Don’t Look Back lyrics by Shelt Garner @sheltgarner please give credit if you produce or perform
keep your eyes on the prize if you look back you’ll taste salt the bitterness will get you and you’ll just be a pile of guilt in the sand
don’t look back is my refrain don’t look back the past is receding fast history can’t be changed believe me I’ve tried don’t look back don’t look back don’t look back
in my dreams it’s all fixed your love returns in a second then I awake and have a drink guilt for what could have been is going to kill me in the end
don’t look back is my refrain don’t look back the past is receding fast history can’t be changed believe me I’ve tried don’t look back don’t look back don’t look back
(bridge) the focus on the present knowing that’s the right way to be but my grief arises from soul overcomes me yet again and again and again
don’t look back is my refrain don’t look back the past is receding fast history can’t be changed believe me I’ve tried don’t look back don’t look back don’t look back
Hand of Fate lyrics by Shelt Garner @sheltgarner please give credit if you produce or perform
don’t know what to say much to my dismay we all get it in the end all we can do is smile knowing how it all ends is in the hand of fate
hand of fate is what I’m saying it’s all around us in control hand of fate is what I knowing it throws us into the sky when our time on earth passes on by hand of fate hand of fate hand of fate
we’re here for a good time not for a long time we can’t fight the hand of fate all we can do is strike a match to illuminate the truth
hand of fate is what I’m saying it’s all around us in control hand of fate is what I knowing it throws us into the sky when our time on earth passes on by hand of fate hand of fate hand of fate
(bridge) our destiony isn’t set I want to believe it’s true is it possibly that I control how it all ends I fear that’s a lie the hand of fate is too strong
hand of fate is what I’m saying it’s all around us in control hand of fate is what I knowing it throws us into the sky when our time on earth passes on by hand of fate hand of fate hand of fate
We live in an era of post-accountability. Trump is above the law. And if you’re racist or misogynistic in the public sphere, then you cry about being “canceled” and get your own chat show on Fox News.
With that in mind, I wonder if anyone would actually care if my personal paranoia about Big Tech being able to read our minds would really matter in real terms if a document leaked proving it was all real. Just think of the massive about of corrupt bullshit that Trump has managed to get away over the last few years without any real accountability.
He’s a corrupt, criminal idiot and he’s probably going to become president against in 2024.
So, the case could be made that if Big Tech can, in fact, read our minds, that it’s actually hurting itself in the long run. I know, personally, I would like the opportunity to by a $1,2000 mindcap that would allow me to interact directly with the Internet without even having to deal with the bullshit of the Metaverse.
Even if that wasn’t a possibility, given that we all but know that ETs are real and it’s a lulz, I think outside a few pointed rants from far Right and far Left thought leaders that the whole thing would be forgotten within one or two newscyles.
Which leaves me to believe, again, that the only way we have return to accountability is some sort of civil war. Only when things grow REALLY EXISTENTIAL will the idea that was once so assumed — if you do something bad you’re held accountable — will come back.
End Of The Beginning lyrics by Shelt Garner @sheltgarner please give credit if you produce or perform
don’t know the future it’s true but the way you look at me makes me think I know where this is all going to go we may not be lovers yet
but this is the end of the beginning the end of the beginning the end of the beginning
a touch from your finger tips a glance of you on a date is all I need to seal our fate our love is new but it is strong the look on your face ends all debate
what we face is the the end of the beginning the end of the beginning the end of the beginning
(bridge) I can’t tell the future it’s true but what can I do but hope that we’re going to last maybe start a little family of our own make plans we forget have pain and passion that comes and goes with the roar of something more
the end of the beginning the end of the beginning the end of the beginning
Hold lyrics by Shelt Garner @sheltgarner please give credit if you produce or perform
the center will not hold the center will not hold the center will not hold
chaos in the streets lust between the sheets Helter Skelter on the radio telling me everything’s about to blow hold you tight with all my might you’re my truth, my guiding light as the center falls
the center will not hold look out below the center will not hold everything is coming to an end the center will not hold ’cause we don’t care enough about the truth it is foretold
wars and rumors of war rush towards us like a thief in the night we embrace the lie deny the truth what else can we do but dig a hole to hell hoping to find heaven there
the center will not hold look out below the center will not hold everything is coming to an end the center will not hold ’cause we don’t care enough about the truth it is foretold
(bridge) in simpler times the center was secure we all knew what to do now chaos is all around we can barely stand our ground
the center will not hold look out below the center will not hold everything is coming to an end the center will not hold ’cause we don’t care enough about the truth it is foretold
the center will not hold the center will not hold the center will not hold
Wait Till The End lyrics by Shelt Garner @sheltgarner please give credit if you produce or perform
I adore you more than most but you’re not just a ghost won’t bore you with the details the details are to sad to recall my life isn’t over yet let’s wait till the end
wait till the end then will know how the truth wait till the end did it all work out or was it all just shouting cause by too much doubt
people tell me it’s over that I should move on mooning over you is a waist that I need to face the truth but I’m still waiting for you waiting till the end
wait till the end then will know how the truth wait till the end did it all work out or was it all just shouting cause by too much doubt
(bridge) beginnings are meant to end give me a head start maybe I can dart around you like a fish and you’ll give me a kiss
wait till the end then will know how the truth wait till the end did it all work out or was it all just shouting cause by too much doubt
One More Sip lyrics by Shelt Garner @sheltgarner please give credit if you produce or perform
run my hands through my hair mull my tab in my mind wondering how drunk to get to make everything feel sublime all I know is I can’t drink you away much to my dismay
one more sip of my beer one more tear on my cheek one more regret to have our time is no more I admit with a sigh
the bartender points at the clock tells me no more roll in my rock it used to be so much different when you were by my side let me slide my hand up your thigh
one more sip of my beer one more tear on my cheek one more regret to have our time is no more I admit with a sigh
(bridge) living in the present is what I should do but then I want to call you hoping you’ll pick up with love then reality hits and I have another sip
one more sip of my beer one more tear on my cheek one more regret to have our time is no more I admit with a sigh
I love movies and I love the Oscars. I really like Vanity Fair’s podcast on the lead up to the telecast that I’ve been listening to. There’s a lot — a lot — of talk about how to fix the Oscars. ABC and the Academy are so desperate that they’ve even taken to not airing some of the awards in the live broadcast.
