NEW MORDECATS!!

There are some new things up on the old sound-of-cloud. Go LISTEN!

Stephen King: Torture-Pornographer? Or Graphic Moral-Adminisiter?

I recently read The Long Walk. It was written by Stephen King using a pseudonym, Richard Bachman. He did this because, as he puts it, he wanted to be someone else for awhile. That is bullshit. The book reads exactly like any other book he has ever written. Same themes, pacing, narration, Maine... He also mentioned in the introduction of the the collection of his "Bachman Books", that his publisher thought they were over-publishing the market with his name. More bullshit. Well, probably less bullshit...

Regardless, they book is quite relevant to my interests.

Synopsis: In the grim and 'fast approaching' future, the new great American pastime is something called The Long Walk. It is a contest, a race of sorts, in which one hundred young male volunteers are challenged to walk non-stop from one end of Maine to the next. North to south, specifically. At the end the last one standing is awarded anything. Anything they wish.

They are given food and water when needed, but they can not stop or slow down. They must keep a pace of at least 4mph. You are given three warnings for falling below that speed, and each warning lasts for one hour. If you get more than three to quick you get a ticket. You lose.

Losing doesn't mean you are just out of the race, however. The Long Walk is sponsored by the new (apparent) supreme ruler of the Universe America, The Major and his various military personnel. The Walk is trailed by a half-track, and guarded on both sides by soldiers. If you can't keep pace, they start calling out warnings. At your fourth warning you are shot. You have "bought your ticket" so to speak.

Elaboration: So, why would anyone in their right mind sign up for to be systematically slaughtered? They are clearly not in their right mind. They are misled first, in that they will be rewarded with anything they could want. Which, apparently to young American men is money, women, and power... Secondly, the way that The Walk's registration is conducted is somewhat shady, and pointless. They'll take anybody, but they act like they won't. And finally, the walkers are treated like heroes. Parties are thrown in their honor, people line the street with signs bearing the names of their favorite walkers, some people bet on the walkers, and they are cheered even in death. In fact, spectators cheer numbly before each Walker is gunned down. There is always a strange mix of emotions afterwards, though. Usually referred to as a 'sexual' kind-of sigh.

Now, if we look at this as some sort of critique of American culture, we can say that the young men are the average ambitious individual striving for that American dream. Money, Power, Women. We could then also say that the Walk is the struggle within American culture to secure part of that Dream for yourself, and the reward is The Dream itself. The crowd is then everything else in, on, or around your path:"Environmental dissonance/noise/atmosphere." It is their to distract, and to urge you on at the same time. To parade the Dream in your face.

I don't intend to try and accurately define the American Dream, but we will describe it thus: A house, a family(male-female, kids, dog, fence), a job. Bullshit. I mean... Digression.

So, first you must qualify for your Dream. You must adhere to and represent cultural standards that are deemed appropriate for those who attain their Dream. You must wear the tie and white/blue collar, but so much more importantly you have to WANT this Dream. You are not sought out. You volunteer. Once you have come forward, then you are assessed. It is not hard to get accepted, really. In fact, you can very well bullshit your way in. They like that. It shows spunk(willingness to manipulate others).

At any rate, you pass, and agree further that you will show up at a specific place and time to do a specific task for some predetermined(or indeterminable) amount of time. It isn't a very hard task. Just pickin' 'em and puttin' 'em down. For hours. Days. Weeks. Years? You start out strong, some lag behind, others don't pace themselves well and hang around front only to drop back later on. Positions are established, friends made, and some even help each other out when things get rough. Eventually people start to drop out. They can't keep pace, and are warned. Bill collector Sergeants start calling, and pointing guns in faces. Saying the authorities will get involved and put holes in you.

All the while everything around you urges you on, and draws you away. Women come and put their hands/lips on you, and you put yours on theirs. It is good, but the Bill-Sergeants tell you, "No!" So, you keep walking. With an erection. If only you hadn't agreed to this damn walk... But, you did, and you knew what it was about. People offer you nice things, like watermelon... Bill-Sergeant says, "That is illegal!" and gives you a canteen of water and some food concentrate.

