Major Tom

Enough with the politics; time for some pop music.

Thanks to Votum Succendo, I now know a lot more about David Bowie's greatest song, “Space Oddity,” by way of an explanation of Peter Schilling's cunning sequel “Major Tom (I'm Coming Home)”.

Clearly Major Tom's demise seems to have been less an accident than a conscious decision to detach himself from the planet below. His circuit abruptly goes dead after his cryptic message to his wife, though there is little doubt that he is still conscious and in some degree of control. Bowie himself may have shed light on the meaning of the song in 1980 with his follow-up, "Ashes to Ashes."

And while I'm at it, I'd observe that while occult poetry is a powerful demonstration of Sturgeon's Law in its frequent crappiness, Frater V.S.'s is quite excellent, if you have any interest in that sort of thing. Check this one out.

I saw the Buddha today
He was wearing an older black man
standing in front of the 7-11
on 8th & St. James

Walking from my car I immediately knew
he was there to speak to me
....

Though I should warn you that I worry that my capacity to enjoy some of it is arguably a sign that I spend rather too much time reading very weird stuff.