traffic signs (US)
  
• Electricity around the world - includes pictures of all of the plug adapters you might need

Posted by Adrienne at 08:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So I have a confession to make. I've broken down and created a folder in my bookmark list called "toblog" into which I save a bunch of URLs for anything and everything that I may write about on my weblog in the future (nerd alert!). It's a little bloated, so this posting is an attempt to finally clean it out.

From toblog:

• Cass Sculpture Foundation - information about contemporary British sculpture
  
• Eurobad '74 - a bunch of absolutely awful European interiors from the 1970s
  
• GPS drawing gallery - and you, too, can be a geography geek
  
• Build a paper version of Gauntlet or any of your other favorite arcade games
  
• While you're cutting and pasting, why not play Duck Hunt?
  
• Read the funny, sordid, ridiculous and often profound entries from teens at The Diary Project
  
• A couple of news items: Television watching may hasten puberty and China is starting to censor text messages
  
• Two exhibits I'd like to see - Body Worlds at the California Science Center, and Massive Change, opening in October at the Vancouver Art Gallery
  
• The Branding of Polaroid discusses how the photography company successfully marketed its product during the 60s and 70s (much to the chagrin of Eastman Kodak)
  
• Not to jump completely on the Kottke bandwagon, but the infographic of the Bush dynasty he dug is up is pretty cool

Posted by Adrienne at 05:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I admit - there were many things I did not understand about Seattle when I first moved here. The rain, the lack of a decent public transportation system aside from buses, the seeming unwillingness to dance at shows, and the almost legendary steely Northwestern reserve. While I have come to grips with most of these features of the Emerald City (having friends from the East Coast to whom I can whine helps), there's one peculiarity that I've never quite understood: ornamental kale. Yes, here in the PCNW, we like to grow kale - not simply something to be savored in a pot of greens, but as a plant that can adorn our summer gardens. Flowerpots surrounding many local coffee shops are likely to include purple kale, but it was not until yesterday that I fully understood the pervasiveness of this relative of the cabbage family.

It was a beautiful day in Seattle, and I wandered around downtown, enjoying the sunshine and the throngs of tourists. I found myself in Pike Place Market, and, as is my wont, I could not leave without buying some flowers (pictured below).

A close-up of the beautiful bouquet I bought.

Looking closer, I noticed something unusual about the greenery surrounding the bouquet.

Hmm, what is that green stuff near the bottom of this bouquet?

It's green and curly...looks like kale to me.

My fears were confirmed when I got home and took apart the arrangement...the greenery was, indeed, kale.

Um, shouldn't this stuff be cooking on my stove instead of gracing my flowers?

Once again, the Pacific Northwest has foiled my attempts to understand its subtleties.

Posted by Adrienne at 09:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

On today's bus ride home, I saw a car with a personalized license plate that read: HTMLFX.

That's so '98.

Posted by Adrienne at 07:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

A few links for my woefully under-updated blog:

• Greg Kucera Gallery in Seattle is hosting an art show in August that features knitted superhero costumes and embroidered comic book covers. (via not martha and boing boing)

• Paint-by-number wallpaper rules!

• Pictures of a British favorite: eggs and chips and beans.

• Matthew Vescovo, proprieter of Instructoart.com is my favorite illustrator of nonsensical (but useful) instructional drawings.

• Reunite members of the Polyphonic Spree in this online game. It's actually more fun than it sounds. (And yeah, they're a little twee, but so what?) (via Little Fluffy Industries)

• So, most sweet cocktails make me sick (I prefer gin and tonics and scotch on the rocks), but LUPEC (Ladies United for the Preservation of Cocktails) makes me want to kick back a few Kir Royales.

• Ever wondered what was on the top of the music charts in 1942? Wonder no longer - Alaska Jim links to a bunch of different sources for music charts. (Oh, and apparently Bing Crosby's White Christmas was a big hit in '42.)

Posted by Adrienne at 07:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

In today's New York Times there is an interesting article about the upcoming sale of some of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's personal effects. Apparently, the sale has been met with great controversy, because a number of Conan Doyle researchers will never access a complete collection of his papers, which contains such riches as an unpublished novel and letters sent to such literary luminaries as Oscar Wilde and P.G. Wodehouse. The article notes:

The Conan Doyle archive...is expected to bring in about £1 million to £1.5 million ($1.8 million to $2.7 million), according to Christie's, which is handling the sale. But even as that auction house has attracted a stream of Conan Doyle enthusiasts thrilled at the newly released material, it has also been sharply criticized by some scholars and members of Parliament for allowing the sale because they say crucial legal questions remain unresolved....

