(no subject)

[wwidsith]

• The only thing I really read by David Foster Wallace was a couple of articles.  But I was taken with a comment he made which is mentioned in several of the obits today, characterising his generation as being full of people like him - “successful, obscenely well-educated, and sort of adrift”.  For me he always symbolised a specific type - the kind of young American who appears in indie films, a little numbed by prosperity, directionless in an insular society.  It was a totally groundless image which was sustained only by lack of exposure to any of his work - but every time I saw his dreamy, bearded, bandana-d face I would feel it again.  Right now though I just feel furious with him for being such an IDIOT and all I keep thinking of is his wife coming home.
   
• The economy may seem to have reached a new low today, but at least it is not hard to find places where things are much worse.  Watching the inflation rate climb in Zimbabwe over the last few months has been awesome and horrifying - it currently stands at 11,000,000%.  Last month, the central bank in Harare knocked TEN ZEROS off the value of the dollar - so ten billion dollars became one dollar overnight.  My tiny collection of shares might currently be worth jack, but I guess things could be a lot worse.
   
• The Jonas Brothers.  Why?