Tricky Kids

In 1996 Tricky released his third album, Pre-Millennium Tension. Then the whole Y2K bug hysteria blew over and we all lived happily ever after. Psyche! There are still bugs and glitches - maybe more than ever. And there are hackers, crackers, cracker-jackers, phreakers, sneakers ... sorry, I'm getting carried away. I know Tricky's better than me when it comes to spitting rhymes.

Anyhoo, the whole album is full of paranoia, discomfort, and doom - if you don't believe me you can check Wikipedia. If you don't trust Wikipedia, well, join the club ;) Or you can decide for yourself. Here's a taste:



I was fascinated when I first heard this line from "Tricky Kid": "everybody wants to be naked and famous." It's a popular ambition for kids to be famous someday, even if they don't care what they're famous for. Some would be happy to be infamous! And then there's the naked part. You can interpret that to mean anything from literally to figuratively naked, and it's the figurative that fascinates me. Naked can imply honesty, vulnerability, apathy - lotsa stuff, really. As far as the internet goes, I think people want to get to a point where they have countless friends (or "friends") and don't worry who they offend, who sees their nipples, or what information gets leaked or money gets stolen.

When I listen to "Tricky Kid," the desire to be "naked and famous" feels like an ugly disease. Isn't it better to be happy, or kind, or an asset to society? But too often I think we fantasize about fame, wealth, power, and/or comfort. I've written about it before, and I don't mean to beat a dying horse, but ... mo' money -> mo' problems? How do you count and measure problems? Why do rich and powerful people whine? Why do we let them? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind ... (btw, I may be a bigger fan of Jay-Z than Bob Dylan.)



I don't really know how to wrap this up without trailing off again, but here goes: my advice to anyone who might be reading this is to give Pre-Millennium Tension a try, buy it if you like it, and then take a walk :)

I spoke too soon

Ok, maybe I DO care what other people think - probably more than I should (isn't ambivalence so boring sometimes?)

Anyway, I was at work today.  Where do I work?  At NASA, for all you know.  Maybe if I told you, I'd have to kill you.  Maybe my office is just a cardboard box.

The point is, I showed up, because if I don't, they don't pay me.  There's some system (what system?  THE SYSTEM) dubbed "alpha" that I don't really have access to (WHICH IS TOTALLY BOGUS, RIGHT?) and a co-worker - let's call him "Jesus Christ" - asked me if I had access to "beta."  I got the joke (it's kinda complicated, but most of it has to do with the fact that there's really no system named "beta") so I chuckled and said "my whole life is beta."  And then I started thinking again about how websites used to have those "Under Construction" pictures on them, like this:

or, on sites that catered to misogynists, like this:

Now, the current trend seems to be labeling things "beta."  Gmail wasn't "under construction," it was "beta".  Facebook wasn't tinkering with the layout, it was "in beta".  So, in keeping this stylish and trendy and "hep," my blog will be perpetually "beta."  Yup, gotta keep it fresh.

So, in the interests of keepin' it fresh, and in the interest of what we in the business call "a narrative arc," I'm inviting you into my focus group.  How's my grammar?  How's my punctuation?  Should I use more "quotes"?  (Should I put more stuff in parentheses?)  Is it all too meta?  Are the links too frequent or redundant or arbitrary, or not arbitrary enough?  More puppies, maybe?  

With enough prayers - OR MONEY - I will change this blog in order to serve you, the consumer, better.

Or I can continue to suck.  That's probably easier for everyone.