- Sep 22, 2013
- 4,956
- 250
- 85
America in the new age is all about networking and imagination, which is why I wrote this vignette, inspired by the films Johnny Mnemonic and Toys.
Cheers,
====
"Americans in the new age cared about the contours of labor and character in the office-place, since commerce made manufacturing and productivity somewhat 'spiritual' and Wall Street became the new 'Tower of Babel.' American comic book writers were penning characters signifying a new age fascination with civics/ethics as they related to the urban landscape of workaholics, over-achievers, and stockbroker-ghouls (e.g., Two-Face, Kingpin, Lex Luthor, etc.)."
"Apple Computers became the new 'trophy' of capitalism, offering home-computers and business world smartphones that were very user-friendly and even resembled toys. Apple co-founder genius Steve Jobs was the new Lee Iacocca (Chrysler Automobiles). Americans/consumers cared about the quality of computing and networking conveniences such as Facebook and MySpace accessibility on Apple iPhones, and more and more film-makers were placing computers/iPhones into their pedestrianism-consciousness films such as You've Got Mail (Tom Hanks)."
"An average modern-day American housewife living comfortably in the suburbs while their husband commuted to the city for work enjoyed spending the day taking care of their children while surfing on the World Wide Web and enjoying modern social amenities such as Facebook and Amazon.com. This was actually very 'sacred' to Americans, since consumerism and convenience had always been hallmarks of the American 'spirit' (e.g., Pony Express, Bell-Atlantic, Atari video-games, etc.). This was almost...a crusade."
"A band of time-travelling knights known as Teutonics travelled to 2010 Los Angeles and perused the suburban landscape outside the city to observe the lifestyle-mannerisms of everyday consumers. These Teutonic knights had military orders to engage with a lethal and invisible 'army of darkness' which was also arriving in 2010 Los Angeles to confound this modern world's commercial sensibilities regarding computing/convenience. This 'army of darkness' would prey on post-9/11 fears regarding traffic vulnerabilities (e.g., hackers, terrorists), and they'd also challenge the Teutonic knights to see if American consumerism was worth prayers. The Teutonic knights inhabited the bodies of movie-celebrities (e.g., Tom Cruise, Charlize Theron) and American college professors (e.g. Dinesh D'Souza) and used their bodies as vessels for this engagement with the army of darkness. Everything was set."
"An army of darkness requires a leader or captain, and the captain here was the venomous and maniacal Carnage. Carnage exhibited the same time-travelling and corporeal-form inhabiting abilities as the Teutonic knights, but instead of using spirit-shields and shining-swords, Carnage was a 'mass' of morphing flesh. Carnage would make weapons on-the-fly and decapitate the bodies the Teutonic knights inhabited. Carnage believed in mayhem for anarchy's sake, and he cared nothing for the 'inherent sacredness' of American housewives surfing on Amazon.com while their husbands worked on Wall Street. Carnage wanted Americans to continue to dread the metaphysical symbolism of 9/11."
"As the Teutonic knights and Carnage and his lethal army of darkness arrayed themselves on a barren field in the American Midwest, on a clearing on a giant hill with the remains of a playing-field and camp, the Teutonic knights knew they'd have to out-maneuver and outwit the army of darkness and Carnage. The knights would have to encircle around the army of darkness and topple the figurehead Carnage and then restore sanity in 2010 Los Angeles by reminding American consumers and the world that imagination was always more powerful than mischief and complete insanity. Carnage was prepared to defy the knights' idealistic stance regarding the defendability of commercial vanities such as DreamWorks, eBay, NATO, and Intel."
CARNAGE: This is a battle for blood and vision...
KNIGHT: Americans deeply care about Apple and Microsoft!
CARNAGE: You're a band of dreamers; this is the time of great mischief.
KNIGHT: Mischief is always tempered by intellectual focus.
CARNAGE: Modern capitalism is schizophrenia and juvenile.
KNIGHT: There is democratic potential in networking.
CARNAGE: Facebook does not help the Vatican...
KNIGHT: Don't you see how email has revolutionized etiquette?
CARNAGE: You knights can't stand against my army of darkness.
KNIGHT: Our bodies are here to challenge your will to dominate!
CARNAGE: So you're the defenders of American housewives?
KNIGHT: There's nothing 'crude' about Maytag dishwashers.
