From: vagans@eanna.net
On Mon, 24 Nov 2003, Kevin Calder wrote:
> In message ,
> Sourcerer writes
>
> >On Fri, 21 Nov 2003, Kevin Calder wrote:
>
> >> But seriously, what makes you think the TCPA future is more PKD than WG?
>
> >I didn't mean a TCPA future, but the future -- really the present (the
> >future has always already begun): what better models our world of
> >debt-ridden hyperconumption: simstim and Tally Isham, or Perky Pat*?
>
> I take your point, but isn't it at least a bit of both.
Yes.
> I think most
> readers hailing from the UK would agree that the people making our TV
> these days are just falling over themselves to switch over to simstim.
> Television seems to be increasingly about achieving some kind of
> perceived level of 'realism', which if it isn't simstim in terms of
> hardware, is in terms of suspension of disbelief type simulation. Here
> is a selection of tonight's viewing for instance:
>
> 17:00: Car Boot Sale Treasure Hunt
> ('Real' people buying stuff at 'real' car boot sales?)
> 17:30: I Want That House
> ('Real' people buying 'real' property?)
> 18:00: The Salon
> ('Real' people working in a 'real' salon)
> 19:30: Real Story
> (I have no idea, but it sounds pretty 'real' :)
> 20:30: Changing Rooms
> (One of MANY programs about decorating 'real' rooms in 'real' peoples
> houses)
We see a lot of that, but our tv focuses on home improvement.
Tonight on HGTV (the belly of this beast)
8pm Designer's Challenge
9pm Date With Design
9:30 Design on a Dime
10pm Outer Spaces
10:30 Decorating Cents
It is very Perky Patish since it is about taking the reality and turning
it into a dream. TV professional home decorators are stars in the US on
the level, at least, of tv chefs. An incredible array of commercials
trail (or better, lead) this phennomenon: home improvement stores and
manufacturers, mortgage refinanciers, EZ home equity loan sharks, and
the growing number of debt management commercials ("How do I do it? I'm
in debt up to my eyeballs." goes one.)
The US domestic economy cannot survive a general rise in interest rates.
But that will happen, and a lot of home 'owners' will find themselves
'owning' illiquid real property with negative equity (with spiralingly
higher payments considering the trend towards variable rate mortgages)
in a dead market. Not to mention unemployment.
A possible surrogate would be a minned Perky Pat world for them to enjoy
in their hovels. The origin of Perky Pat is in the serial In The Days Of
Perky Pat (in Galaxy or World's of Tomorrow, I think), a post-nuclear
apocalypse story where Perky Pat (based on, I guess, Barbie) is the
tribal totem representing the lost golden age. PKD intended a religious
aspect to Perky Patism.
In The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Perky Pat layouts, of what
seems to be an idealized San Diego or Miami, are accurate reproductions
of the commodities of hyper-consumption miniaturized ("minned") and
accurate in detail. The colonists in their underground Martian hovels
organize their society around their layouts.
PKD adds a twist. There is a drug that moves the colonists awareness
into the dolls (Pat for the women, Walt for the men) and for a time they
can live inside the layout of the lost golden age, as forever young
hyper-consumers.
> >Wintermute and the Tessier-Ashpools or Buster Friendly and his Friendly
> >Friends?
>
> Hold that thought, a reread is in order.
>
> We should have us a badass PKD thread in a coupla weeks :)
I'm onboard for that.
>
>
> >> I wonder if Ballard had it right when he said "The future will be
> >> boring." :)
>
> >Have you read High Rise?
>
> I've always thought it was a bit like a vertical Heart of Darkness :)
Har! Or Lord Of The Flies -- only much much better.
--
(__) Sourcerer
/(<>)\ O|O|O|O||O||O When you're looking for something that doesn't exist,
\../ |OO|||O|||O|O it makes you crazier the closer you get to it.
|| OO|||OO||O||O -- R. Ebert
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
|
