Posted in response to http://lesterhhunt.blogspot.com/2008/04/where-did-all-westerns-go.html

I think science fiction/fantasy picked up where westerns left off, and to some extent the reality TV show.

Today the west has been tamed. There are still shows out there like "survivalist" and "deadliest catch", but for the most part, I think we're to the point where the setting has disappeared from the collective consciousness of the youth. I think if you were to do a word association test with people my age, "final" would pop up as being far more associated with "frontier" than "west" (space, the final frontier...).

Now consider shows like Firefly, Buffy, and Battlestar Galactica. I would say that each of these contains themes that were, a generation ago, found mostly in Westerns. And then there's the 800-pound-gorilla of science fiction across the pond, Doctor Who---which has a lone hero (with sidekicks) in his TARDIS who vworps in, cleans up the situation, and vworps out again. How much more canonically Western can you get?

I also think shows are driven to some extent by the fears of the generation. We are not so worried today about fascism and communism---it's perfectly OK for a government employee to come in and clean up the situation. It doesn't necessarily have to be a lone hero. We're much more afraid of the bad guys who look like us, and we find it desirable that the person who should come in and sort things out would be the government. We are uncomfortable with the Lone Ranger mentality (note how it's become negative!) and we want justice to have procedure to it.

Probably in another few generations we'll see the renaissance of the Western, although probably with a different setting. Outer Mongolia, perhaps.

Sometimes, google makes me rofl

I was trying to find a truly stochastic Emo Title Generator. So I googled "emo title". One of the top page of hits was
Wright City High School who apparently has a very good high school golf team:

Golf Team's 1st EMO Title

April 30 was a big day for the WCHS Golf Team as they took their first EMO title at Innsbrook and achieved a record team score. It ends a four year streak for Bowling Green. Despite lots of rain, the scores this year were closer and higher than last year. This is the closest EMO Championship in the last 8 years at least with the gap from first to fourth this year being less than the split from first to second in recent years. Our score this year is 61 strokes lower than last year.

Team scores
Wright City – 342
Silex – 343
Bowling Green – 345
Van-Far – 354
Winfield – 366
Orchard Farm – 376
Mont. Co. – 385
Elsberry – 424
Community R-6 – 424

EMO All-Conference
Kevin Mudd – 81 – Silex
JJ Pluchinski – WCHS – 83
6 others tied at 84 -

WCHS Individual scores
JJ Pluchinski – 83
Brad Hoke – 86
Kyle Jefferson – 85
Mike Trembley – 88
Jake Tiesing – 97

Another google hit was "EMO title page". I think people need to learn about useful titling.

Fandom dreams

My dreams are occasionally a little odd.

From Skype.


Teresa
My brain is a terribly special place.
I had a dream, just now, that I was sort of Bella, only charlie had been replaced by my mom.
And Edward and company came to stay with us for some reason
only they'd given up blood and decided they would only eat granola bars and shopping bags.
And then we went on vacation together to the mountains
and fought pirates.

Caitlyn Denae'
woah.

Teresa
And lazed around in the sun, a lot.

Caitlyn Denae'
that's badass. 8D;

Teresa
And I insisted on helping fight the pirates, but I got injured, and there was much overprotective vampirism. Which I found a little stupid. And they airlifted me out by way of a ski lift.
That was powered by guinea pigs.

Caitlyn Denae'
guinea pigs.
8D;

Teresa
I KNOW
Even in the dream, I found this kind of stupid.
I was totally like "...wait, what?"
So I let the guinea pigs free, cause they were going squeak squeak squeak
and then the ski lift wouldn't work, and they were not amused
...and somehow this turned into Carlisle leading a coup and taking over the local government
which was run out of a nightclub called "inhuman" which I found really really funny
so then he requisitioned a car and Edward drove me to the hospital to treat my injuries
and I woke up

Caitlyn Denae'
lmfao
i love your dreams
so much better than mine
:3

Teresa
*laughs*
The best part was the pirates
who were being all piratical in *really* *old* beat up pickup trucks
we were just like o_O
but they were running around dumping all the other really old beat-up pickup trucks in the lake/river/thing
so the vampires were running around being like "grr you shall not dump pickup trucks in the lake!"
and I saw this little woman, like 5' and maybe 40 years old, making a run for it
so I tackle her and twist her arm up behind her back, and it turns out she's the leader of the pirates
and Jasper and Emmett were like "...damn."

