“SIM CITY”
Back in the day
When the graphics
Were crude
Yet simple enough
To understand
The premise of
“Play” building
A virtual world
Starting on
” Empty” land or
“Existing” city
You could “build” your own roads, power plants, parks, factories and houses. With the click of a mouse. Roll, shift, press. Voila!! A new road. Poof, a new building with optional settings to use “real time” entropy, so when a road or building succumbed to disrepair, ta-da, click, new road etc. With virtual money collected from virtual taxes. It was fun.
Trouble is now, while driving on dilapidated roads past empty buildings, my mind goes to the wishing want of a mental mouse, that with just a few clicks, could restore and replace. Or worse/better yet, start a new game.
Constantly struggling with the way things “are” as to the way it could be. Obviously knowing it takes more than a click of a button, but still…… How hard would it really be to dismantle a building or road for their usable material, reuse what could be used, and recycle the rest.
At some point, probably long past when I am dead. That will be the only option as mother earth’s resources will become more finite and harder to extract. Amongst the blackened skies and rising waters.
Which, if memory serves, one could make the settings, replicate “disasters”, such as fires and earthquakes. Am not recalling, if floods were an option……,might have given the player an omnipotent deity complex. Good thing, the early versions, had no “people” to “drown”. (Sorry, that part just slipped out.)
Back to the game. Ever notice, when you go to a neighboring city, that you have not been to for a while, then you do. It is as if someone is playing a large real life version of the game.
Poof, there are new apartment complexes, next to strip malls and gas stations.
“It just seems to me, that only a really low IQ population could have taken this beautiful continent, this magnificent American landscape that we inherited.
Well, actually we stole it from the Mexicans and the Indians, but hey, it was nice when we stole it. Looked pretty good, it was pristine.
Paradise.
Have you seen it lately? Have you taken a good look at it lately?
It’s fucking embarrasing. Only a nation of unenlightened half-wits could have taken this beautiful place and turned it into what it is today – a shopping mall.
A big fucking shopping mall. You know that, that’s all you’ve got here, folks. Mile after mile after mile of malls after malls. Many, many malls. Major malls and mini malls.
They put the mini malls in between the major malls, and in between the mini malls, they put the mini marts. And in between the mini marts, you got the car lots, gas stations, muffler shops, laundry mats, cheap motels, fast food joints, strip clubs and dirty bookstores.
America the beautiful.
One big transcontinental commercial cesspool. And how do the people feel about all this? How do people feel about living in a coast to coast shopping mall?
Well they think it’s JUST FUCKING DANDY!”
//
“Have you pictured what this planet is going to be like in 40 to 50 years? It’s going to be a big smoking ball of shit, a big, smoking, flaming, stinking ball of gaseous shit. That’s what’s going to happen.”
– George Carlin
Unfortunately the commerce catastrophes gobble up the precious farm land required to feed the “Sims” (simulated people), not real people mind you, but easily programmed ones, that replicate and consume. Like an unstoppable planetary cancer.
As if it is a game, that can be reset, or “started over”. Once this game is “finished”.
When in reality, that does not happen. The game we are playing is unbalanced, tilting toward self destruction.
Why?
Perhaps, because there is more and more sales on less and less nutritious food. Plus shinier objects to hide duller people. Trying to keep up with the other “Sims”, competing in a blind race to a finish line that does not exist.
“Just an observation,
Maybe I need
Different glasses.”
– Angelo Devlin
Or should never have played “Sim City”
Euphemistic language
For reincarnation
I just happen to be
On the spin cycle
On a broken machine
Where the agitator
Goes on and off for
No reason whatsoever
Imbibing on indoctrinations
That you are something other
Than a coagulation of cells
Manifested to reflect an ego
Perceiving yourself in a body
That carries fears and desires
Mirroring externally what needs
To be altered / fixed internally
When still there is nothing there
Though still is not even an option
Everything is moving so fast
It hardly seems real…..oh wait
It is an illusion of infinite proportion
Randomly coinciding as matter
Projected as long thought experiments
Illuminated by sparks of the divine
I was going to break this down and try to explain, however what good would poetry be, if the artist (there’s ego for you) (I’m just splashing pixled paint around) had to decipher for the recipient its intent and painstakingly explain each brushstroke.
