Greek Riots

Random update time! Whee!

In December, Greek riot police shot a 15 year old and now anarchist groups based in Greek cities are violently retaliating. It's a story not many of us have heard about, and I think it's interesting (both the lack of coverage and the situation itself) because you rarely see such organized and focused anarchist activity in America and when you do, it's portrayed as mindlessly violent and never sympathetically. But the way the Greek situation is playing out is a little different - note how the police seem to recognize that they have to walk a line too and respect the protesters (before all this started the anarchists had a "fortress" area of a city where police avoided, and the police aren't allowed onto some of the university campuses). Reports have the Prime Minister responding to the protesters by committing to a fight against social injustice and possibly "reshuffling" the government to move away from its current conservatism. (Compare this to the claim that public horror at the 1968 DNC riots was a large factor in Nixon's election.) The policeman who shot the boy is being charged with murder and held in prison while some other higher-ups in charge of the police offered resignations.

Also note how and where this is being reported - Google "Greek Riots" and the first two links you get to current reporting are the BBC and the Christian Science Monitor - it's not exactly a big story in mainstream American reporting. Here's the story:

"The Big Picture" News in Photographs report

On The Greek Riots blog updated "from the streets" by anti-police protesters

BBC News reporting (look in the right side menu for more articles, photos, and videos)

And for kicks and giggles, check out the Fox News report, which includes quotes from the Socialist party, which is in opposition to the current Prime Minister, saying that the country "is no longer being governed." It seems to more strongly condemn the Greek government for not cracking down harder on the protesters and regaining control - because, you know, when people rise up against a government and demand change, the government's responsibility is to make them sit down and be quiet. It also quotes from the policeman's defense lawyer, saying that the ("not yet complete") ballistics report "proves irrefutably" that the fatal shot was a "ricochet" and that the death was therefore not the officer's fault.

Keep in mind that the protesters have big issues with the current government and the police, and I'm not saying that police or government sentiment in response to the riots is anything close to utopian - I'm just pointing out subtle differences between this situation and how it might play out differently here in America.

On Being A Brand Whore (or, "if you're wearing sweatpants, get off my blog!")

Things To Occupy You Over Break #3: Serial Webcomics

These are all serial strips, meaning they have storylines that require the strips to be read in order. In some cases this will take a very long time, since the archives go back years. I've linked the main page of each of them, so to start reading, click "first strip" or go to "archives" and start at the earliest. Treat them like novels - if you have to leave partway through, just bookmark the strip you're at and start again from there.

Something*Positive

This strip isn't for everybody. It starts with an abortion joke and the black humor never lets up. That said, it's one of my absolute favorites, because the characters are well-developed and the punchlines are always hilarious but still feel like dialogue. R.K. Milholland does a great job wrapping up each arc while maintaining a consistent mood and canon. If it's your thing, you'll be captivated by the immense amount of archives, so be careful. If it's not, you'll be bummed out by the misanthropy. Give it a shot, and you'll know soon enough whether you're a fan.

Questionable Content

There's not much to this strip but it's consistently lovable and a lot of them are pretty funny. It's one of the most popular serial webcomics out there (or it's the one with the most vocal or social fans). It's a character-driven story about a bunch of 20-something hipsters who are all really neurotic. I like the art.

College Roomies From Hell!!!

This starts out FANTASTIC and gets kinda awful, but for a long time it was a big influence on my character writing. The world and the characters are incredibly engaging and reading all of the archives will be very satisfying until you get to about mid-2007, at which point it kind of jumps the shark. But the beginning is very worth it.

Friendly Hostility

Two boys grow up as best friends, then fall in love - but the comic is not about a "gay relationship" but rather, just a relationship. The chemistry between Fox and Collin is unique and the rest of the characters are great as well. It's quirky, funny, sweet, strange, and tied with Something*Positive for my favorite strip. 

Pictures for Sad Children

I can't decide if this goes under Serial or not, so I put it here because I'd recommend reading it from beginning to end. It has a very strange vibe to it and some of you might hate it, but I think it exposes some little sliver of our humanity that is very often ignored. It sometimes addresses the themes of madness and faith (my two favorite themes, yay) from a really different, gentle and interesting angle.

Octopus Pie

If QC took itself less seriously and did more drugs, it would be Octopus Pie. Some of the arcs are rather forgettable, but the reality of the characters never wanes (even when they seem like they should feel like caricatures) and they're all lovable all the time, even though you know you'd hate them in real life.

Zombie Hunters

At first glance, it's the comic equivalent of every zombie movie ever. But the art is fantastic, and if you poke around the site you see that the artist has put an immense amount of planning and effort into creating that world. It has a very LotR feel - an encyclopedic creation of a fantasy reality that doesn't overpower the main story but enriches it. 

