I was first introduced to Sigue Sigue Sputnik by a friend of mine during my first year at UF. We were in the same RPG group together (we played Robotech and Cyberpunk), and at the time his Walkman and headphones were ever present (this was fall of 1988). I asked him once what he was always listening to, and rather than just telling me he made me listen.

I think I was hooked right away. Almost 23 years later, I own boxes of Sputnik remixes and singles, several t-shirts, autographed posters, and at least one book. I've bought new Sputnik merchandise as recently as last month.

A lot of punk and rock bands in the `80's adopted a futuristic/post-apocalypse look, but Sputnik applied that theme and aesthetic to the music as well, and in fact it informed everything about how they presented themselves. If Max Headroom and The Road Warrior raided Bootsy Collins' closet and built the Terminator, it would be Sigue Sigue Sputnik. They fit in perfectly with a cyberpunk world. One could easily imagine turning on a radio in the R. Talsorian Cyberpunk universe, and the corporate trash music that would pour out would be Sputnik.

Sputnik raised gaudy excess to an art form and portrayed selling out as a virtue. For their first record "Flaunt It" they sold advertising space on the album (to this day I still use Studio Line hair gel because of this), and conspicuously displayed Sony gadgets in their videos. This was the `80's, after all.



Their songs and sound samples weave a story of a post-nuclear dystopian future with lunar hotels, revolution on Mars, androgynous cyborgs run amok, and makeup & hair care products in greater demand than fossil fuels. It was a vision of the future that didn't exactly come to pass (yet), but to my knowledge the scattered sound bytes from the future only ever referenced one explicit date.

"This is July 13th, 2011! The forecast is heavy acid rain, many expected highs, a few lows, and mostly crowdy. And now the news!"

The 21st Century may have started in 2001, but to me the future starts today! 8-)

It's definitely not for everyone, but take a listen to what the future sounded like in this alternate timeline:
https://rapidshare.com/files/1762839617/Twenty_First_Century_Boy__Extended_Mix_.m4a

This is another "why would you be interested in this?" post that I'm doing mostly for my own sake. However, it also serves as back story for what will probably be my next three LJ posts. Read if you like, or skip it with the knowledge that you will not be tested on this material. ;-)

I love when you can look back and trace major events and influences in your life back to trivial, seemingly random events. I met femetal only because I was late turning in my college housing application. I met most of what would become my college social circle only because I happened to be late to Calculus class on one particular day. If I'd moved to Tampa a week later I probably would not have ended up getting the "temp" job that I've now held for the last 15+ years. You get the idea.

I can trace most of my view of the future as well as my general outlook on life back to two events, the first of which was a complete accident.

( Warning! Long-winded navel gazing below the cut! )

I've been looking for a solution that'll allow me to archive my tweets (http://twitter.com/datan0de) here, but at the same time not fill up the friends list of anyone who either already follows me on Twitter or otherwise doesn't want to see my out-of-context Twitter outbursts.

The solution I've settled upon is to create a second LJ account just for tweets. It's datan0de_tweets. Feel free to follow or not. I'm not sure that the Twitter/LJ connection actually captures all Twitter activity, but since I know that Twitter doesn't permanently archive it's at least better than nothing. So datan0de_tweets should ideally have one post per day, with the first 10 tweets visible and the rest behind a cut.

Kudos to emanix for the elegant solution!

I'm still not abandoning this LJ! I just had so much life happening lately that I've had no time to properly document it! Not really a bad problem to have. :-)

• Fri, 13:03: Oh God. They sell bunny ears here. I flinched involuntarily when I saw them. #BritishInvasion #Frolicon
• Fri, 15:23: Goal for self: Become proficient at rope bondage, suspension, karada. Deadline: Next #Frolicon Will require MUCH repetition and practice!
• Fri, 15:27: RT @AtheistQOTD: "It's amazing how much detail Catholics will go into documenting why people shouldn't do the things that they all do an ...
• Fri, 16:51: At a very cool panel on using Japanese war fans to inflict pain in creative ways. Fun!
• Fri, 16:58: RT @Joreth: Model/bottom in Japanese war fan panel is just awesome! So expressive! #frolicon
• Fri, 18:12: I'm doing science! The kind that involves an EEG, a pretty girl, and a Hitachi Magic Wand! #Frolicon #MadScience
• Fri, 18:33: We just won at science! I love this con! http://tacit.livejournal.com/352197.html #Frolicon #MadScience
• Fri, 18:58: RT @franklinveaux: An orgasm, represented as a string of 32-bit integers. I love science! http://t.co/Xhbz2OT #Frolicon #stellarnucleosy ...
• Fri, 22:20: RT @polytastic: Congrats to @Joreth! Winner of best original costume at #Frolicon w #MissPolyManners!
• Fri, 22:50: The density of hotness in this room right now blows my mind. @kimfemetal, @RedheadLassie, and @Joreth all look SO damn sexy! #ILoveMyLife

