Helen Frankenthaler’s ‘Untitled 1995′ July 6, 2009
Posted by logandonaldson in Arts.Tags: Helen Frankenthaler, phenomenology of art, pretension, rothko, simon schama, spiral jetty, synesthesia, untitled 1995
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Untitled 1995
Helen Frankenthaler
Oil on Canvas
“A really good picture looks as if it’s happened at once. It’s an immediate image. For my own work, when a picture looks labored and overworked, and you can read in it—well, she did this and then she did that, and then she did that—there is something in it that has not got to do with beautiful art to me. And I usually throw these out, though I think very often it takes ten of those over-labored efforts to produce one really beautiful wrist motion that is synchronized with your head and heart, and you have it, and therefore it looks as if it were born in a minute.”
- Helen Frankenthaler
First I’d like to take a look at the image’s negative space. What part of the canvas is untouched? The majority of it. When contrasted with the lively colors (tangerine, magenta, cyan, mustard, and a green-gray-yellow vertical stroke), it lends more presence to the array of colors and even calls attention to its own void. It reminds me of an oft-quoted Rothko statement,”Silence is so accurate.” It’s nothingness is as much a part of the work as its plumage is. This is a tenet that seems wide spread in other works of abstract expressionism.
The colors exhibit both a unity and a individuality. In the image’s holistic perspective, there is a Natural quality. At the center, the intensity of hue reaches its deepest, making it convenient to personify it as the purple blood heart. The two biggest blots are parallel with one another; the two lateral gestures bridged through the sinuous, blue arabesques that dance across the surface. It’s near spiraling qualities at first struck me as being an unsubtle allusion to Spiral Jetty, but then again that only seems to be a testament to how organic Frakenthaler’s gesturing is. It’s the perfect flick and rotation of her wrist that she describes in the prefacing quote.
The individual parts have a distinct, symphonic richness to their bit-identities contributing toward an overall collective.
Yet I also find myself paying loving attention to the picture’s archpelagic qualities, the little fragments broken off from their parent blots, smudges, and streams. This technique serves as a wonderful opportunity to contrast the part to its whole, considering shape and area of each little island, or the fingers extending from the plum smear in the center. It’s easy to get caught up in using oceanic or cartographic words in describing this piece. It projects itself as some sort of map whose territory is only half familiar in its rhythmic eloquence. What about the other unknown half?
…But, there is always a certain beauty in mystery, the things we can’t comprehend.
Perhaps the painting’s only imperfection (in my opinion, of course) is the multi-colored left pillar. It has a dour, sickly quality to its hue, almost like it’s threadbare with age. Isn’t that an expression of honesty, though? There is too much chaos in nature, in life, to dismiss, and I feel that Frankenthaler is making this commentary on natural imperfection an implicit theme here.
Frankenthaler certainly seems to have achieved a string of movements synchronized with her heart. So much so that there seems to be a musical quality to its sensuous curves, the staccato positioning of each color, like notes on a staff of sheet music.
Perhaps I enjoy Untitled, 1995 so much is because of the perceived ease I have in explicating my adoration for it. Tugging out words, groping to use language as a tool on an utterly abstract representation. Her silences, her statements, are all so accurately in tune with the bliss and passion of art.
The Washington Youth Scene April 30, 2009
Posted by logandonaldson in Jobs.Tags: Capitol Hill, Congressman's Office, Longworth House Office Building, post-graduate careers, Washington Youth Scene, world weary
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Surprisingly, The Washington Youth Scene is not the name of a hip indie group here in the District, although dibs on the trademarking of this combination of words. No, it was a phrase uttered by one of my interviewers whilst on the job hunt. I had mentioned the fact that two of my friends worked on Capitol Hill, and that I had recently gotten done interning for a Congressman, taking angry phone calls from people without rational solutions, just voluminous, slanderous superlatives. Listening to someone’s life philosophy and the gamut of their political ideology (or idiology?) is taxing to your patience and your faith in humanity.
Most of the people working in the Congressman’s office were in their mid 20s, so The Washington Youth Scene remark was on target, but I realized it hit the bulls-eye when the entire building was evacuated for a fire-drill.
After scanning over the huge crowd, I turned and remarked to my friend and roommate Finch, “Geez, I feel like I’m in college again.” It was on a Friday, during a Congressional Recess, making the whole scene seem even more relaxed with the dress code entailing a lot of denim, tennis shoes, flats, button downs, Spring pastels. Standing en masse in a nearby park, it was as if we had all gathered to see one of those shitty student government run Spring concerts, where Akon or Ryan Cabrera spend an hour boring you till you hear the one song they were unfortunately famous for in the first place.
