Hi guys, it's me, Jane. I know I'm posting out of turn, but I'm covering Linda's spot this week. My topic of choice is rather multifaceted, so for you commenters and other BSG posters, feel free to address any (or all) aspects. Whichever moves you. Our topic of the week, if you can't guess, is the Quarterlife Crisis. We BSG bloggers are all in our mid (or in my case, late, but we don't need to focus on that) twenties, and I suspect that most of us have had, are having or will have a quarterlife crisis at some point pretty soon.
So what is a quarterlife crisis (QLC)? Growing up, I'd always heard of The Midlife Crisis, where stereotypically one freaks out at the impending arrival of old age, gets divorced, dates people way too young for one's age bracket, and buys a sports car. I first heard about QLCs when I was in the middle of mine. I'd say mine began my senior year of college (2001) - when I discovered that despite having been told all my life that a college degree would land me a great job, no one wanted to hire me - and ended with the penning of my manifesto in Fall 2005. I don't know if Melissa will remember this, but she was the one who first brought the term QLC to my attention. We had just returned from our first (and hellish) trip to South Korea, had no job, no job prospects and no real interest in real jobs anyway. I don't remember how she heard about QLCs, but when she described it to me I knew that it fit what I was going through exactly.
But what *is* a QLC? you ask. Well, according to wikipedia a QLC is a psychological "crisis" akin to the midlife-crisis, but occurring amongst those ages 21-29. Symptoms include (among other things) feeling "not good enough" because one can't find a job that is at one's academic/intellectual level, frustration with relationships, the working world, and finding a suitable job or career, confusion of identity, insecurity regarding the near future, and insecurity regarding present accomplishments. (That came from the wikipedia article on QLCs, which I highly recommend reading in its entirety.)
Anyhow, roughly six years after I first heard about this QLC concept, it seems to have hit the mainstream via... well, I was going to write TV show, but that's not the case at all. Quarterlife is an internet-based show. It's shown ONLY on the internet. However, it's not some sort of low-budget, made-for-the-net kind of production; it's got the production quality of a legit TV show. (I heard on NPR that because of the TV writers' strike, TV channels are negotiating with Quarterlife to air it on regular TV, as that show - being set entirely in new-media - had already negotiated a completely different contract with their writers. No clue as to how that will pan out.) Episodes last about fifteen minutes, and are posted on the Quarterlife site every Sunday and Thursday. I've actually found the show pretty engaging, thus far.
In addition to simply being a net show, quarterlife has its own social networking site (a la MySpace and Facebook) as well, where you can create your own profile, upload blogs, vlogs, etc, and even befriend the characters from the show. As a social networking site, quarterlife leaves much to be desired, as it's new and there are still quite a few kinks in the programming. But, never fear! The Quarterlife characters have MySpace pages! No, I don't mean that the actors playing these people have MySpace pages, I mean the characters have them. These pages are maintained as though these characters were real people [example]. They even have blogs, where they blog about things that have happened in the show... and entirely unrelated things like Hillary's candidacy and class divisions in the US. Which totally weirds me out. These are not real people!
So, things to think on this week: What do you think about quarterlife crises as a concept? Have you had one, or are you having one now? What were/are your QLC experiences? What are your thoughts on the Quarterlife internet show? What do you think about the idea of internet based "tv"? What do you think about being able to interact with characters from shows? Have fun!
6 comments:
Damn, I thought this post was about BSG and Razor. I great show; however, I did have some problems with the main character's accent. A little too strong for what I normally expect on TV.
I also think quarterlife crisis is still a "mid-life" crisis. One hundred years ago, Americans only lived to 45 and mid-life was 22 or 23. Today, 77-78 is the average life expectancy, so mid-life is now 39, but our minds haven't caught up to this fact yet. The world's average life expectancy is 67.2, so mid-life is 33.6.
Also, how do you spell mid-life? I've seen it spelled as mid-life, midlife, and mid life. English is very confusing at times.
Meanwhile, I'm waiting for the DVD release of Razor (December 4th!) as I don't have a TV.
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How would your theory explain midlife crises then?
I think life is full of different crises. Most people just use the term mid-life crisis to describe the time when most of them usually go through their first divorce and need to rationalize the new significant other, car, job, or other toys.
I have had many in my life, and I have yet to hit 38.
BTW, you can probably catch Razor on-line at Sci-Fi or somewhere else. Watch yes, buy no...even though I got goosebumps when I saw and heard the original cylons the first time.
I think the quarterlife crisis is the in-between period wherein people realize that the degree to which they are free and mobile is necessarilly inversely correlative to the degree to which their life has mass, purchase and seriousness. To earn a place in the world, one is forced to make sacrifices and enter into obligations that are all but irreversible.
Being weightless (and thus meaningless) is terrifying, but the gravity of full adult participation in society, with its entrapments and responsibilities such as marriage, parenthood, home ownership, etc. is a very heavy burden that is (or should be) impossible to walk away from in good conscience. Basically, a bunch of other people are depending on you to get through the day or they aren't.
If anyone knows of a better way to frame this dilemma (preferrably one that lets me stay out all night when I want to), I'll sure as hell buy their book.
Necessarily only has one L. Whoops.
Who knows where to download XRumer 5.0 Palladium?
Help, please. All recommend this program to effectively advertise on the Internet, this is the best program!
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