FUTURE CO

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FUTURE CO

The chief executive sat at his desk. The window, to his side, was huge. It needed to be in order to see the whole panorama of his creation. It was one large corporation indeed.
They had advised him to be cautious before he began the project. After all, he was taking capitalism to a whole new dimension. Yet, if only he’d been more aware of the outcome, maybe he would have thought twice before proceeding. But when has such fear stopped the human need to advance?

To advance. Is that what had happened?

Efficiency was the key. A society is best if full efficiency is achieved. If everything runs like clockwork, and everyone operates to their maximum ability, and time is used to perfection, with just enough time to sleep, just enough time to eat, just enough time to work, and just enough time to buy.
Well, he’d achieved maximum efficiency, that was for sure.
And now, as the chief executive sat at his desk, looking down on Earth, he offered one last smile before raising the gun to his head and firing.
It was the last act of inefficiency before the zombies came in, and efficiently cleaned him away.

© Anthony North, May 2008

MAYBE MAN

The maybe man, he’s a scream,
going there, in his dream;
Cautious is, his way to be,
going nowhere, like a tree;
All through life, he thinks it out,
swimming nowhere, like a trout;
A human being, he certainly is,
but his existence, has no fizz;
sometimes you’ve just, got to say,
get on with life, its full array,
or in your head, or in your bed,
you’ll stay, until
you’re very dead

(c) Anthony North, May 2008

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CAUTIOUSLY GOES

There are two ways to go through life – throw yourself into it, or be cautious. Yet to me, both stances are erroneous. To go ahead with something without thought usually ends in disaster.
We have a mind for a good reason. It is there to work out odds and consequences of our actions. And we are well aware of the thoughtless individual, the centre of a whirlpool of chaos and tragedy.
Alternatively, caution can be counter-productive, too. So often we say ‘maybe’ – should we do it this way, or that? What will be the outcome of this? And before you realize what’s happened, nothing has, and life has passed you by.
Problems no matter which way we go. So rather, to be fully human we should search out the happy medium. Think things through, but not too much. Jump into things, but giving a thought to others and yourself.
If anyone ever works out how to do it, please let me know.

© Anthony North, May 2008

HOW NOT TO WRITE #1

If you want MANIC MONDAY, scroll down

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WOODEN

We live our lives, but is it true,
the way we behave, me and you?
Do we have the choices to make,
or is it just one big fake?
We live in a world of consumer choice,
but images of this and that, they foist
upon our minds to get us to buy,
this and that, you can’t deny;
Things are made for ever and ever,
risking nature’s splendid endeavour;
providing for our every need,
or is it just our insatiable greed?
But have you noticed we’ve become all the same,
society and people becoming lame,
with wooden lives and wooden hopes,
Oh, we really have become dopes,
with wooden needs that affect our health,
and wooden ambition grounded in wealth,
as we’re all left on, the wooden shelf

(c) Anthony North, May 2008

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A TRANSFORMING PEN

Variations of just four letters make up the entire genetic code of DNA. Everything that can be in terms of biology – the total diversity of life – is captured in so few little letters. But life is more than DNA. It is also mind.
And mind is expressed best through variations of the letters in the alphabet. In the English alphabet, that is 26. So just imagine how much greater the variety there is at the writer’s fingertips?
From pen to keypad, writers transform what is in the mind, to paper or screen. A unique alchemy occurs, making thoughts real. But the writing process does not end there.

No, it is far more magnificent.

Looking at the history of the world, whenever a major transformation occurs, you can usually find a book. From the Bible, to Marx’s Das Kapital, to Newton’s Principia, transformation is the result of literary endeavour, whether good or bad.
They say the pen is mightier than the sword. Nothing is more true. And as writers, we belong to the most noble of crafts. So as we write, we should remember this, and be happy in our endeavour. For we deal with the true code of life.

