Friday Open Thread

by Bobby Finger

We see a futuristic, minimally decorated room from 1999. It is dark. The lights slowly turn on to reveal CELINE DION standing and singing her 1999 hit “That’s the Way It Is.” She’s excited. She’s happy. She has straight hair. She could use a better conditioner. She sits on the couch and continues to sing. We’re then taken to a storefront display filled with TVs broadcasting Celine singing in her futuristic room. Passersby stop and watch her. Meanwhile, customers at a car repair center watch the same broadcast in the waiting room. Celine’s new single is somehow playing on every screen and speaker in the world. Her music is attracting crowds in in living rooms, motor vehicles, and even bars. People quit focusing on their own lives and instead watch her sing about how when you want it the most that there’s no easy way out and how when your ready to go and your heart’s left in doubt that you shouldn’t give up on your faith because love comes to those who believe it. They are hypnotized by it. We are all hypnotized by it. That is, apparently, the way it is. With the flip of her arm, Celine turns the camera around and everyone suddenly sees their reflection in the screen that was once broadcasting Celine. What does it all mean? What doesn’t it all mean.

Think about it over the weekend. Also, this is an open thread.