"What else is there but Narcissism, I often ask myself"

I think Heather Havrilesky, of Salon.com, is a genius. She writes about TV, mostly. She is an enemy of narcissism and avarice, which to me means that she is a champion of empathy. About our celebrity culture, this year, this 2007, she writes: "This is an important part of the logic of the Year of the Lunatic: If the rich and famous are happy and carefree, then you, by dint of your relaitve insignificance and poverty, have every right to make them as unhappy as humanly possible." Oh, TMZ, Perez Hilton, how the game flips you--in an effort to undermind the publicity machine of Hollywood, you became little monsters. I mean, honestly, there is a celebration of sociopathy and damage all over the place, and the answer appears to be to go to the mountain, where you will be isolated and esoteric and a bit of a sociopath as well, like the Into the Wild dude.

I wonder about cultural criticism at all--really, barring some serious geniuses who are also totally insane, 99.999999% of humans are too in it to see it, and therefore just layering icing on the big cake of Blah Blah. It's a puzzle for future generations to work out and flatten: what were they thinking with their weird intersection of celebrity obsession, fat hatred, creepy richness while refusing to talk about money and feeling ripped off all the time? In the end, I just want to make it to the end of This American Life as a good American, only partially covered in the thick tar of what is worst about my culture. All cultures? Who the hell knows.

This is what I'm thinking about as the year ends: narcissism and damage. 2007 was bent like a sickle, 2008 is curvy like a hug. To borrow from Sir Lupe Fiasco, 2008 "got a bottle-shaped body like Mrs. Butterworth." Cover this globe with the sweet sticky syrup of love!