Due to my obsession with digital art and music culture, I try to find periodicals and other resources that speak about these concerning topics. It was probably back in 2003 when I found the magazine Res. I bought an issue because it had Radiohead on the cover (many people already know my given obsession on this God given band); this was when Hail to the Thief had been released.
As I browsed through the issue it had so many wondrous articles regarding up-and-rising music video directors, avant-garde artists, interviews with comic book writers, reviews on indie musicians and art-house films. It may sound snobby to some people, but it covered many things that I did not find in the issues of Entertainment Weekly and Premiere.
The magazine is bi-monthly (this means every two months; I have many friends who argue that that means twice in a month), and as of now the magazine is re-creating itself so it’s on holiday. I save every issue and this evening I was revisiting some articles. In one of the issues, I found some papers stuffed in it and they were copies of a treasure map! No, not quite. I would have called this entry “National Treasure” if that were the case.
The papers were notes, scripts, and sketches of a story I started about a year and a half ago, I think. It started as a song I wanted to write (and no, I don’t usually write songs), that had the words “You left your shadow at my house.” It didn’t really go anywhere, and I then explored other realms. I focused in on my protagonist, who was a college graduate and was leading the slacker life, worked two part-time jobs: one at the local library and the other at a New Leaf market rip-off. The story was to concentrate on this individual and his daily surroundings. You would see his interaction with his work colleagues and his friends in this small town. The town was fun to create. I created the main indie theater, the Calliope, named after the muse of writers and poets. There was the local favorite bar called Heaven, “a place where nothing happens.” Talking Heads anyone? The art-house video rental store, the Mis-en-Scene, which film lovers will get. I had created a small world for our character (the town was called San Humberto if you were wondering).
As the story progresses, our protagonist finds himself in a relationship (the significance of this is that he’s been flying solo for many years) and we see his changes and uncovering of feelings and reactions he didn’t know he had. I never finished this due to laziness and my lack of knowledge on certain themes. However, in my notes, I came across a scene I had wrote where he decides to dogsit for his coworker who is off doing interviews for graduate schools. He gets drunk by himself as he is with the dog and then taps into a dream world where he is talking to, no other than, that same dog.
“Well, what’s the deal? You gonna give me some of that rum?” Mikey (the dog) asked with irritation.
“Oh…sorry man. I didn’t realize you were the drinking type. Or the talking type,” the protagonist said with pure curiosity.
“Us dogs have been talking since the dawn of time. You humans just decided not to listen.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know what your problem is. I mean once you humans got cocky with the whole idea of a civilization, we lost all contact with you. Our goal was to work with you, but you turned your back on us.”
“This isn’t making much sense.”
“Humans developed an institution where a child is born into and basically learns all the wrong things. You could have been like us, born into this world and know all the secrets of the universe. On the contrary, you’re born into this world, and for about a few months, you have the universe at your fingertips, you know it all, and then this manmade thing called a verbal language and a formalized structure of education is put in front of you and you lose all concepts of what the life around you means. You see, us dogs don’t have this problem.”
“So, you think that you’re smarter than us?”
“We know we’re smarter than you.”
“Then how come you’re all just a bunch of pets?”
“That’s how you’ve decided to perceive us. Your ignorance has clouded your vision and judgment. A lot is going on in this world besides just what you humans are doing. You know that ants have found a way to divide by zero? And what do you have to offer? Oh, you found a way to record television and skip over the commercials.”
“Okay, hot shot, what do you have to offer?”
“First off, let it be known that we were the ones to bring up the concept of global warming. You humans really fucked that one up! This is why we are phrased as man’s best friend, we need to keep you in check.”
“Well, besides catching all of humankind’s mistakes, what do you have to offer? Something original.”
“I know what it means to exist. I know how to make life and death the same thing. I know what the future entails because it’s the same as the past.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that we took on the knowledge that you were not ready to take because you lacked the responsibility. It was shown right there in front of your eyes; paradise was given to you but you chose what was behind door number two.”
