Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Remedial Chaos Theory.


































Remedial Chaos Theory is probably the best episode of Community ever.
In fact, I would argue that it is one of the most glorious moments of television ever.
Maybe I tend to exaggerate things.
But COMMUNITY IS SO FREAKIN' AWESOME OHMYGOOOOD
:Shamelessly plugging new favourite tv show:
Ignore this post. It exists for the sole purpose of there being more Community-related content on my blog. Yay.

ROXAAANE!!

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

My brother hates Instagram.

That's right. He hates Instagram.

And with good reason too; not just because that's the opinion of the Internet Hivemind, or just to piss me off (I use the Instagram app on my phone like it's nobody's business, taking pictures of ridiculous things.)
And maybe, just maybe, I'm starting to agree with him.
According to him, the only way people can enjoy a good meal at a restaurant anymore is through the cellphone camera. If you haven't taken a picture and Instagrammed it then suddenly your meal isn't worth it anymore. And what is the deal with taking a perfectly clear picture of anything, and then applying a gritty yellow filter to it in order for it to be artsy? It's ridiculous.
And the hashtag rape on all the photos. Ugh.

Sometimes I think he is the only sensible person in this entire household. Heck, I know it.

And the same goes with any of the existing forms of social networking that people use today. Everyone has turned into an all-out, unabashed social media junkie.
Not long ago, a friend of mine admonished me (via text) for not peppering my text messages with enough emoticons. Another time, I got yelled at by another friend (in person) for not 'liking' any of her deep, insightful facebook posts.
These are the things we complain about now.
I suppose every generation has it's 'thing'. The 70s had disco, we have Instagram.

Obligatory Louis CK:


Clearly, times have changed. Not long ago, taking photos was a somewhat meaningful activity. As far as my family goes, we only took the camera out only for birthdays, or when we went on picnics and long trips. And I wasn't allowed anywhere near it, of course. Rolls and rolls of film would be submitted for developing into photos, and out of all of them, only a few would make it into an album.
Now, well, we don't have to lug the chunky Yashica around anymore when we travel, but suddenly the whole sacred ritual of taking photos has become pointless. "Oh, look! A wonderful sunset! I'll take a picture of it with my cellphone, add a fake edit to it so it looks grainy and vintage, and upload it to Instagram." Thing is, millions of people around the world are doing the very same thing, so your meaningful sunset is gone, lost in an endless sea of meaningful sunsets. Not so meaningful now, is it?

To quote from an article I was reading while I wrote this:
"We're drowning in a sea of photos and I think our ability to filter the good from the bad almost disappears. Why else do I see people sharing photos of their dinner every day? There are only so many ways you can to take a photo of sandwich you and a billion other people had for lunch. Would anyone care?
The urge to share things comes from human nature, but the uncurated photos we send out every day make us all less interested in them. Sadly, this applies even to the ones which are worth the time to look at. We feel the need to 'contribute' constantly, so we end up taking hundreds of photos and sharing them on Instagram to fill the void and feel, just for a moment, that we’ve made an impression."
Instagram may be a pointless activity to a lot of people. But 'being pointless' never stopped anyone from doing anything, ever. I will continue to take pictures of ridiculous things. My brother hates Instagram, not me.
But I do recognize that I have a problem, and I'll do my best not to get overwhelmingly obsessed with the whole thing. There are tv shows meant specifically for that purpose.

Hi. I am Snickerdoodle. I am a social media junkie. It has been 4 days since my last tweet and 2 days since my last post on Instagram.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Of Change, and Other Things.

Leaves are falling all around, It's time I was on my way. 
Thanks to you, I'm much obliged for such a pleasant stay.



To me, the whole of last week has been about overwhelming change; about transitioning from one world to another. I even graduated (And I will write a meaningful post about that soon), among many other things.


That's it. I've decided. "Ramble On" is the current theme song to my life. It perfectly describes my sentiments about the whole brouhaha that my mind has been for a while now.

Which brings me to the point of this post. It's 2 am on a Tuesday morning, and while I should be asleep like everyone else, I'm not. I usually make important life decisions around this time. I feel like I should do this right now, lest I end up changing my mind about it later.


As of today, "Fluorescent Adolescent 2.0" is now "Keep Calm and Ramble On."


So it's a small change of name. For a blog, even. Why am I making such a big deal about it?
Thing is, I started this blog sometime back in early 2007. Back then, it was called "The Suckish Life of a 7th Grader", and I used it to rant about school, math, and other people and things. Over the years, it changed to "Fluorescent Adolescent 2.0", and now I'm changing the name again.

It's always been just this one tiny blog. So, in a way, this blog has watched me grow: from a precocious 12-year old ranting about anime and school, to, well, whatever it is that I've turned out to be today. I treat it like a sentient entity. It grows and changes as I grow and change.
In some odd way, this blog is sort of like my Grecian Urn; even though all those rants have long since been deleted (And thank goodness for that), the memories still remain.


So yeah, all that.