© Anthony North, May 2008

TRANSFORMATION

You think it through, you write it out,
a majestic craft, there is no doubt;
a person will read, planting a seed
of change that will never recede;
His actions are imbued by your word,
coming first, and never second or third;
Your thoughts are out in society,
made real, made true, growing just like a tree;
the thought branches out, noble and great,
defining other people’s fate,
as through your mind, your pen, your quill,
you transmit, to all, your will,
as your noble craft,
you do fulfil

(c) Anthony North, May 2008

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IN SEARCH OF HAPPINESS

To be happy is the goal of us all. But is this a viable state? Indeed, is it really what being human is about? Or does the state of happiness just allow us to be complacent about things?
Looking to human history it seems clear to me that things only change when people are frustrated. This is, of course, a state of unhappiness, and drives change. Hence, you could say that the process of social evolution requires us not to be happy.

This seems a depressing picture, indeed.

However, it need not be. Existence is not only about our advancement. It is also about our contentment. And whilst this is counter to things in terms of society and history, it is certainly achieveable in love.
Love seems to provide stability in happiness. It is nurturing, and as long as complacency doesn’t enter the picture, it is the engine of family life, a definite counter-balance to the ravages of society and history. So this thing called happiness seems to be a multi-faceted thing.
Indeed, I think we can even be happy with our frustrations. I’ve written before that it is often a journey in life that is more important than its conclusion. For once complete, what then?
We are, as a species, curious about everything. We have a desire to know, and in wanting to know, we are driven on, thus confirming social evolution, and being happy with our frustrations.

© Anthony North, May 2008

THE FAR SPACE EXPERIENCE

Blast off! Gravity building! Face contorting!

It felt like death,
as we broke out of the world and floated,
high above the planet.
I looked down, watching the world from up high,
as if disconnected, as if some other being,
as if I would never see this planet again.

Power on! Engines engaged!
5
4
3
2
1

The hyper drive rocketed us through …
… what?
Was it space? Not as we know it.
Was it existence? Am I here to tell?
They said it was a wormhole, the theorists,
but to me it was like a tunnel, pressing upon me,
dark as dark can be,
as if I was dead

And slowly, amazingly, omnipresently, the light.
Did it question why I was here?
Did it make me look back upon my life?
Did it decide if I could go on or not?
Or was it me?

Stillness! Brightness! Omniscience!

It was a sun, or it was a particle,
or maytbe a super-string;
or maybe it was nothing at all;
or maybe it was God Himself,
but I had had my far space experience,
and it beckoned me on, to existence anew,
safe in the knowledge that I’d exist forever,
but never, again, visit the ones I love,
lest they come this way, too

(c) Anthony North, May 2008

MM - HOW TO STAY FRESH

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HOW TO STAY FRESH

Wash, for starters.
After all, you’re not fresh if you’re smelly. And don’t forget all those private bits – protect against fungi – especially between the …
… and let’s have a bit of anti-perspirant here, please. You’re the only one who loves your body odour. And how about squeezing those zits. No! Don’t aim.
And could your clothes do with a …
… disinfection? And what do you mean you don’t iron?

Well, that’s one way to stay fresh.

But there’s also another. Life so easily becomes boring, routine. And whilst there’s a lot going for a bit of routine in our lives, it can go too far.
Routine is good to provide stability. It’s a form of magic, especially your routine in a morning. It places the mind in equilibrium with the world, and things fall into place, proved by the fact that, if your routine is disturbed, your day usually ends in disaster.
But keep routine where it belongs. As for the rest of your life, try something new every day. It only has to be a little thing – nothing special. Just something to provide a fresh experience.
This gives you a fresh start every day, and you feel fulfilled because of it. It makes you feel alive, and able to grab life by the horns. It says, above all else, I exist!
After you’ve washed, of course.

