• Parody of 'No one wants to work' sign at a Wendy's
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    Demon in the Freezer

    This was inspired by a parodic version of the "no one wants to work anymore" sign that someone taped to a Wendy's drive-thru menu, which other someones photographed and then shared to a Facebook group. As you might gather from the following, I have... opinions... about the allegedly non-parodic versions of that sign.

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    One of Us

    This is based on a campaign sign for a local election that I saw painted on the side of a building as I drove through a small town late one night. The slogan, "He's one of us," takes on a bit of a different connotation when you've read too many of a certain kind of book or watched too many of a certain kind of movie or TV show...

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    Cassandrefreude

    My friend and fellow filker Harold Feld fights the good fight as a lobbyist for Public Knowledge, advocating for an open Internet, sane telecom and copyright laws, and freedom of expression and communication. As you might imagine, all those things have been under assault of late, and as various chickens have come home to roost in just the way he warned would happen when he was telling the FCC and Congress not to do the things, he has come up with a word to describe the bitter satisfaction of having been right. And I wrote a song with it.

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    Shadow Game

    Among many other things, “Babylon 5” is show creator J. Michael Straczynski’s commentary on E.E. “Doc” Smith’s Lensmen Saga and its two overarching alien rivals — the good-guy Arisians and the bad-guy Eddorians. In B5 these become the Vorlons and Shadows, respectively — not so much good and evil as order and chaos, with the Vorlons preferable of the two but still problematic, and both seeing younger races — such as humanity — as children who need a firm hand… and who need to show which parent they love more. The Vorlons are eventually shown to center on the question “Who are you?” but the Shadows’ question, “What do you…

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    This Is Fine

    The inspiration for this is pretty self-explanatory, I think. Words and music by Joseph AbbottInspired by the webcomic “Gunshow” by KC Green It’s a beautiful morning, the city’s on fireThis. Is. Fine.Our circumstances are not at all direThis. Is. Fine.Everything’s normal as normal can beThough what “normal” means now, we can’t quite agreeWhat it means tomorrow, I guess that we’ll seeThis. Is. Fine. The market’s rebounding and so are the deadThis. Is. Fine.Our Glorious Leader is out of his headThis. Is. Fine.We have to reopen, no matter the priceWe have to be willing to sacrificeBy “we” I mean “you,” of course — isn’t that nice?This. Is. Fine. PROBABLY SLIGHTLY FRANTIC…