Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

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All I Wanna Do

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Someone has to remember to remind me that, the next time I’m stalking someone famous, that I should super-hydrate myself with over two gallons of water every day – because, apparently, flushing out all of my electrolytes will increase my nerve conduction velocity, thus allowing me to establish telepathic communications with a starlet of my choice.

This concept excites me, as my daily consumption means I’m halfway to the hydration goal already. However, contrary to statements in the article, I like to believe the communication would be one way so that I could just beam every inane thought I had directly into my obsession’s head. It’d be like having my own personal broadcast station directly into their brain.

Or, hey, I could just kidnap them and force them to read my web page!

Do Something

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This MetaFilter post is today’s required reading. I like to think of myself as having become desensitized to almost all international news about death and suffering, but i find this story to be very disturbing – maybe because it not only involves innocent bystanders, but also journalists.

I’m too tired to go into full-on-rant mode, but there is obviously something very wrong with the American Military system. I don’t think it can be blamed on a single official or administration. A systematic change needs to occur, and i don’t think it’s coming our way anytime soon.

On a note that would only seem related if you were me, i have never been happier to not own a television than during yesterday’s Eagle’s game. Having been close to 100% teeveefree for over two months, for every second of my viewing i was aghast at the utter nonsense and stupidity communicated by almost every aspect of the televised medium. Aside from a handful of cerebral commercials, i felt every aspect of my viewing experience prodding me to lower my perceptions to that of the lowest common denominator of the viewing public.

I am vaguely aware of a “turn off your televisions” week that’s sponsored by some organization at some point of the year. I always found that to be somewhat misguided, both in design and purpose. Does anyone even do it? Do those that do even get the point, or notice the difference? Try turning it off for a month. Try throwing it out.

Television is the ultimate indulgence of utter passivity, the apex of wasted time. Stop watching MTV and write a song. Stop watching soap operas, and dream your own life. I fully recognize that some television can be art (Angels In America), and that apropos wittiness can sometimes make an indulgence worthwhile (Buffy), but most of the time it’s just an excuse not to be doing something else.

Finally, a reminder via my good friend Lindsay. October 3 is the deadline for voter registration for the November Election. If you aren’t registered, have recently moved, or need an absentee ballot, you still have a few weeks to straighten out the details. Specifically, for registration concerns, try Vote For Change, and for issues with locating a polling place try Election Impact.

Most importantly, just vote, goddamnit. Vote for an independent. Write in your mom. I don’t care. The point is not just about choosing but about being a part of the process. I understand that you can’t make it to the polls for every primary or local election; neither can i. This one, however, is a must. If you can’t find the time to vote, or to use the internet to register for an absentee ballot so you don’t have to find the time, I don’t think you need to bother to find the time to read this page. Or speak to me ever again.

Please take today as your opportunity to do something. About anything. Be tangible; effect change.

Two & 1/2

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New Jersey, as much as I claim to detest it, always makes me think. I think in the mall, of the impact of prominent stores and brands on suburban buying patterns. I think on the roads, of the effect of weakly distributed mass transit on social networks in teens under the legal age to drive. I think at the concert, of the development of garage bands in a vacuum of live performances by national acts.

I think in New Jersey because there is not much else for me to do. I bring up their Governor repeatedly, hoping for some intriguing revelation, but I seem to know more about the story than anyone I talk to. Just wait, I said on Friday, until more news about Cipel breaks. He was imported from Isreal. You’ll see.

In the car driving down some street I still don’t recognize, even though I’ve been there with Elise dozens of times now, these thoughts are hurtling through my head. I palm my cell phone, nervously flicking the antenna up and down. Should I make a phone post? What if these thoughts escape, evaporate, never to be heard from again? I should call, call up and talk them out, but then we are at the bakery, getting out, and I am reveling in the .75$ muffins and how we can buy a heaping breakfast of pastries for four for less than $10.

I think in the parking lot, of cost of living and if it correlates at all to population density.

There was a point in time when all I did was sit at the computer, and back then every thought I had made it onto the page. I thought about q-tips. I thought about music. I thought about love. Eventually, I got out of the house more. Saw more. Did more. Wrote less. Looking back over those weeks and months, I feel disconnected from my life, so easy to chart from those earlier, more frequent entries. I chime in about class or work, but what was I feeling? What was I thinking?

Last night I think in the living room, of what I am doing with myself, and how I will remember it.

I’ll have to get back to you on that one.

Yeah, I Could Have Told You That

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Also skimmed from CNN’s headlines, a fairly lightweight article about male eating disorders. It’s nice to see this topic getting covered somewhere other than daytime talkshows, but the lightness of this coverage only serves to emphasize the virtually nonexistant support system for men with eating disorders.

Even years after the period where i was most destructively anorexic i am still incredibly suseptible to falling into unhealthy eating habits, and generally only avoid major problems by making a point to make light of my condition here and to my close friends, allowing my humor to let them know they should keep an eye on me.

US Violates Geneva Conventions… Again!

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Because i am such a major nerd and am in love with my single journalism class, i have subscribed to all manner of news services, including ABC’s daily Nightline email, which just passed along this article. I’m sure the story is all over by now, but i’m too busy working on my project to know. I simply find it ironic because the United States Army is so completely oblivious to the Geneva Conventions that we are so quick to invoke whenever any of our soldiers are captured.

Lawmakers Say New Abuse Photos Even Worse – The abuse of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. troops went beyond the photos seen by most Americans, shaken lawmakers said Wednesday after viewing fresh pictures and video that they said depicted forced sex, brutality and dogs snarling at cowed prisoners….

Even in such a grim article, there is one amusing passage…

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said he thought “some people are overreacting. The people who are against the war are using this to their political ends,” he said.

Further GOP reaction via CNN. Personally, I can’t think of a way to use this to criticize Bush or the war effort … it’s more about a problem with the way we recruit, screen, and train our soldiers. More importantly, i don’t think there’s a way to overreact to violating the Geneva Conventions. If our armed forces wantonly do what they’re doing, then we are in no position to complain when one of our citizens is captured and brutally slaughtered.