As dull as dishwater
December 30, 2010 10:42 AM Subscribe
I rather water to attend the boredom conference after I heard the bit they did on Radio 4's Today program. The talk about car park roofs piqued my interest, doubly so when I did learn it was being given by this man.
The Independent did a profile of the organizer and here is the event website.
posted by Virtblue at 10:56 AM on December 30, 2010
The Independent did a profile of the organizer and here is the event website.
posted by Virtblue at 10:56 AM on December 30, 2010
tl;dr
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 10:56 AM on December 30, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 10:56 AM on December 30, 2010 [1 favorite]
Someone tell Patton Oswalt that the new wave of geekiness exists in manufacturing interest in subjects that can't even keep the geeks themselves awake.
posted by hermitosis at 10:58 AM on December 30, 2010
posted by hermitosis at 10:58 AM on December 30, 2010
Heh. I was just going to post about this. I submitted an abstract for the 2011 conference already.
posted by mykescipark at 10:59 AM on December 30, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by mykescipark at 10:59 AM on December 30, 2010 [1 favorite]
dortmunder,
Also available from Farrow & Ball: Arsenic and Drab
posted by lukemeister at 11:03 AM on December 30, 2010
Also available from Farrow & Ball: Arsenic and Drab
posted by lukemeister at 11:03 AM on December 30, 2010
Sure, but did you ever see a boredom convention... on weed?
posted by uncleozzy at 11:05 AM on December 30, 2010 [5 favorites]
posted by uncleozzy at 11:05 AM on December 30, 2010 [5 favorites]
This is a lost Monty Python sketch, right? People leaving the boredom convention head over to the grounds to watch competitive novel-writing, right?
posted by jbickers at 11:10 AM on December 30, 2010
posted by jbickers at 11:10 AM on December 30, 2010
After sitting through an eight hour procedure and finance meeting which had slightly shoddy speakers meaning that a lot of what was being said was just a faint drone of buzzwords and technical jargon, I thought it might be fun one day to capture a couple of speeches, pare it down to a bunch of distinct sound byte sentences, and then put them all into some kind of markov generator.
You could go do a page and hear an endless stream of dull, monotone talking about nothing.
Once I considered the implications of unleashing this kind of weaponized boredom onto the internet, I abandoned the idea for the sake of the world.
posted by quin at 11:12 AM on December 30, 2010 [3 favorites]
You could go do a page and hear an endless stream of dull, monotone talking about nothing.
Once I considered the implications of unleashing this kind of weaponized boredom onto the internet, I abandoned the idea for the sake of the world.
posted by quin at 11:12 AM on December 30, 2010 [3 favorites]
Hey, it's front-page-postworthy when you can find something outside the WSJ paywall that isn't a commercial for FoxNews...
posted by oneswellfoop at 11:16 AM on December 30, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by oneswellfoop at 11:16 AM on December 30, 2010 [2 favorites]
Primary literature on boredom
A book on the erotic dimension of yawning
posted by lukemeister at 11:17 AM on December 30, 2010
A book on the erotic dimension of yawning
posted by lukemeister at 11:17 AM on December 30, 2010
This is a lost Monty Python sketch, right? People leaving the boredom convention head over to the grounds to watch competitive novel-writing, right?
Like this?
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 11:52 AM on December 30, 2010 [1 favorite]
Like this?
posted by It's Never Lurgi at 11:52 AM on December 30, 2010 [1 favorite]
"We're all overstimulated," said Ms. Lee. "I think it's important to stop all that for a while and see what several hours of being bored really feels like."
Go stand in a post office line for a few hours or wait at an airport terminal on layover. That will cure you of any notion that we don't know what being bored really feels like.
posted by blucevalo at 11:53 AM on December 30, 2010
Go stand in a post office line for a few hours or wait at an airport terminal on layover. That will cure you of any notion that we don't know what being bored really feels like.
posted by blucevalo at 11:53 AM on December 30, 2010
Who knew Dead Salmon was a color?
Me, I've read this. Paint colour is actually pretty interesting.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 12:02 PM on December 30, 2010 [2 favorites]
Me, I've read this. Paint colour is actually pretty interesting.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 12:02 PM on December 30, 2010 [2 favorites]
After a much-needed break, a drawing was held. Some of the winners got a DVD called "Helvetica," a 2007 documentary about typography.
*golf clap*
posted by Dr Dracator at 12:11 PM on December 30, 2010 [1 favorite]
*golf clap*
posted by Dr Dracator at 12:11 PM on December 30, 2010 [1 favorite]
Boy it's like a revolving door of dumb ideas these days.
For some people I guess the dumber the idea the more likely they are to do it. Exclusivity at any price.
It's not like these ideas are even really 'out there' or 'crazy'. For the most part they're ideas from the bottom of the barrel mining what's left of other dumb ideas few people even remember but man has the scraping sounds gotten louder the last few years.
posted by nola at 12:11 PM on December 30, 2010
For some people I guess the dumber the idea the more likely they are to do it. Exclusivity at any price.
