Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine - 07 - Sin

Casual Voyeurism

I was bumming about the other day and came upon a collection of internet enabled security cameras that had not been secured. Anyways, much fun was had, but it got me thinking about the similarities between watching some anal-retentive Japanese woman spend four minutes folding a shirt in a laundromat, and watching those horrid reality television serials. So far I haven't come to a satisfactory reconciliation between my fascination with one and my distaste for the other. Perhaps it simply comes down my recognition of the fauxity of "reality TV", or simple anti-populism. What do you think?

false edit: Does anyone else enjoy the quiet sadism of making poor people paranoid about the cameras and then trying to fend them off from covering the lens by panning the camera back and forth? I suppose I should feel bad about doing it, but I rationalize it by telling myself that any company willing to pay such a poor IT administrator deserves what it gets until I get a job.

Top 40 Countdown

Well, the year is winding down and 2005 is just around the corner. I find it incredibly bizarre that we are already half a decade into the new millennium. Anyways, it has been the custom of many organizations world-wide to provide lists of the most popular items, events, or what-have-you at the end of the year, and 2004 has proved no different. These "Top 10" lists provide an incredibly interesting method of looking at mass psychology and national trends. So far, the best of these has been Google's Zeitgeist (powered by pigeons no less), though I am also waiting for Penny Arcade's annual "We're Right" gaming awards with great anti-sss-cipation.