You know, it's kind of depressing to realize that, after building up a relatively decent social life over the course of the last few semesters of NYU as well as my time abroad, I'm now pretty much just as isolated and lonely as I was in high school and early college. All my friends have either moved away or lost contact with me. And so I wind up having to spend my birthday drinking by myself.

Though I'm a vegan myself, I have to admit the vegan subculture/mindset can often be totally lolworthy.

For the past day or so I've been debating in my head whether it would really be worth it to make the post you're reading right now. God knows there's been enough mourning on twitter, facebook, and lj. I'm sure some people are tired of it by now; and some of you probably don't understand why this should be such a big deal to so many people. Why should the passing of one entertainer -- who possibly did some very sick things to innocent children -- overshadow all the other important events that are happening in the world right now? Why cry over the death (and life) of yet another fucked-up rich celebrity when the situation in Iran right now is objectively much more deserving of our tears and sympathy?

So I can understand why some of you would prefer not to hear yet another random LJ friend write up yet another eulogy for a man whose face has been all over CNN, MSNBC, MTV, and pretty much every newspaper in the country since his death less than 24 hours ago. I can understand, but I can't really sympathize.

Let's start with the music. Anyone able to appreciate melody, harmony and rhythm as qualities in themselves, apart from musical fashions, social context, and the biographical details of the performer, should like at least one or two of the singles off Thriller. The album itself represents almost everything that is horrible about the pop-music industry -- it's focus-grouped, antiseptic, and bathetic. And yet, like any great piece of art, there is something within it that transforms even its faults into aspects of its beauty. That something, in this case, would be fucking awesome tunes, no more and no less.

If you don't love Thriller (and Off the Wall, and some later singles), you must have no ears; but if you don't love young Michael with the Jackson Five, you must also have no heart. Seriously, I don't think I can trust anyone who can listen to "I Want You Back" without feeling at least a slight rush of happiness.

Then there's the life of the man behind this music. I'm not going to defend any of the things he did, documented or alleged. I'll just point out what someone else pointed out to me -- nothing comes from nothing, and the strangeness of Michael Jackson did not arise ex nihilo. Everything about the man -- his obsession with youth, his endless pursuit of some strange robo-Caucasian facial ideal, his over-the-top spending sprees and subsequent descent into debt -- can be explained by following all the most unsettling aspects of American culture to their logical conclusion. Michael Jackson's life was not fascinating because it was an aberration -- rather, his life and death act as a sort of funhouse mirror into which Americans can look, seeing reflections of ourselves, distorted but still somewhat recognizable. Only the United States of America could have produced a Michael Jackson.

Communal outpourings of emotion are something I'm uncomfortable with. It's strange how the more universal an emotional reaction is, the more trite an individual expression of it tends to be. There are only so many ways to express a single mood or feeling, and so in cases like these the same clichés wind up getting repeated ad nauseam. But what I said about Thriller's apparent weaknesses a few paragraphs up also applies in these situations -- when a communal event is universal or significant enough, these seemingly trite and repetitive expressions of mourning are not only acceptable but admirable. So fuck it -- I might as well join the huge chorus of people who have already put their two cents in (to use a cliché). I, too, am shocked and saddened by the death of this man, who meant so much to me and many others.

I'm not even too into the whole keyboard cat thing, but HOLY SHIT.

http://www.obamasplanforgayrights.com

Conservative radio host gets himself waterboarded to prove it's not a big deal, lasts 7 seconds, and immediately afterwards declares it to be torture:

For anyone who is as into philosophy & critical theory as I am, this series of podcast lectures might be of interest.

Things to do:

1) Convince my parents that I do not hate them, it's just that I'm almost 25 goddamn years old and living with senior citizens in the suburbs is having an adverse effect on my mental health, to the extent that the extra expense of living on my own is more than worth it for me.

2) Find some sort of full-time job, or combination of part-time jobs, in NYC, that will pay enough to allow me to survive and maybe even save up a little.

3) Find extremely simple, cheap, but not disgusting living space somewhere in Brooklyn, preferably downtown.

4) Start preparing for the next year's round of grad school applications.

lol nerds

German company unveils new line of fried chicken strips: "Obama Fingers"

No comment.

NEWS FLASH: DAFT PUNK HIRED TO SCORE TRON 2

THIS WILL ALMOST SURELY BE THE CROWNING ACHIEVEMENT OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION

Breathtaking document reveals Pepsi logo is pinnacle of entire universe! - Advertising bullshit on a truly epic scale. Must be seen to be believed.

By the way guys, I forgot to comment on this shit two weeks ago when it was still relevant, but how 'bout those NYU Kimmel occupiers? I was actually totally on their side (NYU admin is pretty despicable/greedy) until I saw the above-linked video about a week ago. Great job making a worthy cause look completely ridiculous, guys. Sexton and these doofuses deserve each other.

ridiculously adorable

also ridiculously adorable, but in a different way

GOD FUCKING DAMNIT.

I knew something like this was coming; I just didn't realize it would come so soon.

Looking through old LJ entries. God, was I an insufferable little prat.

I'm really glad I've learned to push my suffering deep down inside where no one will ever, ever see it again instead of spewing it all over the internet in blog form.

Vegan Fast Food?

I am entirely unsure how to react to this.

[EDIT: So I'm scouring the internet for any information I can find about the new Boredoms release, and what do I find?



...Possibly my new favorite (non-Boredoms) band ever (tonight at least)!]

Hello livejournal internet friends! Please download/buy the new Animal Collective album right now. You'll thank me later, seriously.

High points of inauguration:

-Aretha belting out thinly-veiled "God Save the Queen" ripoff while apparently being devoured by giant metallic butterfly.

-Rev. Lowery's awesome and unexpected benediction rap.

-Surprisingly modern/tasteful John Williams composition -- I was expecting something more sappy.

-Dick Cheney looking more hilariously criminal-mastermindy than ever. But you know what? HE IS NOW IRRELEVANT.

-Knowing GW had to sit through Obama's speech where he basically went on and on about what a fucked-up mess the last eight years have been.



Low points:

-Rick Warren. I mean, fuck this guy for obvious reasons, but the invocation itself was the height of generic cliché madlibs-prayer bullshit. Esp. when compared to the benediction.

-The inaugural poem. That was some lame sub-poetry-slam crap.

-A lot of the routine pomp/ceremony in general. Seriously, do they have to announce it when every single person arrives?

Anyway,