SPACE WEIRDO

Channel 9

Motel room, again on the floor,
Dreaming of my own TV show.
Right before the climax,
A call in my cell phone:
Brand new Motorola ring tone!

I feel that I could be
Your rising star.
Where's my camera?
I've gotta say something!
I live and I believe in Channel 9.
It's a perfect world,
If you get the right angle.

Mother's guest in reality shows.
Sister's on The Twilight Zone.
All my friends are dancing
In paid advertising...
Let me in, I'm ready to go!

I feel that I should be
Your rising star.
It's a matter of time,
When you've gotta say something.
I live and I believe in Channel 9.
It's a perfect world,
If you get the right angle.

Now I've got the perfect plan:
Thirty minutes, one loaded gun.
This time I am sure that
I'll get your attention;
This time I'll be grabbing my chance.

I feel I should have been
Your rising star.
Give me an audience,
I've gotta say something!
I live and I believe in Channel 9.
It's a perfect world,
If you get the right angle.

She Saw Me

Narrator: There are ten filter circuits in the Voder, and combined with the two energy sources, they give a total of twenty separate components to be used in building up speech sounds. But now let's have Mr. Garrett and Miss Harper actually show us what the Voder can do with these twenty separate sounds.

Mr. Garret: Well, we heard the Voder make a word, and by combining words, of course, we get a sentence. For example, Helen, would you have the Voder say: "she saw me"?

Voder: She saw me.

Mr. Garret: That sounded awfully flat. How about a little expression? Say the sentence in answer to these questions. Who saw you?

Voder: She saw me.

Mr. Garret: Whom did she see?

Mr. Garret: That sounded awfully flat.

Voder: She saw me.

Mr. Garret: Who saw you?

Voder: She saw me.

Mr. Garret: Whom did she see?

Voder: She saw me.

Mr. Garret: Did she see you or hear you?

Voder: She saw me.

Narrator: Miss Harper, I've been wondering if our listeners realize how many motions you have to make in the production of a single word. Can you give us some idea?

Miss Harper: Well, for example, in producing the word "concentration" on the Voder I have to form thirteen different sounds in succession, make five up and down movements of the wrist bar and vary the position of the foot pedal from three to five times according to what expression I want the Voder to give the word. And of course, all this must be done with exactly correct timing.

Excerpts from the Voder demonstration at the World Fair in New York, 1939.

Farewell, Mary

Je serre le guidon, j'écoute le vent.
Personne ne vient, tout seul je roule.
J'y vais c'est égal s'il pleut ou pas.
La route qui glisse, les arbres qui passent.

Aujourd'hui comme toujours j'y vais, vers où?
    Le ciel si beau, nuages flottant.
Toujours en suivant, la ligne si blanche.
    Détours, signaux qui restent derrière.
Il faut aller sans penser pourquoi.
    Marcher, courir, pédaler, voler.
La route m'embrasse, j'y vais, je vole.
    Le ciel si beau, nuages flottant.

Pourquoi, pourquoi continuer?
Je sais c'est fou.
Aussi freiner n'est plus possible.

Derrière le chemin recule s'oublie.
    Devant la route une courbe sans fin.
Me montre un futur peut-être certain.
    J'y vais, je cours, je vole, je ris.
Il faut aller sans penser pourquoi.
    Marcher, courir, pédaler, voler.
La route m'embrasse...
    Le ciel si beau, nuages flottant.

Je vole.

Dedicated to Mary Hansen (1966 - 2002)

Strange Charm

Lovely quantum,
There's no flavour in your quark;
Nor momentum...
No speed of light may ever beat
The speed of dark.

And you know that Erwin is a rat
When the radiation source decays
And no one saves the cat.

Swanky lepton, as elusive as a clue.
Werner said so:
It's uncertain where you are
When I look at you.

And you'll be the funniest clown
When the chain reaction
Finds you with your pants down.

In a world with no remorse,
Where you test me bad,
But I can test you worse.

Sceptical

Pale looking girl,
You've got Rosemary's eyes.
Skinny as a spectre,
There is fear in your smile.
"I want to believe"...
You're in search for a sign.
They call you the psychic,
I call you the crow.

I'm sceptical about this fourth dimension
That you seem to think you have come from;
But I can't help to turn my head
When I hear your footsteps in the dark.

That queer looking lad
In the shades of your house
Could really be Uncle John as a ghost.
He talks through your dreams
And he wants to get back.

But it's in bad taste to get me involved
In your plans for reincarnation.
If you don't mind I'll turn your offer down;
I'd like to have a life of my own.

I'm sceptical about the fourth dimension
That your friends seem to have come from;
But I can't help to turn my head
When I hear you whisper in the dark.

One Small Step

Armstrong:
I'm going to step off the LM now.
That's one small step for man;
One giant leap for platypus.

One small step for man;
One giant leap for platypus.

Aldrin:
Contact light! O.K., engine stop…

Armstong:
Tranquility Base here.
The Eagle has landed!

Houston:
Roger, Tranquility.
We copy you on the ground.
You've got a bunch of guys
About to turn blue.
We're breathing again.
Thanks a lot.

Excerpts from the Apolo XI Moon landing transmission (1969), courtesy of NASA.

Lucy

Lucy is dying. Her malady is known;
She's been for decades neglected…
Where have you gone?

Lucy is crying for marmalade skies;
Perhaps you were just too busy
To look in her eyes.

There's no such thing as passive listening,
There's no such thing as innate taste, nay.
We are all glad to blame
Someone else in the game
While our lady is withering away.

Do you think that you know what you like?
I should think that you like what you know.
All the shit we produce, you eat up,
All seduced by cathode sex.

Lucy is waiting. There may be still time;
If you ever felt something for her
Demand the sublime.

Every time you are offered garbage
You don't have to rush into the can, my friend;
It's a matter of choice,
And we should all rejoice
When you shove it up their fat corporate ass.

Nobody tells you what, nobody tells you when;
You should be able to make up your own mind.
Are you going to sit
Or are you going to dive into the sea?

She Saw Me Not