I used to think that everything was just being funny
but now I don't know. I mean, how can you tell?
Andy Warhol
We've been getting some great mail recently. Fantastic, wonderful mail. What's truly amazing is that much of it isn't funny, not about being or feeling funny. It's more about changes people are going through, and what those feel like from the inside. If you've ever read Nathaniel West's novella, Miss Lonelyhearts, you might get some flavor of what it's like to get such personal missives from people you'll never know. That's one thing.Another is well... you may have noticed that EGR has been experimenting with a couple different tropes and genres lately, different ways of saying whatever it is some maddened maenad muse demands -- and demand she does. Where did "I Was a Teenage Brain Surgeon" and "Signs and Portents" come from? Who the fuck knows.
Some readers have loved this stuff and called for more. Other reactions have ranged from the predictably terse unsubscribe requests to genuine concern for our well being. Well, hey, the funny stuff had the same effect -- but the less hilarious the theme, the deeper the concern appears to be. We pray for our sanity every day. If you care to join us in that, you have our sincerest thanks. Just don't forget to include yourself in the petition.
At any rate, it seems there needs to be another section here. Mixing satire and substance can cause altitude sickness, cognitive dissonance. Oh dear! In this, we speak from personal experience, of course. But it also seems that this "other stuff" needs to be a part of EGR, and not be shunted off into another bucket someplace else. If RageBoy is enraged, it's not just for effect, not just premeditated window dressing for the standup act. Humor is one way to explode the prison walls. There are others.
- Private Label
- This was posted to a private list sometime in 1995. The list has gone moribund and the ASCII was just whirling around on our hard drive to no effect. Have a hit.
- Interview
- This originally appeared on something Total New York put together. It was about Revolution. Or something. You can still find this at http ://www.totaltour.com/revolution/perspectives/index.html (it's framed, so you'll have to poke around), but we figured it belonged here too.
- something in the way
- This angry little meditation asks whether there is life after The Great Technology Sitcom. And answers in the affirmative. When it was published on the Total New York server, this piece generated a lot of discussion.
- Firewall My Ass!
- The mode is mixed, RageBoy mocking himself and crowing at the same time. Poor bastard. But read the clips.