After the drill was over, we funneled back into the Longworth House Office Building, and everyone scurried into their office to work on policy, or like me, grudgingly have to deal with being yelled out by the public.
But it made me wonder what the net effect of having such a young staff would have on Congress. I don’t really have any clear-cut opinion on the matter. But one thing is for certain, only these affluent, post-graduate types can afford to work in this sort of environment, due to it’s low pay and educational requirements. It provides a unique way of life where an individual may feel that he or she is immediately making an impact on the country because of the efforts they lend to their Congress(wo)man.
However it only served to make me a smidgen more world-weary, where people’s itemized, fleshed-out opinions on issues were simply reduced to a tally in the Pro or Con columns, to be totalled and handed to the Congressman as just a number.
Pragmatism over humanity, though. I suppose that’s just the way things are.
Much like a Notorious BIG album… December 31, 2008
Posted by logandonaldson in Entertainment, Humor.Tags: inauguration, january 20, notorious big, Obama, overcrowding, post-9/11, primal scream, terrorist attack, umbrella ban, washington dc metro
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I am Ready to Die
My house is in order. After January 20th, 2009, you may never see me again.
My mortal fear, of course, refers to the estimated 3.5 to 5 million people that will converge upon a square mile patch in Washington DC to bear witness to Barrack Hussein Obama’s presidential inauguration.
Will I be swallowed up by the spiraling swaths of people swarming about, whipped up in a frenzy to contribute to the history of America, of the world? Must I succumb to the fear of a disaster scenario? Will the nation no longer be modified by ‘post-9/11,’ and instead a ‘post-inauguration America’ if nefarious groups (may they be terrorists, militant racists, or Jehovah’s Witnesses) decide to inject hysteria into the otherwise patriotic gala?
My first precaution is to find a partner to accompany me. Achieving goals is generally facilitated via the buddy system because of mutual motivation and enouragement, like workout partners in a gym, or virgin lunged teenagers that steal a carton of their grandmother’s Virginia Slims.
We’ve come a long way. The Craigs List ads for rent during the week of inauguration have spiked drastically. In fact, my own household briefly considered the idea of renting our home out for a quick thousand dollar fix. Around 2,000,000 people plan to commute to the city via bus. DC dwellers have certainly noticed the extremely convenient repair and modification of metro escalators during peak hours. Hotels are booked all the way out to Pennsylvania, but you can still grab a $75,000 room at the Hyatt in the District. Hey New Orleans and coastal Mississippi, are you guys still using those FEMA trailers?
I hear they’re banning umbrellas. Which makes sense and all…you know, with all those umbrella-guns and potential for spiral-patterned hypnosis. I guess I can swallow my pride and wear one of those hair condoms that I always see the elderly donning under rainy conditions.
However, rain is the least of my concerns. I think there will be many intangibles that will make the experience chaotic and claustrophobic. I can’t remember the last time I was within walking distance of +1,000,000 bodies. Arlington Cemetery may the closest example. But the difference is beating hearts and multiplication by at least 3. Imagine the paradox of body-brushing intimacy, and utter facelessness of the masses streaming by. Unidentifiable scents and sounds. The constant white noise and electric hum of conversation. The sweeping silence passing like a wave through the crowd as Obama raises his hand to stymie applause and begin his opening lines.
I can’t predict how the day will go, but I presume that it will be exhausting, and there is a peripheral black spot of paranoia. I’m praying for the best, and I hope my entry title isn’t as prophetic as its martyred predecessor, Christopher Wallace.
Inauguration day jam, “Come Together,” by Primal Scream:
There ain’t enough black in the union jack. There’s so much white in the stars and stripes. October 26, 2008
Posted by logandonaldson in Entertainment, Jobs.Tags: adams morgan, antisocial behavior, boring bars, british embassy in washington dc, dancing, the guards
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My first gig in DC is a temp job at the British Embassy, as part of their web development team. I’m not allowed to disclose the nature of its content, but it’s pretty harmless and would probably look great on my resumé if I planned to work at an IKEA. I learn cool new words like credenza, matelassé, bergere, and much to my delight, browse numerous different chaise lounges.
My first day was nice, especially since I had the pleasure of trash talking a Manchester United fan that sits across from me in the office. Although I did find it funny that when I asked him,”What football club do you support,” he responded using the word “soccer” instead. He has been in America for over 15 years. It’s possible he just substituted the word to adapt culturally, or maybe much like my attempts to speak Spanish to a native speaker, they get embarrassed and reply in English.
