We have arrived at the fifteenth build of the Matchy Star alpha test.
Fifteen. Already. The project has now accumulated enough builds to qualify as either a game or a minor geological formation.
You can, of course, play it by contacting @michaelplzno. It is currently a Windows PC Steam situation. But today’s note is less a summons to test software and more of a social call.
A universe, after all, is only as good as its adversary.
I have never had much use for cackling fiends, skull collectors, or storm troopers marching in pleasing formation toward their own obsolescence. It’s been done. “We’ll have to put something in there,” to quote my favorite director.
King Zazz is our fellow: tacky, wacky, and always just a little too delighted by the spectacle of the universe shifting, turning, and bending under its own bad ideas. He is not evil in the grand operatic sense. He is worse. He is bored.
So I made the little spark a playlist.
Playlist on Spotify
“The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song” — The Flaming Lips
When this song came out, we were, quite literally, At War with the Mystics, or at least with several mystics’ adjacent foreign policy departments across the seas in the desert.
Oh, how times have changed. A sentence one writes at great personal risk.
My sister got me into The Flaming Lips, and I suppose that explains at least one branch of the family tree. King Zazz, naturally, has his own troupe of “Bad Actors.” But the real question is not whether he wants power. Everyone wants power. The more interesting question is: “With all your power, what would you do?”
I suspect he would find some way to entertain himself.
haHaHA!
“Galaxy Man Stage” — Allan Zax
A retro 8-bit song released in the 2010s: already a small act of temporal misconduct. And what a melody. It burns itself into the mind like a hot poker jabbing butter, and I wonder why my wife doesn’t like my cooking.
Zax eases us in with a gracious little introduction, as if reason might still prevail. But as we all know, no tutorial — I’m sorry, no intro — can truly prepare you … for the fun.
“La Virgen de la Macarena” — Sabicas
The Don himself: Mr. Warmth, the guy who always said just the right thing and made us laugh nonstop.
I saw Rickles on David Letterman with my dad in the Big Apple. In case you are wondering how we scored tickets, there was literally a page asking people in Times Square to come to the show. Sabicas arrangement is dripping with virtuosity, but where is the brass? Is this a more nuanced affront to cordiality?
Instead, we seem to have three little spaceships — forgive me, guitars — moving in formation. The flourishes, the machinations, the tiny detonations of style: they tickle the fire in my heart.
“Come 2 Me” — Johnny Goth
Driving synth pop, which is to say: the feeling of being chased through a neon hallway by one’s own taste.
We first encountered this gem from Mr. Goth in the new Halloween movie, but Johnny has produced a mountain of material since, before, and possibly in several parallel realities. This one remains my favorite, partly because of its association with all that star power, and partly because the album cover, should you encounter it on Spotify, reminds us of an important truth: sometimes even the butt of the joke is having a good time.
“The Joker” — Steve Miller Band
I speak of the pompatus of love.
Does Zazz see himself as a bad guy? A joker? A smoker? A cosmic power broker? Until the glitches are though?
Hard to say. But if you have not heard this song, I must ask, with concern but without judgment: where have you been?
This song is available on Earth.
“Crackerbox Palace” — George Harrison
Some palaces are less voluntary than advertised.
Are the walls there to keep us out, or to keep them in? Is a palace still a palace if everyone inside is quietly looking for the exit? Many of us were over the hill before we were born, sadly, which at least saves time later.
Maturity, or the possession of it, has never been a problem for anyone in this car.
“Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!” — The Beatles
Because they were so massively influential, The Beatles could apparently get the rights to use the wording from a circus poster and turn it into lyrics. This is the sort of cutting through red tape we can all admire, especially those of us who have tried to name anything in a video game without discovering that three corporations, a defunct ska band, and a vape shop got there first.
Mr. Kite has his benefit.
King Zazz has his playlist.
I just hope there will be a show tonight!
(Please reply with something good to watch on the tube <3)
Taunting you with Love
MichaelPlzNo
I’d love to hear from you!
