I found out today that one of the guys I eat lunch with once had lunch with Woz.
I eat lunch with this guy. He ate lunch with Woz. So it’s almost like I ate lunch with Woz.
It’s a happy little second-degree geek-fest for me right now.
Tomorrow is Towel Day in honor of the late Douglas Adams.
If you’re as hoopy a frood as I’ve heard, you wouldn’t be caught dead without a towel tomorrow.
Coincidentally, it’s also going to be a Thursday.
If someone sent you a link to a COPS parody based on Imperial Storm Troopers, you’d just have to watch it. Wouldn’t you?
I know I would.
Driving home yesterday, the seminal “Stairway to Heaven” started playing on the iPod.
While singing along, I was struck with the idea for a story. It would be set thousands of years in the future, following some sort of distant apocalyptic event. Civilization would have crumbled and the world in my story would be at the same approximate level of advancement as feudal Europe. The culture would be full of superstition and myths, especially about the handful of ruins surviving from our world. Our own society wouldn’t even be a memory at this point.
Some things from our world has remained, however. Specifically, bits and pieces of “Stairway”. What they remembered of the song would be thought of as a prophesy. (Lines like “And it’s whispered that soon, if we all call the tune / Then the piper will lead us to reason / And a new day will dawn for those who stand long / And the forest will echo with laughter” is just begging to be taken prophetically)
Eventually, some random kid or group of people or something would be assumed to be the heros spoken of in legend. They’ll be sent out on some quest or another, against their own misgivings, in order to fulfill the prophesy.
Except, of course, that it’s not really a prophesy. It’s really a song that’s fun to listen to while high. So the heros end up failing. They probably die agonizing deaths. Or, at the very least they’re chased out of their homes by angry superstitious peasants. Sometimes, I enjoy unhappy endings.
Now, I’m 100% certain that this isn’t an original idea. I mean…it’s me. I don’t have original ideas.
So I’m assuming that a very similar story has already been written. Has anyone come across it? I’d really like to read it.
I’d write it myself, but I’m not particularly talented. Also, SuperHype Music (Google says they own the copyright to the song) would probably sue me.
Still, I’d very much like to read it if you know where I can find it.
From Boing Boing, here’s a video adaption of my second favorite short story. You should watch it before YouTube runs out of money and goes offline.
You can also read the story which is ever so slightly different.
They did such a good job with that one, I’d like them to do Harrison Bergeron. That’s my first favorite short story.
Well, at some time in the middle of this month, it will have been a year since I moved to Charleston. I think it’s about time I had a magazine subscription coming to my door.
Right now, I’m thinking about Newsweek, Time, or Wired.
During my last semester at Clemson, I took a “current events” course for one credit. The “textbook” was Newsweek. I actually really enjoyed reading it. I don’t know if there are better news magazines out there because I haven’t sampled any others except when I’m waiting to get my hair cut.
Time, of course, is the obvious alternative to Newsweek.
I used to really enjoy Wired when I lived with Jason and he subscribed to it. I’ve read that the quality has really gone down the crapper, though, so I’m not sure if it’s worth my $10.
Does anyone out there have any suggestions? Do you know of any I haven’t thought of? If not, I’ll probably just clip a three-sided coin.