Better Living Through Introspection

Google announced their early beta of Google Gears, “an open source browser extension that enables web applications to provide offline functionality” using Javascript.

I’ve written previously about IconBuffet and my addiction to their icons. Around the same time IconBuffet was relaunching their site with an emphasis on points and badges, I read an article by Chris Dahlen in Paste that touched on the concept of public recognition of achievements in games (notably XBOX 360) and social networks.

I was glad to see someone had put into words some of what I had been trying to figure out personally with IB. Why is the act of collecting important? Why do we IconBuffet addicts focus on earning points that mean absolutely nothing in the real world? Dahlen, I think, suggests it is because the meaning is contextual to a specific community and not the real world. Unless we can demonstrate that we actually participate in these communities, our opinions or actions have little weight:

And any fame you bring from the real world will only take you so far. Presidential contender John Edwards may have built a campaign site in Second Life, but until his avatar is hanging around in night clubs wearing twenty-foot-wide bat wings and a tail, why should anyone take him seriously?

Dahlen goes on to discuss this in terms of how we see ourselves as virtual citizens — or rather, how we would like others to perceive us. Though this harkens back to the early days of the Internet, when everyone was claiming how wonderful it was that we could all reinvent ourselves online, his point is no less valid.

With so many online communities, it’s refreshing to think that we have a choice about which ones we take part in, and what kind of virtual citizen we can become. And nobody cares whether you’re native or newcomer, young or old, a man or a man pretending to be a woman: you’re judged solely by the content of your made-up character. Or at least, by your aim.

I’ve been waiting patiently for Paste to post the column in question, but it hasn’t shown up yet. So this morning I emailed the author to see if it was available somewhere online, and a short time later I received a reply from Chris Dahlen with a link to the article on his blog. If he were a corporation, I’d compliment him on his customer service.

As an introduction to the article, Dahlen says he’ll be further discussing these ideas in future columns this summer, so do yourself a favor and bookmark his site (or better yet, subscribe to his feed, since bookmarking is passé.)

First, a clever storage idea: stairs with built-in drawers.

Second,  a customer service story, Cape Cod style.

The new season of Hell’s Kitchen premieres on Monday, June 4. Hell, yeah.

According to this article in Variety, “Lost” producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have signed on for two more seasons worth of viewing, spread out across three seasons. (Argh!) Apparently, they only wanted to do two more seasons, so the final three seasons will be 16 episodes each instead of 24, and will air beginning in January, and will run consecutively. So, at least none of this “here’s half a season, now wait until next year for the rest” that they pulled on us this year.

But let’s not lose sight of the big picture here: can I really stand three more seasons? I mean, really…I think we all know they could have written it as less padded two year series. And yet, I remain hooked. Why? Cause I don’t want to miss it when it gets really good.

I think it’s a great strategy (even if it’s a little late in coming) that makes me think not all tv execs are complete idiots. Imagine a world in which every tv series has it’s own natural lifespan, and doesn’t exist to be wrung dry.

“I think for story-based shows like ‘Lost,’ as opposed to franchise-based shows like ‘ER’ or ‘CSI,’ the audience wants to know when the story is going to be over,” Cuse wrote. “When J.K. Rowling announced that there would be seven ‘Harry Potter’ books, it gave the readers a clear sense of exactly what their investment would be. We want our audience to do the same.”

As for the rest of this season (um…my Google Calendar says there are only three episodes left — oh yeah, it’s in there!) things will likely take yet another aggravating (for me, anyway) unexpected turn:

Details of the plot are under wraps, but a person who has read the script described it as a major shakeup to the plot.

“It changes everything,” the person said.

Damn it.