© Anthony North, May 2008

REFRESH

Pictures of life on my computer exist,
full of experience that does persist;
sometimes it’s good, sometimes bad,
yet living, it is certainly had;
But what, if like the computer screen,
we could alter what has been?
Click ‘refresh’ and change it all,
stopping those things that make us fall?
What kind of witchcraft this would be,
refreshing life for you and me,
existing as we want to be,
and I would then,
be a deity

Anthony North, May 2008

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FRESH IDENTITY - Fiction

If only I’d known. If only I’d realized the errors of my ways. But we rarely do so before taking the plunge.
I suppose you could call me a fraudster. Computer banking and electronic records were my thing. Ah, the delights it offered for identity fraud. And once you’ve got your mark, you can create a whole fresh identity for yourself. And if you’re really lucky, finding a no hoper, with a life that went almost unrecognized, and found him dead, apparently having committed suicide, and no one knows …
Well, I managed to step into his shadow perfectly – after burying his body, of course.

Such a non-entity he had been.

No one ever recognized him, he had never been in debt, he had no family to become suspicious, and soon my fresh identity was building a new life for itself.
So you can imagine the shock when, six months into my fresh identity, armed police burst into my house, spread-eagled me on the floor, and rushed me in for questioning.
A little extreme, you may think, for simple identity fraud. Well, let this be a warning to all who think they can get away with it in the end. There is always a catch.
And what was mine?
Well, I have a lifetime in prison to ponder it – how total and absolute my success that no one would believe I wasn’t who I had claimed to be. And why, oh why, did I have to pick a murderer on the run?

© Anthony North, May 2008

HOW TO LOVE FAMILY

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HOW TO LOVE FAMILY

Family. What are we to make of it? It’s a concept that’s been around as long as history, but today it seems to be under threat like never before. And sometimes, the criticism is deserved.
There is much abuse within families. A family can be secretive, manipulative, monstrous. Once, an extended family could help here – a criticism or protection from on the fringe. But today, it is usually the State that steps in when required.

This has given family a bad image.

After all, we hear about the failures more than the successes. And even the nature of family has changed. No longer is it a standard unit of mother, father, children. The single family, and same sex parents, are on the rise.
Families interlink with other families today. This is due to the rise in divorce, with children often having multiple parents. But why has the family seemed to suffer and change so much in modern times?

One answer is technology.

The television killed off conversation, whilst the car allowed families to spread out. With immediacy gone, the importance was bound to decline.
Media has also played its part. By highlighting problems within family, cultural consciousness edged away from the concept. This allowed the rise of political correctness, knocking the family at every stage.

This is a worrying problem.

This is so because family always had a vital function in society. It provided a sense of allegiance to something other than the State. With that allegiance gone, the State encroaches into all our personal lives.
So, above nurture, love and togetherness, the family was essential to our freedoms, no matter what we thought of it. So maybe it is time to rebirth the importance of family. And a good way to do so is to remember this:
Family was always idealized as a perfect unit. This is nonsense. There is no such thing as perfection. Mothers, fathers, children – all are flawed, because we’re human. But we haven’t, yet, learnt to forgive the concept for not being what it never could have been.
The best we can hope of any family member is that they’ll try their best. And be honest: can you claim more than this?

© Anthony North, May 2008

A PECULIAR FAMILY INDEED

They sat on the bank, the river flowed by,
Their child by their side, having said: ‘Oh, my!’
He was called Toverich, an industrious chap,
she was Gravelines, pondering an embattled mishap;
They didn’t need an abacus to work out the odds,
of a child like this, come from the gods;
A pigeon it was, born from their habits,
and a miracle indeed,
‘cos they were two rabbits

(c) Anthony North, May 2008

FEROCIOUS

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FEROCIOUS

She walked up and down the room, treading the carpet. She walked fast, angrily, ferociously.
‘And you just couldn’t resist, could you?’ She never awaited an answer. ‘God, I knew you were unhappy, I knew we had problems, but this?’
Her face was contorted, her good looks turning to something macabre, insane and – yes – so very defiant. ‘I should have guessed.’ An admonishment. ‘All the signs were there.’ A sense of regret – or was it stupidity for not realizing?

