Commander Keen says:
hey
public image says:
yo
public image says:
im off to bed in a min
Commander Keen says:
ok
Commander Keen says:
g'night!
public image says:
not yet
public image says:
how r u?
Commander Keen says:
not bad
Commander Keen says:
a bit grumpy, actually
public image says:
whats up?
Commander Keen says:
ah, me and dominique were discussing rock stardom
public image says:
and?
Commander Keen says:
i wanna be a rock star.
Commander Keen says:
and i'm not, and i won't be, so i'm a bit depressed about it.
public image says:
you can be, if you drop everything and do it
public image says:
and being a rock star isn't everything either
public image says:
sometimes i wish i could be
public image says:
but it hink it's ok just to touch a few people as well
public image says:
think*
Commander Keen says:
yeah
Commander Keen says:
well
public image says:
in a musical cat power-esque way, not a michael jackson way
Commander Keen says:
me too. it actually is nothing to do with rock stardom or not.
Commander Keen says:
hahah
public image says:
whats it about then
Commander Keen says:
it's to do with responsibility vs. freedom
Commander Keen says:
maybe not freedom
public image says:
haha, well you have the freedom to be responsible and vice versa
Commander Keen says:
responsibility vs. something...
public image says:
says cheapskate philosopher rich
public image says:
responsibilty vs not giving a fuck?
Commander Keen says:
something like not having anyone depend on anything you do
Commander Keen says:
yeah!
Commander Keen says:
basically
public image says:
hmm
Commander Keen says:
i've had exactly the same feeling for the past 14 years or something.
Commander Keen says:
i was never all that keen to go to "big school"
public image says:
me neither
Commander Keen says:
because then there's expectations of you.
Commander Keen says:
you have to be "grown up" and fulfil certain roles.
public image says:
not if you surpass them
Commander Keen says:
well yeah, but you have to play by the rules before you start being able to break them
Commander Keen says:
i mean, that applies even to artists and musicians.
public image says:
of course, you grow up learning that way until you're intelligent enough to take a different path
Commander Keen says:
how do you mean?
public image says:
well, how can you break the rules if you don't even know them
Commander Keen says:
well that's exactly it. i'm not really interested in "breaking the rules"
Commander Keen says:
i just wish we could have a life that allows us to be naive enough to not even know that there ARE rules
Commander Keen says:
or in fact, for us all to be naive enough for there to be no rules
public image says:
so basically, you wish we had the child-like mentality to be nice to each other etc
Commander Keen says:
well yeah
Commander Keen says:
although i guess by that token, going around curing people is a good way to do it.
public image says:
kids still step on insects, and kick the shit out of each other, no?
public image says:
for most people its human nature to be a tosser, unfortunately
Commander Keen says:
yeah, even kids are shit
Commander Keen says:
i never kicked the shit out of anyone.
public image says:
me neither
public image says:
bvut has anyone ever tried to kick the shit out of you?
Commander Keen says:
yeah
Commander Keen says:
a lot
public image says:
same here
public image says:
'nuff said
public image says:
people are shit
public image says:
said slipknot
public image says:
see, they were right!
public image says:
no-one's ever going to love everyone
Commander Keen says:
no
public image says:
no-one's ever going to be naive enough
Commander Keen says:
the problem is this:
Commander Keen says:
i want to live in a perfect world. and at one point i believed that was possible
public image says:
how
Commander Keen says:
because i knew nothing about the world.
Commander Keen says:
i mean its obviously not possible
public image says:
well, what is 'perfect'?
Commander Keen says:
whatever you want, the point is the world is not how you or i would like it to be, and every day we learn a little more about how completely impossible it is to do anything about it.
Commander Keen says:
each day a new fact, each day a new kick in the teeth for our idealism
public image says:
thats why we find people with similar mindsets to us
Commander Keen says:
each day another needleful of reality, and another dose of why we are completely wrong
Commander Keen says:
which means every day you've got one more fact, and one less dream
public image says:
well, i know what you mean, but what can you expect?
public image says:
there's still things left to dream about
Commander Keen says:
exactly. it's got to the point where we can't even expect anything other than the slow grinding away of our ideals
public image says:
they don't have to be grinded away though
public image says:
you can grind back
Commander Keen says:
can oyu?
Commander Keen says:
i mean, really? can you grind back at the world. is there anything you or i can do to make the world fuck us over
public image says:
to make the world fuck US over?
public image says:
erm
public image says:
sit in warrington all your life
public image says:
done
Commander Keen says:
sorry, missed a "not"
Commander Keen says:
out of that
public image says:
when you say 'world' who do you mean
Commander Keen says:
"make the world *not* fuck us over"
Commander Keen says:
i mean the whole world. the organisation of facts, people, concrete, metal. Zoos and golf courses and artillery ranges.
Commander Keen says:
all the things that i used to think were "wrong" and now just "are"
public image says:
but you still recognize they're wrong
Commander Keen says:
no
Commander Keen says:
i don't "feel" like they are anymore
Commander Keen says:
or if i do, it's in fleeting moments
public image says:
hmm
Commander Keen says:
when you just feel like we're getting it wrong. and then i have to go about the business of eating or sleeping or walking somewhere.
Commander Keen says:
http://www.well.com/user/eob/poetry/The_Second_Coming.html public image says:
ah, w.b. yeats
Commander Keen says:
well yeah. he's got it right there.
public image says:
i've tried to be the optimist, but let's face it we're fucked, for the forseeable and unforseeable future
public image says:
we used to have gods that we couldn't see, who were in our image or whatever
public image says:
and now we have the media giving us our commandments
public image says:
led by the beautiful
public image says:
and the supposed brilliant
Commander Keen says:
and, ultimately, the rich and the greedy.
public image says:
and we can't compete
Commander Keen says:
nor should we.
Commander Keen says:
but where will we go to escape them?
public image says:
and, in order to subvert that, we'd have to take responsibility
public image says:
and use riches and greed to throw them out
Commander Keen says:
i'm not sure anymore if my ideals aren't mass-marketed.
public image says:
hmm
public image says:
the ideals are probably more held by many people, and therefore mass-marketed in order to profit from them
Commander Keen says:
how. sick. is. that?
Commander Keen says:
"turning rebellion into money"
public image says:
is it ok to turn money into rebellion then?
Commander Keen says:
i don't know.
Commander Keen says:
you know what, i'm going to post this in my LJ if that's ok, and then listen to the holy bible.
public image says:
this convo?
Commander Keen says:
and not do anything about the issues until i can think of what the actual problem is.
Commander Keen says:
yeah
Commander Keen says:
is that ok?
public image says:
yeah, go for it
Commander Keen says:
done.
The Second Coming -- W. B. Yeats
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all convictions, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?