A week ago me and my roommates went to the Adams Morgan area of DC (quickly becoming my favorite spot), and went around to different bars. At each one we tended to approach groups of “single-looking” girls, standard social strategy, and it was interesting to note how lethargic their approach to socializing is. One girl told me that her and her friends usually just “Show up and stand around. We don’t really make it a point to meet anyone new, but if it happens, great!” Okay, fine. But I noticed that although the DJ was putting together a pretty sweet dance mix, no one seemed to be taking advantage of it.
Last night we went to The Guards, a bar with a similar atmosphere of apathy and immobility. After a good number of alcoholic beverages, inhibition of looking awkward on the dancefloor drunk and dulled, I convinced an acquaintance to dance. I was enjoying myself and we danced for a good 3 or 4 songs. But apparently I enjoyed myself too much. “Are you gay?” What? Did she seriously just ask me that? “You just look like you enjoyed yourself a little too much out there.” Damn, people in DC hate having fun! It’s not like I suggested we go to a Cher concert, or mentioned that I love-love-love chaise lounges–oh wait.
Later she retreated to the nap area of the bar, behind the library, to the left of solitaire playing tables, and just before the stairwell of the “Don’t talk to me, I hate enjoying my nights out” designated smoking area.
Catch The Breeze: The Top 10 Shoegaze Albums September 26, 2008
Posted by logandonaldson in Arts, Entertainment.Tags: best shoegaze albums, catherine wheel, cocteau twins, kitchens of distinction, lush, my bloody valentine, shoegaze, slowdive, spiritualized, swervedriver, top 10 shoegaze albums
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Shoegaze might be one of my favorite genres of music. But it’s difficult to give you a narrow definition of its qualities due to the fact that bands like Spiritualized, Mogwai, Swervedriver, etc. all have distinct sounds yet are lumped as “shoegazers” with more traditional acts such as My Bloody Valentine, Chapterhouse, or Slowdive. Stereotyping the genre produces traits like “fat, hazy walls of distortion,” “vocals that linger in the background of the music,” and “an ambiance of ambient.”
We can work better with the last element: atmosphere. Each band on this list achieves a certain tonal dreaminess, one that can be narcotic and hypnotizing, or jarring with its sonic textures.
Now, without further ado, let’s crank up our delay pedals, strum some power chords, and stare at our Chuck Taylors!
Desperate Youth, Blood-Thirsty Babes September 18, 2008
Posted by logandonaldson in Jobs.Tags: Generation Y, narrative fallacy, partisan politics, partisanship, politics, poltical apathy, Washington D.C.
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I’m moving to Washington DC at the beginning of October. Temp work will get me through the first few weeks, and at some point, I’ll have some more marketable traits on my resume to land an actual job. (so for now, my blog stands!)
It’s somewhat ironic that I’m going to the nation’s capitol, given my political apathy. The consequences of living in the District will either be: I become passionately aligned with one of the parties, or I become even more nauseous amidst the miasma of red and blue.
Why am I apathetic? The most important fact is that I’ve lived with my parents (or subsisted off of them for 4 university years) my entire life. I have very little to feel responsible for and ‘long-term goals’ is an obscure phrase outside of plans to land a job. I’m sure as I become more independent I’ll worry about mortgages, tax cuts, and vice presidents.
Partisanship lends a distaste for politics. More often than not, the maudlin Olbermann’s and Hannity’s of cable television become extremely tiresome in their finger-pointing. Whereas individuals should be held accountable for mistakes, most media outlets shift blame toward broader party lines. Children, children… *insert clucking tongue noise*
A pet peeve of mine is the narrative fallacy. The fallacy is the “need to fit a story or pattern to a series of connected or disconnected facts.” In McCain or Obama’s speeches (or BO’s two books) each candidate outlined poignant anecdotes on why they should be given responsibility of the country, crafting metaphors and empathetic devices to sway the audience. It’s dangerous to lend too much credibility to speeches and mantras. The oversimplification of actual ideas and predilection for woven narratives over actual truths makes me wary to become affiliated with either party. Metaphors and tales are (sadly) more fulfilling than ideas, and are much easier to remember.
