Victoria's blog

Queen Victoria’s intuition

So I started this Vox account planning to write once a day.  Well, you see how well that worked.  Basically, life got insane and crazy and complicated.  And I never ended up that impressed with Vox - it's this uneasy combination of LJ and Blogger that never reaches the community feel of LJ or the simplicity of Blogger.  I never knew whether to write detached, external entries or more personal diary style rants.  I like the collections feature, but it's cumbersome and in the end, rather unnecessary.  Also, I really don't like the ads.  So I don't think I'll be updating this much anymore.  If I move somewhere else online I'll post it, and until then, have a wonderful day.

In conclusion, a picture of Paul Rudd singing "More Than A Feeling" with Of Montreal:

Paulrudd3

Proprietary and piracy

So the battery in my 2002 Honda Civic died yesterday.  The experience wasn't too stressful - the Emory police jumped my car, my parents and I took it to a repair shop, and $100 later, I had a new battery and a working car.  The problems didn't start until I turned on the radio.  Instead of setting the soundtrack for my life, my radio displayed CODE and refused to play any music.  WTF?  Turns out I need an "anti-theft access code," which, strangely enough, I can only get by going to the dealer and PAY them to remove the radio.  Luckily I Googled the problem and found out the code on the glove compartment, so it's ok now.

The only reason I'm writing about this situation is because it reminds me so much of the copyright protections media companies place on their products, such as DRM.  It seems so ridiculous that we're getting to a point where we have to pay multiple times for services and goods that should only have a one time cost if we are using the products in legal and fair ways.

I guess I'm just grumpy because Atlanta is covered in pollen, I'm not doing so hot this semester, and I have to miss my friend's birthday tonight.

If you live in Atlanta, be sure to come to the Walk for Women's Lives tomorrow!

Decentralization, fictionalized reality, and other fun and games

Not really doing anything at work (whoops) so I thought I'd post an email I wrote to my professor after she asked me my opinions on the UNC Pit Breakup video.

After reading some of the articles (http://www.jeffpidgeon.com/labels/video.html) and watching the video the whole way through, I think it's pretty definite the "Pit Breakup" video was staged at least a little.  I find it very hard to believe that Burke could post a message on his Facebook promoting a "bad public breakup" without Mindy Moorman knowing about it.  I think it's really interesting you brought up the word "celebrity" to describe this situation.  American youth right now have grown up with "reality" television, a genre that ranges from glorified game show to more traditional documentaries.  As reality becomes more fictionalized ("Laguna Beach") and fiction becomes reality (the documentary aesthetics of "The Office," Borat, LonelyGirl15), I do think we're headed toward some bizarre blurring of art and life where every social situation is played out on at least a semi-public media platform, open to commentary and interpretation like any work of art.  Everyone is going to be their own publicist, manager, stylist...like media literacy, self promotion is going to be an essential tool in succeeding socially, professionally, etc.
I posted a New York magazine article on the blog that talked about the generation gap, and I think that's a very valid argument.  The baby boomers saw the power of television and organized marches, concerts, and fashions that captured a television audience, and a similar revolution is happening right now.  I personally am bothered by all the attention to the self - Myspace, Youtube, the iPod.  For a technology based all around networking, it seems like people need to justify their own self worth before joining a larger community.  Of course, these are all American websites.  I remember the NY Times had a good article comparing Myspace to the Japanese social network site Mixi.  I can't find the link right now, but the basic point was that Mixi was much more about a person's network rather than the person itself, functioning as a reflection of Japanese culture.  And remember the Korean Youtube guitar player ( http://youtube.com/watch?v=QjA5faZF1A8)?  You can't even see his face, and I can't imagine an American teenager shying away from his or her 15 minutes of fame...
Anyway, sorry this is kind of disorganized.  I personally find it VERY hard to stay on one central topic when I'm discussing Internet society, and I've noticed that issue in both our class and the cyberspace class I took in Australia.  Of course, I guess that's just a reflection of the decentralized nature of the Web itself.

It's true, I can never stay on topic when talking about this stuff.  I'm thinking for my honors thesis I'm going to have to turn in one big hyperlinked digital document.  Can I make a wiki?  Cool.

This weekend was....interesting.  Every year after Mohua's birthday I get oodles of boy drama, and this year was no exception.  I'm okay, but my stomach is killing me.  Apparently Mercury is in retrograde?

I saw Of Montreal on Saturday, which would have been better except for the aforementioned stomachache.  My mom just emailed me to tell me that my Ted Leo concert doco Dirty Old Town came in the mail.  So in celebration of his imminent arrival in 33 days, you get a Youtube clip.

Ted Leo / Pharmacists - Dirty Old Town DVD

QotD: The Best Brew

What method do you use to prepare your coffee or tea? 
Submitted by AgentBouche.

