I've got slack but I'm not a slacker

I remember well about ten years ago, give or take, someone I know wrote something I thought was pretty funny. The premise was that the then so-called Generation X would most likely only be able to use the first time they saw the film Slacker as a common reference, the way Baby Boomers would have referred to where they were when they heard President Kennedy was assassinated. I still think this is a pretty funny premise.

Of course, we (and not just "us," whoever we may be) now have 9/11, and this indeed can provide us all with a common reference relatively similar to the presidential assassination of the early 60s.

Of course this has already occurred to everyone. Getting back to Slacker... I would like to see it again sometime. I definitely buy into the premise that everyman/woman is worthy of film and screen time. I enjoy the complete randomness. I love the eccentric characters.

But what is this that the title insinuates? I have looked through, barely, quickly, the booklet that comes with the (relatively) new deluxe DVD of Slacker when I was at Vision Video (a local video store here in Athens.) There was something I read that I didn't understand completely. The writer, comparing Austin, Texas, to some other midwestern college town (He didn't say whether it was Champaign/Urbana, IL or Lawrence, KS or Madison, WI or somewhere else) and how the people there actually went to their jobs.

I believe there is an element of truth to the "fuck society" philosophy and admire those who are able to get by with as little work as possible, as long as they are still self-reliant. There comes some point however though when you have to either pay the fucking rent or live on the fucking street. If you are privileged you can couch surf infinitely.

I probably am misunderstanding what he/she/they was/were trying to say about those who went to their jobs. Or am I? The obvious implication was that, "ah... these folks are not like us. We are the true slackers. They ... they... work."

In the end it doesn't matter for us and for the filmmaker. Obviously he is not an absolute slacker or he wouldn't have made the film. Obviously I like the movie or I wouldn't be bloraging about it here.

Yet there is something that bothers me. I guess I used to consider myself something of a "slacker" and this was a popular myth for those of us who were twenty-three years old or so about ten years ago. The truth is I am convinced I have ADD (or Adult ADD), I procrastinate, I am lazy, but I am not a slacker. I work. I eventually get shit paid for, whether it be thanks to my wife, or the long arm of the law, or just to my own better judgment (thanks mom.)

I do like the words "slack" and "slacker." There is something there. Of course, I used to be a practicing SubGenius, and we know how highly that faith regards slack. Although I am no longer orthodox, I do still enjoy listening to the word of "Bob" from time to time. And this teaches us that slack need not be found in mere inactivity, but it can also be found in the pursuit of all kinds of activities whether its blooging, making movies, making music, or even, under the correct circumstances, your "job."

Having said all that, I should probably do some schoolwork while I'm still awake and before I am too drunk.