CARNAGE: Marketing goods for lifestyle-conveniences creates sloth.
KNIGHT: We disagree; eBay and Amazon.com promote daily comforts.
CARNAGE: The cure to all this cholesterol-mindedness is vampirism!
KNIGHT: No; cannibalism/vampirism is in no way linked to Burger King.
CARNAGE: You don't see the 'reality' of capitalism/consumerism frivolities.
KNIGHT: We understand the dangers of moral apathy...
CARNAGE: Americans indulge their fantasies, which is why terrorists despise them.
KNIGHT: Vampirism is not the 'cure' to hysteria.
CARNAGE: We'll see if this 'rapture-battle' addresses the problem of human vice.
KNIGHT: May video-games shine!
"As the Teutonic knights defeated Carnage and his army of darkness, they realized they could write in their journals that modern-day American housewives were shielded from the real problem of cholesterol-apathy driven capitalism cynicism. American housewives would not become 'automated slaves' to the ominous 'behemoth' of commerce gluttony and consumerism sloth. American housewives would be the 'angels/muses' of new age technology/toy optimism, and kids could play video-games...in peace."
"After the Teutonic knights returned to their own time-period, Carnage and his army of darkness re-descended into the underworld, vowing never to return again. The Teutonic knights knew that the modern world would be safely able to embrace the amenities of FiOS, T-Mobile, Netgrocer.com, and Wikipedia. The new age city would be a hub for idealism rather than a 'target' for terrorism. The commerce-minded 'TrumpUSA' would be a 'tower' of great socialization energy rather than lifestyle sloth. There would be no 'political gambling'."
"Americans offered the world the great chessmaster Bobby Fischer who reminded the world that the United States led the way not only in commerce and military strength but also in intellectual fervor and academic energy. Americans boasted the finest colleges/universities in the world (e.g., Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Duke, Exeter, Johns Hopkins, UCLA, etc.). These trophies would be shielded from the moral dangers introduced by the anti-civilization minded Carnage and his 'army of darkness.' The legacy of Bobby Fischer would be one of 'scholastic craftsmanship' and not erudition-arrogance. The NSA (National Security Agency) therefore established a new cyber-division to oversee all Internet activity for Homeland Security protocols --- as the Internet-hacker emerged as the new age terrorist."
THE END
====
Cheers,
====
"Americans in the new age cared about the contours of labor and character in the office-place, since commerce made manufacturing and productivity somewhat 'spiritual' and Wall Street became the new 'Tower of Babel.' American comic book writers were penning characters signifying a new age fascination with civics/ethics as they related to the urban landscape of workaholics, over-achievers, and stockbroker-ghouls (e.g., Two-Face, Kingpin, Lex Luthor, etc.)."
"Apple Computers became the new 'trophy' of capitalism, offering home-computers and business world smartphones that were very user-friendly and even resembled toys. Apple co-founder genius Steve Jobs was the new Lee Iacocca (Chrysler Automobiles). Americans/consumers cared about the quality of computing and networking conveniences such as Facebook and MySpace accessibility on Apple iPhones, and more and more film-makers were placing computers/iPhones into their pedestrianism-consciousness films such as You've Got Mail (Tom Hanks)."
"An average modern-day American housewife living comfortably in the suburbs while their husband commuted to the city for work enjoyed spending the day taking care of their children while surfing on the World Wide Web and enjoying modern social amenities such as Facebook and Amazon.com. This was actually very 'sacred' to Americans, since consumerism and convenience had always been hallmarks of the American 'spirit' (e.g., Pony Express, Bell-Atlantic, Atari video-games, etc.). This was almost...a crusade."
"A band of time-travelling knights known as Teutonics travelled to 2010 Los Angeles and perused the suburban landscape outside the city to observe the lifestyle-mannerisms of everyday consumers. These Teutonic knights had military orders to engage with a lethal and invisible 'army of darkness' which was also arriving in 2010 Los Angeles to confound this modern world's commercial sensibilities regarding computing/convenience. This 'army of darkness' would prey on post-9/11 fears regarding traffic vulnerabilities (e.g., hackers, terrorists), and they'd also challenge the Teutonic knights to see if American consumerism was worth prayers. The Teutonic knights inhabited the bodies of movie-celebrities (e.g., Tom Cruise, Charlize Theron) and American college professors (e.g. Dinesh D'Souza) and used their bodies as vessels for this engagement with the army of darkness. Everything was set."
