neometropolis-0x03

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John

Jacobs

Digitally signed by John

Jacobs

DN: CN = John Jacobs, C

= US, O = Neometropolis,

OU = Magazine

Reason: I am the author

of this document

Date: 2004.12.06

19:05:13 -06'00'

Contents

Inane Ramblings

Ian Creasey

Cut and Pastiche 4

Greg Beatty

(For People Only) 21

Andrew Gudgel

Night Shift in the Automart, the

Goddess Dancing 23

Jerry J. Davis

Resurrection of Broken Dreams 28

About Neometropolis…

Neometropolis is:

John Jacobs, Editor, Webmaster, Megalomaniac

Tim Knodel, Assistant Editor, Chatboard Moderator

Peter Mondlock, Assistant Editor, Chatboard Moderator

Holly Truong, Chatboard Moderator

publication may be retransmitted or redistributed, electronically or

otherwise, without the express consent of its respective author.

NEOMETROPOLIS

INANE RAMBLINGS

Well friends, here we are in the last month of 2004. The bleak cyberpunk future

predicted by Saint Gibson in the 80’s, which was then scoffed at by the kind-

hearted folks at Salon.com in the 90’s, is finally coming to pass. Well, it’s coming

to pass in a slightly different way. When Y2K came around I never did get a

chance to ride around in a post-apocalyptic deathmobile wearing an umpire outfit

with spiked shoulder pads and waving around a pike with doll heads impaled on

it. I did, however, witness something almost as interesting—the fabled dot com

crash and the death of the so-called “New Economy.” While not as exhilarating

as fighting mutant zombies with a sawed off shotgun, our present scenario is the

end result of the same herd mentality that could have brought about the

aforementioned dystopia. In other words, we got lucky. We pulled the trigger

and the chamber was empty.

Are we out of the woods just yet? Not in my opinion. The global economy is

becoming more and more unstable, the greenback is falling like a brick of lead,

and the probability of another market crash is higher than it was in the past.

Toss in a fundamentalist ideal-driven proto World War III and you have the

ingredients for a good old-fashioned dystopia.

Is this a cause for concern for me? No, not really. Even if California drops into

the ocean, polar bears become extinct, and I can no longer walk the streets of

Chicago without a badge that says I’m not a terrorist, life will go on. We are, after

all, a very versatile species of ape. As a matter of fact, the microcosm of my own

life right now could not be better. I’m no longer waking in the middle of the night

every night having a panic attack, I’m gainfully employed at a company that kind

of treats me like a human being, and I have you guys… my dear, deceived (I

mean devoted) followers.

Issue # 0X03, 12/2004 -1- http://www.neometropolis.com

NEOMETROPOLIS

In fact, I’m fucking elated that we’ve made it to issue #3, seeing as how every

week I drop everything I’m doing in my life to go chasing after some other shiny

object. And this magazine has given me a chance to communicate with people

all over the world and understand where they are coming from. For example, I

found that we are all united in our loathing of Redneck Fatballs (I mean President

Bush). Oh well, I guess I can’t be too hard on the guy for stealing money from

the poor and giving it to the rich, just as long as he keeps the country free from

terrorists and our civil liberties safe and locked away from us.

So what to do and what to say? For one thing, keep sending me your stories and

articles! I don’t care if it’s “cyberpunk” or not. Some day maybe I’ll run into you

on the Chicago-Milwaukee mag-lev train and we’ll have a good discussion about

how a small group of brilliant minds in the late 20th century had a vision of a

future where humanity and technology blended past the point of discernability,

and then some marketing douche bag had to come along and give it a label,

make it into something that can be sold. Names are names; ideas, visions—

these are something holy, unsoiled by words. To label an idea/vision is to grab

an archangel from the clouds and chain him to the earth.

Or maybe I’m wrong. Perhaps this is unavoidable. After all, that may be the real

intent of all writing/art—to grab a hold of something divine and bring it down to

earth like Prometheus bringing the fire of the gods down from the mountain to the

people. Speaking of which, this reminds me of a conversation I had on an

Internet messageboard with a hack writer named Steve Miller. When I put forth

the proposition that writing is an art he had the audacity to call me an amateur. I

was about to tell the dildo to change his goddamn name so that I could stop

confusing him with the band but then I realized it would just be wasted

keystrokes. I came to understand that clowns like him are necessary in this

industry, because they are the backdrop against which real creativity shines.

Don’t get me wrong, I see writing as an industry and a profession as well, and if

you can make money off of it then God bless. But writing is first and foremost an

abstract form of expression, and that, to me, is art.

But I’m getting critical and off-topic again. The point is that this great medium—

the Internet—has changed everything. For the up and coming writer the problem

is no longer getting your work “out there,” it’s getting your masterpiece to stand

out from the unfathomable volume of other media that’s already out there. The

Internet, it seems, is acting like some kind of wide scale decommercializing

agent, spreading ideas and copyrighted media alike with amoral abandon. Just

look at the shit fit the movie and music industries are throwing over it! Anything

you want, be it a film or rare album, is free if you know where to find it. Sure,

they can label you a “pirate,” trace your IP address, and toss you in the slammer

with a bunch of violent criminals. After all, isn’t it just as bad to steal a movie

that’s overpriced by about $20 as it is to kill someone? Come on people, this is

capitalism, not a democracy!

Issue # 0X03, 12/2004 -2- http://www.neometropolis.com

NEOMETROPOLIS

Then again you can be crafty about it and steal bandwidth from the café down

the street using your trusty cantenna, in which case the feds will come and

apprehend the poor guy that’s selling lattés behind the counter. You’ll be okay,

they won’t be able to pin anything on the guy selling lattés, and everyone is

happy except for the MPAA/RIA, who can at last know for themselves what it’s

like to get fucked in the pooper.

It’s like the whole wireless craze is an egalitarian force, a vehicle of power in the

hands of the meek and proletariat. With the ability to link up from any place on

the globe we all are equal, we are all connected. Like in John Shirley’s short

story “Wolves of the Plateau,” a new vista is opening up to us, and the existing

powers are frightened because they know that their time is coming to an end.

I think I’ve rambled enough for this issue, and Overmind knows I’ve stepped on

enough toes. In leaving you, I tell you all to be good little postmodern citizens.

Take your Soma (I mean Prozac/Ritalin/Aderol) every day. Put all of your 401k

savings into your company’s stock, because that is what good workers do, and

undying loyalty to your company will be equally repaid. Watch the Republican

Channel (I mean Fox News) so you can get a clear and unbiased view of the

world around you. And always, always have your Little Red Book (I mean

Neometropolis Magazine) on hand, because without it you are just another lost,

hapless 21st century refugee, asleep/awake in a world whose paradigms are

about to come into question, and what we perceive as ‘real’ is finally put on trial.

Issue # 0X03, 12/2004 -3- http://www.neometropolis.com

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摘要：

ContentsInaneRamblings1IanCreaseyCutandPastiche4GregBeatty(ForPeopleOnly)21AndrewGudgelNightShiftintheAutomart,theGoddessDancing23JerryJ.DavisResurrectionofBrokenDreams28AboutNeometropolis…43Neometropolisis:JohnJacobs,Editor,Webmaster,MegalomaniacTimKnodel,AssistantEditor,ChatboardModeratorPeterMond...

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