“Can you tell me those things you know?”
“The answers have always been shown to you; all you have to do is look into a dog’s eyes.”
“Wait, I thought that you couldn’t look into a dog’s eyes because that’s where it hides all its guilt.”
“See, that is what’s wrong with you all! You create these bullshit fables so you can still hide from the truth.”
“Alright, can I look into your eyes?”
“Why? What do you want to know?”
“I don’t know… life, the universe, everything.”
“Original.”
“Can I look?”
“Sure, just give me some of that rum when you’re done,” our protagonist leaned forward towards Mikey, he made sure he did not blink as he focused in on the dog’s eyes. Mikey tilted his head slightly to the left as he stared back. Their eyes were locked and secrets were about to be revealed when Mikey chimed in with, “Dong!”
“What?”
“Ding! Dong!” the dog spoke again.
Suddenly reality was put back in order, the protagonist found himself on the couch still and saw there was somebody at the door. As he got up, he noticed that he spilt his bottle of rum on the floor and Mikey was having at it. He opened the door and noticed his coworker’s friend, Regan.
“Regan? What’s up?”
“Hey, I was seeing if Steph was home. You okay?”
“Yeah, a bit confused, that dog was about to tell me the secrets of the universe but you rang the doorbell.”
“Sorry man. I can come back later if you want.”
“No, come on in.”
The story went off into some other direction. The protagonist never had a name because I never settled on one.
This conversation always amused me. It was one of those things I thought about; never take your surroundings for granted. I remember when my dog, Max, was alive. There were times when I would be reading, playing a videogame or talking to one of my brothers or a friend, and there was Max, staring blankly at me. What did he know that I didn’t? Was he judging me? What did I do wrong?
I say to everyone to go and really appreciate your loved canine friends. Remember that they see and hear the things we choose not to observe or take in.
As for the cat people out there, sorry. If this was Brave New World, cats would be the Epsilon class. The cat in my house proves this everyday. I know it could not handle the secrets of the universe.
As I browsed through the issue it had so many wondrous articles regarding up-and-rising music video directors, avant-garde artists, interviews with comic book writers, reviews on indie musicians and art-house films. It may sound snobby to some people, but it covered many things that I did not find in the issues of Entertainment Weekly and Premiere.
The magazine is bi-monthly (this means every two months; I have many friends who argue that that means twice in a month), and as of now the magazine is re-creating itself so it’s on holiday. I save every issue and this evening I was revisiting some articles. In one of the issues, I found some papers stuffed in it and they were copies of a treasure map! No, not quite. I would have called this entry “National Treasure” if that were the case.
The papers were notes, scripts, and sketches of a story I started about a year and a half ago, I think. It started as a song I wanted to write (and no, I don’t usually write songs), that had the words “You left your shadow at my house.” It didn’t really go anywhere, and I then explored other realms. I focused in on my protagonist, who was a college graduate and was leading the slacker life, worked two part-time jobs: one at the local library and the other at a New Leaf market rip-off. The story was to concentrate on this individual and his daily surroundings. You would see his interaction with his work colleagues and his friends in this small town. The town was fun to create. I created the main indie theater, the Calliope, named after the muse of writers and poets. There was the local favorite bar called Heaven, “a place where nothing happens.” Talking Heads anyone? The art-house video rental store, the Mis-en-Scene, which film lovers will get. I had created a small world for our character (the town was called San Humberto if you were wondering).
As the story progresses, our protagonist finds himself in a relationship (the significance of this is that he’s been flying solo for many years) and we see his changes and uncovering of feelings and reactions he didn’t know he had. I never finished this due to laziness and my lack of knowledge on certain themes. However, in my notes, I came across a scene I had wrote where he decides to dogsit for his coworker who is off doing interviews for graduate schools. He gets drunk by himself as he is with the dog and then taps into a dream world where he is talking to, no other than, that same dog.