In a broader sense, I think that political involvement has become a lifestyle choice rather than a “duty,” as voting is viewed by many members of the older generations. Generation Y has seen an increase in the individual’s voice, or at least a split into more minority groups. There is an ever-increasing pastiche in our sedentary lifestyle and hobbies. I have this blog, and can give my opinion on whatever I want. Why should I waste time on being a whisper of a vote?
And finally, all politicians have questionable personalities/motives. What sort of ego does it require to believe controlling a world super power is manifest destiny? Trust issues. Bad for any relationship.
Don’t wake me up when September ends. I’m gonna hit the snooze button on through November.
Scouting ESPN’s Rivals September 9, 2008
Posted by logandonaldson in Entertainment, Humor, Sports.Tags: college football recruiting, commodity fetish, dystopia, espn, fantasy football, national signing day, rivals, scout, spectacle
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College football is more popular than ever. Conferences are receiving billion dollar contracts for television rights, the BCS seems to have no shortage of year-end controversy, and within the past few years, high school recruiting has exploded as the newest spectacle. Popular websites such as Rivals and Scout Inc. have emerged as huge marketing forces in the recruitment business. ESPN, although a lesser player, certainly has the resources and will eventually make their presence felt, simply due to the capital and expertise they employ.
But rather than get caught up in the excitement of where blue-chip athletes end up, I’m more amused at the success of these companies and their ability to promote their own sense of importance. Fan bases of perennial recruiting powerhouses such as USC, Ohio State, LSU, Florida, etc. seem to reach a rhapsodic frenzy as the newest bit of information is released on recruits that their team has offered a scholarship.
Rivals Top 250 tight end Gibril Jacobson has declared a leader in the recruitment process. Click here to find out more! Don’t have an account? No problem, sign up for a free week and then we’ll charge you 25 dollars a month to give you misleading article titles where nothing of substance is given. In this blurb, Gibril tells us why he prefers snacking on celery and peanut butter rather than Funions. The University of Texas is mentioned in passing, so we took that scrap, and sensationalized the hell out of it!
It’s also sad to see the recruits themselves play the game, enamored with their newly imbued celebrity status. Luther Davis, a defensive end from West Monroe, La., loved giving quotes in support of multiple universities, committed to LSU, continued to make campus visits, de-committed, and then committed to the University of Alabama. While I don’t personally hold a grudge against him, there are plenty that do, and it’s due to the mass media and its ability to turn a 17 year old kid into a commodity.
Or take Kevin Hart, an offensive lineman from a small Nevada town. On `National Signing Day` (did this phrase exist in such prevalence ten years ago?), in front of a packed auditorium filled with students, families and friends, Hart had two hats, Cal and Oregon, set in front him. He chose Cal.
“They really won me over,” Hart told the audience. “Coach Tedford and I talked a lot, and the fact that the head coach did most of the recruiting of me kind of gave me the real personal experience.” But the problem? Cal didn’t offer him a scholarship. Neither did Oregon. No one had! Obviously the guy was keenly aware of his ability to create a spectacle over recruiting.
Prospective high school athletes have become a commodity fetish. There now exists a second, mythical national championship, where morale is boosted if a school finishes #1 in recruiting. Fans hunger for as many “5 Star” players as possible, so that they may claim another form of dominance over other teams. Except it doesn’t happen on the field, it happens through a formula that ranks the total quality points a university may accumulate through its commitments. It’s a shallow victory on the grounds of mere potential.
In a latent, Freudian world, there is something uncomfortably pedophilic about grown men researching a junior’s 40 yard dash time, stalking his MySpace for any clue of which school he’s ‘leaning’ toward, or even prying into the status of his academic standing. These kids still have to worry about tucking in their school uniform shirt, knowing why the Election of 1824 was important, mowing their lawn on the weekend, picking a Homecoming date.
I have somewhat of a dystopian view of the world. It’s my fear that in 15-20 years, kids in the peewee football leagues will be names in a recruiting database. Not only that, but fantasy football, another confounding development in the spectacle of sports, will combine with recruiting.
“Dude, did you hear little Jimmy Wilkins had 15 rushes for 164 yards and 3 touchdowns? Picked up 88 points in the fantasy league. He DOMINATED the Huddlefield Tiny Tornadoes! I’m nervous about next weekend, though. They play Dellwood Panther Cubs, and their ‘run D’ is STOUT. I’m just hope his commitment to Oklahoma will stay solid for the next 12 years.”
I don’t think Rivals or Scout will let up. They have turned high school kids into a product, sending out illusory waves of enthusiasm to fan bases. Should I worry about this too much, or just let it go and post pictures of Tiger Stadium on Reuben Randle’s MySpace?
