43. Analog Rocks!

  Hello, Welcome. I’m Renée Valentina and this is Musing Interruptus. Musing Interruptus is a podcast for sharing thoughts and stories and enjoying idiomatic phrases. You can read along; the transcription is in the description of this episode; click on continue reading to open a Google Doc with the complete transcription. The idiomatic expressions are in italics. Try to get the meaning from the context and then look them up to see if you were right. If you like it, share it, but more importantly, continue the conversation. The background music is called Young Buck by Blue Dot. Today, Analog Rocks! This is an ode to my very digital friend.  If God and my neighbors who can listen to all my phone conversations know it, may the Musingverse know it too. By the way, dear new listeners, welcome and thank you for liking and following Musing Interruptus. It really does make a difference to know you are there.  Let’s take it from the top! Ode to my friend. Well, one of them… and it is unstructured, keeping in line with the leitmotif of Musing Interruptus.  You love your digital clock and streaming music from your digital box.  You play video games on boxes with Xs and Switches You’ve found a way to digitize conversations and program your appliances to make food.  Many a substitution frees you up for other activities Robot food. Robot conversations. Robot music. Robot time.  Don’t you miss the smell and feel of vinyl in your hands or the hiss of the needle and the crackle of a song about to begin?  How could you turn your back on CooCoo Clocks and marbles? Do you honestly prefer your stylo to a pencil or pen?  I know you. You hide your love for the analog behind those flashing lights.  Even if we write using digital letters, it is no substitute for the real thing. Neither of us can go a week without having a conversation with our voices. Your digitality is no match for your nostalgia; you just mask it very well.  Just remember this, and I say it from a position of vulnerability but also the higher moral ground I have climbed up on There are no digital friends; you are stuck with us, the analog. I urge you, do not be seduced. Be wary of the digital siren calls. So now, I will tell you the story of the analog rocks, the ultimate battle between digital and analog. Disclaimer and disclosure are in the most honest proportion possible in this podcast and, more specifically, this episode. The characters are fictitious; any resemblance to people in my very close life is a mere coincidence because, remember, according to Fight Club philosophy, we are not unique snowflakes. Let us turn our attention to an arena located in a not-so-far-away dystopian future. Our very own Hellen S. Parta is on location. Hello Hellen, how are things at the Troy Arena? Renée, I’m so happy to be here; of course, I am reporting from Troy Arena, the sight of tonight's well-anticipated match. In one corner, we have my friend, let's call him Mausto, and in the other, our contender, the Digital Dragon. The ring is surrounded by crowds who travel near and far. They have big traveling tumblers with beer and bags of peanuts in the shell. These will be used to eat when bored from drinking beer or to throw during the match in case things aren’t entertaining enough. I think there might be an elephant that escaped from another story, but I’m not sure we will see him. Don’t worry, I’ll let you know. The arena has two entrances. A very bright light shines from the corridors that lead to the ring. The beacons of light from different forces which prepare the ambiance for today's encounter. Continue reading