That, and probably could not, if I tried.
Heck, I know not where it came from, let alone decipher it, for a very small audience.
“Just an observation,
Maybe I need
Different glasses. “
– Angelo Devlin
Subtly seeking special attention
Wanting desperately to belong
To any group accepting them
Whose core mission it is to
Wave flags and stick stickers
Anywhere visible to be seen
One can almost smell the
Desperation of the pick me
Arm wavers to join in the
Leader less gang of Republicans
Who feel compelled to placard
The slogan “Let’s Go Brandon”
On flags and fake monster trucks
Lawn signs and Meta memes
Coded language used not to
Inspire, enlighten and elevate
But rather diminish and degrade
The whole through a subset
With as much childish wit as
Hoof Hearted Ice Melted
Wasting money on plastic pieces
Overpriced to a captive audience
Whose needs are not being met
When those dollars and effort
Could be used on their own
Campaign to lead and affect change
Oooops silly me, I forgot that
Followers………do not lead
All the while waiting for their
Absentee father figure to
Return home and be a dad
Even though they “should” be
Old enough to do shit on their own
Think and behave on their own
Be Christ like on their own……since
That is what they allegedly espouse to
Never met the man, do not know him
However, what little I do know am guessing
He would not waste one wave of energy
Coming up with an even more clever way
To disguise print and say #uck Joe Biden
Probably would be to busy feeding, sharing
Guiding, healing and humbly teaching
“Just an observation,
Maybe I need
Different glasses.”
– Angelo Devlin
Is running the inmates
Under the guise of
Security and protection
With the warm and heavy
Blanket of consumption
Regardless of the rapid
Home planet destruction
Due to the over-lying
Marketed message
If it feels good…DO IT!!
Buy it, possess it.
Make it your God
That you might….vaguely
Lay your life down for
Unless…..it might “hurt”
Feelings or principles of
Either products or concepts
An “Ism” is just as much a “brand”
As a consumable on a shelf
Vying for one’s precious attention
Presented in pretty packaging
Competing for valuable
Mind currency and savings
Expending about as much
Of an intellectual challenge
As a sugary soda selection
With zero nutritional value
“Democrats or Republicans
That is just Coke and Pepsi.
Same crap different can”
– Christopher Titus
Disguised cleverly as
Capitalism vs. Socialism
I’ll show you politics in America.
Here it is, right here.
“I think the puppet on the right
Shares my beliefs.”
“I think the puppet on the left
Is more to my liking.”
“Hey, wait a minute,
There’s one guy
Holding out both puppets!”
“Shut up! Go back to bed, America.
Your government is in control.
– Bill Hicks
Under the wide umbrella of
Silent seductive Imperialism
(I want power over my subjects)
Sprinkled with Totalitarianism
(I have power over my subjects)
Pretending to put down Fascism
(Sounds like bad parenting practices)
“The real looting in this country takes place in the transfer of the wealth from the poor to the rich.
The poor have been systematically looted in this country, the rich have been made richer.
When fascism comes to America, it will not be in black and brown shirts, it will not be with jack boots.
It will be Nike sneakers and smiley shirts.”
– George Carlin
The following is a long lyrical period
To close out the end of our “sentence”
Excerpts from Rush’s “2112”
“And the meek shall inherit the earth…
We’ve taken care of everything
The words you read, the songs you sing
The pictures that give pleasure to your eyes
It’s one for all and all for one
We work together, common sons
Never need to wonder how or why
//
Look around at this world we’ve made
Equality our stock in trade
Come and join the Brotherhood of Man
Oh, what a nice, contented world
Let the banners be unfurled
Hold the Red Star proudly high in hand
We are the Priests of the Temples of Syrinx
Our great computers fill the hallowed halls
We are the Priests, of the Temples of Syrinx
All the gifts of life are held within our walls
//
I wandered home through the silent streets
And fell into a fitful sleep
Escape to realms beyond the night
Dream can’t you show me the light?
//
//
I stand atop a spiral stair
An oracle confronts me there
He leads me on light years away
Through astral nights, galactic days
I see the works of gifted hands
That grace this strange and wondrous land
I see the hand of man arise
With hungry mind and open eyes
They left the planet long ago
The elder race still learn and grow
Their power grows with purpose strong
To claim the home where they belong
Home to tear the Temples down…
Home to change!