Someone gets taken out. The cameras line up. Everyone cheers/watches, says, "That's too bad," gives a sigh, and moves on.

At the end you are so tired, , hungry, bleeding, and sad that all of your friends are old and dead that you don't give a shit about anything. In fact, all you can think about is walking. You can't be the last one standing! There has to be someone else... Look there he is! One more. I'm gonna run that son of bitch to the ground.

Or, you can wake up. It's all bullshit, always ways, and always will be.

Further, it is Stephen King. He probably repressed any emotion or though whatsoever in writing this book. I am damn near certain he is a just a gay-hating sadist.

This place is a prison.

First, this is the my current most favorite piece of music ever that I have heard. It is Ligeti. Listen to it while you read.

I am reading One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. You too should read it, and think hard about the fact that you are a wage-slave.

I recently had one of the most upsetting conversations that I have ever had with any human being.

Me: "What would happen if Walmart just disappeard?"

American: "There would just be another super-store to replace it in a few years"

Me: "Ok, well what would happen to the millions of people who work at Walmart?"

American: "They wouldn't have jobs!"

Me: "Well, what do you think they would do to fix that?"

American: "I dunno, they would probably leech off of the government..."

Me: "Thats it? That is their only option?"

American: "Well they could just roll over and die."

Me: "Ok, what would you do if you were one of those people?"

American: "I don't know. I'd probably start my own business."

Me: "Ok, so, for you that is your 'best case scenario', right? Why?"

American: "Because that has the most potential to benefit me."

Me: "What do you mean by that?"

Third party, witnessng the carnage chimes in: "It gives him the best chance to sustain where he currently is..."

American: "Yeah, that."

Me: "Hypothetically you work at Walmart, and we can assume you make a fair wage. You probably have a quarter acre lot, and a multi-bedroom house. Why, out of all the possible options, did you not even consider tilling your entire backyard and growing potatoes?"

American: "Because, potatoes don't make me any MONEY!!"

Me: "Rage."

The American then went on to explain that without a job he couldn't appreciate a few amenities and do some of the things that he likes to do. Like playing video games and working on cars.

I told him that he could build a generator out of car parts and build cars out of shit.

I was a bit nicer than that, but not too much nicer.

This entire conversation started because he was trying to tell the witnessing Third-Party that he was being ridiculous for wanting to move to Thailand after hearing about the Phosphorous shortage.

Music. It always (but never really) changes me.

I have been listening to two things. First, early 1900's composers like Schoenberg, Strauss, with some mid 1900's as well(i.e. Karlheinz Stockhausen and Giacinto Scelsi) Second is stoner-doom-metal. My current favorites being Wiht and Horn of the Rhino.

The most apparrent comparison I can make is the interest in tone. Perfecting the quality of each note/chord/cluster/sound. Really, this is not tone at all. Timbre, or the quality of a musical note or sound that distinguishes different types of sound production(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timbre), is what I mean.

Yes, I did just cite Wikipedia. Fuck you.

The composers of those eras of interest, and the downtuned sound most doom bands profess is a sound obsessed with expressing/changing/creating a very specific shape-colored sound. Either by playing a completely unrecognizable cluster of notes that is derived from a completely different musically theoretical way or simply putting fatter strings on your guitar and using very specific amplification parameters, the goal is similar.

And, now, where they both differ is dynamics. In fact, all modern music has completely lost all sense of dynamics whatsoever... We can blame this on the loudness obsession in audio production today and throughout history. Or, we can just say that dynamics are not a marketable aspect of music, and have somehow been pushed out of interest by flooding the (this sickens me as I type it) 'music-market' with over-produced, simple and repetitive ( to the point of insulting) 'songs'.

Here are some examples of all that I have mentioned:

I was going to post some Lady Gaga, because she is a fucking demon from the depths of a plastic sweatshop factory made of chicken nuggets. But, I will spare you the indecency.