Adding to the sense of unease is the mysterious death of Richard Lancelyn Green, a leading Conan Doyle scholar and private collector, and a vociferous opponent of the sale. On March 27 Mr. Lancelyn Green, 50, a former chairman of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London and the author of several well-received books on Conan Doyle, was found garroted to death, strangled by a shoelace wrapped around a wooden kitchen spoon used to tighten its grip.

Mr. Lancelyn Green had become increasingly agitated and worried for his safety in the days before he died, several friends and family members told the inquest into his death. The coroner in the case said that he could not rule out murder and recorded an open verdict, meaning that he did not conclude what led to Mr. Lancelyn Green's death, although he said that he "would not wish to stress the importance of any conspiracy theories."

Posted by Adrienne at 09:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I suppose there are numerous times in everyone's life when the answer to the question, "Who am I?" is frustratingly puzzling. For some of us, this question is merely a temporary stop between the here-and-now and the future (in whatever form it takes); for others of us it remains a persistent and noticeable theme throughout our lives. I fall into the latter category. While I find myself thinking about this stuff to a greater or lesser degree most of the time, it's been on the front (rather than back) burner recently. I think there are a number of reasons for this, not the least of which is my current predilection for classes that are really challenging me to think about my academic career (and my life) in big picture terms. It probably also has something to do with this nagging urge I have to "make a difference" and to "be of service." Just what these two phrases actually mean is not easy to explain, especially when many things in my life and in the world at-large seem so fragile, so impermanent, and so mortal.

In the spirit of self-reflection I offer these links:

They're pithy, brilliant, and speak to my organizational tendencies. Why did no one inform me of their existence? I particularly like this one.

More silly lists from McSweeney's.

Posted by Adrienne at 07:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Why can't my favorite coffeeshops install Web cams? That way, I could visit their Web sites to determine how crowded they are before heading out. Today is the second time in three days when I've had to run around town, looking for some place that's not totally jammed packed with people, so I can sit down and get some work done on my communication policy paper. Victrola was so insanely busy that I just looked in the front door and determined that I had a snowball's chance in hell of ever getting a table.

Now, you may ask, why am I updating my weblog if I'm "working" so hard? I don't know. I've found that I have a limited number of great good even remotely intelligent mediocre ideas these days. I'd better strike while the iron is hot, so to speak.

Posted by Adrienne at 03:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Item:
I wonder if GWB will find Osama bin Laden just in time for the November elections.

Item:
You may not know this, but lots of animals inhabit the London Underground. (Thanks, xBlog!)

Item:
Graphically compare search results between Yahoo! and Google. (Thanks, elegant hack!)

Item:
Here's a collection of subvertisements.

Item:
Adrienne is desperately trying to procrastinate. It's not going that well.

Posted by Adrienne at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

...that today I've had plenty of time to make not one, but two postings to my weblog, but I'm trying not to think about it.

Happy Valentine's Day

Posted by Adrienne at 04:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I've been obsessing over the lives of teenage girls recently. I just finished reading an article on girls' zines in Youth & Society, I'm currently reading Phoebe Gloeckner's The Diary of a Teenage Girl, and I watched Thirteen last night. For some reason, especially when I was watching Thirteen, I've got angry...really, really angry. I'm still not sure why, but I think it has a lot to do with knowing girls like those depicted in the film - and being subjected to their cruelty throughout my formative years.

I know that my own teenage years were fraught with confusion, frustration, rage, depression, and hopelessness. What's interesting is that most of these feelings were unspoken and rarely acted upon. It certainly meant that I wasn't stealing wallets or huffing paint, but it did mean that had a lot of pent up emotion that lingered for years later.

So, here's my question - if your teenage years were made into a movie, what movie would it be?

My answer: Welcome to the Dollhouse.

Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day. ;)

Posted by Adrienne at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

"McDanger - Mayor McCheese Taken to Secret Place" is the highest rating on the new Homeland Security Advisory scale proposed by Banterist.

This reminds me - why isn't Grimace mentioned on their scale? He was my favorite McDonald's character, but I never really understood his koan-like utterances. For example, why do they have him saying "Duh, hi there!" at his portion of the McDonald's site, Grimace's Garage? Is he really that dumb? And what is Grimace, anyway? I mean, I know what it means to grimace, but who at McDonald's decided to call a McDonaldland character "Grimace?" And, is that his brother in The Darkness' I Believe in a Thing Called Love video? Is he related to that Timer guy who made the wagon wheel snacks on Saturday morning? Ok, ok, so they look nothing alike (although they are both pudgy), but Timer is equally unidentifiable.