On Loving Our Non-Hetero Friends

Things To Occupy You Over Break #2: Online Journalism

Vice Magazine

Please be warned - this is not for everyone. You either love it or you're completely disgusted or offended. The magazine is known for being gritty, filthy, pornographic, and insensitive. That said, it's got some good journalism and some stuff you'll never see in the NYTimes. I've linked it here before, but only articles relevant to my articles and always with a warning. To go through the archives, you can either click "archives" up at the top and browse by issue, or click another link at the top and browse by type of article. You'll learn what life is like as a sex slave in lots of different countries (including Iran and Canada), what drug dealers have to say about their jobs, what the different types of white supremacists have to say to each other, and a lot more you may or may not have needed to know about your fellow humans.

Dissident Voice

They took down my favorite article ("Mental Illness or Social Sickness?") but they're still pretty cool. It has a very leftist slant, so take everything they have to say about capitalist governments with a grain or salt, but it can be an interesting perspective. And I just love the photo in the top banner.

Adbusters

A culturejamming, anti-consumerism site with lots of great reading about today's economy and culture. The equivalent of an ideological hug for people who get bummed about about the state of our world. The little slogany banners that change if you refresh the page were the inspiration for my CSWS culturejamming flyer response slips at my school. 

Zombietime

I've linked it here before too. An independent reporter from California reports on left-wing protests with a right-wing slant. Sometimes the blatant bias can be jarring, but I think it's very valuable for people in the activist scene to be aware of how we're seen from a different perspective so we can avoid a lot of the pitfalls that ZT points out. I also find it refreshing to read journalism that doesn't pretend to be objective - we all know reporters are people, so when they come out and admit it, it's nice. The "zomblog" linked at the top contains more interesting reporting that didn't quite make it to the main page.

Found Magazine

People find stuff and send it in. Found Magazine then publishes it. It's pretty neat. Some of my writing has been inspired by it and I love how it gives a glimpse into other people's lives. The total lack of context makes you realize how self-contained each of our worlds are and it gives your imagination a nice workout. This is under "journalism" instead of "misc." because it's actually a printed magazine as well.

CI Holiday Surprise!

There will be more break filler posts! I drew some doodles about the differences between my life at Goucher and my life here at home and figured I'd share them with you. They'll be posted alternately between the TTOYOB fillers, every four days. Yay! The computer here is conked out, so instead of scanning I had to photograph my drawings (which are about an inch tall and done in pencil) and photoshop them to be darker and readable. I know they look smeary and sketchy, but hey, not everyone can be Randall. 

Here's the first one, "On OK Times For Eating":

Things To Occupy You Over Break #1: Videos

Here are some video serieses (seri?) that I adore. They're all addictive, though, so be prepared to sit glued to your screen for a while.

Target: Women

This is feminist comedy/social commentary that points out, then ridicules, messages from the media that women today are bombarded with. She covers things like the Disney Princesses, cleaning products, car advertisements, and botox. If it sounds heavy-handed, fret not: all of the straight white males I've shown it to laugh just as hard as the girls, and many have expressed the desire to marry the female host.

After watching it, exclamations such as "Happy period control!," "Underpants!" and "she's looking like a chubster!" will make perfect sense, and commercials for cleaning products may either arouse or enrage you.

Jack Danyells

Not to be confused with the, er, beverage, Jack Danyells is a guy who yells about abuses and misuses of the English language. Sometimes he sings. He is funny. His intro is disgustingly catchy. You will never say "very unique" or be able to enjoy the song "Ironic" ever again.

zefrank

Zefrank is an adorably cuddly vlogger who kept a daily vlog for an entire year that covered current events, his own life, and dirty space news. It spawned so many in-jokes among his tight-knit, wiki-connected audience that after watching ten or so episodes, you'll feel like part of an exclusive club (but only if you watch them in order). It's silly, hilarious, and just plain fantastic. You will find yourself greeting people with "sports racers, racing sports!," asking "who likes the little little duckies in the pond?" and referring to Google as "our great and glorious leader." You will also be able to whisper "are the new viewers gone yet?" after every ridiculous thing you do.

Is It Okay To Microwave This?

Pretty self-explanatory. Everything you ever wanted to put into a microwave but had the good sense not to has been put into a microwave and videotaped for your amusement and education. They do glowsticks, fireworks, apples, an etch-a-sketch, an inhaler, an iPod, a rubix cube, a barbie doll, a motherboard, and tons more. If only all of our childhoods had been equipped with a ventilated, aluminum-foiled saferoom for microwaving stuff.

Drinking Out Of Cups

This is not a series but it needs to be here. The audio is a recording of a guy who took some sort of illicit substance (our theories are shrooms or PCP), and the animation is, um, a lizard someone decided was necessary to animate it. My friends think the guiding theme behind his string-of-consciousness nonsense is him saying before getting messed up, "this isn't going to do anything to me, I'm more badass than that," hence his constant exclamations of "that ain't real!" and "no way!" after he addresses his hallucinations. Every single line in it is a potent quotable, but my personal favorites are the walkway bit and "they're like the clocks, I love 'em."

So, about me making promises I don't keep...