Post title; or an unnecessary post sub-title sepearted by a semicolon September 3, 2008
Posted by logandonaldson in Arts, Entertainment, Jobs.Tags: best albums of 2007, burial, dubstep, mcdonalds, pop art, roy lichenstein, untrue
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Today I drove around the Eastern Shore Center in Daphne, AL, beneath the lingering gray shroud Gustav left in its wake. I went to apply for jobs, and at some point, considered whether or not to apply to Starbucks. I decided against it. I’m too addicted to coffee as it is, and I can easily envision ODing on caffeine or being infected with narcolepsy brought on by mandatory corporate album picks. Sorry Norah Jones. Fare thee well Pike’s Place Roast.
In the midst of driving between different stores I listened to Burial’s Untrue, an album released at the tail-end of 2007. [album cover]
Recently in the world of London’s burgeoning grime and garage musics scenes, dubstep has emerged as the genre du jour. Rhythmically, dubstep relies on 2-step beats, meaning pop music’s ubiquitous 4/4 or 3/4 time stamps are no where to be found. Beats are skipped, bars repeated. But above all, the genre is about tone and moodiness. Stark, lonely soundscapes seem to be a benchmark for its composers.
After Untrue’s intro, “Archangel” reveals the pattern to be repeated throughout the album: warped and warbled vocal samples, repeating melancholy phrases like `holding you, good at being alone,` the lines echoing like a lonely confession across a vast, empty abyss. The following track (”Near Dark“) stays the course, the mysterious vocal sample repeating `I envied you. I can’t take my eyes off you.`
These fragments of melodic prose yanked from songs in medias res invoke a sort of immediate drama like that of Roy Lichtenstein’s single frame comic strips:
Minor keys permeate the album, and that’s not to say this singular vision of tone and atmosphere become stale or trite at any point. It’s quite the opposite. Burial, at the time of Untrue’s release, was an anonymous musician, the invisibility a charm, like other heroes of musical obscurity, a la Jandek or Astrobotnia. The album, then, comes off as an artist’s secret, unique vision, a 50 minute vignette of gloomy, overcast London, passing by slums spangled with graffiti and decay, catching glances, hearing intimate, scattershot details along the way, tiny metallic rings and bells chiming softly somewhere in the distance. The sound of rain pattering on a window, or the hollow resonance of an empty tube station. It’s an album afraid of loneliness, asking not for pity or solutions but, like anyone with a problem, for you simply to listen.
Similar to it’s brooding, cerebral ancestor, …Endtroducing, the album is a total experience, not a thin collection of singles. Its confused dance rhythms, waves of dark synths, hazy sense of half-dreams, and reverb-laden vocals make it alluring, like the soundtrack to a dancehall full of shadows and specters.
Driving back home, past the wind-whipped palm trees lining the shopping center, it started drizzling. I turned down county road 31 where the supplanted tropics gave way to native evergreens, tall and foreboding. The poetically titled two minute track “In McDonalds” came on. In its short span it revealed a deep sadness, a sadness akin to to adding M&Ms to a McFlurry or asking some 8-year-old brat named Skylar or Cindi-with-an-”i” what kind of sauce they want with their ‘Nuggets. Hell, it was depressing enough for Burial just to be there, I didn’t want to imagine working there.
Must ..f-…find a…real…job
I got home, and a friend alerted me that Banksy, a London guerilla graffiti artist in the same identity-unknown vein of Burial, had marked some of his work on buildings in New Orleans. Awesome!
Cinema Paradiso August 29, 2008
Posted by logandonaldson in Arts, Entertainment.Tags: cinematography, film, transendence
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Two of my favorite courses in college were film concentrations. Rick Blackwood taught “Sex and Violence in Cinema” and Gregory Schufreider instructed me in “Philosophy in Film.” I’d like to spend some time detailing elements of film I enjoy.
Cinematography
Cinematography is probably my favorite component of film. There are many aspects to it, but we can narrow them down to camera movement, light/darkness gradients, and focal length. When a director has a distinct vision, he needs someone manning the camera with a deft understanding of what should encompass the scene. Behind most great movies is a great cinematographer. Take for instance the brilliance of cinematographer Vittorio Storaro in Apocalypse Now. From the opening set piece of napalm exploding in sequence across a strip of shoreline, the viewer is primed for a visual treat. Traveling down Vietnam’s heart of darkness, images of shadows, death, and blackness are creatively recorded in moments of fluid, visual poetry.
