on demand

i was sitting eating some beef barley soup for lunch, when terence trent d'arby's "wishing well" came over the radio. i immediately smiled and thought of bygone days when terence trent was burning up the airwaves. soon after the nostalgia wore off, it got me thinking about technology and the subtle and not so subtle ways it molds and changes our lives. used to be, you had to patiently wait by the radio or in front of mtv (when they still played videos) and hope that "wishing well" or "girls on film" came on. at times, the wait felt like eternity, but when the song came on all the waiting was worth it. now we can have instant access to any form of entertainment we want 'on demand'. this is great when you want to have your cell phone ring with the jem theme song or you don't want to sit through commercials to just to see reno 911. unfortunatly, it makes our already homogeneous lives that much duller and devoid of color. we have managed to sanitize culture to the point that it is devoid of anything other than data that can be transmitted back and forth at anytime.

sure, "wishing well" is a great song anyway you slice it. but it has the ability to make a non-descript car ride to the corner store or lunch in a cafe so much more when it randomly pops on the radio. it re-confirms the randomness and unpredictability that we try so hard to eliminate from our lives.

added bonus: terence trent d'arby is no more! the artist formerly know as ttd now goes by sananda maitreya. go figure.