Now That I Have The Attention... What Do I Do With It?

A reliable source (Wikipedia) informs us that Neanderthal may have coexisted with modern humans for up to 15,000 years after the arrival of Homo sapiens in Europe. There is disagreement as to the possibility of inter-breeding occurring between the two groups, but a 2006 genetic study purports to conclude that Neanderthal was absorbed into the modern human species rather than becoming completely extinct. A separate 2006 study claims that while the occurrence of inter-breeding cannot be disproved, deems widespread Neander-sapien boning unlikely. This supports the argument that Neanderthal simply became extinct. Regardless, it is thought that Neanderthal's population was never much more than 10,000. The current popultaion of Homo sapiens, I believe, is significantly higher.

Tracing the plight of Neanderthal DNA in the genes of the modern-day human being is much like tracking what the hell happened to old-world hardcore kids after the arrival of internet-abled Hardco sapien. Except that hardcore kids took only five to ten years to interbreed/become extinct and leave nothing but fossils, as opposed to the 15,000 years accredited to our possible ancestors. In spite of similarities in appearance, the important difference lays in the switching on of the online chromosome in the Hardco sapien. The effect of this has been widespread Voicing Of Opinion, previously available only to the most advanced, active, self-righteous and loudmouthed Neandercore willing to take a break from hunter-gatherering to fashion crude arguments for print in fanzines of yore.

The increase in the number of Voices, however, did not correlate with an increase in the quality of Opinion. The message board has cut out the middle man of social interaction to discover that so many people have nothing useful to add. Myspace has shown us just how much the incredible and the mediocre can blend together into one comfortable Pandora's Box of bland. Even the rabble of the odd fresh Voice on a blog informing us of something out there in the Wide World of Actual Worthwhile Things just adds more rubble under which me must search.

So, in the spirit of Neander sapien boning, I have started a blog as just a placeholder for my real-life paper fanzine, The Attention, amongst the overload. This eternally unfinished zine began life as IN TIL STUMPS #4, and has been waiting to materialize for, oh, five years, but I have found the biggest obstacle is clearing out the more fleeting or timely aspects of my writing before something worthwhile comes along. Thus, quite good interviews have gone unpublished because other writing I had done to flesh it all out I was no longer happy with. I'm hoping this blog will encourage me to write more, and make sure that the solid stuff sees print, along with some previews of upcoming content and giving some airtime to the decent older gear that never saw the light of day.