Waiting for Jar Jar

Since 90% of the people whom I used to call 'users' have been laid-off these days, I often find myself rather bored since users tend to keep things more lively than I ever could muster alone. I feel pretty guilty about wasting time around the office so I've started doing Finnish vocabulary drills on my Mac with the Finnish parts of 101 Languages of the World, a workbook I picked up in Helsinki and making up old fashioned low-tech flash cards for rote memorisation.

Or, at least I felt guilty until I read that 2 guys are waiting for Star Wars from 1 January until 16 May at a theatre they aren't even certain will be showing the flick and are calling it ART. How can two grown slacker guys sit out in front of a theatre for 5 months waiting for a movie and call it art?

"Waiting for Star Wars is an art project designed to capture the evolution and journey of one person's wait for a single event (Star Wars Episode II). It will be captured by time-indexed photographs taken every hour as well as pictures and video of the people we interact with.

This project also explores the issue of the pursuit of happiness. It asks how much will a person sacrifice for a temporary acquisition, and questions whether a person can be happy with just food and shelter in pursuit of that acquisition. It also asks, will society as a whole fear or accept people for not desiring the things they desire, or for desiring things they consider frivilous or ridiculous. Finally, as we move into the next millennium, I wonder if our fast-paced society has become unwilling to slow down and wait for the things that bring us the greatest joy. This wait will test my mettle as I attempt to do just that."

These guys are straight out of the Man Show. "Both men are single", the article says...wow, what a shocker! What woman or employer wouldn't beat a path to these guys? Well, at least you'd know where they were all night and the dates would be regular if a bit dull. :) It might be art if they created 'clones' of themselves and left them out to hold their place in line but, wow, now I can slack on IRC, eat chips, scratch my ass and do utterly pointless things for an hour or three completely guilt free henceforth. It's art!