I’m having one of those “small cog in an infinite universe” kind of days. I remember when i was younger i fancied the Earth as a single cell in a body, with all of us reduced to that stuff that floats around the nucleus – and we could barely even comprehend the sum total of our own cell let alone the entirety of our body or beyond. Of course, i eventually learned what all that stuff around the nucleus was called. As my plane came in from Florida i glanced out of the window and saw the entirety of Philadelphia laid out all in the yellow glow of street lamps and the tiny winking brake lights of hundreds of cars. It felt as though i could snap a photo of it all and load it into SimCity… replacing my apartment building with a lush condominium and widening all of the streets in South Philly so there would be room to park.
I’m nothing but a single Sim in my city. I never played any of the newer versions of SimCity, but i remember the original clearly from way-back. Imagine just a single person in that city. Would they visit every building? On any given day would they even waste a thought on the outlying suburbs or the densely packed inner-city streets? My range within Philadelphia is so very limited, and as the plane descended and i could make out distinctive landmarks it was as if my daily path was highlighted especially in the wash of all of those orangey street lamps, and it was as tiny and restricted as those country roads that i claim to despise so much. Maybe what i like about the city is the illusion of options, and not the option themselves. Or maybe i should go to sleep on long plane rides. Any thoughts?
Archives for January 2001
I haven’t linked to WockerJabby for a while, have i? Rest assured, our one-sided love-affair (erm… that would be my side) continues while she is on break from spending time in Pennsylvania. However, she is certainly not on break from making us hang on her every word, so you should probably be dangling from the cross-bar of a “t” over at her page right now.
The apartment is so deceptively warm that i was a bit shocked by the chill in the air when i finally managed to exit the building this morning. It’s not much of a shock, seeing as fall was getting rather cold for a while there, but after my illustrious Floridian flirtation with retirement and being holed up in the apartment for the weekend it served as a noticeable mark of a new year arrived. I made it to my first class on time, which probably bodes well for the semester as a whole (especially considering that i didn’t make it to my first class on time last semester). Also, there’s nothing quite like getting to class on your first day and having a big fat A handed back to you. Handed back? Wondering how it’s possible? Well, the class happened to be Advanced Recording Techniques, with the same instructor i had for Basic last semester. If only every class were to start with something as positive….
Last night before bedtime i had a quick chat with Nikolai Nolan, who is running the Bloggie Awards. While my general attitude towards how the community will (probably) utilize this opportunity to single out its best and brightest remains unchanged, i know now that the intent of this whole shenanigan is indeed to single out the best and brightest – whoever they might be. So, cheers to Nikolai for advancing our little art form, and after you’re done voting give his log a spin!
Ok, so, the awards are really just a stupid popularity contest, and i don’t think anyone is disputing that. But, honestly, the best content does not lie within the most popular blogs. Without naming any names (and believe me, that’s not easy for me to do), many of the most recognized blogs are complete and utter tripe with no engaging writing or humor or anything that makes for a fun read. Will these people be nominated? Sure! Will they win? According to Matt, their popularity statistically ensures their win even if nominated against less popular and more deserving opponents.
The way to make this all interesting is to not vote for those insanely omnipresent popular weblogs. I call it my Nader Theory of Weblogs: some of the big names are a clear choice for some of their eligible categories, but for some of them (best blog of the year, best blogger.com blog) you know they’ll get nominated by someone else, so you can afford to pencil in your alternate favourites. So, i implore you, Go!, wreak havoc on the voting process!