It's not like these ideas are even really 'out there' or 'crazy'. For the most part they're ideas from the bottom of the barrel mining what's left of other dumb ideas few people even remember but man has the scraping sounds gotten louder the last few years.
posted by nola at 12:11 PM on December 30, 2010
Go stand in a post office line for a few hours or wait at an airport terminal on layover. That will cure you of any notion that we don't know what being bored really feels like.
iPhone.
posted by empath at 12:19 PM on December 30, 2010
iPhone.
posted by empath at 12:19 PM on December 30, 2010
ts;dr
posted by dhartung at 12:20 PM on December 30, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by dhartung at 12:20 PM on December 30, 2010 [1 favorite]
This must be a club for retired Navy SEALs who sky-dive while punching sharks and dismantling dirty bombs in a European disco as an undercover agent.
The rest of us have ample opportunity to be bored completely out of our fucking skulls, for hours on end, and with mind-numbing regularity.
Stillness and quiet I get. Boredom, I do not. The two are not the same thing.
I have to agree with the Scrooge McScroogersons here; this is stupid.
posted by clvrmnky at 12:29 PM on December 30, 2010
The rest of us have ample opportunity to be bored completely out of our fucking skulls, for hours on end, and with mind-numbing regularity.
Stillness and quiet I get. Boredom, I do not. The two are not the same thing.
I have to agree with the Scrooge McScroogersons here; this is stupid.
posted by clvrmnky at 12:29 PM on December 30, 2010
Actually, the Helvetica documentary was far from boring. Then again, I'm the sort of person who complains about Comic Sans.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 12:41 PM on December 30, 2010
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 12:41 PM on December 30, 2010
ts;dr
I read this as Too Stoned; Didn't React.
Make of that what you will.
posted by quin at 12:52 PM on December 30, 2010 [4 favorites]
I read this as Too Stoned; Didn't React.
Make of that what you will.
posted by quin at 12:52 PM on December 30, 2010 [4 favorites]
Karen Christopher of Chicago, who now lives in London, found at least one presentation so wearisome that she stopped paying attention. "I started thinking about Swedish police procedurals instead," she said.
This is like a direct quote from the Onion.
posted by punchdrunkhistory at 1:11 PM on December 30, 2010
This is like a direct quote from the Onion.
posted by punchdrunkhistory at 1:11 PM on December 30, 2010
As Death points out, what can you infer about mankind when it invents boredom?
posted by maxwelton at 1:45 PM on December 30, 2010
posted by maxwelton at 1:45 PM on December 30, 2010
The Beginning of A Necessarily Incomplete Story (or, How I Wrote What Follows this Title)
First I held down shift and pressed F. I then let go of both keys, and pressed the I key. This was followed by R which, in turn, was followed by S then T. After that, I pressed space key, shift-I, space again, then H. E came next, then L and finally D before it was time for another press of the space key. Accompanied by the shift key, D for a second time. I pressed O next, then W, followed by N . . .
posted by treepour at 2:26 PM on December 30, 2010 [5 favorites]
First I held down shift and pressed F. I then let go of both keys, and pressed the I key. This was followed by R which, in turn, was followed by S then T. After that, I pressed space key, shift-I, space again, then H. E came next, then L and finally D before it was time for another press of the space key. Accompanied by the shift key, D for a second time. I pressed O next, then W, followed by N . . .
posted by treepour at 2:26 PM on December 30, 2010 [5 favorites]
It's such a fine line between stupid and clever.
posted by lukemeister at 3:13 PM on December 30, 2010
posted by lukemeister at 3:13 PM on December 30, 2010
I was hoping for Women's Olympic Curling.
posted by ZeusHumms at 3:40 PM on December 30, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by ZeusHumms at 3:40 PM on December 30, 2010 [1 favorite]
People who go out of their way to create boredom should be charged with crimes against humanity.
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:01 PM on December 30, 2010
posted by The Card Cheat at 9:01 PM on December 30, 2010
lukemeister: "Brace yourself for five piping-hot minutes of inertia."
I tried this line - the wife gave it a two out of five for seductiveness but full marks for accuracy. *Ba-dum Tsh*
posted by Hardcore Poser at 10:34 PM on December 30, 2010 [2 favorites]
I tried this line - the wife gave it a two out of five for seductiveness but full marks for accuracy. *Ba-dum Tsh*
posted by Hardcore Poser at 10:34 PM on December 30, 2010 [2 favorites]
31 comments and no mention of Dunbar from Catch 22? For those who don't remember, Dunbar was the man who attempted to be bored his entire life in order to live forever. Of course, he was faced with periods of excitement, being on the crew of a bomber and all. But it still is an interesting point. How much longer, subjectively, will those people have lived during that one day, than you or I did?
posted by Hactar at 10:09 AM on December 31, 2010
posted by Hactar at 10:09 AM on December 31, 2010
The official site is pretty inter .. uh ... boring. Just some logos, info about sponsors, list of speakers, boring stuff like that.
posted by memebake at 5:13 PM on January 2, 2011
posted by memebake at 5:13 PM on January 2, 2011
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posted by dortmunder at 10:53 AM on December 30, 2010 [1 favorite]