//
The sleep is still in my eyes
The dream is still in my head
I heave a sigh and sadly smile
And lie a while in bed
I wish that it might come to pass
Not fade like all my dreams…
Just think of what my life might be
In a world like I have seen!
I don’t think I can carry on
Carry on this cold and empty life
My spirits are low in the depths of despair
My lifeblood…
…Spills over…
[VII. The Grand Finale]
Attention all Planets of the Solar Federation
Attention all Planets of the Solar Federation
Attention all Planets of the Solar Federation
We have assumed control
We have assumed control
We have assumed control
Could not come soon enough
To arouse the living dead
From their narcissistic
Self serving slumber that
It is not okay to be a bully
Sharp, blunt, fast or slow
Words are only words or
What one was supposed
To have learned is…….
“Sticks and stones may
Break my bones, but
“WORDS” will never hurt me,”
Or my wife, or my feelings
Regardless of who
Makes those words audible
Least of all, a comedian using
The tools of their trade to
Build content from context
To inspire laughter and thought
“Will Smith just smacked the shit out of me”
//
“I didn’t know that this year was
going to be the most exciting Oscars ever!”
– Chris Rock
“When you change the way
You look at things,
The things you look at change.”
– Dr Wayne Dyer
What if Michelle Wolf
Delivered those lines
Making a movie reference
Some twenty five years old
To a beautiful bald woman
In a role with a hairless head
Or another “Rock”, Dwayne Johnson
All of the outcomes
Would have been entirely different
(If Will Smith hitting Chris Rock
Sounds funny, consider replacing
Will Smith with Airplanes and
Chris Rock with The Twin Towers)*
* FB meme
Not so funny now is it
Had the same words come
Out of either Michelle or Dwayne’s mouth
My guess is Will, would have
Remained…….seated
For the sake of perspective though
If it were the words that caused “harm”
And Will stormed the stage
To intentionally assault Michelle Wolf
Security and or some of the
Self-agrandizing audience would
Have subdued the emotionally
Unbalanced actor instantly
Had it been Dwayne saying those words
A. Will may have had his head
Handed back to him or
B. Will would have remained seated
To actually “tend” to his wife to
Sooth and nurture Jada’s feelings
As Robin Quivers on the Howard Stern show
So clearly and eloquently observed
If his wife, was actually his concern
How ironic is it that the “Wake-up Slap”
Came from the allegedly “woke”
Though they quickly turned a blind eye
To the violence right in front of them
“Just an observation,
Maybe I need
Different glasses.”
– Angelo Devlin
Can occur
In the only
Place it can
The mind
Where everything
Is possible
Forward or reverse
I first discovered the invisible time machine at a restaurant, while sipping my coffee. Being my usual quiet self at our table, having nothing intelligent to say, or add. Noticed a table of an elderly, coffee klatch club.
The time machine beckoned me to concentrate on the faces of the four sitting near me. While watching their mannerisms and tone.
Observed, through an age regression perception, them go through a transformation back to their youth, while still sitting at the table.
Just like in the movies, using “time” lapse photography, CGI and the rapid night/day visual.
Next, saw the same people, now sitting at a “kids” table. Drinking juices instead of coffee.
Figuring out, went back about sixty years. To see them behave exactly the same, in smaller bodies and fresher faces.
The alpha then/now was the alpha now/then. Talking and taking over the conversation with grandiose self importance. The timid one smiling and noding, the other two getting in what they could.
Then with a clink of a fork, was brought back to the present, yup, same kids, back in their worn out bodies and wrinkled faces. The trip took all of fifteen to twenty seconds. No one around me, noticed I was “gone”.
Realizing, as by writing this, the whole restaurant section went through this warp. To the “ages” of five through about nine. Which is good, so the grandkids didn’t disappear.
Post, observing my self, amongst my group/family, am too basically the same. In my own little world trying to think of something intelligent or useful to say.
“I don’t fit in anywhere, man, I really don’t. I don’t agree with anything either, not even what I just said so, think you see the problem here. Stranded without a clue.”
– Bill Hicks
Then or now, this is neither my time or place to be here. That perhaps is a little egotistical, projecting myself in a future or a past, knowing neither exist. Trying to realize what purpose I serve, that could not be replaced by a commoditized cog in an unstoppable wheel.