“Well, what’s the deal? You gonna give me some of that rum?” Mikey (the dog) asked with irritation.
“Oh…sorry man. I didn’t realize you were the drinking type. Or the talking type,” the protagonist said with pure curiosity.
“Us dogs have been talking since the dawn of time. You humans just decided not to listen.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know what your problem is. I mean once you humans got cocky with the whole idea of a civilization, we lost all contact with you. Our goal was to work with you, but you turned your back on us.”
“This isn’t making much sense.”
“Humans developed an institution where a child is born into and basically learns all the wrong things. You could have been like us, born into this world and know all the secrets of the universe. On the contrary, you’re born into this world, and for about a few months, you have the universe at your fingertips, you know it all, and then this manmade thing called a verbal language and a formalized structure of education is put in front of you and you lose all concepts of what the life around you means. You see, us dogs don’t have this problem.”
“So, you think that you’re smarter than us?”
“We know we’re smarter than you.”
“Then how come you’re all just a bunch of pets?”
“That’s how you’ve decided to perceive us. Your ignorance has clouded your vision and judgment. A lot is going on in this world besides just what you humans are doing. You know that ants have found a way to divide by zero? And what do you have to offer? Oh, you found a way to record television and skip over the commercials.”
“Okay, hot shot, what do you have to offer?”
“First off, let it be known that we were the ones to bring up the concept of global warming. You humans really fucked that one up! This is why we are phrased as man’s best friend, we need to keep you in check.”
“Well, besides catching all of humankind’s mistakes, what do you have to offer? Something original.”
“I know what it means to exist. I know how to make life and death the same thing. I know what the future entails because it’s the same as the past.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that we took on the knowledge that you were not ready to take because you lacked the responsibility. It was shown right there in front of your eyes; paradise was given to you but you chose what was behind door number two.”
“Can you tell me those things you know?”
“The answers have always been shown to you; all you have to do is look into a dog’s eyes.”
“Wait, I thought that you couldn’t look into a dog’s eyes because that’s where it hides all its guilt.”
“See, that is what’s wrong with you all! You create these bullshit fables so you can still hide from the truth.”
“Alright, can I look into your eyes?”
“Why? What do you want to know?”
“I don’t know… life, the universe, everything.”
“Original.”
“Can I look?”
“Sure, just give me some of that rum when you’re done,” our protagonist leaned forward towards Mikey, he made sure he did not blink as he focused in on the dog’s eyes. Mikey tilted his head slightly to the left as he stared back. Their eyes were locked and secrets were about to be revealed when Mikey chimed in with, “Dong!”
“What?”
“Ding! Dong!” the dog spoke again.
Suddenly reality was put back in order, the protagonist found himself on the couch still and saw there was somebody at the door. As he got up, he noticed that he spilt his bottle of rum on the floor and Mikey was having at it. He opened the door and noticed his coworker’s friend, Regan.
“Regan? What’s up?”
“Hey, I was seeing if Steph was home. You okay?”
“Yeah, a bit confused, that dog was about to tell me the secrets of the universe but you rang the doorbell.”
“Sorry man. I can come back later if you want.”
“No, come on in.”
The story went off into some other direction. The protagonist never had a name because I never settled on one.
This conversation always amused me. It was one of those things I thought about; never take your surroundings for granted. I remember when my dog, Max, was alive. There were times when I would be reading, playing a videogame or talking to one of my brothers or a friend, and there was Max, staring blankly at me. What did he know that I didn’t? Was he judging me? What did I do wrong?
I say to everyone to go and really appreciate your loved canine friends. Remember that they see and hear the things we choose not to observe or take in.
As for the cat people out there, sorry. If this was Brave New World, cats would be the Epsilon class. The cat in my house proves this everyday. I know it could not handle the secrets of the universe.
1 comment:
Well, with a name like Zero he's probably got self-esteem issues working against him.
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