Mad World Makes an Encore

Yesterday morning I had a two-egg, swiss cheese & avocado sandwich for breakfast. (I’m quite certain breakfasts like this will only aide in dropping the last 10 lbs!)

I found the “Mad World” remix that haunted me for a couple months. Although this version is on the “Donnie Darko” soundtrack, where it dug its claws into me was as a part of a marketing piece for a relatively new war video game.

First of all, who knew that Tears for Fears could write decent lyrics? But more importantly, how did this song get chosen to market a bloody & violent war video game (especially, the slowed-down, melancholy remix)? Initially, I thought, “What an weird fucking choice for a war game.” Lyrical insert:

All around me are familiar faces,
Worn out places,
Worn out faces,
Bright and early for the daily races,
Going nowhere,
Going nowhere,
Their tears are filling up their glasses,
No expression,
No expression,
Hide my head I wanna drown my sorrow,
No tomorrow,
No tomorrow,
And I find it kind of funny,
I find it kinda sad,
The dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had
I find it hard to tell you,
I find it hard to take,
When people run in circles,
It’s a very very,
Mad World……..

Now, I haven’t written down lyrics like this probably since I was a teenager. So why now? What is it about this song? This remix?

When this war videogame commercial was airing, it was around the time that we had gotten cable. Our first 2 and ¾ years in Seattle, we went without. It was great. In all honesty, we got it again for The Daily Show & The Colbert Report. (The YouTube clips just weren’t proving satisfying enough.)

For the first couple months, we dove in a bit deep. We got sucked into the escapism vortex. I was going thru a period where I wasn’t sleeping well, so I’d sit up at all hours of the night alone with the TV colors bouncing off the walls.

And this damn commercial would come on all the time. It was on a pretty heavy rotation for a while.

I continued to be amazed at how this song got partnered with this video game. The lyrics literally reference how when we run in circles, the world is in a sad state.

War is not a means to peace.

But how? Why is it working? And then I realized that “Mad World” was near constantly streaming thru my mind, bringing up the imagery of that commercial.

“Damn. They’re good.”

Speaking of things on heavy rotation, it comes as no surprise that circular patterns have been making regular appearances lately, viewable on the pull-down menu of my third eye.

I am infatuated with circles and spheres. They represent all things that are connected. Round. Voluptuous. Never-ending.

I guess the key is to recognize these symbols for the beauty that they represent, but to not get stuck in their negative-vortex possibilities.

On a totally irrelevant note, I just discovered yesterday that I’ve been spelling the word ‘weird’ wrong for, oh, my entire life.

Weird. (Damn you “i before e except after c” – you liar, you traitor.)