Welcome to the Evening Edition of The Vaults of Uncle Walt! I hope everybody’s had a productive day at work, and is ready to kick back, relax, and sink into another helping of Tex Batmart. The primary posts will continue to focus on the various aspects of my life and current events, while I plan to use After Dark to highlight the books, motion pictures, television programs, and music(ians) that are currently rocking my world. From time to time, I may also post original poetry, excerpts of original fiction, and perhaps an occasional video. This is not, however, a foray into the world of “adult” entertainment. I know the title has some connotations, but I’m just not that type of writer. Don’t get me wrong: if I had to write a piece of fiction that got the blood a’pumpin’ to provide for my family, I would do it in a heartbeat. I wouldn’t just give it away, though. I mean, what would all the other writers say?
Like everybody else, I find moments of inspiration throughout the day, little pockets of revelations that seem to comment perfectly on my mood, or something that’s been troubling me. Maybe it’s a song that makes you think Trent Reznor intimately knew your ex, or the movie that breaks through the wall you’ve built around yourself, and allows you rejoin humanity through tears or laughter (or bitchin’ spaceships and explosions, whatever floats your boat). Maybe you’ve found a series of novels which have allowed you to finally make a friend more substantial that those jerks down at the coffee shop. We all seek out, from time to time, a piece of humanity which we can partake of with anybody else; a certain magic that simply must be shared with others. Maybe it’s so that we don’t feel so utterly alone and insignificant, or maybe it’s just that there certain unalienable truths hidden in the things that we consume, uncovered by experience and the human condition itself.
I’d like to kick this off with one of my favorite songs of all time (no pun intended):
Fifteen years ago, the line that stuck most firmly in my mind was “Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way”, as I was battling Bi-Polar disorder, facing the endgame of a failing relationship, and coming to terms with the banality of everyday existence. It seemed that if I could just bear it a little longer, I could make it to “Shorter of breath and one day closer to death”, which was what I was truly after.
But as the years have passed, spent on trivial things, as well as life changing events, I’ve come to discover that “…one day you find ten years have got behind you. / No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.” has taken on more meaning. With time, the song has evolved for me, from a lamentation of boredom (“Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain. / You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today.”), to an elegy for misspent youth. While waiting for life to happen, you discover that it has been, and because you’ve been looking in the wrong direction, you’ve missed it entirely.
Dark Side Of The Moon is an incredible album, and worth at least a couple consecutive listens. And if you haven’t paired it up with The Wizard of Oz yet, you’ve missed out on a real treat:
Go ahead and watch it at your leisure. If you have anything to enhance the mood (for the sake of plausible deniability, let’s say candles), I recommend you use it.
And with that, I’m going to call it an evening. This was just a sample of what Batmart After Dark will have to offer. In the coming weeks, look for reviews of The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson, musician and sportsball writer Dave Banuelos, and my opinions about the quality of popular music and television programs today.
Thanks for tuning in!
-Tex
Lyrics to Time written by Roger Waters