Day of the Locusts
Most my days have been pretty tepid lately. No great windfalls or conquest, but no catastrophes or tragedies either. Today was a little different. Happily, still no catastrophe or cataclysm. But unaccustomed aggravations.
We've had lovely Santa Ana winds this week (they dwindled to a hair-tussle today but still I'll take 80s in January). Whenever there are Santa Ana winds I think of Joan Didion's essay from the 1960s. In it, she mentions the way the winds seems to put every one in a foul mood (not me!) and giving up a futile struggle over a phone bill with the phone company.
I first read that in junior high before I cared much about phone bills. Whenever I read it more recently, I reflected how lucky I was to live in a enlightened world of enlightened phone companies where I never had to contend with an indifferent quasi-governmental entity lethargically exploiting its monopoly. That was before I got a cell phone. So far, my two months with Verizon has given me a keen sense of that old feeling of exasperation and helplessness that Didion referred to. Yeah, I could fight their bullshit (a gratuitous $102 surcharge on my latest bill), but what's the point? They've got me in their 12-month contract already, and even if they didn't, I'm sure they'd find some way to fuck with my credit if I gave them too much trouble.
So, to quote Ms. Didion, "I rekindle a waning argument with the telephone company, then cut my losses and lie down, given over to whatever it is in the air."
Then there was this news: YouTube beginning to mute videos with copyrighted music. I was just talking to a friend at work about this "loophole" earlier this week. Go back to my post here and click on the first link and that's about all I need to add on this topic. I'm sure Justice is all about enforcing the third-party copyright claims.
The only comfort I could take in being confined to an office most the day on such a glorious day, out of sight even of a window, was that the surf was ankle-high:
We've had lovely Santa Ana winds this week (they dwindled to a hair-tussle today but still I'll take 80s in January). Whenever there are Santa Ana winds I think of Joan Didion's essay from the 1960s. In it, she mentions the way the winds seems to put every one in a foul mood (not me!) and giving up a futile struggle over a phone bill with the phone company.
I first read that in junior high before I cared much about phone bills. Whenever I read it more recently, I reflected how lucky I was to live in a enlightened world of enlightened phone companies where I never had to contend with an indifferent quasi-governmental entity lethargically exploiting its monopoly. That was before I got a cell phone. So far, my two months with Verizon has given me a keen sense of that old feeling of exasperation and helplessness that Didion referred to. Yeah, I could fight their bullshit (a gratuitous $102 surcharge on my latest bill), but what's the point? They've got me in their 12-month contract already, and even if they didn't, I'm sure they'd find some way to fuck with my credit if I gave them too much trouble.
So, to quote Ms. Didion, "I rekindle a waning argument with the telephone company, then cut my losses and lie down, given over to whatever it is in the air."
Then there was this news: YouTube beginning to mute videos with copyrighted music. I was just talking to a friend at work about this "loophole" earlier this week. Go back to my post here and click on the first link and that's about all I need to add on this topic. I'm sure Justice is all about enforcing the third-party copyright claims.
The only comfort I could take in being confined to an office most the day on such a glorious day, out of sight even of a window, was that the surf was ankle-high:
posted by Tom at
7:42 PM
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