Oh, how special

About halfway to work this morning, I got extremely nauseous and was suffering from some pretty sharp pains in my stomach. Needless to say, I got to work, informed them that I was making only a cameo appearance today, and had Kiri take me home.

Just got out of the Reading Room. Yeah, not getting in a truck today was the smart move.

To the staff of the San Jose Sewage Treatment Facility.

Sorry about that. My bad.

Texan myth cycles?

Been reading Campbell and some heroic epic poetry recently, which has of course set my mind wandering on the subject of modern mythology. Playing around on YouTube (something I enjoy doing when I'm ill) led me to the great ZZ Top videos off Eliminator and Afterburner. And it struck me that here, in bare bones at least, we had a modern myth cycle. The mysterious '33 Ford, with its three female occupants (the Fates in spandex?) accompanied by three mysterious strangers who give unexpected aid to those in need.

Picture this as a legend.. the hot rod that comes out of nowhere to save you, get you what you need, or just hook you up with your true love. Where do they come from? Who are the three men wearing dark glasses? What power do they serve? At the beginning of Sleeping Bag an old women is reading a bedtime story, and the sound skips over "Once upon a time there were three little hens/three blind mice/three bears/three stooges/three wise men" hmmm... I'm sure isomeme can go on about the mystical significance of the number three.

The videos are, in order.

Sharp Dressed Man

Gimme All Your Lovin'

Legs

Sleeping Bag

Rough Boy (annoyingly, the end of the video cuts off. At the end, the letters spell out "stay clean")

Rough Boy suggests that these interventions are technological in nature. Perhaps time travelers working to insure that certain couples get together at the right time to breed? And if you're going to travel in time, do it in style!

Of course if they are some divine protector/guidance sort of thing, that means that they will appear throughout history. A well-appointed coach, a mysterious, off the grid transport capsule in an arcology, all the way up to a customized starship.