Creepy, Cranky, Comic Convention Crawlers

Creepy, Cranky Comic Convention Crawlers 

     In preparation for this year's New York Comic Con, I've been doing my homework: preparing my costume, re-reading my favorite comic book trade novels, designing and redesigning blueprints for my Rorschach grappling hook gun prop... you know, all the usual stuff. During this process, I've made some interesting observations on the subject of Geek Culture in America. At least, I found them interesting. 

     American Geek Culture, as much as some people try to ignore it, is a growing influence in pop-culture, and a larger demographic (especially in the most recent generations) is being swallowed up by the increasingly broadly-defined "Nerd" clique. I'd like to just take some time and see if I can enlighten some of the uninitiated to the nuances and subtleties within the culture of the Comic Con-crawling creeps who are conquering current consciousness. If I can, I would also convert those I could to the way of life that so many young Americans have already embraced. 

Infuriating

Infuriating 

     I just need to get something off my chest, so bare with me. 

     Those of you with weaker tolerance for the pitifully misinformed and painfully stupid may wish to leave the site. 

     Those of you who have been desensitized to the stupidity of the lowest of our species to the point of finding a sick yet amusing irony in the things they say may wish to stay on the site, because this is right up your alley. 

Proud to be an American, Where at Least I know... Something, I'm not Sure What, Though

Proud to be an American, Where at Least I Know... Something, I'm not Sure What, Though

     Another presidential election has been tearing the country in half for the past few months (coincidentally, this one is approximately four years after the last one), and the country is split, yet again, along the border of Red and Blue, Left and Right, Conservative and Republican, Elephant and Donkey, Fascist Corporate Android and Shiftless Dirty Hippy. Brothers turn against brothers; fathers against sons, a neighbor is at his neighbor's throat- the country has been cleaved in two as if by the giant paring knife of God. The media is in a tizzy; news corporations throwing their weight behind one candidate or the other. The entire nation is setting up for the final showdown: Team Romney versus Team Obama. The gloves are off, the gauntlet is dropped, the safety switch is set in the "off" position. 

But that's what elections are for, right? 

... and Really Bad Eggs. Drink Up, Me Hardies! Yo-ho!

     I was listening to N.P.R. this morning, as I do every morning, and an interesting story came on the radio. Apparently, the Somali pirate crisis is reaching a turnaround and the volume of acts of piracy off the northeast coast of Africa has gone down arithmetically over the past few months. According to the story, hundreds of pirates have been arrested and imprisoned by international law enforcement forces. What's more, most of the maritime criminals that have been incarcerated have been found to be leaders; higher-ups in the almost feudal system of piracy the Somalian crime syndicates have established. 

     The only problem that the Somalian "government" and INTERPOL face now is what to do with all the pirates.

     This whole scenario is ringing a bell, but I can't seem to figure out why... 

So, this is a blog? 

      I honestly don't see what all the hype is about. This whole blog phenomenon has swept my generation like nothing else, and, really, there are few trends that have infiltrated an age group as effectively as blogs have for people around 15-20 years old. Perhaps rock 'n' roll... World War Two, maybe... the bubonic plague, I hear, was rather inescapable in its time, but internet blogs (especially those on tumblr, I've found) seem more... I can't think of an effective word, but "permanent" and "all encompassing" come to mind quickly. That can likely be attributed to the way the internet works, I would wager. 

     This probably isn't news to anyone, but the internet allows an almost infinite amount of information to travel to any place on Earth nearly instantaneously. (I know this is a gross oversimplification, but I can't truthfully claim an expertise in software engineering.) What this means, for blogs, is that people- specifically younger people and the occasional frustrated, middle-aged housewife writing about food and romance novels- can share anything and everything with everyone everywhere at any time. 

     "Now wait," you may be saying. "You can do that with any part of the internet: e-mail, facebook, twitter, or myspace (if you're a hipster in a band). Why do you need a blog to share your videos, pictures, memes, thoughts, memes, news stories, and more memes with the world?" 

The answer is painfully obvious, although most people tend to overlook it: blogs are easier. 

     "How can blogs, or anything for that matter, possibly be easier than the whole internet?"