The future ain't what it used to be, see, its up to you to me to make it what it needs to be, see! A lyric from a friend of mind 20 years ago. A great piece man! Some very familiar themes in my own life of realising the future we were sold in the 90s as kids was defective & broken. The Rave culture was similar. The mitsubishi kamikaze ecstasy binges, immersed in doom stricken bass lines. Seemed great fun at the time. Now it's turned into 'Children of Men' it seems less desirable.
I suppose its no coincidence that Mitsubishi, makers of the suicide planes of the Kamakaze pilots also were the legendry guerilla branding of the ecstacy experience of the ecstatic nihilist raver. This is a Military Industrial Complex triumph. Render your aponent suicidal & the war is as good as won
Mitsubishi-Genentech was also one of the megacorps in Neuromancer - the real-life Genentech has been busy working on mRNA vaccines...
Just looked at the front cover of my copy of Mirrorshades and remembered how I spent my early 20s trying to LARP the mid-90s back into reality. I even bought a pair of Lennon-style mirrorshades, which mysteriously disappeared a year or two later just as they came back into fashion for teenage festival-goers.
I never replaced them, because by that point the Savile revelations had come out, and I realised how much a feature of his 'look' they had been. He even claimed that John Lennon took the idea from him - could be bullshit, of course, but enough to put me off them for ever after.
I've taken to calling this reality soypunk: everything from your favorite dystopian sci fi, only in the lamest, suckiest, most counterfeit way possible. As tofu is to steak (it's essentially the same thing bro!)
Brilliant: “The cyberpunk-dystopia we were expecting featured cyborg-mercenaries roaming the rain-soaked streets of Neo-Tokyo doing hits for the Yakuza; the one we got contained hopeless, porn-addled men opting for surgical castration in order to live out their sexual fetishes.” Well said.
That reminds me actually; I neglected to mention the US military involvement with game design. One of my brother's other Amiga games was Desert Strike, a propaganda-piece for the first Gulf War!
The future ain't what it used to be, see, its up to you to me to make it what it needs to be, see! A lyric from a friend of mind 20 years ago. A great piece man! Some very familiar themes in my own life of realising the future we were sold in the 90s as kids was defective & broken. The Rave culture was similar. The mitsubishi kamikaze ecstasy binges, immersed in doom stricken bass lines. Seemed great fun at the time. Now it's turned into 'Children of Men' it seems less desirable.
Hah! Great minds, eh?
"The mitsubishi kamikaze ecstasy binges, immersed in doom stricken bass lines" - I love this description.
I suppose its no coincidence that Mitsubishi, makers of the suicide planes of the Kamakaze pilots also were the legendry guerilla branding of the ecstacy experience of the ecstatic nihilist raver. This is a Military Industrial Complex triumph. Render your aponent suicidal & the war is as good as won
Mitsubishi-Genentech was also one of the megacorps in Neuromancer - the real-life Genentech has been busy working on mRNA vaccines...
Just looked at the front cover of my copy of Mirrorshades and remembered how I spent my early 20s trying to LARP the mid-90s back into reality. I even bought a pair of Lennon-style mirrorshades, which mysteriously disappeared a year or two later just as they came back into fashion for teenage festival-goers.
I never replaced them, because by that point the Savile revelations had come out, and I realised how much a feature of his 'look' they had been. He even claimed that John Lennon took the idea from him - could be bullshit, of course, but enough to put me off them for ever after.
Reminds of me of how much 60s hippy fashion was allegedly inspired, according to Dave McGowan, by a boutique ran by the wife of psychedelic creep-lord Vito Paulekas: https://theunexpectedcosmology.com/the-first-hippie-shall-be-last-charlie-manson-meet-vito-and-the-freaks/
Verdadero!
I've taken to calling this reality soypunk: everything from your favorite dystopian sci fi, only in the lamest, suckiest, most counterfeit way possible. As tofu is to steak (it's essentially the same thing bro!)
Perfect.
Brilliant: “The cyberpunk-dystopia we were expecting featured cyborg-mercenaries roaming the rain-soaked streets of Neo-Tokyo doing hits for the Yakuza; the one we got contained hopeless, porn-addled men opting for surgical castration in order to live out their sexual fetishes.” Well said.
Can't tell you the powerful feelings this invokes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emx7dOSH8ho
That reminds me actually; I neglected to mention the US military involvement with game design. One of my brother's other Amiga games was Desert Strike, a propaganda-piece for the first Gulf War!
Notice the palm trees and oil installations in Falcon Patrol.
Someone knew something.
Good piece from the elusive Schwabstacker: https://schwabstack.substack.com/p/reality-ends-here