Death Destruction & College.
“How do you describe a web site that makes no sense
- even to the people creating it.”

The Blur of Insanity. The website for College Derelicts. That is what we call ourselves, that is what we say we are. So what is a “college derelict?” We asked Miriam-Webster...

DERELICT: der·e·lict
Pronunciation: 'der-ae-‘likt
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin derelictus, past participle of derelinquere to abandon, from de- + relinquere to leave -- more at RELINQUISH Date: 1649

1 : abandoned especially by the owner or occupant : RUN-DOWN
2 : lacking a sense of duty : NEGLIGENT
3 : a destitute homeless social misfit : VAGRANT, BUM
4 a : something voluntarily abandoned; specifically : a ship abandoned on the high seas b : a tract of land left dry by receding water

We also looked up COLLEGE and found a great definition:

5. an organized body of persons engaged in a common pursuit or having common intent.

So what is a College Derelict? According to the dictionary, and some creative cutting and pasting, it is:

“an organized body of persons.... left dry by receding water.”

Exactly.

Most anyone in college not after ‘real degree’ (i.e.. a degree in a science - and we aren’t talking about political science here) qualifies as a derelict. It is the person who is in college because that is what they were supposed to do after high school. College used as an excuse to get out of the house.

Now, what is this website? The Blur of Insanity. What do ‘we’ do? Okay, what we do is not the question. We aren’t often sure what we are doing - or even ‘why.’

What we can say with some confidence is that The Blur of Insanity website acts as a central area for information that the college derelict needs to maintain their chaotic and insane world. It’s the information that there is no book for (at least none we ever found). The things that generally takes four years of college to learn (but by then its too late to use the information). By learning these things so late you may leave college unfulfilled, and without purpose, because you never knew the truly important things you needed to know. So in this way we are actually performing a noble task.
The Blur of Insanity as an entity officially started back in 1996 when we first began squatting on the web. As a site it was, and is, a completely blunt, accurate look at College life. Growing over time from a few senseless features into the sprawling, chaotic mess that you see today.

We get hits from all over the planet. The majority from the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. We have also gotten hits from Nigeria, Iran, Pakistan, Taiwan and other obscure places. We aren’t quite sure why.

Coming up with material is not easy because it takes a lot of work and it has to have some value, either entertaining us or giving some sort of useful albeit criminal college information.

The movie takes the same approach as the website, it attempts to be a near-factual portrayal of what happens when you go away to college. The truthfulness come from the fact that just about every situation in the film, in reality, actually took place. We refused from the start to do the typical Hollywood spin on this type of story, which, at its worst usually shows some desperate loser type of kid(s) obsessing over cheerleaders, beating out evil preppies, and finally winning over the cheerleader(s)

Overall, with both the movie and the website our main goal is to be truthful about what we see. We aren’t even close to being politically correct and find sites with the mind control/social reprogramming/educating the ‘ignorant’ agenda as irritating. We despise anything that is being pushed as hip and urban. We are close enough to New York City (urban squared) to completely understand 'urban', and that ‘urban’ things generally, well... suck. 'Urban' is ridiculous - despite what MTV desperately tries to sell you. Because of this we don’t fit in with the hip culture and, quite frankly, would be nauseous if we did. We aren’t generation ‘D’ - or ‘X’ or ‘Z.’ The truth is, what is hip lasts about 2 seconds and changes constantly. If you chase hip, you will always be behind, you will always be a loser. **

Anyway, we try and be what we are. People will either like this, or they don’t. We can’t please everyone. We are to lazy to even try to. So if you like this - then consider yourself a winner! Someone who doesn’t buy into MTVesque crap. You are not just ahead of the curve, you have left the curve! You careened off the road, crashed through the guardrail, flipped over (many times) and are pulling yourself stunned, from the wreckage of culture.

THE MOVIE
“There’s nothing like being totally wasted with loaded firearms...”

The movie is the whole point. Originally the idea for the The Blur of Insanity came out of a series of stories that the Director, John Hussar, used to tell about his friends from Ithaca College (before he transferred to a film school that he refuses to mention). “They were really disturbing stories about what we did when we lived off campus, and the frightening part was that they happened.” says Hussar. “We were constantly motivated to do some pretty involved yet pointless things, like building a giant swimming pool in a dorm bathroom. Basically we plugged all the drains, wedged six inch thick foam boards in the bathroom doorway and duct-taped them in. Finally we turned on all the hot water valves for the sinks and showers. We had about 3 feet of water in a 20 foot by 15 foot tile lined bathroom. It worked great until the foam boards started losing their integrity in the doorway and collapsed, sending a pretty decent sized tidal wave down the dorm hall. This kind of activity was typical. We spent all of our time on this kind of activity, more than we ever did with college work. Which is why our grade point averages were almost non-existent.”

“Initially there wasn’t going to be a plot to the film. The movie would have started at this vacant house and then suddenly cars would drive up, all these guys would pile out and then all the madness would occur. Finally at the end these guys would get back in their cars and then the cars would drive away. The house would be empty, quiet - like it was in the beginning. We realized that although it sounded interesting to do it that way, the fact is what sometimes sounds good doesn’t really work. Without a real plot the whole thing would have been too hard to figure out.”

“The main story was developed around what happened to me during my freshman year at Ithaca College in the East Tower dorms where a certain illegal ‘event’ landed me and some other guys in front of Ithaca’s town Judge. Actually the guy let me go, but he made an effort to scare the crap out of me - which did make me more careful not to get caught. The main story revolves around something the characters get in trouble for and the stories were laid out along its course. An interesting thing about the movie is that the main characters get motivated to accomplish some goals via the court judgment plotline, but then partway through the movie they go off on a tangent into the tripping scenes and only later on get back on track and accomplish their goals. This is more accurate to college where you may have something important to do, but then you get sidetracked by some party, or a girlfriend… or hallucinogens - then remember that you have things to accomplish and get back to doing them.” explains Hussar. “Ultimately the real point of the movie is about being twenty, being away from home, and being completely free to be irresponsible. And most of what’s in the movie actually happened to me.”

The DVD has the full feature length movie shot on 35mm film. Starring some amazing actors, including Joshua Leonard who went on to do the Blair Witch Project. The DVD also features an original documentary about the original characters, outtakes, deleted scenes and other bizarre video footage too impossible to classify. “It’s not like a typical Hollywood DVD, it’s what they would be afraid to show. We actually did the audio commentary for the movie after drinking for a few hours!” says Hussar. “The on-set documentary highlights the fact that I’m out of my mind from overdosing on coffee and cigarettes!”

“And then there’s the orgy!” says Rik Nagel, one of the movie’s stars.

“Yes, and then there’s the orgy,” we reply.

* That was a rant.
** That was rant number two.