Workday/Schoolnight - The Complete Nothing

“i think we all want to change the world, and the way
to change it is to occasionally scare it.” - ray bradbury

10 Calling The Disease The Cure

have you ever gotten into a fight with a computer?


9 Programming Language

being alive is tricky. go to the doctor.
tell me doctor, where are we going this time?
give me all the information on my body.
that data is mine.

i just need to know where to go and click sign
number up my body, take my cartilage and quantify

if i know all the numbers i will never die           
if i can track a pattern. if i can read the jargon
then i can modify    

empirical knowledge, liquids and solids digitirealized
here comes the math, here comes the science
we'll take the truth and we'll take the lies
we'll take the void, the fear of death
and we'll apply outside, externalize
we'll extrapolate and investigate all we've decontextualized

we'll do it for our health, and we'll do it for the cops.
we'll give up everything we've got
just to keep us safe and entertained.
we don't need the light switch explained.
  
we'll do it for efficiency, we'll do it for simplicity
we'll do it cause it can be done.
it's a free service with a one-time purchase minimum .   

we get our platform. we get our stage.
we stay connected. we're self-elected.
we're volunteering for the commandeering  
in the dawning of the digital age.    

statisticians are magicians
hiding in the masses of the culture and religion

8 Transhuman

historically speaking,we've been convincing
ourselves that now things are really speeding up
don't look back when there's so much coming up
you don't want to miss it. it's just after the break    
and if a message won't fit into a moment's segment
if it asks too much of the audience
it stays on the cutting room floor

what if the cutting room floor isn't a floor anymore?
what if it's a bottomless pit. centuries of clips
that if we had seen might have changed everything?

but when there's no way for an idea to turn a quick buck
we'll be politely asked to turn our heads
refocus on the carrots dangling
by the ones who have something to gain from our mass following

but it isn't all inevitable
but it isn't all inevitable

culturally speaking, we can ignore our history
"now" is the exception
the machine improves on every replication
at ever increasing speeds

we've never seen anything like it before
so it must be a godsend
because we know there's no such thing as god
so this must be it
no time to reflect. there's too much to expect

but it isn't all inevitable
but it isn't all inevitable


7 The Cutting Room Floor

if you can strip a people of their history
then you can sell them anything
if they can forget their great great grandparents so quickly
then you have found an in
this is the first step if you want to win

winning is defined by surrounding yourself with enablers and devices
contrivances that perpetuate whatever addiction-validating myth
your subconscious sees fit to print, post or share, publish or spread
imprint, embed, inject, infect, ingest, in jest
    
if you can thieve a people's purest selves
they'll believe they're from somewhere else
not of this dirt, not of this dirt, not of this dirt
and people who aren't from around here
need a lot of help in quelling their alien fears
and that's where you step in
highlight what you know to be lacking


6 Advice To A Young Man Considering A Career In Sales

popular culture's of no consequence
don't be fooled to believe it's relevant
the design has been locked in
exhaustion of pattern expression
long live the x generation

desperate to define ourselves
with the refuse and debris around
we hold a mirror up to a mirror
we like what we see
and we like how it feels
so lets get on to the next thing now

i thought technology was
supposed to save us
i thought it could clean up this mess
but maybe all it's got to say
is we were better off the old way
maybe all it's got to say
is we were better off living the ways of the old days

all these people have been made
and we're free for the taking
we used to have something to say
but now our favorite expression
is advertising for the newest, must have, all-in-one devices
so let's get on to the next thing now

we can't seem to get our bearings
the rugs always being pulled from under us
what is this i'm declaring?
pop will eat itself, never mind, oh well

what are we doing with our lives?
oh look a blinking light
i'm sorry what was i saying?
what point was i making?
let's get on to the next thing now
let's get on to the next thing now

5 The Next Thing

this new religion is haunting
neurons crossfire in my brain’s reality lobe
all of my friends are talking like we're living in a movie
and the plot is full of holes
evil and tyranny
every side is selling and every side is being sold
but it feels good to have faith in something
it feels good to fear whoever's in control

we believe in conspiracies
we love to hate the elite
there's too much they won't let us see
so we believe in conspiracies

we believe in conspiracies
the history of oppression is the history of greed
it’s a communicable social disease
so we believe in conspiracies

oh my god, it's so simple
i mean, of course, deceptively so
they've got the money so they write the rules
it's no coincidence they're winning
it's not happenstance that we will lose
but we're still alive and clicking
demoralized and mentally scarred
this validates this victimized feeling
there's nothing i can do, if they're who i think they are

we believe in conspiracies
we suspect the authorities
are we just helpless? are we just sheep?
working and dreaming for the machine

we believe in conspiracies
cover-ups and propagandizing
PR's a multi-billion industry
so we believe in conspiracies

but our believing just fits the design
the paranoia just keeps us in line
we don't know who put these thoughts in our brains
but at least we're entertained


4 We Believe In Conspiracies

riding in cars with american fear
homeward bound to the nightmare splendor
goodmorning breakfast of champions
and the sideways corporate ladder
good morning wild star
bright lights big city shine  
lost in the fight with the dead air society
lost in the fight with the punch drunk static

you can count on infected conquest
you can count on sabotage
you can count on a beauty pageant
creepy crawlers and cats and dogs

six day storm of the century
workout your animal rights
redemption and primal psychology
eternal shame, and spotless bright night
you can count on thrill seekers
you can count on the jungle skull
you can count on the universe
back pain and some kind of wonderful hunger

the dark backward is out of balance in time
the dark backward is how the world unwinds
the dark backward is now presented for recline
the dark backward

the dark backward is our replacement of spine
the dark backward is our new keeper new spy
the dark backward is the miracle of our time
the dark backward

video hunger
video weekend
video master
video machine
video
video heaven
video nightmare
video marathon
video planet
video
video shame
video cocoon
video pursuit
video hunger
video


3 The Dark Backward

“we are willing to do whatever we have to do to accomodate
new technologies.” - neil postman

1 Things Are In The Saddle

recovering sounds of the sun years
now you know
today's recordings
another funeral on earth
it's the complete nothing
unsupervised light
well, it's a crooked operation
the nature of lifestyles

now you know
exploding star slip up
the history of collision
the first phaseshifter
the lost roots records
the underwater ritual
the buried machine
now you know
how the complete nothing happens


Workday/Schoolnight - The Complete Nothing

Bart Trotman