Her husband just sat there, staring into space.

‘I gave you everything,’ she continued, her pace quickening, as if there was no time to get to where she wasn’t going.
Maybe that was why, she thought, suddenly. I’m pacing up and down, trying to work it out, but maybe we were just going nowhere.
Her thoughts turned to words: ‘But that doesn’t let you off, you bas …’
Was that the crescendo, cut off in its prime? Was the ferocity of her mood declining?
The time comes. We know it does – when the anger is spent, maybe through sheer tiredness. And this is the point of reunion, of forgiveness, of being carried away on a tide of ecstasy as they make up.
She turned to face him, knelt by him. And as she stared at the knife embedded in his heart, she knew that this time it was final.

© Anthony North, May 2008

HURRICANE

The weather comes, it blows, it roars,
it batters your home without a pause;
A wind that comes ferociously,
whirling round you and me;
It’s the third, this time around,
much more frequently, they come to pound,
and always that manic thought resounds,
forever there, it does rebound,
that this is pay back for our insanity,
battering nature so we can see,
a better life materially,
but ignoring nature’s beauty,
balance,
and harmony

(c) Anthony North, May 2008

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FEROCIOUSLY SPEAKING

When someone appears ferocious we stand well back. Words such as ‘violent’, or ‘intense’, describe it. And when violence with intensity arises, it is brutal, immediate, without thought, beyond control.
There are various reasons for such ferocity. It is ingrained in a soldier that in the heat of battle, ferocity is the only way. Yes, professionalism usually controls it to a point, but we don’t speak of ‘the dogs of war’ for nothing.

Revenge is usually a motive.

When we are whipped up to the frenzy of revenge, nothing stands in our way. Yet in the modern world a new form of ferocity has come to our streets.
This is the violent delinquent, making life miserable for all. Of course, there’s always been crime, but now it seems to carry a new edge of violence. Why has such ferocity come to crime?

Well, it isn’t actually anything new.

In Britain, a similar ferocity arose alongside crime in the 18th century crimewave. Looking back, it parallels modern times in that it was a period where capitalism was advancing, and religion declining.
So it seems to be about an increase in our ability to ‘have’, coming alongside a decline in the notion that we ‘shouldn’t’. And when society tells us that we ‘cannot’, we get angry, and ferociously take.

We can also see ferocity in another way.

Nothing diminishes a person more than a lack of self-esteem. It seems to be in our very nature to feel that we are someone. And to be denied can cause anger, violence and more.
Hence, we can also see ferociousness as a lack of confidence. It is the result of our ‘smallness’, our inabilities, and our hang-ups. And as more and more face a crisis of confidence, ferocity is likely to increase.

© Anthony North, May 2008

BAR AT THE END OF THE ROAD

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BAR AT THE END OF THE ROAD

I found the bar at the end of the highway. It wasn’t that I was looking for it. I wasn’t really looking for anything. I just felt so empty, so totally drained.
I got out the car and went in – ordered a drink – drank it down – ordered another. Thought about how easily I could hit oblivion.
The bar was almost empty, too. It reflected back my life, a life ignored, a life abused, a life of boredom …

It had promised so much, had marriage.

She had been wonderful, and we were so perfectly attuned, perfectly as one, and I was so perfectly …
What? Deluded? Not seeing reality for what it was? Not registering the crap that would soon begin to fly?
It had been one hell of an argument …
The third drink went down the same way as the others. Oblivion was coming closer – and I ordered another.
‘And I’ll have one, too.’
I turned round; wondered where SHE’D come from. Unable to believe I’d missed her as I entered.
I bought her a drink. And it was inevitable we would talk – about my problems, about her life, about the meaning of everything. Until, several drinks later, she advised she had a room upstairs …
It was a heady mixture of booze and expectation as I entered her room. Hormones pumped through my body and I was ready as I took her in my arms.
Maybe it was the shock of what I was about to do, but it was then that I burst into tears – torrents of tears, pouring down my face, washing away the stresses and strains of so long, cascading away to …
To what?
To another girl’s arms, at the end of another highway? And as we both said sorry, we cried together, and kissed.