Which is where “we” are at..
“Too many people
Causing too many
Problems, not enough
Love to go around.”
– Genesis
“Land of Confusion”
Nothing that I have ever written or said has slowed that down one iota. My only saving grace is that I never contributed to the problem in this land of confusion.
“Time” will only tell.
“I left no litter behind.
That’s your problem.
I’m treating this planet like
The fucking rental car that it us
And I’m turning it in trashed
With a bumper hanging off
Fuck your insurance,
Fuck the environment,
I didn’t ask to
Be here.
Someone created me.
Yes, I know that’s a selfish
Thing.
It’s a selfish thing.
But you know what?
I’ve cared about other stuff,
And, yeah, me not caring about
Stuff, will, affect it as much
As me caring about stuff,
Which, is none.”
– Doug Stanhope
While traveling on your own trip
You can travel back and forth
On your own volition
By taking a “moment” to do so
Observe a person or yourself
As you perceive them/you “now”
Give them/yourself a quick study
Of the personality traits
You see/experience
Run those forward/reverse
Depending on the “age”
See that regardless of “time”
All that is encapsulated in
The being you have chosen
Is the same from their first
Introductory breath to
Their final exhalation
All the #uck-ups and attaboy’s
Hoard of possessions
Or empty hands matters not
(You can’t take it with you)
That person is the same
“Infinity is so big, that everything that has ever happened, on earth in the exact same order, down to………. that … pause has happened an infinite number of times, all through out the universe.
Everywhere in space, there is a you, making the same colossal f**king errors, that you’ve made your entire life.
So if anybody ever tells you, you can do better. Go…………Apparently not.”
That’s infinity.”
Joe Rogan
Beliefs are a lot like gravity
If you are not careful
They can bring you down
An invisible intangible energy
You know you have them, but
Can not explain how they work
It takes tremendous force
To overcome their pull
Regardless, you are likely
To return to them anyway
Though unlike gravity, beliefs
Are a learned phenomenon
As in accepting 2 + 2 = 4
Through repetition & memorization
Or does 2 + 2 = 5 yet?
Best check my Orwellian calendar.
Beliefs are as intangible
As holding your breath
In open palms
Yet people cling to them
Like it is their last one
I know I have used the following, before
However it is the most clear and concise
Apt description of defining beliefs beyond
The definition of belief itself
“I just think it is interesting to see how people act on their beliefs you know what I mean.
Because your beliefs are just that, they are just how you were taught and raised. That doesn’t make them real.”
– Bill Hicks
“Belief :
A state or “habit” of mind in which
Trust or confidence is placed in some
Person or thing”
– M-W.com
Beliefs are not even fantasy given form
They are abstractions based on rumors
Collective beliefs are nothing more than
Shared perceptions of indoctrinated opinions
Experienced as a group hallucination and still
If you isolated members of that group, have
Them explain their version of the similar belief
You would find they would not match
I’m guessing on a percentile accuracy scale
They would not even be close to the same
The cool part about beliefs, is their quick
Convenience and mushy malleability
Especially when they surround that
Other invisible force known as God
Twice the fun with half the credibility
“The God excuse.
The last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument, it came from god.
Anything we can’t describe, must have come from God.”
George Carlin
You hear about it all the time
Usually after a personal tragedy
Or a collective calamity in which
Some people die and some do not
(Thank God, Tom survived the airplane crash)
“Let’s just think about this for a minute”
– Bill Hicks
Before realizing what an empty cliché it is.
Starting of course with God. Not to worry, though, “he” can handle any criticism that this post could possibly dole out.
God, the “belief” in an all powerful, invisible Santa Clause caricature type dude. Floating in a cloud, on a golden throne, watching everything, his global genocidal flood leftover survivors are up to.
When not preparing and planning for some Armageddon battle, “he” “should” already know the outcome of……….DUH!
Pulling and slacking more strings, than a band of puppeteers putting on a side show.
God sees out of the corner of his eye, an airplane descending rapidly (due to gravity and faulty wiring) just in “time”. (which does not exist.) To save Tom and a few others.
