Tuesday, February 06, 2007
from Salman Rushdie's Fury * (my readings this week) -- on "Mr Live Machine" :
Salman Rushdie's fictionalized characters are goin' on : "In the future, sure theen', they don't listen no more to this type talk radio. Or, jou know waht' I theen'? Porhap' the radio weel listen to oss. We'll be like the entortainmon' and the machines weel be the audien', an' own the station, and we all like work for them." -- "Yo, lissen up. . . Sound to me like he rent The Matrix too many times. Where I'm sittin' the future plain ain't arrive. Ever'thin' look the same. I mean the exact same shinola goin' down all over. Ever'body in the same accommodation, gettin' the same education, doin' the same recreation, lookin' for the same . . . 'ploymentation. Check it out. We gettin' the same bills, datin' the same . . . gettin' paid bad, . . . am I right? That would be correcto, senor. And my radio? It come wit' a on-off switch, daddy-o, and I turn that sucker off anytime I choose." -- "Boy, does he don' get eet. . . . They got machine now eat food for fuel, jou hear that? No more gasoline. Eat human food like jou an' me. Pizza, chili dog, tuna melt, whatev'. Pretty soon Mr Machine gonna be takin' a table in a restauran'. Gonna be, like, gimme the bes' booth. Now jou tell me what's the differen'? If eet eatin' eet alive, I say. The future here, man, right now, jou better watch jou butt. Pretty soon Mr Live Machine gonna be comin' for that employmentation jou talkin' 'bout, maybe for jour girlfrien' too." -- "Hey, hey my paranoid . . . friend, . . . slow down . . .
(143-44)
* Salman Rushdie, Fury (Vintage, 2002)
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