i like that way of describing it.

i agree too that sometimes commodified thinking / speaking can elicit a laugh, but for me that usually comes through irony, through subverting these kinds of statements.

[although i could also see a scene of two ppl riding in a car through Cordele, passing some 100 acre watermelon patch, and one saying to the other, unironically, 'this is the watermelon capital of the world,' as pretty funny.]

it’s all a question of context.

i feel like talking about the weather or sports is something different though.

talking about these things is often a kind of ceremony.

for my dad and i it’s fighter planes.

he sent me an article about the SR-71 blackbird the other day.

it’s meaningless.

but it’s his way of saying ‘i’m thinking about you.’

i think commodified thinking isn’t ceremonial, but more a kind of neurosis.

which again, can be funny, as long as you’re cognizant of it, i guess.

not 100% sure.

always wanted to visit austin. never been there.

I’m gearing up to move to Austin. I should be excited about this, because Austin is “an island of leftist culture in the middle of Texas’ redneck sea.”

Now I’ve traveled enough to know this can’t possibly be true. Surely there have been some amazing and beautiful things, but I wonder why they don’t mention the trying things they’ve done, the arguments they had with the hotel owner or taxi driver, the time they missed their bus, the people who are harassing them for money, dealing with diarrhea for three days.

Maybe everyone is sick of how the news is all negative, so they compensate by only sharing the positives. Maybe they think people don’t want to hear the struggles. But mostly I think people want it so badly that they project their “paradise” onto their experiences.

Beautiful!