Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, dear reader and listener.

 

I have a couple updates—first, the manuscript is finally finished. It’s nearly twice the length that it was when I recorded these episodes last year. And now I am back to seeking a publisher. I had taken down some old episodes, as I thought having too much up might decrease its chances of getting published. But I’ve changed my mind and will be putting some of the old episodes back up over the next week. Today Episode 2: Plato’s Cave-In has been reinstated.

 

I have also cleaned up the website a bit. There’s a nice shiny Itunes logo now. You’re welcome. And after a couple people reached out asking how they could support my work, I decided to add a Paypal donate button. All donations will go toward new episode recording and possibly publishing.

 

Huge thanks to Darren Westlund, Jasun Horsley, and Dennis McBride for the very nice blurbs on the home page. I’ve also added a tag line under the title banner. It reads, “SETI to yeti. Do you copy? Over.” What do you think? Here are some of the other contenders—

 

“Is that your life flashing before your eyes, or are you just scrolling through your phone?”

 

“Do you feel as if you are observing yourself from the outside, looking inside?”

 

“Toddler to Siri: ‘I love you.’ Siri responds.”

 

What line from the book do you think belongs up there?

 

Today as I was listening to Episode 2 for the first time since I recorded it I was struck by how sad I sound. Jasun Horsley calls it my “Eeyore voice.” And I also heard a live reading recently—the difference is subtle but consequential. At 3 AM when you’re alone with the machine reading words for the millionth time it’s hard to recreate the natural energy you feel when actually connecting with people in real time. Someday I would like to rerecord the full version of the book with an engineer to worry about the tech, and maybe even a live audience to exchange energy with. But for now, this is it.

 

I’m also thinking of making more videos. Probably readings of short pieces unrelated to this project. What do you think? Did anyone watch the Halloween video?

 

Feel free to reach out to say hello and offer feedback. Someone told me there was a problem where it wouldn’t allow them to comment or email but I think I’ve fixed it. Thanks to everyone for listening, writing reviews, and sending encouraging words and support. I really appreciate it.

 

Happy solstice. May you get through the coming market-sanctioned, culturally designated time for love without killing loved ones.

 

Love,

 

Gib and Stranger

 

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Something to See

 

Five years ago I made a film called “Something to See.” The first few minutes are a painfully accurate expression of my experience of panic attacks in the city, but if you can get through that there’s beauty on the other side.

The Liminalist: A Replicant Awakens

Listen as Jasun Horsley of The Liminalist and I finally get to the bottom of it all. I.e. find ourselves up invisible creek without an imaginary paddle—

The Liminalist # 175: A Replicant Awakens (with Gib Strange)

Topics discussed include: Horsley’s Neuro-Deviant, Notes from Underground, the outsider archetype, Taxi Driver, the unsympathetic alienated, Frank Booth in Blue Velvet, the anti-villain, misery makes the fiend, existentialism as product, Gib’s avatar in Notes from Uncanny Valley, Edgar Poe’s Imp of the Perverse, taboo and social control, monoculture vs. diversity, space for the damaged, socially accepted rebellion, counterculture as psyop, Catcher in the Rye, what’s behind the zeitgeist, the synthesis of fiction & nonfiction, distrust for success, Mad Men, individually targeted markets, youth culture and identity formation, increased bifurcation, a fetish menu, maternal psychic enmeshment, girls with daddy issues, A.I., recreating the mother’s body, The Overlook, Phillip K. Dick & siphoning neuro-deviants, a control mechanism, life in a simulation, the door to nihilism, believing in nothing, the question of meaning, super-egoism, a replicant awakens, action vs. philosophy, radio signals to the brain, delusions for sale, the Illuminati meme, Paul Hellyer, information saturation, acclimatization to acts of abomination, a polarity of gullibility, a split in the psyche, increased polarization, disappearing transition seasons, imagination, the power of certainty, sleeping better without uncertainty,gender identification at odds with sexual orientation, the search for tolerable uncertainty, Hollywood Illuminati, when people lie, experiencing DID & fragmentation, the CIA’s authorized disclosures, gas-lighting, homogenized insanity, pre-Apocalyptic climate, Trump & Kanye West, celebrity meltdown,Joaquin Phoenix, simulated meltdown, Jim Carrey’s plausible deniability, Kidding, the shadow & the persona,when psyops become sexy, Stranger Things & ripping off internet conspiracy culture, seeding the internet with disinformation narratives, CIA & Hollywood, early film propaganda, 2001 & “benign” propaganda, 2001’s impact on science, The Imitation Game & how to militarize autism, history & conspiracy theory, Phillip K. Dick’s weak ego, living in someone else’s world, selective skepticism, the test of a first-rate intelligence, susceptibility to lying, ironic detachment & the opposite of literal, borderline personality disorder, Icke’s reptiles, the growing trend of neurodiversity & postmodern subjective reality, white nationalism and the attempt to find solid ground, negative identity syndrome.

Happy Thanksgiving, or as we call it in the biz, Brown Thursday.

 

 

The Invisible Boy’s Revenge

Happy Halloween! Here’s a video experiment I made out of an old Halloween piece. The voice of this piece did not match the tone of Notes from the Uncanny Valley, but I still like it. It’s funny, perverse, regressive, revealing, and very offensive, but it kept my hands busy for a while—

 
Let me know what you think.
And here is Stranger rolling around in some leaves during happier times.

13. I’m a Stranger Here Myself

“If an alien force were observing Earth, would it see humans as the invasive species and send some kind of robot scarecrows to protect the habitat? Or would it further our survival by leading us away from danger? For a moment, I take a guilty solace in the latter fantasy. I imagine electric angels guiding us, like the roach-bots shepherding those cockroaches toward the light.”

0:00 —Intro: a story with a good twist…

00:59 —Light speed in the elevator…

03:49 —Face in the crowd and blood on the tracks

11:55 —More TMI

16:24 —The Return of the Roboroach: “People who can’t even control their own minds want to control the minds of others.”

22:55 —Christmas in the community room

24:19 The death of MacGuffin

27 minutes

“Unseen Forces” by Justin Walter, “Disintegration Loops” by William Basinki, “Following” by Justin Walter, “Pathologically Bored” by Deru, and “Poa Alpina” by Biosphere