I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Monday, December 19, 2011

The questions that vex us

So, there's an re-emerging trend within audio productions (both songs, and in many cases, movie trailers). I call it the, "just barely conscious signal", in which the audio or video skitezes you, flickers between frames with lots of static-y sounds and visuals. You know. Like you used to get when TVs and radios had knobs you had to turn which moved a connection along a coil to "tune-in" a signal.

You can sometimes get the same effect now-a-days when you have a regular FM/AM signal and there's an intense lightning storm in the area. When I was young, this was a staple of life. The hiss and whine of broadcast signals. It's often used in horror to have the effect of, "emergency broadcast that you can just barely pickup or hear."

It takes me back to my childhood and knowing how to finesse a dial to get a clearer signal. But, you know what? We don't do that anymore. How does this translate to the target audience (12-24 year olds) who all grew up in the digital tuner/cable (and now digital signal) age?

Is it a cultural legacy? Societal anachronistic short hand we all accept (like "dialing" a phone, I remember dialing, my nieces and nephews have never dialed a phone)? Is it part of our genetic memory (the way chickens will scatter when the shadow of a hawk passes over them, even if they've never experienced a bird of prey before)?

And yes, this is what writers stay up past the witching hour contemplating. Because, we must know. How else to play upon your emotions, dear reader, than to know not only what makes you tick, but how.

3 comments:

Rick said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rick said...

As we get older, irrelevance must be protected, Steve. Irreverent old people are considered icky. Irrelevant old people must be protected, like that noisy signal that never goes away and then one day does. Blame, of course, must be attributed to Mr. Bose.

Steve Buchheit said...

I think we should blame Marconi because he invented the radio before the digital age which left us with this cultural legacy.

And I'd really wish those kids would keep the hell off of my lawn.

Maybe we could create reservations for us irrelevant geezers to live out the rest of our natural live chasing rabbits, rolling in the grass and laying in the sun?