Update and passing observations on The Entertainment.

Profound newsworthy events have taken up most of my attention for the past month. The story I am writing for this blog remains on the back burner while I read a book on physics to better understand these concepts. Currently,  I have a one day a week internship at NYC City Council 22. I was able to walk in this past St. Patrick Day's Parade. It was an experience. Mayor Bloomberg and Cardinal Egan where a few yards away from me at times, its surreal when you meet famous people for the first time. Bloomberg isn't a tall man.

I am not going to comment on the events in Japan, the Middle East or Wisconsin, Michigan, or Ohio. News travels so fast these days the minute you would write about the above mentioned events it's already stale. I have also recently found out that I will not be attending CUNY Graduate School of Journalism in the fall. However, I will post on this later probably. I want to mention the nature and role of entertainment in modern life. 

The author David Foster Wallace greatest achievement was writing a book called, "Infinite Jest." Its over, or close to 1,000 pages long with copious footnotes. I have tried to read this book three times and have failed at every attempt. When I first saw the book and pondered the title I thought it to be an important tome. Mike Judge's movie "Idiocracy" shares similar motifs on America's dystopic future.

The novel is a post-modern critique of modern society. However, it is set in the future, years are now sponsored by corporations (Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment), North America has become one nation, and the novels protagonists are the Incandenza family. Hal Incandenza, a tennis prodigy, who has at some point in the novel aquired some mysterious condition that makes him seem unintelligable in both speech and mind. Hal's father James Orin Incandenza Jr., who has by this time committed suicide by putting his head in the kitchen microwave, was the fonder of the tennis academy Hal attends, and a filmmaker. In the book one of James's accomplishments is a film referred to as the Samizdat or "The Entertainment" that the plot of the book revolves around. Like heroin once the film in viewed one becomes mesmerized and lifeless so the viewer's sole interest is watching the film (Wikipedia entry on Infinite Jest).  For more on the book click the link, http://io9.com/#!5049700/david-foster-wallace-rip

As we move on into the internet age I believe the amount of screen time a person has the less independent and more easily influenced they become. Be it video games, television or on the computer surfing the world wide web. The fact that the internet is always on can be a problem if you don't know how to turn it off or manage it.

If you start the this video at the 6 minute mark you can see an illustrated lecture that touches upon what I mean. That the brain becomes hardwired for stimulation that occurs only in mediated (digital) formats. The analog way of life has become obsolete. Usually when I am bored I turn on the television and scroll through the guide to locate the entertainment choices I want to select. Currently, I find myself clicking the mouse of my macbook sometimes mindlessly. I go from article to article in a somewhat engaged state looking for the next webpage that will stimulate my mind in someway. This is a pattern of behavior without purpose and one to avoid but at the same time is a great waste of time. Which brings me back to the previous point....