I Wish It Was More Sordid

Ja, well, this is promising to be the longest hiatus since I started to write shizz on the web. Who knows how long it will last & who cares? I recently read an interview with Lisa Carver where she addresses the poor quality of the blogosphere. She basically thinks that the easiness of web publishing has almost done away with personal criticism. When one dealt with printed matter, a poor product meant a financial loss, so you did your utmost to review what you had done BEFORE publishing it. And I agree, but part of what attracted me to writing on the web WAS that directness, you know to put it out there damn-the-consequences-and-damn-the spelling. However, seeing that everyone and their parents has a blog these days, we have a reality where it’s too fucking hard to find the GOOD stuff, so basically it becomes a cabal of backslappers, where you link to your fucking peers or idols.

When I started with what came to be known as blogging, I didn’t feel bad about mailing those who were considered the superstars of the then burgeoning blogosphere: Derek Powazek, Miss Melty, Loobilu, Mimi Nguyen and so on. It felt like a pretty new world and it was fun. With blogspot/blogger, myspace, flickr etc, it takes so little to become acquaintances that I wonder if it’s of any value at-effin-all. It has become like a collectors game, where you want to link to as many as possible, or to have as many my$pace friends as humanly possible. Who gives a sweet FA if you have many people on your friends list? Do you really think it’s sane to flaunt your icq buddy lists with your 500 “pals”.

Anyhoo, what made me open the admin interface again was actually because I have OD’d on TV series the past two days, more specifically Arrested Develoment: on wednesday, I watched all 18 episodes from season 2, and yesterday, I watched the final 13 of season 3. How’s that for insane? Lying on the couch for HOURS UPON HOURS, ALONE, and laughing a great deal of the time. To tell you the truth, it felt great, but my protestant work ethic (yeah, right, but there is a wee bit of it still lurking in the membranes) made me feel vaguely ashamed. Also, it was like eating all the best candy of the world in one single sitting. I’m slowly becoming aware that talking about TV series (or comics for that matter) often becomes really boring to the other party if they havent seen/read it. So now I feel midly irritated that I have noone to discuss it with, especially since I thought it’s truly one of the finest comedies ever. Sure, Curb is great, and Frasier, but Arrested Development is like Parker Lewis Can’t Lose for a more mature audience, with better acting and everything – well – better. It is super fast, with no pauses for laughter, the comedy is in word as well as in action, and goddammit I love the series. Now I have to force it upon a fitting friend or two so I have someone to talk to about what has made me laugh more than I have in a long time. As usual, some nitwits dumped the series, but at the same time I’m pretty grateful for series that actually end when they’re still on their top game. So long, Arrested Development, and thanks for all the laughter!
So there you have it: it actually became a post and it became a post about one of the most blogged about things, namely TV. Boy do I suck. Back to hiatus.

Well, the silence here is massive. So why? Well, mainly because I haven’t felt that I have anything to say.
The past months it’s been World of Warcraft (not as much since the 2.x patch of course), TV series, music & movies en masse. Downloading, buying, sorting, tagging, watching, listening. And frankly, I’m getting media saturated. TV truly is the boob-tube. One of these days, I gotta take a break and start tinking again.

• Me (Martin) & Bro (Stefan)

I’m 3 years older, and you can see it too. Swollen eyes, balder, more unkempt.

Iorxhscimtor, my first WoW character – who was once hiatus’d for a month, then resurrected – now finally has reached level 60. I was a bit disappointed that there was no drums & salutes, but it felt pretty damn nice anyway. Screenshot from Twin Colossals, in Feralas. Click image for bigger version at Flickr. My profile is at Allakhazam, btw.

This saturday, I picked up the latest book by comic book genius Tony Millionaire (who, to quote Peter Bagge, “is so good he should be called Tony Billionaire”), Billy Hazelnuts. Billy Hazelnuts, like many of Millionaire’s books, leans heavily on old children’s books, and older literature in general, with its slightly horrid imagery and olden language. This, more than Maakies, would actually be possible to read for children, even though the book is likely to disturb them at least as much as the Grimm Brothers’ tales, or the scarier H.C. Andersen. Still, in the end, it is not the scariness that lingers but the insane inventions, the sweet melancholy and the spirit of forgiveness no matter what.

OK, I’m sitting here watching the first season of Hill Street Blues, and the subtitling is just plain crap at times! I mean, it’s for the hard of hearing, an English release and all, but shouldn’t English know US colloquialisms better than a SWEDE such as I? Anyway, this being an 80s series and whatnot, surely Bobby Hill brings RIPPLE and not RED BULL to a party? For shame, subtitlers, for shame.
Other than that, this series from my youth has lasted better than expected, although I believe I see totally different details now. This should have been re-released YEARS ago, if you ask me. Solid television from 25 years ago.