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The Flatland Chronicles for Sunday, June 25
JOURNAL. The tension headache fairy whacked me with her magic shillelagh early this morning, so I haven't felt up to thinking about anything much. Every time I turn my head, I can hear something crackle.
I did add to the [43 year old] fangirl's ongoing chronicles; she has realized her J-dreams in a big way. I do have a 'story arc' in mind here; I'm not just writing arbitrarily, though my objective is to track the sort of day to day experience of an obsessive fan.
One of my friends asked me what the deal is with this fictional blog and the answer to that is that I don't exactly know. I got fascinated a couple of years ago with a newsletter about Petula Clark---yes, you heard me: Petula Clark---and the passion of her fans and then with an acquaintance's way over the top fixation with one of the people from American Idol.
My acquaintance didn't take it as far as my fangirl, but she fantasized about doing most of the things the fangirl does. I don't understand it, except that there's a little part of me that totally does. I am somewhat obsessively interested in obsession and people create them. I am also interested in religion and religious cults, and shows like American Idol illustrate in a big way how those come about. All my ideas are drawn from life. I dip into certain threads at certain websites for inspiration...
I'm really interested in the way people reveal on the internet the strange obsessions around which they construct their reality. The cult mentality of the internet definitely does feed the flames; something that starts out as a mild preference for a reality show candidate undergoes a sea change. The end product can be exceeding strange and not what you would necessarily expect: e.g., married women---often very intelligent women--- in their forties with children or grandchildren writing long screeds about their deep and tender feelings toward some young man of 25. Each thread is an exercise in groupthink. I'm not sure what any of it says about our culture, if anything. Strange fixations are hardly something new under the sun; but maybe the internet is creating more cults than would have been possible in pre-www times.
Anyway, even if no one else is interested in the fangirl, I definitely enjoy her, and that's really what blogging is all about, after all! You do the thing for its own sake and then if anyone else is interested, it's there.
Digest for June 23, 2006
Images © 2006 Jupiterimages Corporation. Used pursuant to license from Animation Factory.com.
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