I really don't feel like studying for my midterm

It's hard to name just one favorite Hitchcock film, but Rear Window is definitely up there. In the film, a professional photographer becomes confined to his bedroom after an accident leaves him with his leg in a cast. Bored he starts spying on his neighbors through the rear window. After observing suspicious behavior in one apartment, he starts to believe that a murder has taken place, though his friends and his girlfriend think his suspicions are imagined because of his idle behaviour.

I first watched the film at a screening for my Intro to Film Studies class freshman year. What I really loved and still love about it is this whole idea of voyeurism in it. And I use the word voyeurism here in its most innocent meaning--forget about the sexual connotation most people tend to attach to it. What I'm talking about when I say "voyeurism" is purely the interest we all take--some more than others--in observing the lives of people we don't know. I'm talking about the voyeur in all of us that makes fictional novels and films so enjoyable, the voyeur in all of us--well, some of us--that drives us to buy celebrity tabloids and watch VH1 "The Fabulous Life of...." shows. There's a little bit of a voyeur in all of us.

And nothing makes it easier to be voyeur than the internet. And nothing on the internet makes it easier to be a voyeur than daily-life blogs like this one. A New York Times
article from July 2005, "Reader, I Dated Him"(for some reason, blogger is being lame and not letting me post the link...so if you want to read this article google "new york times blogs greek") discussed blogs and voyeurism, describing how Stephanie Klein's Sex-and-the-City-esque blog became so well known that led to a book deal with Harper Collins and a TV deal with NBC for the twenty-nine-year-old art director. You can really get into someone's life from reading their blog because for some reason a lot of bloggers tend to bare their souls on these online spaces. Ms. Klein's writings, the New York Times reports, includes stories of her "childhood summers at fat camp, the husband she says cheated on her when she was pregnant, her subsequent abortion and her ongoing quest for love." My own blog touches on subjects I don't really talk about with others very often if at all: conflicted feelings about my racial identity, my relationship with my hal muh ni(grandmother), etc. These type of things just don't come up in casual conversation very often. Of course, there's also the vicarious living that comes through reading about or seeing someone else's life. "Ms. Klein's blog is a voyeur's playground," the New York Times article says, "with many photos of Ms. Klein, her friends and the swanky places they go." Although, I'd hardly call the pictures on this blog "swanky," it probably looks like we're having a lot of fun in them and we are.

At any given time, in addition to the blogs, livejournals, and xangas of personal friends, I read the blogs of maybe two or three complete strangers whose lives I find interesting for one reason or another. Sometimes, it's because that person's life just seems so glamorous and exciting. Other times, it's just because that person makes interesting observations. Sometimes it's more simple. Like now, I'm reading the blogs of a couple different people in Seoul. What can I say, I'm a voyeur.

Since I've been using a counter service for this blog, it's been interesting to see what kind of voyeurs I have visiting my blog. Usually, my service can't tell me more than what country the reader is accesing my blog from and how they were referred to my blog, but sometimes I can find out a little more. Most, people, it seems were referred here from my own personal sites and online profiles where the link to this blog was posted. Some have come across it other ways I can't quite figure out. And, one, extremely creepy person came across it by searching "picking up" and "korean women" on google. To this person: please stay away! So far, I've had people from four countries access my blog: US(duh), Korea(duh), France, and Israel. Usually, I can't tell much more about where these people come from within in these countries except when someone's IP address gives me a clue. Anyone accessing this blog from a University network, for example, will have that University's name in their IP address. I've had people accessing from Stanford, University of Michigan, Yale, and Washington University in St Louis. I'm pretty sure I know who all of these readers are except for the one from WUSTL who apparently was referred from one of my personal sites. I also know that my brother has been sneakily accessing this blog(hi Brian!) from our home's roadrunner IP address. But given, the unaccounted places people have been referred from, and have repeatedly returned here, I know that I have at least a few regular voyeurs stopping by.

So, for you voyeurs out there, I have a question: why do you read my blog? You don't need to leave your name or tell me who you are if you don't want, but I'm just curious about why you've been stopping by. Just click that little leave comment button.