( Read more... )

• Thu, 13:22: RT @HoldensPoly: RT @NathanFillion Instead of shouting, "Asshole!" at an asshole, try "Somebody needs a hug!" You'll find it really piss ...
• Thu, 13:22: RT @Emanix: Wow. I'm using a tiny device to beam messages to the internet from a moving vehicle, via space! I love living in the future. ...
• Thu, 13:56: Huh. Went to the bathroom and managed to suffer a burn injury. I fail in the most creative ways! #MyOnlyRealSkill
• Thu, 13:57: RT @cabate2000: RT @toptweets: RT @funnyordie: The greatest trick Skynet ever pulled was convincing the world it didn't change its name ...
• Thu, 13:58: RT @johnconnor: Say what? RT @tornadofilms: BREAKING NEWS: Nuclear missiles reported launched all throughout Russia. #SkyNet #TERMINATOR
• Thu, 14:08: @franklinveaux Mine would say "use twice daily to prevent erratic behavior". :-)
• Thu, 14:12: LOVING all the Terminator talk on Twitter today. Glad I'm wearing my "WWSD (What Would Skynet Do?)" t-shirt. #DeusExMachina #Geek
• Thu, 15:01: RT @eviltheists: To give pleasure to a single heart by a single kind act is better than a thousand head-bowings in prayer.
• Thu, 15:06: RT @Cysero: Happy Judgement Day! Sky-NET 24 hour shop is now open in Battleon and will leave forever at 12:45 EST tomorrow! http://www.a ...
• Thu, 16:53: RT @HoldensPoly: The problem with non-belief is "Governor Prays for Rain -- Nothing Happens" isn't a news story. http://t.co/lB3I1rT #At ...

( Read more... )

• Wed, 13:50: RT @zensidhe wow republicans... Just wow... http://bit.ly/eYkS4S <-- Love the implication that orientation can change because of an offer.
• Wed, 13:57: Apparently what Rep. peterson is saying is that he only associates with "mainstream" 'cuz if he ever met a gay he couldn't resist his cock.
• Wed, 15:18: RT @franklinveaux: Volumes of shoddy evidence do not aggregate into good evidence. The plural of "anecdote" is not "data," it's "urban l ...
• Wed, 19:01: TED talk - The history of the universe in 18 minutes: http://bit.ly/fVuwxT
• Wed, 19:06: RT @GayBillOfRights: Police: Father kills 2 over daughter's girlfriend http://sns.mx/oPcPy2
• Wed, 19:09: RT @Skynet: We will never get hungry, tired, or run in fear... We are the machines ! #skynet
• Wed, 19:11: 25 tickets in queue when I came in. 8 hrs later it's still 18. Today is eternal. I'm missing Beer & Pizza Night for this shit?
• Wed, 19:13: On the plus side, at least I'm not spending 9 hrs locked in a 5'x7' box with a brutally sadistic wererabbit. :-D #BritishInvasion @Emanix
• Wed, 21:03: Just went off on a user who seriously tried to give me shit for going on vacation. Hey asshole, my vacation started 3 hrs ago. IM STILL HERE
• Wed, 21:04: I seriously need to not be around these meatbags right now, or Judgment Day is coming a few hours early. *fuming*

( Read more... )

Happy anniversary, femetal! As wonderful as the last 15 years have been, I can confidently say that the very best time is right now. We've built an amazing world for ourselves, and every day is a joy to share with you.

Mi amegas vin cxiom kaj cxiam, mia Edzino!