horizon line

Was browsing the neglected book collection this evening as I while away the hours at the ol' homestead. Selected two books by Douglas Coupland to lend to friend wanting/being forced to expand reading horizons.

I was flipping through the pages of both selections, but was most amused by the gems in the margins of Coupland's Generation X: Tales For An Accelerated Culture. Here's a random sampling of the jewels from the margins.

Obscurism: The practice of peppering daily life with obscure references (forgotten films, dead TV stars, unpopular books, defunct countries, etc.) as a subliminal means of showcasing both one's education and one's wish to disassociate from the world of mass culture. (p.165)

Personality Tithe: A price paid for becoming a couple; previously amusing human beings become boring: "Thanks for inviting us, but Noreen and I are going to look at flatware catalogs tonight. Afterward we're going to watch the shopping channel." (p.143)

It's lovely stuff... this marginal content.

But on the subject of my life in the alternate universe. I spent yesterday evening with my platonic shadow (see p.62 - a nonsexual friendship with a member of the opposite sex) at this cold northern town's cultural hub. It was an Electric Night, complete with lyrical dance, celtic fury, kareoke, a navajo rug, and mystic lighting.