Posted by Adrienne at 10:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I don't really have anything intelligent to say today, but I did find a few random links that I found interesting:

• The townspeople are taking action against city bears. 328 bears were killed in New Jersey over the last six days.

• In other animal-related news, conservationists in Britian are using mobile phone technology to promote awareness of the plight of endangered species. Vodafone Live! and Flora and Fauna International have teamed up with Masabi to create a cell phone game revolving around the life of a baby silverback gorilla. The game is not only fun but educational; as Masabi's CEO eloquently notes: "The preconception people have about gorillas is that they sit around eating bananas. So we have one eating a bananas, and a pop up bubble comes up to say that they actually don't eat them, they eat mostly leaves instead." Maybe somebody should create a cell phone game that raises awareness about the fate of black bears in New Jersey.

• AeroSite has a bunch of airline logos to peruse. I especially like the old school TWA logo from the 1930s - who knew that TWA used to stand for "Trans Continental & Western Air"? Ok, that's not really that interesting...but I guess I'm easily amused.

• Here's another infographic-y link: a map-based analysis of the California gubernatorial election results by county. (Side note: I just found out that "gubernator" is actually a word that - not surprisingly - means governor or ruler. There's probably some lame Schwarzenegger joke I could make, but I'll refrain.)

Posted by Adrienne at 05:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

More thoughts on weblogging from Gothamist. I'm particularly fascinated by guideline #1:

Blogs are made up of posts that have "links + commentary." Commentary, not Joyce-ian stream-of-consciousness.

Pick a real subject or series of subjects and stick to it – if you have to use the word "I" more than once a week, you are doing something very, very wrong. No one cares about you or the things you do (unless you are Paris Hilton, Bazima, or Bennifer – don't believe the weary, B.Lo, keep it comin' strong!), keep it to yourself.

Posted by Adrienne at 04:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

There's a group of Welsh academics conducting a survey on The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I'm probably the only person I know who isn't totally geeked about the whole phenomenon. Actually, after I saw the first LOTR movie, I said to myself, "Self, that movie was almost as bad as Magnolia." Remember Magnolia? P.T. Anderson's overly long, overly dramatic, and thoroughly underwhelming follow up to Boogie Nights (a great movie) that involved me shifting in my seat for three hours wondering when the hurting was going to stop. That's how I felt about LOTR. Except LOTR had Hobbits whereas Magnolia had frogs...

Posted by Adrienne at 08:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (1)

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about disclosure on individuals’ weblogs and Web sites. I’m curious to know how people negotiate the delicate balance between expressing their thoughts, feelings, and experiences (and creating a distinct authorial voice that stands out from the gazillion of other people who write blogs) and providing too much information about themselves. I’m all for pushing the boundaries of self-expression, but when you do so online, it’s just a Google search and a link away. Suddenly, (potentially) millions of your new best friends can easily access anything you disclose.

I am highly sensitized to the fact that what I may or may not say on my blog might become an “issue” in any number of ways. For example, in future job interviews for academic positions, I might be questioned as to why I chose to reveal certain information about myself. Or, some members of my family might stumble onto my blog and take issue with my political views. How do I serve my need to disclose (which I find both cathartic and worthwhile) and my need to preserve parts of myself that aren’t fit for others’ (at least, not anonymous others’) consumption?

This isn’t a purely academic interest. I recently read that one of my exes has moved in with his new girlfriend and another has gotten engaged. It’s weird. I’m certainly not invested in their lives, nor am I particularly upset. However, it’s strange that they would disclose such information to complete strangers (one of them has a blog on LiveJournal, and could restrict the people that see his postings, but has chosen not to) – and I have to wonder if (especially in one particular case) this was posted just because he knows that I probably read his blog.

You might wonder, of course, why I’m even interested in reading their Web sites, if I’m so “not interested” in their lives in the first place. I don’t honestly know. It’s kind of like a car accident – you want to look away, because it’s so awful, but you… just…can’t. For me, checking in from time to time on those that had been oh-so-important to me in the past is absolutely necessary. It gives me some perspective; it reminds me of the person I was and how glad I am to have finished that chapter of my life.

I return, therefore, to the first question I posed: how do we walk the fine line between healthy self-disclosure and too much information? Or, I could ask it another way: when does self-expression become egomania? And how does technology mediate this experience? Why is it that I feel so much freer to express my true feelings via my weblog and, yet, so much more painfully aware of the potential consequences of doing so?

Posted by Adrienne at 04:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Here's a quote from some pathologist's Web site :

"If you are in Missouri, and need an autopsy, phone 816-283-2208 anytime. I'm glad to help those who can afford my standard fee, and those who cannot. I can usually be with you within a few hours at the most."