© Anthony North, April 2008

HAUNTED HOUSE

The house is empty, solitary, creepy,
to enter can affect you deeply;
As cobwebs brush your face and hair,
you’ll quickly learn to be aware;
If you had driven down the highway outside,
and through the corner of your eye you spied,
you should have ignored it, or at least have tried

But in you come, you don’t believe in ghosts,
at least that’s what you always boast;
Yet my creepy finger rubs down your spine,
as with your mind my presence will entwine;
Until you’re as timid as a mouse,
no longer denying ghosts you espouse,
especially as this is YOUR house

(c) Anthony North, April 2008

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TO BE IGNORED

To be ignored is a terri …. (cough) … Err! Excuse me! Pay attention.
That’s better. To be ignored is a terrible thing. There’s nothing worse than speaking and no one is listening to you. And it isn’t long before you’re seething.
Of course, it could be that you are totally boring; or maybe the person has no interest in the subject at hand. Or worse of all, you are one of those people who appear to be a non-entity.
If you are, you’ve got problems. Your existence can be totally empty, and you negotiate the highway of life alone. In one sense, there’s nothing you can do about it. It is your personality. You are made like that. But it could be that you simply need to raise your confidence – be more assertive, take risks.

I used to feel like that about my writing.

For years I’d bashed away on the typewriter, totally ignored by publishers. I’d play with my style, trying to please them, but to no avail.
Eventually, of course, I’d had enough. Ignored too long, I decided to go on-line. And soon after that, I started this blog. For several months I hardly did anything with it. Then, about March last year, I discovered something.
People were beginning to comment, and I was no longer ignored. And now, just over a year later, I’ve just passed a quarter million hits.
What does this tell me – and you – about being ignored? Simple. Ignore THEM and do what YOU want to do. And pretty soon you find you’re not ignored at all.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you!

© Anthony North, April 2008

MM - HOW TO LET RIP

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LET RIP

To let rip is certainly an enthusiasm,
from hobby, to work, to orgasm;
We can take it too far as we dart,
and we end up ripped apart;
Sometimes it can fill us with wrath,
especially when ripped off;
it can often mean fantasy we sprinkle,
on our lives, like Rip Van Winkle;
Go too far and danger becomes rife,
threatening to take our life;
And then it all will cease,
as we lie below the sign:
R.est I.n P.eace

(c) Anthony North, April 2008

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COMPLETELY RIPPED

To be ripped away is to be separated from something, or someone. In this sense, it can be sorrowful. To be ripped from a loved one can bring desolation. To be ripped from friends can bring isolation.
The threat of being ripped can have an important effect on our behaviour. Often, it is fear of sorrow and isolation that moderates what we do. In this sense, fear of being ripped away can be an important social mechanism.

This said, the modern world holds problems. It often rips us from what we should be as people. Consider the onward march of globalization, destroying local cultures and offering ‘sameness’. This rips us from our local societies, and we no longer find meaning and direction, sating this loss with placing meaning in consumer choice.

The modern world is also brimming with information.

It guarantees our attention upon the world. Yet, so often the true ‘self’ is found, not in the physical world, but the inner mind. But this is increasingly more difficult to find, ripping us from our ‘self’, unable to complete who we really are.
Being ripped from something denies us ‘completion’. This leaves us forever the wanderer, not knowing who we are, what we want to achieve. Yet in one way, this isn’t too bad.
If we ever get completion, what then? Isn’t this the end of a process? In effect, we are ripped from our reason for doing things. This is an important point. It tells us that, often, it is the journey we are on that is fulfilling, and not the eventual outcome.

