coast to coast

+ the question is whether i will remember what i don't write down. science fiction about the future of crime and law enforcement is taking me out of life at the moment. the 'digital millennium' of 2047, when an extra 1 or 0 will have to be added to create the next year. the sheer capacity of electronic media to screen the world. each citizen is required to be exposed to a quota of advertising messages every day. and again, what do we, can we remember of our own volition. how much of our entire system of understanding is based on memory, and we effectively just make it up all the time.

+ and on memory, falling man is wonderful. how we deal with the extraordinary, how we really are just a set of routines, ways of getting through the day, codes and protocol, and what is routine, anyway, when your neighbourhood gets blown up. books by important authors on the important events of our times should be heavy and ponderous, perilous, but falling man floats.

+ and i read science fiction, but we have powdered egg today, reconstituted egg, and meals in plastic bags, ready to be boiled into life. we do these things already. i spend time reading about irradiation, nuclear power, advances in slaughterhouse technology. we may not even be aware of the fantastic world we inhabit.

from an old draft posts, but worthwhile, + i was 18? 19? at the blinding light watching not the wizard of oz to pink floyd, but the matrix to the collected work of radiohead. it was packed out. another night, i brought my 25 minute 1986 VHS from the old "science and tech 11" course in to show at BYO8 night. a crazy dystopian no-narrative educational video from and old BC high school curriculum that had long ago been deleted. it went on forever but everyone loved it. i still have the tape, too, and if i had the machine hooked up i'd watch it.

and, + one of the wonderful surrealities about modern american politics is watching senators try to wrap their old american mouths around arabic language. on one hand they're condemning the mujaheddin, whatever that means, and the next they're celebrating their faith in and friendship with completely unpronounceable afghani politicians. guys like saxby chambliss, max baucus, christopher 'kit' bond. guys named chuck. picking sides in something called "iraq". what the hell is iraq anyway. in a sense, we DID just make it up. it was a british idea. now senator jim inhofe, R-oklahoma, has to give speeches on the senate floor talking about a dead marine who was serving... where?

i guess we did this before, talking about vietnam. but really.

i like the senate speeches when they refer to each other by first names, or even affectionates. like 'kit.' the inside jokes.