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« The Augmented Future | Main | Stellet Licht »
Monday
19Jan

Info Freako

This might be off our usual beaten path, but I find myself in a strange space of late.  I have just finished writing my doctoral dissertation, so I've spent most of the past several weeks in virtual lockdown, away from the blinding lights of the big city and the media inundation I've come to live with and accept as normal.  Until, that is, the commute into work this morning.  I found myself overwhelmed by the sights and sounds of the city, even my iPod was a bit much at times.  All these people everywhere, all the noise, the colours, the lights.  That's right, I felt like the Grinch on Christmas morning.  But then my mind shifted gears, and the academic in me came out.  I started to analyse the noises, the sounds, the people, the movement, and action.  I thought of this missive from the Boston Globe a few weeks ago, about creativity in cities, about their overwhelming nature.  Then I thought about our very own CTlab, and how we bombard you, good readers, with information everyday, random thoughts, serious thoughts, pretty pictures.  And we all lap this up, you the readers, we the editors.  We love this stuff.  We like being informed, we like knowing what's going on.  Reminds me of the old Jesus Jones song, "Info Freako," to which the lyrics go "There is no end to what I want to know."

 

And, this being the morning commute, my mind started wandering, back to the days when Jesus Jones were big, the early 90s.  Their biggest hit was "Right Here, Right Now," about the end of communism, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and so on.  "Right here, right now/ there's no other place I'd want to be/ Right here, right now/ Watching the world wake up from history."  All that optimism in those days.  Or maybe it was optimistic to me because I was in my late teens.  Either way.  The world feels a lot different these days, which, of course, is part of what keeps us in business here at the CTlab. 

But this is where we get Barack Obama, who will be invested as the President of the United States tomorrow.  Whether it's Pollyanna-ish or head-in-the-sand, I don't know.  But right now there is hope, especially here in North America.  Sure, Obama is facing a crisis, and sure expectations are too high. (You want some good Irish comedy, check out the 2nd video, below.) 

But right now, I'll enjoy my reconnection to the city, the bombardment of information coming my way, and I'll enjoy the hope that people seem to feel connected to Obama's inauguration.  It's good to be back amongst the living here.  Cheers.

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