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Aug. 7th, 2006
I really should know better than to have any of the Civilization type games on my computer. 'Cause once I start playing one, I get stubborn and HAVE to win, which takes forever. Then, once I win, I'm fine. At least until I forget and get the urge to start a new game. I need to find a better way to play out my world domination wishes.
When Did This Happen?
Aug. 7th, 2006 10:10 pmI've had a couple weird experiences with consumerism lately. One is a story from my trip, the other is today at Target.
I don't remember if I mentioned this or not. But when the lot of us went to the Museum of Art and Design, we stopped my the Museum of Modern Art's gift shop to look around afterward. It was full of all sorts of weird and cool and pointless things, like all good gift shops. But the weirdest parts were things we, as nerds like. There, in the gift shop of a famous museum of art. They had the Ugly Dolls there, which were also at the con. They had these wallets made from folded paper, which you can probably find instructions how to make on BoingBoing. They had a bunch of other things, but those are the two that stuck in my mind. Dude. When did geek stuff become the kind of high culture you find at an art museum shop?
The other was today, at Target. Which reminded me, it's something I've noticed before. At Target, they have a section of T-shirts with witty, "witty", and retro stuff on them. Besides the usual Simpsons, beer, and Family Guy crap, they had shirts that would have fit right in at webcomic stores. "Vader was Framed," for example. And several other shirts I could swear I saw online before. I even picked up a Thundercats T-Shirt, because dude, the Thundercats had an awesome symbol. But still, it left me feeling kind of weird. When did stuff I like become popular enough to be sold somewhere like Target? And I was poking around at the other clothes, and it only increased the weirdness.
Either my tastes are changing now to match fashion, or by standing where I liked, fashion's starting to catch up with me. I'm not sure which I find more worrying.
I don't remember if I mentioned this or not. But when the lot of us went to the Museum of Art and Design, we stopped my the Museum of Modern Art's gift shop to look around afterward. It was full of all sorts of weird and cool and pointless things, like all good gift shops. But the weirdest parts were things we, as nerds like. There, in the gift shop of a famous museum of art. They had the Ugly Dolls there, which were also at the con. They had these wallets made from folded paper, which you can probably find instructions how to make on BoingBoing. They had a bunch of other things, but those are the two that stuck in my mind. Dude. When did geek stuff become the kind of high culture you find at an art museum shop?
The other was today, at Target. Which reminded me, it's something I've noticed before. At Target, they have a section of T-shirts with witty, "witty", and retro stuff on them. Besides the usual Simpsons, beer, and Family Guy crap, they had shirts that would have fit right in at webcomic stores. "Vader was Framed," for example. And several other shirts I could swear I saw online before. I even picked up a Thundercats T-Shirt, because dude, the Thundercats had an awesome symbol. But still, it left me feeling kind of weird. When did stuff I like become popular enough to be sold somewhere like Target? And I was poking around at the other clothes, and it only increased the weirdness.
Either my tastes are changing now to match fashion, or by standing where I liked, fashion's starting to catch up with me. I'm not sure which I find more worrying.
We Were Here. We Did This.
Aug. 7th, 2006 11:19 pmI've been browsing the "Latest Updates" features on a couple of blog collectives and image sites, and it's alternately fascinating and boring. But the most common thing I've fount, even more common than porn, is just people posting stuff they and their friends did. Making a little mark to say "Yes. This was us. We did this."
There's worse uses for the Internet.
There's worse uses for the Internet.