If there are certain sounds that are always explicitly appealing...

Sometimes, I get dizzy when the scrollbars freeze. I hate that. My world is so warped and wrapped in stratifications. It's like the worst, most unhealthy rotting leaves that make the most un-malleable clay. Blue glowing metals and liquid crystals that are paid all in blood...

This was supposed to be poetic.

I have been listening to The Incredible String Band. I don't know much about them personally. She says they are Hobbits. They remind me of my uncles and aunts and cousins. When my whereabouts were a bit more dependent on what my parents were doing, I used to go visit them during annual summer family reunions, which usually consisted of a hundred or so three-to-eighty-year-old individuals picknicking, camping, yelling, card-playing, guitar picking, wailing, singing, hollering, getting-poison-ivying, bear chasing, creek dweelling, etc... The reunions were some of the most personally defining times of my life. There were mountains climbed, properties destroyed, badminton battles, too much soda, and all the sewage-filled creeks for to hunt for crawdads in in the entire universe.

The ' String Band's music reminds me of that. It carries a seemingly unintentional self-searching, and simple clarity that being young and surrounded by community and family fosters. I think it is because so much of their lyrics deal with very deep spiritual things, and the music is very simply composed and layered. It is fun, and serious, and purposeful, but always human. Much like arming a twelve year-old with a sling shot. Inevitably a bird will die, and hopefully someone will learn that what they do has meaning and affect.

I'll try and let them speak for themselves.

I thought this was relevant. It is in the description for this video on the youtube page:

"FAIR USE NOTICE: These pages/video may contain copyrighted (© ) material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available to advance understanding of ecological, POLITICAL, HUMAN RIGHTS, economic, DEMOCRACY, scientific, MORAL, ETHICAL, and SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES, etc. It is believed that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior general interest in receiving similar information for research and educational."

I paint.

These are sum paintings. Look at them. Here is a link to the album if you want full-res copies I guess. All of these were scanned using my shitty HP deskjet printerscannercopier deathmachine. Therefore, they are all much bigger than this in real life. Well, that is to say that the scanner cuts off lots of them. YAY!





These two are part of one piece.




This is a paint on a woodburned portrait of Jesus.


This a tree and a hand done in crayon.




This is glitter.


Glitter gets fucking everywhere...




Those are pieces of tin foil.








This is a paintbrush.

This is what I mean, I think.

Authority does not allow you to experience real personal consequence. You are only accountable for as far as your actions are punishable. For example if I steal from food from a grocery store, they are out a few dollars, and my gut is filled. But, the cashiers who let me walk out of their with that few dollars are possibly in jeopardy, because stealing is illegal. Not too mention what would have happened to me if I were caught... The employees involved are now required to appeal their actions to the those in charge, and those in charge are now required to appeal their actions to those superior. All this is happening simply because I didn't adhere to a piece of this hierarchy. Instead of exchanging food for a piece of paper I took it. In this scenario myself, the would be culprit, gets off scot-free, and the unobservant cashier is the one who will take the hit. Is this fair? This idea of, consequence; equals and opposites, applies very clearly in such a rigid hierarchical system, and living in such a system, we are all familiar with this idea of consequence. No one is really required to say who was wrong or who was right. We all know I was wrong, and yet so is the cashier for their negligence. But, not those who are 'in charge.' This is not to say that any personal moral conflict in this kind of situation is non-existent. It just isn't necessary, and is easily ignored.

But what if this hierarchy is removed? Are we then left to mill around hitting each other in the face because we don't know we cant? The obvious answer is no. And to assume otherwise is to ignore something innate in every person. The reason that assumption is made; that removing rules results in chaos is that because of the rules we need not have any personal idea of consequence or responsibility. What Anarchism aims to do is free us from that hierarchy. Those oppressive social mechanizations that force us into tiny inhuman niches where our only purpose is to produce. The ability to act freely. Liberation. To be human, and work together towards a mutual goal. Solidarity. The freedom to experience real choice, real consequence, and real responsibility. To live.