03.29.07
Posted in Insightful..., Rant at 4:19 pm by tempo502
At what point do we become information-saturated? How many billboards does it take before we ignore them all? How much infotainment before the buzzing factoids blur into an indistinguishable whine? Do you think more data would catch and stick in a person’s mind if he was assaulted by less of it?
When is less more?
I realized a week or two ago that I have very little exposure to advertising media, compared to most Americans. I don’t watch TV. I have a menagerie of ad-blockers on my computer. I station-surf to avoid radio commercials while I drive. I am immediately suspicious of testimonials and product reviews in any form.
My youth was barraged by ad copy, and now I reflexively tune out the omnipresent marketing images that have come to define our culture. I’m fairly sure I’m not alone in this. My entire demographic is jaded.
Naturally, commerce fights back against buyer apathy and marketing agencies escalate the conflict. The wild mood swings of the internet can offer incredible opportunities for e-savvy companies. We get citizen spokespeople, planted YouTube clips, biased Amazon reviews, faux blogs, and forums seeded with fake identities. Facebook implemented the Newsfeed feature (against wide protests), slapped on some basic privacy options to placate the hate groups, and had “Sponsored News Items” flowing through within the month. It’s a constant arms race between consumers who wish to surf unmolested and companies that need to push inventory, with site operators acting as embattled but complicit intermediaries.
Most people either don’t notice or don’t mind the stealthily-inserted attempts to manipulate our opinions and preferences. Sometimes their viral marketing campaigns backfire, but for every nasty spurt of bad press, a hundred paid infiltrators are quietly undermining the integrity of the user-generated content that defines the web.
I wish I could rant and rail at the advertising execs who think our generation is populated by weak-willed idiots. No, I can’t blame them for trying to recover some of the clout that Tivo and BitTorrent leached away from television. Economies are driven — no, defined by the connections between those who produce and those who consume. What choice do we have but to accept the advertising arms race? By necessity, the entire structure is a race to the bottom. Competition and ingenuity foster efficiency and growth, at the cost of a certain quantity of dignity and reason.
I wonder what will happen when my generation grows up and becomes the mainstream consumer. We’re in a spiral of escalating corporate invasiveness and consumer apathy. Will it, can it end? Can we reach an equilibrium? Is this digital revolution a self-limiting phenomenon or a herald of the future?
In every arms race, the side with more resolve and deeper pockets ends up the victor. I find it difficult to believe that the winning side will be private citizens.
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03.28.07
Posted in Ridiculous at 2:18 am by tempo502
I have decided to become a dinosaur. It will be somewhat lonely being the only dinosaur, so I invite you all to join me. I promise we’ll have a grand old time.
RAAAAR CHOMP RAWR!
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03.20.07
Posted in Insightful... at 11:46 pm by tempo502
Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care
The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath
Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,
Chief nourisher in life’s feast.
-Shakespear, Macbeth
The true boon of poetry is not the beauty of its imagery and verse, but the sensation that another being has, at some time, felt exactly the thing you’ve long known but never managed to express.
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03.18.07
Posted in Insightful... at 5:10 pm by tempo502
The writer cannot advocate the establishment. There is no critical tension, no push for growth in conservatism. This is not to say that the status quo is wrong, but that it contains no inspiration for creation. Greatness finds purchase only in conflict.
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03.17.07
Posted in Everything/Nothing, Rant at 1:50 am by tempo502
I was expecting a call from my boss today. We had a conference scheduled to talk about the next month’s projects. I was worn out from my overcaffeination and odd sleep schedule, and decided I could afford to take a quick nap before he called.
He never called. I woke up 8 hours later.
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03.15.07
Posted in Everything/Nothing at 7:01 am by tempo502
Sunrise and I do not get along. My mind rebels against the premise of morning, despite all its promise and beauty. Wake up and face the day? No! I refuse on principle. I am quite content to lie in bed, thank you.
The dawn hours seek me out against my will. The Sun smugly creeps up from the east and sends its harsh tendrils to seek out every crack in my curtains and blinds. Unwelcomed, it breaches my sanctuary of darkness and assaults what remains of the night’s meager allotment of sleep. It will not let me be. I hate it.
On nights like this though, the tables are turned. The Sun rises as usual, unaware that I’ve preempted its usual salvo. Staying up all night maneuvered me behind the morning and I’m unperturbed by its damning yellow glare.
I outlived the night and flanked the Sun.
Thus, rather than coming into consciousness to face the magnitude of the day’s tasks, I greet the day with accomplishments behind me. There’s more to do, yes, but the night’s progress lessens the dread for what must be done. The poignancy of streetlamp-crossed loneliness bolsters my muse and offers tension out of which creativity may spring. The chemical buoyancy of caffeine lifts me into a jet-stream second wind, and as long as I stay occupied, I can pretend to be a morning person.
A moment of boredom or a post-coffee crash will shatter the illusion, though. The fuzziness of sleep deprivation creeps in and stimuli stop registering. Time dilates and suddenly I feel a prod on the arm, look up, and see a classmate smiling at my trip into the land of dreams. I struggle to recall what made me attend at all. Class ends, fatigue rallies its forces to test my strength, and I must constantly battle with the urge to damn the day and succumb to sleep. My priorities warp and logic fails. I know the Sandman will win. I merely labor to delay his conquest.
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03.14.07
Posted in Ridiculous at 7:45 am by Ryan
Oh, it’s Pi Day — 3/14. I prefer Mario day — MAR 10.
Did you know that the number of seconds in a year is within 0.5% of (Pi*10^7)? Now you know!
e^(Pi*i) = -1. It works out pretty easily with a little trig, but it’s not worth explaining how. Just believe it.
Pi*R^2? No! Pi R round.
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Posted in Everything/Nothing, Insightful... at 6:58 am by Ryan
How’s that for a pretentious opening title? Welcome to existence, new blog. May your existence on this earth be a source of happiness, and may you never achieve the self-conscious state of being that so plagues man. You are my pet, and this slavery would rankle one that understood its status.
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