Went a bit m.i.a. in here as my new course started, drowning me in school related things to read. It is quite interesting, for the most part, but A LOT. Hence, not a lot will be happening in here for a bit. But, something interesting that came up during on of my lectures - we were talking about different types of audiences, and in particular something referred to as the diffuse audience. My notes on the subject (in Swedish...):

- The diffuse (Vi är alla hela tiden någon form utav publik. Samhället är genomsyrat utav medier och annat som vi hela tiden konsumerar, vi skapar rutiner utifrån denna mediekonsumtion. Radio på morgonen, läsa tidningen, ett TV-program som går vid en viss tidpunkt. I och med internet blir rutinerna inte fullt så tidsbestämda, mer ”on-demand”. På samma sätt är vi själva aktörer inför andra som blir vår publik. Distans mellan de som ”uppträder” och ”publiken”, vi är hela tiden konsumenter liksom presentatörer.)

Samhället är ett spektakel; människor uppträder som att de är ständiga författare och skådespelare inför en egen, imaginär publik.

Translation of that last bit: Society is a spectacle; people act as if they're constant authors and actors in front of their own, imaginary, audience.

 

It makes me think of what Blue's father tells her in Special Topics of Calamity Physics:

 

“Always live your life with your biography in mind.”

 

&

 

“Dad's Theory of Arrogance--that everyone always
assumes they're the Principal Character of Desire
and/or Loathing in everybody else's Broadway Play.”

 

Have to plead guilty here. I think the first, in part, helps us feel that what we do means something. That it is part of a whole, has a beginning, an end and a middle and is followed up by someone who cares about these otherwise so often insignificant details that make up our lives. As for the second part, drawn to an extreme, it puts in perspective all those bad hair-days and embarassments speaking in class and saying something silly. SUCH ARROGANCE. Who even cares, who even notices? Why do we so often assume other people's thoughts circle around our successes or our failings?

Hazy Sunday ramblings on the subject, but I find it very interesting. I enjoy living life with "my biography  in mind", I can start "adding soundtracks" to especially picturesque moments in my life and I can imagine that rock bottoms serve some bigger purpose when it's part of my story and at the end of the book it will have been a stepping stone for something better. Like I said. Hazy Sunday ramblings. Now: back to studying.

Picked up a copy of this book a few months back, for 1 SEK in a thrift shop. ONE SWEDISH KRONA. It is so ridiculously little, what can you even buy for that these days? A piece of gum? Barely... but, books, apparently! Brilliant. Anywho - finished Outliers (loved it, will update you on that one & my thoughts on Gatsby later this week, I promise). No idea whether this book is good or not, it was a completely random purchase. But I guess I am about to find out.