This wasn’t written to convince anyone of anything
This wasn’t written to be a great work or to explain anything

This was written because I had to write it
This was written because I hope someone will read this, and be reassured
This was written because writing is so often all I have . . .
In these modern times.

I swear it’s not doom and gloom, and I hope you’ll agree with me.
-finite (do me a favor and play along) jester

We’re gathered around a computer; two good friends who will soon be married (bless ‘em, they’re awesome) and the finite jester; of all the things we could be engaged in, we’re singing muppet songs with the aid of a lyrics sheet . . .

myself, i was adding a Rowlf imitation to the mix
great fun

Actual conversational snippet:

finite jester: i can’t remember a time without muppets

a friend: What a wonderful thing.

And it really is; even though there are times when I suspect that my continuing fascination with The Great Gonzo may have more to do with my (innate?) need to perform bizarre acts in the interest of ‘art and the artistic persona’ than I’d like to admit, The Muppet Show is a wonderful thing to have grown up with.

The more I live the more I become convinced that everything you experience, no matter how small or apparently inconsequential, leaves a mark.

And now the jump -

(wherein it is revealed
just how strange
the jester’s mind actually is)

- hang on tight and try to follow me . . .

I’ve never known a world without muppets. I’ve watched the rise of the personal computer and the internet. I’ve never known a world where the possibility of complete global annihilation wasn’t merely the press of a button away (a bit of an exaggeration there, but I’m fairly certain everyone understands what I mean when I say ‘The Button’). I’ve never known a world where citizens trusted their government. I was born into a world where an entire counter-culture had only just arisen in the hopes of finding something better than the contemporary options; and failed (hehe, that statement is so loaded with the want of at least several pages of asides, provisos and explanation that we’ll just let it stand).

and if you can’t dig it
then you probably won’t dig

“Modern Times”

I’ve never known a world without advertisements and celebrity endorsements doing their very best to convince me that I can buy a better life; by the time I was old enough to understand such things, the very concept of ‘product placement‘ was already ubiquitous.

I can’t remember a time I didn’t see gossip rags and scandal sheets littering the aisles of the supermarket check-out lanes, watching over the brand-names that ran down the conveyer into the hands of the humans who would present them to the electric eye.

I’ve never known a world without rock and roll.

-

-

(these hash marks mean “don’t keep reading ’til the audio’s done”,
[it’s short]
jest so ya know)

-

-

and not just the downers man
the poetry of hope

-

-

(again, short)

-

-

I grew up in a world where Robert Pirsig had already written
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

and i’m sorry if you don’t know
what that means
it would take me days
to explain it

I grew up in a world where over a hundred years had already passed since Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote
Notes from the Underground.

again, another book well worth reading

i grew up in a world where the beats had already done
their thing

And when I found that stuff
it made perfect sense
ever since

- then -

Which could of course stand for any one of the ‘then’ s as represented by the myriad moments of realization which are considered, or hinted at in the above, more likely a strange amalgam of all these and a billion others.

what i really want to know is

why?

damn, got too big too quickly
(hehe, i hope somebody followed that)
lemme try from another angle

I’ve been re-reading Abbie Hoffman lately,

Yippie!!

-

-

-

-

Ok, that sufficiently sums it up for me.

anybody that I’ve totally lost -
i guess - “I’m sorry”
i guess this post wasn’t written for you
for the rest of us . . .
i want to know what we’re doing next,

tell me there’s something great in store

please

(don’t have to wait this time)

and if anyone thinks this reeks of rank egotism

tough,

i sincerely hope i’m not alone in that

Ultimately I think it comes down to a fairly simple (at least so far as anything in this lovely ‘what-have-you’ that we call reality can be referred to as ‘fairly simple’ that is) dichotomy.

We are all products of the world that we grew up in, regardless of how much we try to rage against it, or deny that it has any influence upon our lives.

there are those who try
to rage and deny

and there are those
who don’t

And if you’re with me, then you’re with me; you’ve come this far, and if yer playing the game properly, Gnarls Barkley (a.k.a. audio track) is - currently/just did/will soon be - releasing some lines, which, should you sing along with, will smack of raw egotism . . . and feel great.

That’s fine, embrace it.

From The Song
(at least so far as i can tell)

there’s a storm on the way . . . the feeling is frightening, yet isn’t it exciting . . . do i have to tell you that i’m also the sunlight which shines shortly after . . . just remember you need me, i’m the storm coming . . . searching for a sign of the times, is it safe to say it’s me? . . . don’t ask why, just live - and - die

-

-

i hope you want the storm to be coming
i hope you are one of those who spends time staring at the world in search of signs
i hope you will begin to act

i know i’m ready for it

-

-

if the music’s still playing, just wait -

then listen to this last, short (43 seconds), piece

thanks,
much love
- finite

-

-

-

-

-

and just in case you missed it one of the three times that i repeated it for you . . . that line was . . .

now if a man tried, to take his time on earth, and prove before he died what one man’s life could be worth . . . well i wonder what would happen to this world

that,
is a fantastic question
i know i can’t stop wondering

again,
hoping i’m not the only one,
- jester

musical credits are available here

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 14th, 2006 at 1:36 am and is filed under indiscriminate, philosophy, quoted, books you have to read, poetry, music, guerrilla theater. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.