THE WORLD NEVER CEASES TO PROVIDE US WITH DRAMA

The Arabic above is the translation of “Free Libya.” Courtesy of my computer’s translation function. If it is not accurate, blame Microsoft.

In human life perspective is everything. Indulgence and devastation, making merry and mayhem. Now, isn’t it strange that you can watch them simultaneously? We are becoming more and more omniscient, able to view and judge instantly the events of the world. How long before we know what every individual is doing, not just masses of people?

Each one of us a little god-creature watching everything.

Is it inevitable that the entire planet eventually becomes one unified reality show, subtitled or dubbed globally? How long do we have? It begs the question of freedom.

Something absurd about the irony of being able to watch almost at ground level the struggle for freedom in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya while at the same time submitting to the vast “digitrol” ( digital/control – a neologism?) of humans by a myriad of devices that allow (or “permit”?) us to observe and vicariously participate at the same time.

I wonder how the public employee  unions are doing in Libya. Oh, wait. They didn’t have those in Libya! That’s right. Now I remember. In a totalitarian system, people who merely work as a public employee don’t have collective bargaining. They have to take the peanuts those in power toss them.

By the way, the image above comes courtesy of the Jude Law Hamlet performed in London couple of summers ago. My wife, you know, had to see it. Jude wasn’t bad. Anyway, at intermission I went outside to stretch, took a quick walk around the theater and snapped a couple with my point and shoot. Then the image got sort of political.

MONKEY NUMBERS AGAIN: Charlie Sheen this morning came in at 522, 000, 000! Or, to put it scandalously, over one half of a billion. Who, I wonder, will be the first global celebrity to hit 1,000,000,000 in the Google Monkey Number lottery?

I have my own guess. I’m putting my money on Prince William. Dude who’s getting married this whenever. But maybe not. He has an anemic 19,800,000 right now. Before Sheen went cosmic, I wonder what he had.

Me? A long shot. I’m hovering. I’ve reached a comfortable plateau. Google “Nights of Naked Mannequins,” and you get about 5,800. But here’s something that truly annoys me – and the pettiness of it is not lost on me, by the way.

Google my name, “Michael Lee Phillips,” and you first get a  Congressman for Chrissake! A guy who won’t breathe before some lobbyist toady explains to him how its done. Damned Republican, of all things – back there in Maryland, wherever the hell that is. Jesus. It’s not fair, really. I’ve read some of his stuff. His speech writers are so bad they sound like a Congressman. If he’s writing it himself, he needs a ghost writer.

To get some perspective on things, I Googled “Libya.” Fortunately, I came up with 655,000,000. I honestly don’t know what I would have done if Sheen had rung up a higher number.

Nothing that I can come up with has notched over the magical billion. But it won’t take long.

Great news, which I will elaborate upon tomorrow! The Internet can be magical! Out of its hat I have contact! An email from the lost Aussie couple!

More tomorrow.