Although you don’t always need elaborate, stylized shots to impress. Take for instance a filmmaker like Hitchcock or Antonioni who seem to use the camera’s eye as an organic extension of their vision. Many of their scenes seem relatively simple in technique, but with close attention to camera movement, they embody a rhythmic beauty.
Narrative
Everyone loves a good storyteller, and I think most directors would align themselves with that very epithet. I’ve recently enjoyed the practice of ignoring plot descriptions and movie trailers because I want no expectations or premonitions before I see the movie. If you already have an idea of what the movie is about (and let’s face it, most previews today reveal half of the plot), then you miss out on the magic of immersing yourself blindly into a work of art. Knowing parts of the story subconsciously sets your brain in motion to form a logical path of where the film might go. Trust me, it’s much better to be lost and then found. I’d say my favorite script writers are the Coen Brothers. Their dialogue is sharp and funny, and the motifs of the film usually take days to untangle themselves into conscious extrapolations. The more confusing, the better, I say.
Character
I was tempted to put “Acting,” but I’m interested in character details more than the delivery of lines or the finer points of method acting. I like the abnormalities inherent in the protagonist of each film. Take Holly Hunter in The Piano (pictured opposite Harvey Keitel above). She had no on-screen dialogue, as she played mute piano prodigy. Yet the audience is swayed with great emotion to sympathize with her throughout the movie. I love that we can universally identify with the quirky or bizarre parts of human personality. There seems to be a communal bond in these endearing flaws. When the audience recognizes eccentricities, it’s because we recognize them in ourselves. Just look at how popular Napoleon Dynamite was. It’s nice to know we’re not so normal after all.
Music
One name that immediately comes to mind is Ennio Morricone. The first time I heard “Per Qualche Dollaro in Piu (Sequence 2)” from Sergio Leone’s For A Few Dollars More the hair on my arms stood taut. Sometimes a score composer perfectly encapsulates the tone of a film and translates that raw feeling through the bliss of melody and orchestral arrangement. Morricone was a master of this. Music is a universal language; there is no need for a secondary source to understand its effect. Like film itself, music is a form of transcendence, and when paralleled with the ambiance of the scenes, music can enhance the flux of emotion we experience.
Travel
There is probably no other metaphor used more than Travel. Through the phenomena of art, we go to another place, a figurative journey, in which there is a beginning and end. In a more literal sense, we enjoy the locales that are fleshed out in the films we see. Buñuel’s Belle du Jour (screen cap above) springs to mind because of how well he portrays Paris and its beauty in the fall months. Everything is cold and on the cusp of dying, yet you never lose a sense of fashion, baroque architecture, and even Parisian romance, despite the film being about fetish and prostitution. Film can be a holistic experience, opening you to new cultures. Who needs to go to Rome when you can just watch La Dolce Vita? I seriously doubt anyone ever wants to go to North Dakota. Just watch Fargo instead, it’s much more entertaining that anything the state itself could hope to be.
Ah-Ha! I’m using the Internet! August 26, 2008
Posted by logandonaldson in Entertainment, Humor.Tags: blogging, political forums, stupidity on the internet, youtube
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The only thing more constant on the internet than Pfizer enhancement pill ads and Wikipedia articles is its ability to remind me of my crumbling faith in humanity. (Although my loss of faith first became self-aware with the production of the movie Bratz)
Anonymity in social forums really brings out the utterly stupid, senselessly hateful, and overall confounding individuals in its world society. I feel ashamed when I go to an LSU forum I frequent and read the “political board.” The regulars there crystallize my frustration. I don’t like sharing an identity with these people, much less be proud to know we are both considered Homo sapiens.
Youtube user comments are another great example. You get a whole spectrum of quips off-the-cuff, often whose content isn’t even related to the original video. Prepare to read something random, derogatory, and completely unnecessary.
Some speculate the internet in general contributes to an increase in stupidity among its users.
I’d say it’s definitely made our attention spans shorter. Also, for many, skimming long paragraphs has helped displace careful reading. There was a really interesting article on this subject in The Atlantic this month. However it was around 4 pages so there was no way in hell I was going to read all of it. Someone let me know if anything beyond the first two paragraphs was interesting. Or if there are any dating/lovelife quizzes embedded within the essay. Those are fun.
I feel awkward about writing a blog, exposing myself to the anonymous masses, giving my own silly opinion on things. There is a thin line between calling someone an idiot, and actually being one. But I have a bachelor’s degree, so I should be good.
