The Spectacle of Revolution
-I haven't shaved since Sunday, and last night I dreamt that my current "beard" grew into an actual, super-scraggly beard overnight. Luckily, I woke up to discover that it was still tame. I'm going to shave later this morning since I will finally have the time to do so.
-I'm feeling a little healthier today. Tonight I might see The Rest play again at the Beta Bar. It's only $2. I'll probably watch Taxi Driver sometime today.
-Almost 20 hours of my next paycheck will have consisted of me reading Screened Out and Guy Debord's The Society of the Spectacle. I find that terribly amusing, but what else was I going to do? The notion of being a spectator (at a sport event) disgusts me -- it's a brainless activity. I'm being paid to be a spectator, admittedly, but there's a quirky little paradox there. Sports is essentially entertainment, and entertainment keeps the masses working to afford that sort of leisure time and time again. I work, but sometimes in my line of work I get to experience that leisure at work without having to pay for it -- but I don't even enjoy basketball, so I pretty much ignore it by bringing my own portable leisure at the Civic Center's expense, and they don't complain.
-I've come up with two ideas for stories/plays:
A Syndicate of Frauds: The first part of the storyline is loosely inspired by the late French president Mitterand, where the president covers up his illness to stay in office, but as he approaches death, he resigns from office -- but not before he has an extended fireside chat with the nation about the uselessness of government, how the people don't count in their eyes and that the people should learn to respect each other since the government doesn't respect for them, tells the people that he's dissolving the government and having all its citadels burnt down, and then announces that no-one shall ever rule the country again and if anarchism doesn't reign he'll (supposedly -- because he's only trying to scare them and actually never ends up having to) use his power as commander-in-chief one last time to destroy the people if they don't comply, in essence giving concrete proof that the government cares nothing for the people and actually thrives on contempt toward its citizens. With these actions, he actually hopes that the people will be shaken from their complacency and will be motivated to emerge with a superior society (less consumer-driven, no spectacle, corporation-less, more open-minded and less inept) from the ashes of the current form of America.
Now You See It, Now You Don't!: Working-title. In a very close future, every week a television program comes on where a Rupert Murdoch-like figure assumes the role of an illusionist and either destroys, replaces, or makes something (or someone) disappear each week on live television -- buildings, monuments, celebrities, geographical landmarks, department stores, entities, et cetera. America is enthralled and keeps watching to see what vanishes next, and the host gets away with it because of his power and status. (And yes, it is speculated that he might be behind the destruction of the World Trade Center at one point. He might also be in the pockets of "terrorists" but I have yet to decide.)
-I also want to write essays about children as a sexually transmitted disease, the fetishization of the diet, and I might also pen one about the blurred line between cheerleading and pornography (which is admittedly a very simple conclusion to make, but there's a lot to it because it proves that morality is outmoded and makes a case of it in studying how the Occidental left has become increasingly tame and moral and the Right, seen traditionally as being more moral, has always consisted of moral crusaders who are actually moral pretenders).
-I'm in love with Antoine Rivarol's observation that the people "had only wanted the spectacle of revolution" and not revolution itself.
-Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark's "Maid of Orleans" never fails in making my eyes well up with tears. Greatest pop song ever, possibly. "Souvenir" has a similar effect, too.