VL-IV: Chap 9- Close-ups

[Michael Bailey]

>
> MK: I want to suggest it is more than 'affectionate parody' although it is that, I guess. It exemplifies that their 'action' is
> a parody of real comitted action for real change.
>

well, change and hope seem to be the theme for this year...

what is real committed action, and how could they have done better?
What are we to compare them to?
What should they have done differently?

Rex embodies real, committed action; yet his suppression of hedonia is tragic...
Vond is certainly committed; yet he would not be my choice to follow.

If there are real wrongs to redress (and I'm guessing nobody here is
that much of a Pollyanna, even me, to say there aren't) - the currents
in the book that address them are
a) Jess's speech - "Let go, let God"
b) Sasha's personalization of issues - "some person, usually male" to deal with
c) Takeshi's mysterious karmic adjustment business - DL's advice to
the Thanatoids, "go for the money, not the revenge" being part of it,
hearing people's tales of woe another part, making a buck off it
another part, assembling the trappings of business (rolling stock,
offices, computers and friendly robots) yet another

maybe Mark, you are right and 24fps is deprecated in favor of those things.
In fact, in their footage is a vast trove of Thanatoid muck to be
raked for pearls, and the rest composted...and the changeover in
methodology (let's record everything and turn it over to the
authorities, and if in the course of things we discover the
authorities are corrupt - very noir - then let's tell all and sundry
and surely someone will do something) becomes (let's work among
ourselves, try and build something that will last) is one of the
things happening in the book.  All are flawed, nobody has a monopoly
on the truth, but everyone has something to bring to make the stone
soup...anyone might play a hand in the Crazy 8s game...


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"Frenesi's eyes, even on the aging ECO stock, took over the frame, a
defiance of blue unfadable."