Pilot.

Hello. Welcome to my show.

Pilot episodes are always a little weak, but bear with me.

I am an over-mediated, melancholy misanthrope. I am a New Yorker by way of white, middle class suburbia. I am a flaneur, a critic, and an artist with both exquisite taste and a penchant for the dregs of pop culture.

Technology, to me, is thrilling. It amazes me that we've come so far in such a short period of time. I do believe, though, that the rate in which we are adopting new entertainment and informational media is almost too rapid. By the time we take a moment to consider or question the implications of our innovations, they've become obsolete, and our curiosity becomes eclipsed with the next gadget.

While yes, I am a ravenous television viewer, an obsessive Twitterer, and an insatiable gossip magazine reader, I am also a video artist, a film director, a comedienne, and an educator. Both my artistic and academic work explore the concept of existential boredom, a condition that I believe thrives in the technological age. In other words, I am fascinated with our constant desire for fascination.

Leo Tolstoy called boredom the "desire for desires". Roland Barthes said it's "ecstasy glimpsed from the banks of desire." And of all who have written of it, none did so before the middle of the 18th century, and it didn't become a household word until the Industrial Revolution gave rise to individualism, technological change, and most importantly, mass media dissemination. I am starting this blog so I can explore the relationship between technological overload and the human condition, and doing so on a medium that Tolstoy would have flipped his anarchist shit over.

So here I am, at 3:37am on February 4th, 2010, in my bedroom, lit only from the glow of my laptop, wondering if I'll be able to sleep once all the lights are out. It's come to this: these technological devices with which we surround ourselves are not only used to run from our boredom, they are the catalyst for it.

By updating our facebook statuses we attempt to run screaming from the idea of idleness. Our smart phones relieve us from the awkwardness of conversing with strangers and acquaintances, or from enjoying our commute. Do we even know what it feels like to be alive anymore? Is there any value left in simply existing, in feeling the earth move under your feet?

By dissecting media and literature, I plan to focus on this theory, while also addressing other troubling media concerns such as access, the effects of media on identity construction, media and youth, the rise of narcissism in new media, corrupt journalism, media psychology and many, many other topics.

At the end of the day, many citizens in our fascinating and ever-changing society haven't granted themselves the opportunity to ask questions regarding the implications that media has had on our individual and collective psyches. Although I'm working in media, I am inside it with the hopes to improve it. I am blogging with the hopes of discussing it. Hundreds of thousands of years ago, we discovered fire, the use of which changed the human psyche if only to communicate one's presence into surrounding darkness of night. Today, we live in a communication age that has discovered how to fight fire with fire. Tonight I sit in front front of a different glow, surrounded by a darkness in which lies a different unknown.

While this post may seem a bit morose and, quite frankly, cheesy, I promise to post engaging and oft-times humorous content, and I encourage you to follow me, to engage in conversations, and to initiate a dialogue that's long overdue.

For now, I must put the fire out.

Wish me luck.

-Lizzie Boredom