Making the world a weirder place
Trawling the xkcd archives is an inspirational way to waste time when you should be doing a million other things.
Made me think. Which I shouldn’t be doing right now. I should be writing, having a bath or going to see Sahil. I will do all of these things, but first this.
That first panel is just incredible. Think about how often you might hear that question, and how often that should be your answer.
Seriously, weird is definitely good. The more weird, the more likely people are to be forced to actually think. It’s about getting out of comfort zones, it’s about making people engage their brains. Modern, day to day life does not make an effort to do that.
Most businesses are trying to sell you something or trying to buy your time so they can make more money for themselves. The easiest way to get you to do this is to make you switch off. Malls are designed to create a state of mild panic, they do this by letting you switch off and then occasionally poking you in the direction of something. You lose control and eventually you buy things. Things you didn’t want or need. Things you can’t afford.
Now I’m someone who spends a lot of my time switching my brain off with chemicals (right now I’m hungover again). But I still try and think about things as often as possible. I like books, music and people that make me think. That challenge me and help me learn.
And I like it when things are strange.
I, in my own way, try to make the world weirder all the time. I talk to people and act a little mad more often than not. I dress up and act out. I dance down the street singing instead of joining the commuters in their funereal march.
Not that I’m bigging myself up loads.
Basically, everyday, try and do something a little unusual, preferably that someone might notice. Do something unexplainable. Preferably niceness would be nice, but bobcats in boxes are an acceptable behaviour as long as you’ve got a punchline as good as ‘would not buy again’.
Do something weird, make the world a weirder place.
In the short term, you’ll be amused later on when you think about it. In the long term, the world will be weirder, more people will open their eyes more often, and that can only make the world better.
Weirder, happier, more productive.
Or at least more better.
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Now playing: Kid Koala – [Some of my Best Friends are djs #13] More Dance Music [foobar2000 v0.9.4.3]
via FoxyTunes
I enjoyed this. I have a reputation for being odd, different, or weird. I encourage that reputation. :)
Malls bug the hell out of me. A lot of towns and cities in the U.S. have a section of town that I think of as “Anytown, U.S.A.” where they have all of the same stores. Whenever we encounter one of those in our travels, I feel as though I could be anywhere, instead of in a place that is unique and has a local flavor and appeal of its own.
I’m the same way about restaurants. I don’t like the chain restaurants. Their appeal to many people is that you could eat at one in New Jersey and eat at another one in California and be assured that the menu, the decor, and the food will be the same. Blech.
Robin
17 November 2007
I also can’t abide malls or chain restaurants. And when it comes to reputations for being odd, weird or different make that three of us.
brighfeather
18 November 2007
The big mall in Brighton is the place I fear stepping in. Most of our fair city just about manages to escape anytown effect, but only because there’s such big ‘alternative’ areas all over the place. Thankfully, most of the biggest chains lock themselves away in places I can avoid pretty much all the time.
You’re totally right though. So many places have become uniform and bland, that you forget to even look at the really magical stuff that makes visiting somewhere new wonderful.
A little bit of weird goes a long way though, and makes you (and people) look at things differently.
This is good, so I’m glad we’ve got this little gang going on.
Peas
Alabaster Crippens
18 November 2007
Where I live we have two shopping centers which we refer to as “malls”. They are not enclosed as city malls are. They are really just shopping areas. Big box stores and chain grocery and drugstores aren’t inclined to locate in small places like this one and neither are chain restaurants. If any developers ever decide to try and set up shop here though, they will not be seeing smooth sailing through the rezoning process. This is because our community has deliberately structured our bylaws in such a way as to send them scurrying back to the urban jungles from whence they hail.
The long term residents here are politically astute expatriated urbanites who clearly remember why we moved here and we are at the ready to defend rural living and vote down any “big” developments when the need arises. Thus it remains a wonderful place without a golden arches or burger king in site. My community is by and large a mix of country folk and an artist’s community. Many celebrities own homes here. They love it because we do not acknowledge who they are in a celebrity sense. We treat them just like everyone else and that means that they and their families can have some respite from the probing lenses of the paparazzi.
Best of all is the fact that our highway is the sea and our ferries do not run at night. This means that the city flotsam and jetsam are long gone before we islanders are settling down to sleep.
It’s a great place to live if you love natural beauty, peace and quiet and if you are comfortable hanging out with 1970’s back to the landers. The island abounds with artists and musicians and it’s a wonderful place to raise kids. It’s pretty hard to find any long term residents who can’t be described as as weird or eccentric so I fit in very well. :-)
timethief
19 November 2007
I am currently seething with envy timethief.
Brighton (my current habitude) has elements of that, mixed up with elements of urban decay, elements of rampant consumerism, and a pebbly beach and strong wind (and bright sun…though not this time of year).
The mix means that I always think it’s nicer than it is. I do love it though. I feel totally at home here, and that is what counts, so much more than anything else.
I realised this when I got off the train after a weekend away and instantly found myself grinning, singing, bouncing and dancing. I even got a smile and a wink from an absolute stranger.
It is the little things that matter. And we definitely have our eccentric, arty, studenty and celebrity community mix. Plus an incredible Queer scene, which just adds to the melange.
The problem is that you forget how much less accepting of strangeness the rest of the country is when you leave our little bubble.
Also the whole community is incredibly white middle class (apart from those living in the more urban decay-esque areas…obviously…that’s how the class divide works). We only have the massive variety we do through a narrow section in the first place…if that makes sense.
So yeah, every town, has it ups and downs (some times ups, out number the downs…but not in Nottingham).
Alabaster Crippens
19 November 2007