© Anthony North, April 2008

HOW TO THINK GREEN

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HOW TO THINK GREEN

We are increasingly thinking green. We recycle. We do what we can for the environment – to protect the future of the planet. But is this really ‘thinking’ green, or does this require something more substantial?
What we are actually doing is ‘acting’ green – taking specific actions based on what society increasingly expects of us. To ‘think’ green is, however, something much deeper, and it requires us to realize that we are not attuned to think green at all.

Two primary ideals in western society stop us doing so.

The first is the ascendancy of Big Biz – huge multi-national corporations which are, in effect, the main polluters of the planet. Big Biz works on a simple philosophy. This is that to continue to hold their power, ‘systems’ must be so big that only they can afford to run them.
A fossil fuel based economy is one such system. And in maintaining it, Big Biz guarantees that no other businesses – using, cleaner, more easily managed tech – can ever challenge them. Hence, their very existence demands that they cannot be eco-friendly. To be so would destroy them.

The second ideal is religious based.

Throughout the world we know of prehistoric tribes centred on animism – the idea that there is a spirit world running parallel to the physical. This based religion in nature. However, artifacts show a progression from here through the chimera – half animal, half man – to the man-god.
This shows the progression of religion changing from nature-based to society-based, as societies became more complicated, its final expression being monotheism. Hence, for the last 2000 years at least, our entire thought processes have been societal, ignoring the importance of nature, which was fundamental to the first religions.
To think green is, therefore, alien to both our present economic systems, and our very processes of thought. Maybe be need to redress this non-eco mentality before we can truly say we are ‘green’, with the future of the planet uppermost in our minds.

© Anthony North, April 2008

REPORT OF THE INTERGALACTIC COMMITTEE MEETING ON EARTHLY VIRUSES

The delegates chose on imminent actions,
for them there would be no distractions;
as one voice they were all foresworn,
no splinter would there, here, be born;
The ecology of Earth they knew could molder,
unless the decisions made were bolder;
The future for them, it was votive,
determined to wipe out that Earth-bound motive;
Throughout it’s life, a nature hate,
did arise to punctuate,
the beautiful nature of Earth’s plan;
With their desires, they sealed their fate,
for the total
unconditional
eradication
of man

(c) Anthony North, April 2008

OUTRAGEOUS

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OUTRAGEOUS

When I think back to how it was, I can’t believe it happened to me. There I was, a nobody, living a typical life of a teenager. Eighteen years old, a girlfriend, a job – of sorts – but mainly boredom. And then I auditioned for the TV talent show.
I knew I had a good voice. I’d even been told I had ‘presence’. And well, we know how it went from there.
I won! Millions voted for me, and suddenly I was the star.
Oh man, how life changed. It was incredible. The girls, the adulation, the crowds screaming like that!
It’s hard to explain how it is to BE somebody, to have people know your name, to have people aspire to be like you.

The money poured in, of course.

It was hard work, but I deserved that money. And okay, some people think I became rather outrageous, and I suppose I did – a larger than life character, bedding all those girls, the booze, the drugs, the statements on life, the universe and everything …
Oh, what the hell – I enjoyed it! It was great! I was the luckiest man on Earth!
Yeah, right!
Well, mom, if only I’d been allowed to live as me, rather than that soulless image that was created for me, I wouldn’t be writing this suicide note ….

© Anthony North, April 2008

MONSTROUS

Every time I see him, my heart begins to sink,
he pushes me always, right to the brink;
He’s uglier than a troll, that’s very clear,
a monster through and through, that we all should fear;
It isn’t just the surface that turns people away,
he loves to find the vulnerable, on which to prey;
A bully, a villain, a cad, upon anyone he does deprave,
so now it’s time to act, against this nave;
Enough of this vile person, I feel only dismay,
action must be taken, to win the day;
So that’s why I’ve decided,
to throw the mirror away

(c) Anthony North, April 2008

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OUTRAGEOUSLY SPEAKING

I often hear people say they are quite ‘normal’. And when I do so I think: what an outrageous statement to make. After all, what is normal? Are YOU normal? If you decide yes, what do you base that ‘normality’ on?
When you walk down the street does everyone behave the same as you? When you watch television, do all the people seem to be like you? I doubt it. You see, ‘normal’ is a ridiculous word.
In a way, it is demeaning. It suggests that ‘normality’ is something to be proud of, whereas it is really an attempt to control you – to make you conform, to make you be part of the ‘machine’ of modern life.