The dissonance in the belief, that an APAKALOBCOL, (All Powerful All Knowing All Loving Omniscient Being Creator Of Life) could save Tom and some others is contrary to the contemplation that God could have prevented the whole plane crash in the first place. Ooopsie.
WTF is so important about Tom?
“You got me runnin’, goin’ out of my mind
You got me thinkin’ that I’m wastin’ my time
Don’t bring me down
No, no, no, no, no
Ooh-ooh-hoo
I’ll tell you once more
Before I get off the floor
Don’t bring me down”
– Jeff Lynn
“Now, believe is a word that I have a serious problem with, right, because it has a “Lie” in the middle.
“DNA” Descendant Now Ancestor
– John Trudell
“Just an observation,
Maybe I need
Different glasses.”
– Angelo Devlin
Could I possibly believe
That different glasses
Are going to change
My beliefs ??????????
Not with a virus
Adorning a crown
Something more deadly
Just a lifetime slower
Suffocating evolution
No bleach or light
Time or vaccinations
Will cure the devastation of
Beliefs superseding
A potential reality
Invisible contagions
Enter simultaneously
Through the visual cortex
And auditory canal
Via light and sound
By carriers of misinformation
Well before the mass media
Was creating mass hysteria
Rumored notions of power
Outside of one’s self
Contaminating the contents
Of the case hardened cranium
Infecting the intelligence
Of diseased divine deities
Ill with religion and politics
Race, gender, height, weight
Sexuality, possessions, power
Geographical location, caste
Pride, flags, guns, rights, etc.
You know, all of the stuff
That keeps us inhumane humans
Jonesing to keep up with the Joneses
Is the only cure the transcendence
Of this dense diabolical dimension
To the illusionary eternally ethereal
Methinks not, methinks we could
Make heaven here on earth
In an instant if we only knew how
Trouble is, there is no money
To hoard and ostentate wealth
If everyone was infected with
Sharing, helping, feeding, teaching
Learning, housing, elevating and
Being at peace with who they are
No sides to take, no game to win
Simply bask in the glow of breathing
In the miracle of consciousness
“Ooh, baby, do you know what that’s worth?
Ooh, Heaven is a place on Earth
They say in Heaven, love comes first
We’ll make Heaven a place on Earth
Ooh, Heaven is a place on Earth”
– Belinda Carlisle
I would like desperately to evolve
However with all the chaos
In the world the only thing
I can imagine I can do
Is grow another set of thumbs
Grasping the last scraps of hope
Off of the barren table
“Folks, it is time to evolve ideas.
You know evolution did not end with us growing thumbs, you do know thar right. Didn’t end there.
We’re at the point now where we are going to have to evolve ideas.
The reason that the world’s so #ucked up is we’re undergoing evolution and the reason our institutions our traditional religions are all crumbling is because……..
THEY ARE NO LONGER RELEVANT
THEY ARE NO LONGER RELEVANT
So it is time for us to create a new philosophy and perhaps even a new religion, you see and that’s ok. Cause that’s our right. Cause we are free children of God with minds who can imagine anything. That’s kind of our role.”
– Bill Hicks
“Dead Inside”
I see it crumbling
Right in front of me
There’s no stopping it
So get that out of your mind
You can’t run from it
You know you never had a choice
And now you’d better make
Your peace with it
It’s unraveling
Become clear to me
A new terrorism
Taking over our lives
The beast’s hungering
It keeps ravening
There’s no remedy
And do we even want it now
Look in my eyes
And know that I
Am dead inside
From the countless lies
That have eaten us alive
I know why
I’m dead inside
You’re dead inside
We’re dead inside
Can’t handle it
Collective punishment
Who are these maniacs
Taking over our lives
The old strategy
Destroy liberty
A modern tragedy,
And can we be forgiven?
Swift consequence
Without evidence
Losing relevance?
Hate will keep you alive
The beast’s hungering
It keeps ravening
Have you ever thought that maybe
We deserve it now
Look in my eyes
And know that I
Am dead inside
From the countless lies
That have eaten us alive
And now you all know why
I’m dead inside
You’re dead inside
We’re dead inside
Will you bury the dead
Hear what I said
Time to bury the dead
Remember what I said
I know I
Am dead inside
From the countless lies
That have eaten us alive
And now you all know why
I’m dead inside
You’re dead inside
We’re dead inside
– Disturbed