Thursday, July 13, 2006

Potential gothdom thwarted by big eyes

I have over the last week or so been trying to figure out how to goth out the various accoutrements on my computer. This is in part inspired by my far-cooler-dad-than-I-am nephew Joel who is in part my idol because he actually did funky, experimental looks and things that I only thought about in passing. (Case in point: nipple ring.) Despite my preponderance for Depeche Mode, the Cure and Interpol over Britney, I have never really seriously tried going goth. There was a moment when I had makeup on college, but it literally lasted days and really wasn't going to work at Dartmouth, at least not for me. This does not mean I dropped my penchant for black clothing, or my realization that I actually still look good with eyeliner; I just decided it wasn't really worth the effort to goth myself out for what it would get me.

Anyway, I wouldn't have done it with my computer either, Joel's coolness notwithstanding, if I didn't also read that it would be easier on the eyes. I don't know whether this is actually true or not, but it sounds good and provides a good excuse to pimp my desktop in a dark way. Indeed, I'm loving all of the new fun ways in which my computer now inspires me to dance alone in a corner.

Here's the problem: Xan's eyes just aren't amenable to the whole goth aesthetic.

You see, my desktop picture is the famous Ikea-after-finding-Dino pic (seen here) and, while everything else can be modified accordingly, my son's wide-open orbs of blueness seemingly fill up the screen, bringing joy and light and a smile to my lips... and otherwise thwarting my attempts to inspire despair through the color black.

And oddly enough, I consider this a good contradictory juxtaposition, precisely because it reminds me of me: sunny disposition from hell that would love to just wear lots of black anyway. Perhaps I can instill this in my son? Maybe I just need to buy him clothing that is slightly more offensive, for starters.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

i've always been fond of this message for children.

-- jenny

Middento said...

I actually seriously considered buying a variation of this one. Alas, Angela did not find it as hilarious as I did. Ah well. :)

Anonymous said...

I find that T-Shirt Hell's Baby Section tends to have some really fun ones. And there is always Think Geek's Kids Shirts, which are always a hit with breeding geeks [or do we replicate, I forget.

But as for computers, I must admit a secret. I have 2 icons on my 15.4" Widescreen desktop [Recycle and My Computer], grey wallpaper, and a floating command line. WinAmp gets hidden away via a sliding skin. It's trully sparce, and makes my girlfriend nuts when she sees it.

If I only had a webcam:

"When you look into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you"
- Some Cynical Guy

Oh god, that hurt me just to type...

Middento said...

Wait, you got rid of the webcam? What about the rest of my subscription?