Some of my more astute readers may have noticed that I said the blog would resume posting in October, but then it did not. Oops.

If you all have it in your hearts to forgive me, I can make it up to you - promise. The hiatus will continue through winter break (the logic being I'll be where all my readers live, and you'll get your Sal fix anyway) but I have posts already set up to post through MARCH after I get back. Seriously!

Here's what's coming up: as well as the one-weekly essays and prose pieces you're all familiar with, I've now started writing slam poetry to perform at the monthly poetry slams at my school, and that'll go up here after I perform it. Three poems per slam, one slam per month - so every month, I'll put up one of the previous month's poems every week. I also got started making little indexed-style charts about my life one night in the Gopher Hole, so some of those (the ones that aren't Goucher in-jokes) will make it up here as well. That's at least a THRICE WEEKLY update, possibly more if the charts start being superfun.

But wait! There's more! This won't go totally ignored over the holiday break - I know you all need something to waste - er, spend - your time reading, so I'll be posting reviews of online 'zines, webcomics, and other nonsense that I read religiously and think you might enjoy too. These will only be around for the break, though, because some of the stuff will suck you into 7+ years of archives and you'll be doing nothing but reading, and it'd be cruel to tempt you during school time. (But once you've read them, you'll get all the pointless little obscure references I'm always making.)

HAI GUYS

I've been a bad blogger. Separated from my beloved audience and distracted by the glitz and glamour of college life, I quit updating. Sad story. However! I officially declare the hiatus OVER as of October 6. I've got some essays and some creative works started and things should heat up again. I miss you guys!

I should have a letter drive. Sometime in the near future I'll promise something like another hourly comic day IF I get a certain number of letters. (Count yourselves lucky. Most bloggers do drives for money.)

Coming up: Post 9-11 mindsets, "Charts & Graphs: a pivotal moment", a holistic approach to the counseling vs. pills question, an extended metaphor involving melted wax, photography from around my campus, social & gender considerations left out in a Connections show on sexuality & rape, and silly things my friends here said.

"Hold On, We're Morons"

(SoCI: I'm at college! It's awesome! I don't have tons of time to write/edit right now so here's a shorter, rougher essay with too many underdeveloped theses and no focus. To my old readers: I miss you guys! Write me! To my new readers: hope you like this. My goofy IB stories can be found in the archives, if that's what you're here for.)

I know, I know - getting down on Hot Topic for being culturally tone-deaf and generally moronic is about as obnoxiously bottom-of-the-barrel as the rape jokes in Do's&Don'ts. I ought to be going after a more interesting, fresh target - like computational linguistics. But, and I'm sorry guys, the thing that's gotten me angriest this week has yet again been brought to you by everyone's favorite sell-outs.

They're selling t-shirts and magnets with the phrase "hold on, I'm on my hamburger phone," from the movie Juno; described on their site as "the newest pop-culture must-have" (I'm glad I have them to tell me what I must have, otherwise I'd be completely lost.)

The big issue here is the proliferation of "pop-culture references" that are just repeated catchphrases with barely any significance to the topic at hand. It used to be that a piece full of "pop-culture references" meant that it was smart, sharp, and self-aware almost to the point of parody or satire. You had to have background knowledge, and the references had relevance and comedic value on their own (rather than just recalling a funny moment by someone else.) Now, we've got scripts that almost seem written around the idea of potent quotables (sorry, I'm talking about quoting pop culture here, have to do a bit of my own.) I can tell, while watching a movie, which lines are going to end up being repeated constantly - Hollywood knows this, and they're going for it. There have even been instances where the popularity of the catchphrases preceded the opening of the show (Borat, Napoleon Dynamite). I concede that this is a form of brilliant viral marketing and it takes some serious skill to write comedy in such a way that it's appealing even in previews like that - but when every preview and every movie is going for the effect, it gets old.

 The narrower issue here is the specific phrase from the movie. It's NOT a comedic moment at all, and it's in fact the most brilliantly poignant moment of the movie. That scene and that line within the scene encapsulate the main theme of the movie, which is Juno's juxtaposition of very adult choices and situations and her youth and continuing innocence. She calls to make an appointment for an abortion, and must tell the woman from the clinic to "hold on, I'm on my hamburger phone" while she shakes the phone to make it work again. Juno deadpans that line to an adult, not realizing that there is a world outside her young world where it's not just taken for granted that people have barely-working "hamburger phones." The contrast of her acceptance of both situations (the phone and the pregnancy) perfectly, sadly, beautifully sums up the conflict of the movie.

Hot Topic either doesn't have a clue and just sees the shallow slapstick element of the silly phone; or thinks its consumers don't have a clue or are willing to overlook a serious thematic device if the HT head honchos tell them to find it funny and buy it. It's pathetic and sad - we've got such brilliance out there in mainstream media and instead of raising up the people to its level, they're doing their best to drag it down. It's like reading Heart of Darkness as a supermarket horror thriller - sure, the elements are there, but it denies or ignores the true accomplishments of the work.