Soy milk, no sugar.

Things I would rather do than study for astronomy right now:
Look for something to do this summer
Add stuff to our Super Fun Google Housing Spreadsheet
Play Kingdom Hearts
Actually try out that knitting thing
Work on my EVAV member surprise
Make a grocery list

Today was beautiful outside.  I picked up lunch from Greensprout with the windows down and blaring the Rolling Stones.  I always feel guilty saying it, but driving around with music playing is the best way I can improve my mood if I'm alone.  I mean, what's global warming compared to my possible depression?

QotD: Dreamy

What did you dream about last night?  

Ahh, my first QotD.  And of course, my dream last night was about getting back together with a guy I used to date who, unfortunately, I still have very nonreciprocated feelings for (worst sentence construction ever?).  It was a great dream until I woke up...

In less embarrassing news, I'm taking a great class on sexuality in classic American texts. It's kind of like high school

Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass

English, but smaller and much more relaxed.  We're reading Leaves of Grass right now, and I absolutely adore this stanza from "Song of Myself":

There was never any more inception than there is now,
Nor any more youth or age than there is now,
And will never be any more perfection than there is now,
Nor any more heaven or hell than there is now.

I never really liked Whitman that much, but this is just spectacular.

Scavenger hunt, Web 2.0 style

So my amazing friend John (who is turning 21 tomorrow) invited me for Indian food in possibly the best way ever.  He posted on my Myspace comments the link to a mutual friend's Facebook wall, which then had the link to someone's Last.fm.  The Last.fm shoutbox contained a link to OverClocked Remix forums, which, after using his password (okay, it wasn't perfectly designed) I saw a message that read "Victoria Victoria Victoria Victoria Victoria Victoria Victoria. Indian Food. Yes?"  Apparently there was more to the game but I am not a member of all the forums.  Probably the best way I've ever been asked anything, anywhere, and something that would be really fun to expand on a greater level...

Science agrees with Nick Hornby.

"Awhile back, Dick and Barry and I agreed that what really matters is what you like, not what you are like...Books, records, films -- these things matter.  Call me shallow but it's the damn truth, and by this measure I was having one of the best dates of my life."

Dreamed about a snake eating a mouse last night.

To dream that you or someone is eating mice, indicates that there is something that has been nagging your conscience and you need to get off your chest.

Honda Civic TV commercial "freedom" (2006)

To see a snake or be bitten by one in your dream, signifies hidden fears and worries that are threatening you.  Your dream may be alerting you to something in your waking life that you are not aware of or that has not yet surfaced. The snake may also be seen as phallic and thus symbolize dangerous and forbidden sexuality. The snake may also refer to a person around you who is callous, ruthless, and can't be trusted. As a positive symbol, snakes represent transformation, knowledge and wisdom. It is indicative of self-renewal and positive changes.

High Fidelity

I don't know...my conscience is actually pretty clear right now.  I sort of feel like I can't trust my friends that much these days, but that will probably change soon. I also like this Civic ad a lot.  I need to go home and get my PS2, Koyaanisqatsi, and the book and DVD of High Fidelity.

fetus in fetu

Ok, forget what I said before.  This story totally, completely wins for being the most disturbing true thing I have ever read.  The article totally avoids the question of if the trapped twin was alive inside Sanju Bhaget.  Did the twin have consciousness?  Was he aware of his surroundings?  As a claustrophobic, this story totally terrifies me.

I'm having a Puppy Bowl "party" tomorrow.  The party is in quotation marks because it will be very small and low-key.  But if you're reading this, you're welcome to come.

Went to Lenny's last night and danced my ass off.  Lots of fun.

Still stressed about housing for next year.  Hopefully the solution will come to me in the next few days...

Written on an empty stomach

This is ridiculously fucked up.  Maybe it's my ultra-liberal internship, but what is wrong with our police force?

Bought tickets to see Ted in 59 days, 27 minutes, and 34 seconds.

I keep feeling like I'm getting behind in schoolwork, but part of me just wants to blow it off until the test.  I feel like this might be dangerous, but half my classes are 100-levels.

I also woke up at three am last night and had a panic attack about housing.  Hopefully, I'll get everything sorted out.  Part of me thinks next year will be absolutely amazing.  And I'm getting so excited about grad school these days.  I spent an hour last night looking up programs.  It's weird, I really should have gone to Tech instead of Emory, at least academically.  I wonder what my life would have been like there...  Anyway, having direction in life has seriously made everything so much better.  Now I feel like I finally get it - the internships, the clubs, the "resume builders."  Everything does seem to be a lot brighter, as cheesy as that sounds.

hot dogs?

Once a year, America gathers around a television set to watch the most beautiful thing ever broadcast.  The Puppy Bowl.

Puppy Bowl II

Also, the new Arcade Fire album is good.