"An army of darkness requires a leader or captain, and the captain here was the venomous and maniacal Carnage. Carnage exhibited the same time-travelling and corporeal-form inhabiting abilities as the Teutonic knights, but instead of using spirit-shields and shining-swords, Carnage was a 'mass' of morphing flesh. Carnage would make weapons on-the-fly and decapitate the bodies the Teutonic knights inhabited. Carnage believed in mayhem for anarchy's sake, and he cared nothing for the 'inherent sacredness' of American housewives surfing on Amazon.com while their husbands worked on Wall Street. Carnage wanted Americans to continue to dread the metaphysical symbolism of 9/11."
"As the Teutonic knights and Carnage and his lethal army of darkness arrayed themselves on a barren field in the American Midwest, on a clearing on a giant hill with the remains of a playing-field and camp, the Teutonic knights knew they'd have to out-maneuver and outwit the army of darkness and Carnage. The knights would have to encircle around the army of darkness and topple the figurehead Carnage and then restore sanity in 2010 Los Angeles by reminding American consumers and the world that imagination was always more powerful than mischief and complete insanity. Carnage was prepared to defy the knights' idealistic stance regarding the defendability of commercial vanities such as DreamWorks, eBay, NATO, and Intel."
CARNAGE: This is a battle for blood and vision...
KNIGHT: Americans deeply care about Apple and Microsoft!
CARNAGE: You're a band of dreamers; this is the time of great mischief.
KNIGHT: Mischief is always tempered by intellectual focus.
CARNAGE: Modern capitalism is schizophrenia and juvenile.
KNIGHT: There is democratic potential in networking.
CARNAGE: Facebook does not help the Vatican...
KNIGHT: Don't you see how email has revolutionized etiquette?
CARNAGE: You knights can't stand against my army of darkness.
KNIGHT: Our bodies are here to challenge your will to dominate!
CARNAGE: So you're the defenders of American housewives?
KNIGHT: There's nothing 'crude' about Maytag dishwashers.
CARNAGE: Marketing goods for lifestyle-conveniences creates sloth.
KNIGHT: We disagree; eBay and Amazon.com promote daily comforts.
CARNAGE: The cure to all this cholesterol-mindedness is vampirism!
KNIGHT: No; cannibalism/vampirism is in no way linked to Burger King.
CARNAGE: You don't see the 'reality' of capitalism/consumerism frivolities.
KNIGHT: We understand the dangers of moral apathy...
CARNAGE: Americans indulge their fantasies, which is why terrorists despise them.
KNIGHT: Vampirism is not the 'cure' to hysteria.
CARNAGE: We'll see if this 'rapture-battle' addresses the problem of human vice.
KNIGHT: May video-games shine!
"As the Teutonic knights defeated Carnage and his army of darkness, they realized they could write in their journals that modern-day American housewives were shielded from the real problem of cholesterol-apathy driven capitalism cynicism. American housewives would not become 'automated slaves' to the ominous 'behemoth' of commerce gluttony and consumerism sloth. American housewives would be the 'angels/muses' of new age technology/toy optimism, and kids could play video-games...in peace."
"After the Teutonic knights returned to their own time-period, Carnage and his army of darkness re-descended into the underworld, vowing never to return again. The Teutonic knights knew that the modern world would be safely able to embrace the amenities of FiOS, T-Mobile, Netgrocer.com, and Wikipedia. The new age city would be a hub for idealism rather than a 'target' for terrorism. The commerce-minded 'TrumpUSA' would be a 'tower' of great socialization energy rather than lifestyle sloth. There would be no 'political gambling'."
"Americans offered the world the great chessmaster Bobby Fischer who reminded the world that the United States led the way not only in commerce and military strength but also in intellectual fervor and academic energy. Americans boasted the finest colleges/universities in the world (e.g., Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Duke, Exeter, Johns Hopkins, UCLA, etc.). These trophies would be shielded from the moral dangers introduced by the anti-civilization minded Carnage and his 'army of darkness.' The legacy of Bobby Fischer would be one of 'scholastic craftsmanship' and not erudition-arrogance. The NSA (National Security Agency) therefore established a new cyber-division to oversee all Internet activity for Homeland Security protocols --- as the Internet-hacker emerged as the new age terrorist."
THE END
====