This is extremely misguided.
I’m not particularly clever in presenting the most obvious way to fix the Oscars. Sell the rights to a major streamer and make the Goddamn thing five hours long if need be. The era of the Oscars being as huge as the Superbowl is over. There is a core group of people who watch the Oscars and everyone else.
So it’s better to indulge the people who love the Oscars’ spectacle and glitz, rather than criming the program’s style in hopes that…skate borders might watch? What the what?
Anyway, by not adopting this idea, the Academy is only hurting itself. They’re in denial. With the rise of an extremely fragmented media landscape it’s just not as easy as it used to be to get the eyeballs for the telecast that it once was.
It will be interesting to see how long it takes for the Academy to succumb to the inevitable.
I really struggle with what, exactly, is the cause of the clusterfuck that is currently American politics. What is the exact source of how fucked up everything is? One of my more conservative relatives, whenever politics comes up, wants to talk about the influence of social media instead of the fact that the MAGA New Right is so extreme that we’re on the cusp of either a civil war or the establishment of an autocracy.
And, yet, the idea that social media — in essence, technology — is why the two sides alternately don’t understand or want to destroy each other has some merit. Is it possible that the rise of social media is, unto itself, going to be the ultimate demise of the United States?
Twitter and Facebook so allow extreme minority views on either side the ability to set the agenda at any particular moment that when we either fall to autocracy or have a civil war that our current “soft singularity” might be the reason?
This is a really difficult thing to parse. If you try to figure out what, specifically, has us in this horrific political situation, it seems as though there are some serious macro trends that are all coming a head at the same time. Social media has nothing to do with it, it just establishes the context, the parameters of our ultimate downfall.
Because one thing is clear — the United States is extremely unstable and the moment the Republicans take Congress in January 2023, an already bad situation is going to grow far, far worse. The reason why I say this is, barring something no one can expect or predict, Donald Trump is going to run and win in 2024. He could even run and win outright in 2024 without the need to cheat, even though he obviously will do so anyway.
And I freely admit that something could happen and we punt the problems I keep harping about down the road another election cycle. But we’re not going to fix them without Something Bad happening. Something really bad. You can’t have the Republican Party be as hysterical and bad faith as it currently is without something fucked up happening sooner rather than later.
So, the origins of America’s impeding downfall (or Third Republic if all goes well) has nothing to do with social media. All social media does is made a bad situation worse and maybe move faster than it might otherwise.
In a sense, America’s Second Civil War has already begun, at least in the minds of fucking the MAGA New Right. That’s all a lot of them fucking talk about! But I’m not prepared to lay our current crisis at the feat social media. Too many other things are going on at the same time for that to happen.
Anyway. Like I keep saying — we’re fucked. Enjoy this moment of living in a stable Western democracy as long as you can. It’s not going to last much longer.
So, in a sense, I’m in the second act of this first novel. It’s required a lot of fancy footwork, but I’ve managed to pull it off. Not only do I have a few blank scenes to write, there are a number of scenes I’m going to have to throw out at some point even to finish a “first” draft.
Otherwise, things are moving pretty fast.
I’m going to try to do a lot of reading in the coming days so I can finally figure out how to flesh out the body of the other books in this series. Right now, I know I have five really great, very solid concepts but they continue to be pretty vague in huge portions of their plot.
I hope to change that pretty soon, though. I love this project too much not to throw myself into figuring out how to make it a reality, something you can actually read instead of something I mentally masturbate about on this blog.
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