Banned
(This post was last modified: 05-21-2017, 03:40 PM by KAV.)
Last night I read about the greatest implosion of retail outlets since the great depression followed by an article about Jeff Bezos' FANTASTIC lifestyle. This morning it was robots coming to a Taco Bell or McDonalds near you and the loss of another 7.5 million retail jobs in 20 years.
A few years ago, the famous L.A. Automat closed. For those younger readers this was an early experiment in American dining. Imagine a restaurant with a wall of vending machines with a full menu constantly replaced by faceless workers and eliminating waitresses, er food servers, maître de and cashier. I hated the plasticine tapioca pudding and ham on white, tissue paper wonder bread with equally plasticine mayo. Then I watched a Twilight Zone while mother was out shopping; said program forbidden for fear of nightmares: The only nightmare produced in the form of my philosophical questions. This was the episode featuring an efficiency expert who puts more and more people out of work until he himself falls victim.
I thought of this while shaving. I thought of a art film KOYYANISQUATSI with wretched music by Phillip Glass but stunning cinematography.
LIFE OUT OF BALANCE, or as a HOPI friend better translates SNAFU. I read a thread about another B&M shaving store opening, disappointment in many online vendors who decided against a retail operation and know of several with uncertain futures. Then I had this Dante esq vision no Twilight Zone writer could foretell. A nano robot, dropped from the indoor drone armed to kill flies, spiders and unfortune goldfish when the batteries get low would crawl over my face
like a lawn mower, spraying a thin film of lubricant, clipping stubble and ejecting from it's fundament a sickly sweet post shave smelling of Kentucky Fried Chicken to inspire my lunch selection later in the day; a day of looking for work walking on cracked sidewalks weaving through empty shopping malls. Empty of people, empty of life save roaming packs of coyotes dodging robotic police drones killing anything that moves courtesy of our 1984 government.
YUCK. I think I will walk down to the local Latino market for lunch. The owner gets a laugh at my terrible Spanglish and old California courtly manners. I get an extra serving of rice and beans and steamed tortillas because I tip.
A few years ago, the famous L.A. Automat closed. For those younger readers this was an early experiment in American dining. Imagine a restaurant with a wall of vending machines with a full menu constantly replaced by faceless workers and eliminating waitresses, er food servers, maître de and cashier. I hated the plasticine tapioca pudding and ham on white, tissue paper wonder bread with equally plasticine mayo. Then I watched a Twilight Zone while mother was out shopping; said program forbidden for fear of nightmares: The only nightmare produced in the form of my philosophical questions. This was the episode featuring an efficiency expert who puts more and more people out of work until he himself falls victim.
I thought of this while shaving. I thought of a art film KOYYANISQUATSI with wretched music by Phillip Glass but stunning cinematography.
LIFE OUT OF BALANCE, or as a HOPI friend better translates SNAFU. I read a thread about another B&M shaving store opening, disappointment in many online vendors who decided against a retail operation and know of several with uncertain futures. Then I had this Dante esq vision no Twilight Zone writer could foretell. A nano robot, dropped from the indoor drone armed to kill flies, spiders and unfortune goldfish when the batteries get low would crawl over my face
like a lawn mower, spraying a thin film of lubricant, clipping stubble and ejecting from it's fundament a sickly sweet post shave smelling of Kentucky Fried Chicken to inspire my lunch selection later in the day; a day of looking for work walking on cracked sidewalks weaving through empty shopping malls. Empty of people, empty of life save roaming packs of coyotes dodging robotic police drones killing anything that moves courtesy of our 1984 government.
YUCK. I think I will walk down to the local Latino market for lunch. The owner gets a laugh at my terrible Spanglish and old California courtly manners. I get an extra serving of rice and beans and steamed tortillas because I tip.
