Robots took over the WXYC airwaves last night on the Feedback Farm. Are robots benevolent helpers of humanity or sinister machines plotting to overthrow their creators? There was a little of each on last night's programme, which, in terms of the Feedback Farm oeuvre, wasn't half bad.
Two ways in which the show have been better:
-Kevin* could have remembered to bring the vocoder, or
-Kevin could have given an on-air apology in a robot voice for not remembering to bring the vocoder.
If you want to hear about robot exoskeletons, ethical issues surrounding robot technology, underwater robot seals, and a debate over the relative merits of two robot songs ("Mr Roboto" and "Iron Man"), download the programme here (25MB MP3).
Oh, coincidentally, Captured! By Robots plays tonight at the Local 506.
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*Kevin being Kevin Clark, wanted in both Arizona and North Carolina for unspecified crimes not involving robots.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=J6V&q=%22kevin+clark%22+fugitive&btnG=Search
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Man_(song)#Story
ReplyDelete"The lyrics concern a champion of humanity who travels Time, presumably to ensure "the future of Mankind" — his original mission was to save our species. We learn that this champion unfortunately encountered a "Great Magnetic Field," turning him into steel and rendering him immobile. He has been in this state for so long that humanity has forgotten his original identity and his original mission. Rather than hailing him as a hero, the human race now regards him as an oddity, little more than an enigmatic statue from another age. The first few lines of the song are the musings of curious passersby, wondering if he's alive or dead, if he can see, if he can move, et cetera. Although the exact nature of his transformation is not elucidated, we know that Iron Man is not solid steel, but is in perhaps an organic/inorganic state, in which he can still perceive the physical world and can still think, but cannot take action. Because humanity has forgotten everything he's done for them in the past, Iron Man has grown increasingly bitter and plans his vengeance upon the ungrateful human race. Evidently, his bizarre state of suspended animation is only temporary — when Iron Man regains his freedom to move, he "kills the people he once saved" in a dreadful manner.
The title of the song was conceived by Ozzy Osbourne; As a child Ozzy would spray paint Ironman and Ozzy Ironman everywhere he went. Geezer Butler took to writing the lyrics around the title, but was careful not to make it about the comic book character so as to avoid a copyright infringement lawsuit."