On Being Inside Another’s Head

At the subway station tonight, I climbed the six flights of stairs to the Beetle, unlocked the door, sat down, put the key in the ignition, and turned. The radio came on. I heard not a song but a commercial for American Idol.

Tonight, the show was in Las Vegas. And the Idolators were going to be mangling… err… singing from the Beatles songbook.

I don’t watch American Idol. I couldn’t tell you who won any particular year, except for the first year because that was Kelly Clarkson, and she’s had a pretty decent musical career because she has a pretty good voice and a pretty powerful set of pipes. (Full disclosure: I was actually listening to Clarkson’s fourth album, All I Ever Wanted, today.)

Otherwise, though, I have no idea what goes on with American Idol.

But, the commercial had me curious and, so, when the time came I put on American Idol. And I suffered through twenty minutes of abject butchery of Beatles classics, from “Get Back” to “Here Comes The Sun,” and I decided that no one should suffer through such indignities.

If I had the power to read minds for a day, I would want to know who the fuck thought that letting a bunch of young karaoke singers mangle the Beatles library was any sort of a good idea.

Because it’s not a good idea. Not at all. If those twenty minutes were anything to judge by.

The truth is, though, I really wouldn’t want to read minds on a regular or semi-regular basis. The inside of my head is a strange enough place as it is. There’s no need to compound the confusion by having access to someone else’s thoughts.

I barely understand my own thoughts sometimes, and I’ve had thirty-odd years to get used to them. I can only imagine what I would make of someone else’s thoughts. I’m not sure I’d even understand them.

What I do think would be neat, if I had psychic powers, would be to see the world through someone else’s eyes, to hear the world through their ears. Not read a mind, per se, but to experience the universe through someone else’s perceptions. A different vantage point, a different baseline for understanding the universe.

That would be cool.

Maybe a little too Being John Malkovich for some. But I think it would be awesome. And that’s enough for me. 🙂

Published by Allyn

A writer, editor, journalist, sometimes coder, occasional historian, and all-around scholar, Allyn Gibson is the writer for Diamond Comic Distributors' monthly PREVIEWS catalog, used by comic book shops and throughout the comics industry, and the editor for its monthly order forms. In his over ten years in the industry, Allyn has interviewed comics creators and pop culture celebrities, covered conventions, analyzed industry revenue trends, and written copy for comics, toys, and other pop culture merchandise. Allyn is also known for his short fiction (including the Star Trek story "Make-Believe,"the Doctor Who short story "The Spindle of Necessity," and the ReDeus story "The Ginger Kid"). Allyn has been blogging regularly with WordPress since 2004.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *