Trickle Down Scratchenomics

By Haley

An Interview with Annonymous

By Haley

Well . . . here is my interview with this blog's other new contributor, Annonymous (Ann). We met over video chat, though her side was so darkened that it was hard to make out her face or her surroundings. The interview didn't last long, but she gives great clues as to what she is going to be writing about. Kind of.

Beginning of Interview

2/25/16

Haley: Thanks Ann for agreeing to video chat with me on                              .

Ann: Omit that please. People don't need to know what chat platforms I use.

Haley: Ann, you have decided to join this blog anonymously. Why is that?

Ann: The things I want to write about are not necessarily things I want the whole world to know about me. But I still think they need to be said. Simple as that.

Haley: Well that makes me feel a bit nervous, heh heh.

Ann: I'm OK with that.

[Awkward pause.]

Haley: OK, well, what types of things are you going to be writing about?

Ann: Well I'm certainly not Edward Snowden if that's what you're thinking. I don't know any state secrets or anything like that. I just have a lot of thoughts about certain topics that exist in legal grey areas.

Haley: Are you talking about, like, having dirt on other people? Or is it drug stuff? Sex stuff? Please don't let it be sex stuff.

Ann: Maybe the second one.

Haley: So you're basically Walter White, is what you're saying?

Ann: No. I'm just an average person who has a lot of experience with a very politicized topic, one that even in our current cultural climate puts people at risk to acknowledge their involvement with.

Haley: Average person, huh? An average person who lives in the city of . . . ?

Ann: I think you are hung up on the anonymous part. Let it go. It is what it is.

Haley: My husband hates that phrase

Ann: Good to know. I care very deeply about what your husband, a person whom I have never met, thinks about a random phrase.

Haley: Ann, you're sassy and I love it.

[A small crash is heard in the background from Ann's side.]

Ann: I have to go.

Haley: Ok but-

[Ann's screen goes blank.]

So there you have it. Ann wants to keep her background secret to avoid being connected directly to the topics she wants to discuss. Fair enough. I don't know how often she will be contributing but you can find her future works under the label "Ann".

Porn Names and Ugly Students: An Interview with Dr. Libby Newman

By Haley

Today I would like to introduce one of my new contributors, a person I know very well and am excited to be collaborating with: my mom, Dr. Elizabeth Newman.

An Arkansas native, Libby (as she likes to be called by people other than her children), moved to Pueblo, Colorado in the back half of 2015. Recently retired from teaching sociology at the University of Arkansas, she brings an insight and expertise into evaluating modern society.

To learn a little about Libby and what she's all about I conducted a formal-ish interview with her recently to learn a little bit more about what makes her tick.

New Attributions

By Haley

Just a quick note. Two new contributors have joined The Curious Conscience: Libby and Ann. You can click on their pictures to the right to learn about them.

Please note that on all posts there will now be an attribution byline/ending tag for each contributor. However: I am not going back through eighty-odd posts and adding my name to every one by hand so previous posts will just be tagged under my name with no byline. Future posts will say who the author is and will be tagged under their name so you can easily find all the work by that author.

Please check out the new bios and get ready for to meet Ann and Libby!

Tampon Task Force

New Look

Welcome to the new look!

The Accidentally Awesome blog has become The Curious Conscience.

Like the tagline says, this blog will continue to have reviews, essays, comics, and other assorted pop-culture based nonsense but with a more focused eye towards cultural awareness.

I chose the new name because curiosity is the basis of my existence. Accidentally Awesome was named for my experimental nature and similarly this blog's new version draws on those same themes. Just as with the things I create myself, I believe that being curious about art and entertainment requires a certain level of social consciousness: art doesn't exist in a vacuum. The power structures that exist play a huge role on what makes it into our TVs, theaters, and radios. Paying attention to that doesn't mean stuff still can't be fun, it just helps to understand our world better.

If you have ever read any of the pieces on this blog you might already be aware that I engage with culture through a specific lens. Caring about things like race and gender and how they are presented isn't something I strive to do- it naturally affects my enjoyment of the entertainment I consume. So this is a natural extension of how I already write and think. Besides that, it makes it more personal. Anyone can tell you if a movie is good, but they won't always tell you if it might hurt the way you look at your friends, family, and neighbors like I will.

With this new format I hope to welcome a new contributor in the upcoming couple of weeks, someone who has extensive experience in topics that influence our culture. She has a lot to say and has a real gift for punching upwards so her inclusion should be fun and refreshing. 

I hope that you enjoy the new format. The new pieces that are coming together are going to be fun and interesting and I hope everyone will stick around to see it come to fruition!

Internet Hell

Last week, someone who I care about very much betrayed me on Facebook (and no, I will not name names).  They posted onto my wall in front of everyone (well not everyone, friends only- got that security down tight) a meme so horrible, so lazy, so treacly, that I may never be able to look at this person the same way again. That's right, it was a Minions meme.

What possesses otherwise sane and rational people to pass these garbage memes along like the digital herpes that that they are? I suspect it's the same reason "likes" flow like a raging river and "unlikes" are equally tossed about with an easy callousness on Facebook. And that reason is that people are dumb.

No, the reason is that most people don't think too hard about the images that whiz past them while scrolling about. It's just so easy to click an impulsive "like" and "share" as one wastes time on Facebook. As a consequence of this casualness there is a body of work allowed to fester and grow there, a lazy and incompetent collection of memes so outrageously bad and inept that pity is bypassed and only scorn must remain. These images, and other nonsense from around the web, make up what I can only call:

INTERNET HELL

And make no mistake, we're all burning in it all the time. Let's see some examples, shall we?

If your friend loves you more than your lover that might be a problem.

 Now this is not the meme that was posted to my wall (the one I received was worse in some ways) but this one has floated down my newsfeed MORE THAN ONCE. It has several hallmarks of an awful meme. First, children's cartoon images aimed at adults. Second, random schmaltzy (often nonsensical) text combined with images that have nothing to do with the text. And third, poor spelling and grammar (not so much an issue here, though it has no punctuation).

And finally, the issue that truly pisses me off: images that have been modified by people who have no idea how Photoshop or Illustrator or, hell, Ms-paint work. This Minions meme appears to have been modified at some point possibly (the two font styles, the poor spacing, color vs. black text) but it has held up fairly well ("well" being used subjectively here). Here is a better example of the modification issue:

Is this funny? I don't know. I've seen this posted by multiple people. I think the joke has to do with how strippers exist? Regardless, notice how the text is blurry. This image has been saved (most likely as a jpeg, a file type that can degrade over time) and resaved and reposted many times it appears. It possibly has been crudely placed on different colored backgrounds to appear as though it's a new meme, possibly for multiple people to try and claim ownership of it. And this blurry, badly aligned mess is the aftermath.

But as bad as these are . . . I have worse. It has become a sick obsession for me to collect these. As I post them here I will purge them from my computer's files, thus cleansing my hard drive and my soul.

As a final thought, I would like again to point out that every time Grandma posts a Snoopy meme about how much she loves her grandkids it's not time to pull out the pitchforks and torches. It's way too easy too absentmindedly engage with bad stuff out there- a click here, a click there and suddenly your friends are hiding your feed. So let's remember- don't blame those who repost, for they know no what they do. Blame the people who are creating these memes.

For it is they who must be stopped.