Caitlyn Denae'
xDDD
YOU WIN

Teresa
And they took her away from me, but then she got away from *them* and was pissed at me, and that was how I got hurt
But the bit I remember best was this bit where me and Edward were lazing around in bed in the morning.
Mostly because it was so totally lazy morning half-asleep-ness.

Caitlyn Denae'
sex?

Teresa
no, no sex
just lots of snuggles.

Caitlyn Denae'
daw

Teresa
He'd been lying the wrong way around in the bed, and for the life of me I couldn't figure out where his shoulder had gone, 'cause I was half-asleep
so finally I woke up enough to realize I was cuddling his hip, and was like "wtf?"
So he switched back around and I snuggled back into his shoulder, but he kept moving
and I was like "mrr?"
and he said that he was trying to keep the sun out of his eyes
so I was like "wanna switch sides?"
and he was like "nah. 'M fine here."
so I said "mmkay. Wake me up if you wanna switch" and went back to sleep.

Caitlyn Denae'
x3
keep on going
i wanna hear moar

Teresa
Well... while he was switching around
His hip was cool, but his shoulder was, like, warm, so I was like "dude, wtf? you're warm!"
and he laughed at me and was like "Do you know how high you have the heating blanket on?"
and I was like "...no?"
and he laughed at me
and I was like "stfu. my feet get cold."
and he was like "okay, okay," and petted me. And then I buried my face in his nice warm shoulder and he was like "awwww."

Caitlyn Denae'
lol!
*huggle* iluffyou teresa. :3

Teresa
There was also a bit in there where my mom was convinced we had to weigh all the vampires daily so we could tell if they were getting malnutrition from only eating granola bars and shopping bags.
Have you ever tried to weigh a recalcitrant Rosalie?

Caitlyn Denae'
xDD
so what happened?

Teresa
Mostly my mom and Rosalie argued. A lot.
So Edward and I snuck off and took a shower. Together.
Which ended in much facepalming, because when we went on vacation I discovered my mom had packed condoms for me. *facepalm*

Caitlyn Denae'
LOL

Teresa
This must have been set fairly early in the series, because I was still kinda worried about whether it was OK for me to snuggle quite that close with Edward's hip.
My dreams have, like, actual plot in them. It's pretty amazing. Even if it's very bizarre plot.
Although we were both naked.
So... I'm not quite sure where my brain was going with that one.

Caitlyn Denae'
haha.

Teresa
I was also a little concerned by him nuzzling my neck.
Not concerned enough to do anything, mind you.
Although that might have to do with ye sexxy man nuzzling my neck.
Well. Not enough to do anything beyond, uh, encourage him.

First day of sections

Today was the first day of sections for the spring quarter. Office hours started at 10:30. Sections at 12:30. Got out of the last one at 4:40. Really fucking tired.

And so, of course, today would have to be the day I start my fucking period, so I have really fucking bad cramps all fucking day. So not only am I tired and nervous and sweating but I'm also FUCKING CRAMPING.

And then... I get out of my second section of the day, ready to drive to the 3rd (cause it's a ways away) and... the back of my car's all scraped and dented, and there's a note on my windshield. FUCK. How hard can it BE not to hit a FUCKING PARKED CAR?!? I wasn't even parked out of space or anything. FUCK.

In my last section, there was a girl wearing a Twilight T-shirt. Do you know how HARD it is to concentrate on demand functions when there's a FUCKING LIFESIZE VAMPIRE HEAD FUCKING STARING AT YOU?

Yeah.

That was my day.

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in a lack of teaspoons.
From what I've tasted of desire,
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it should need to perish soon,
I think I know enough of Brits
To say that a lack of teaspoons
is also rather dire,
and would fit.