Um, if I actually need an autopsy, I'm thinking that calling a pathologist is going to be a little hard.

His site also features a cool applet that estimates the time of death based on a bunch of characteristics (body temperature, type of clothing, outside temperature, etc.) At least, you might find it cool assuming you're a CSI nerd like I am.

Posted by Adrienne at 08:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

• I can no longer use the word "bunk" with impunity, as it negatively refers to Buncombe County, NC. Since my parents live in Asheville (home of Thomas Wolfe and the Biltmore Estate), I feel a little bad about using it as a derogatory term.

• Tonight's QE was lame (or BUNK!), and to be honest, I'm a little concerned. Jai was pretty worthless (second episode in a row that he's just sat around and gotten tickets for some Broadway show), and Ted's food advice consisted of teaching the straight guy how to make a smoothie. Worst of all, this Steven guy works as a vj for some crappy music station - so you'd think he'd already have access to hair/fashion advice. Best line (Carson): "Aside from that mean gothic girl, everyone loved the makeover...." Worst line (some random IMX vj): "I thought he'd come back looking all gay, but he looks ok...." Oh, and the Fuse TV Web site doesn't use enough plugins.

• Google returns 436,000 search results for hegemony, and only 368,000 hits for procrastination. Hmm....
  

Posted by Adrienne at 11:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After this morning's rather rantish political posting (at least, rantish for me), I decided that I'd better lighten things up a bit with a description of what I did over the holiday weekend.

I spent Thanksgiving with my mom in Vancouver, BC. (People in Seattle always add the moniker "BC" after "Vancouver" so as not to suggest that they are talking about Vancouver, WA - although, why anyone would spend a significant time discussing Vancouver, WA, I have no idea.) Picture me eating noodles at Hon's Wun Tun House on Thanksgiving eve - a nice change of pace from the whole turkey/stuffing/mashed potatoes thing. Normally, I wouldn't eat in such a super-touristy restaurant but we were a) hungry, b) cold, and c) every place else we went was packed. So, Hon's it was, and it was good. (Side note: I just noticed that Hon's has apparently trademarked the word "Potsticker," at least, if their Web site is any indication. Can they actually do this?)

My mom and I successfully turned "International Buy Nothing Day" into "International Buy Everything Because the US Dollar Still Goes Further in Canada and They Have Way Better Clothing Than in Seattle Day(s)." Of course, I'm rather conflicted about the whole consumerism thing, but I still had a great time walking around with her, and marveling at the wonders of an actual metropolitan area that boasts skyscrapers, which seem to be in short supply here. The only down side of being in Vancouver (and there are very, very few bad things I can say about the city) is that they seem to have even more Starbucks than we do. On Robson Street there are actually two Starbucks kitty-corner (or cater-corner or catty-corner or catacorner) from one another - apparently so that all of the tourists don't have to cross the street to get their caffeine fix. (Oh, and unlike my venture to Toronto last month, I didn't run into any Tim Hortons.)

After spending a significant amount of time and $$ shopping, I caught a television show on one of the local stations with Chris Staples, a principal at Rethink Advertising. Staples was talking about the whole metrosexual phenomenon - or "movement" as he called it. He juxtaposed metrosexuals with "real guys" and said that the metrosexual has been relatively ignored by television advertisers. Instead, Staples suggested, they are catered to in magazines like Wallpaper and Surface.

I've been noticing that there's been a trend recently to conflate hipsters and metrosexuals. For example, witness Pitchfork Media's review of the Kill Bill soundtrack:

The life of a hipster is arduous and complex, teeming with expensive haircuts, the obligation to buy the CDs the webzines have arbitrarily deemed cool, and those frilled skirts that you have to keep tugging at in the frigid lines to get into Chelsea's Bungalow 8. I mean, goddamn, it's like thirty degrees out there. The Hipster Handbook helped a little, but not enough. The questions linger. Is it cooler to be metrosexual, or to pretend to be metrosexual while actually being homosexual? Is it cooler to be an actual hipster, an ironic hipster, or the oft-imitated "fool on the hill" hipster?

Regardless of the author's complete disregard for the fact that The Hipster Handbook is, in and of itself, an ironic discussion of the hipster "lifestyle," I think there's something interesting going on here. Is the metrosexual just a more affluent, materialistic, and stylish version of the hipster? Does the metrosexual fall underneath the vast "hipster" umbrella? Can you be an ironic metrosexual - that is, you act like a "real guy" (e.g., you read, shudder, Maxim and/or FHM and actually enjoy the most recent Bud Light commercials) but you're really a metrosexual underneath it all?

These are the things I think about late at night.

Posted by Adrienne at 04:56 PM |