In this respect, many people are beginning to BE ‘normal’.

They are giving in to the stereotype. Becoming nothing but cogs in the machine. This is particularly so in my native Britain, a country that used to be proud of its eccentrics.
No more. This false image of normality is taking over, with everyone becoming increasingly grey. Except, of course, for some. Some people, you see, are ridiculously outrageous. But I don’t think this has anything to do with eccentricity.

Rather, to be outrageous today is to grab the media limelight.

It is not an inborn eccentricity, but a PR lifestyle to become an icon. And guess what, if you make it, realize the fame, then you get everyone copying you.
You know what that means, don’t you? Even in being outrageous in the modern world, you create a ‘type’ that becomes ‘normal’ in itself. After all, if a number of people display identical outrageous behaviour, then they end up fairly routine.

© Anthony North, April 2008

WINDOW ON DEATH

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WINDOW ON DEATH

He was walking, slowly, the weight of the world upon him. It was night, and the dark shrouded him like a veil of death.
He had to stop by the shop window. His legs could have carried him no further. He looked at the window, but not through. What was in there had no interest for him. Only what was happening in his mind. This was of another order. Stark. Vivid. Yet, at the same time surreal.
A picture formed in the window, and reflected back to him.

And a tear formed.

The door opened and she came out. She seemed so full of life, and so beautiful, her long blonde hair, her shapely figure, her sheer elegance, tinged with that mystical sexuality.
The tear ran down his cheek. She had been unfaithful, and always there was eventually a price. But …
He saw it as if a shadow floated and stood close to her. Momentarily, she looked in that direction, but as the gun materialized from the shadow, the shock hit home.
And seconds later, she lay dead, a pool of blood around her.
The image disappeared from the window, but the tears continued to flow.
How long he waited before he heard the door open, he didn’t know, but she seemed so full of life, and so beautiful …
He turned as he raised the gun …

© Anthony North, April 2008

SNAP IT

We do so love our cameras,
snapping that picture true,
wherever we are, it’s taken,
no matter what we do;
They decorate our albums,
our lives laid out thus,
everything about it,
reflected back at us;
But sometimes I wonder what madness,
as we stop and take,
‘cos while we’re playing photographer,
in the event,
we don’t partake

(c) Anthony North, April 2008

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THE POWER OF CELEBRITY

I’m often scornful of celebrities. We seem to be infatuated by them, and the more our infatuation rises, the more extreme and bizarre their behaviour seems to become. It makes some people wonder if it will ever stop.
Of course, it all seems so pointless. But could it be that celebrities play a vital role in modern culture? I think they do – and it isn’t an enhancing role. Rather, it helps to tie us up in chains of consumerism.
On one level, celebrities are more ‘perfect’ than the average person. Of course, this isn’t true, but their beauty, etc, makes it appear so. And the upshot is, we spend, spend, spend to emulate them, not realizing that perfection is an unreachable goal.

But they also work on a psychological level.

They are open with their problems, the abuses they’ve suffered, and in this they appear to be repositories for our angst. Like cultural psychotherapists, our own problems are reflected back to us.
This power over the wallet and psyche fulfils another vital function of super capitalism. Whenever they do something you can guarantee the picture is all over the media. Indeed, there has been an explosion in media alongside the celebrity’s rise.
Big Biz likes this. For the bigger the media gets, the more ads Big Biz places. This is, infact, a control mechanism. For if Big Biz withdrew ads from any one media source, that source would be struggling to survive. Hence, the media doesn’t risk it, and only reports on news friendly to our consumer culture.
We seem to be informed a lot about celebrity, but not much else. This is why.

© Anthony North, April, 2008