The Mare's Nest

Peter Gabriel is never happier than when he's pissing all over his legacy and 'reinterpreting' the back stories of his songs with premium bollocks. Thankfully, someone's done a superb video for his all time masterpiece from his first album, the big finale track and blockbuster single that never was after 'Modern Love' stiffed (a familiar musical tale, see also XTC's 'Wrapped In Grey'), so hopefully this will become better known. A wimpy vocal and piano version has been systematically pushed by Peter ever since which has zero of the impact of the original. These days Gabriel claims this stripped down 'acoustic' version was his 'intended version' - yeah, 'cos organising Robert Fripp and a full backing band for the original version was a big ol' accident - rather than the difference between a proper song and a demo only fit for filler on some Best Of compilation. Forget also his 'reinterpretations' of the song's meaning, especially about it being about the erosion of humanity's psychic barriers resulting in a collective consciousness, pure 'The Matrix'/'Avatar'/South Park's 'The Quickening' bollocks from grandad Gabriel's quest for relevance with the kids. Back at the time, he said it was about the mental breakdown of the self when one's belief system as to reality breaks apart and is washed away like a biblical flood, forcing it to face or build new ones - a familiar theme within the early post-hippy 'new age' that dabbled in both mysticism and psychology (Abu Zayd al-Balkhi, Carl Jung, St John of the Cross, etc) and popularised as a psychotherapeutical aid in its own right ('Flooding') by Thomas Stampfl in the late 1960s. Today it is probably best known (to a certain extent) in what are poorly termed as 'meltdowns' amongst autistics - which sounds more like someone exploding into rage and fetching the Uzi, but is more akin to someone mentally shutting down like a fatally bugged computer drive. However rather than a number of mini ones, 'Flooding' is a full blown shutdown, sometimes misdiagnosed as clinical depression. People who came from very religious or sheltered backgrounds are most at risk from this, and it's a primary cause of tertiary education drop out rates from those unable to handle data that clashes wildly with their long held perceptions. Anyway, here's the song, here's the lyrics (and decide for yourself who is telling the truth), enjoy or die. And don't blame us if you blub - if you do, it's only because this song is so bloody true:

When the night shows, the signals grow on radios All the strange things, they come and go, as early warnings Stranded starfish have no place to hide Still waiting for the swollen Easter tide There's no point in direction, we cannot even choose a side

I took the old track, the hollow shoulder, across the waters On the tall cliffs, they were getting older, sons and daughters The jaded underworld was riding high Waves of steel hurled metal at the sky And as the nail sunk in the cloud, the rain was warm and soaked the crowd ...

Lord, here comes the flood! We'll say goodbye to flesh and blood. If again, the seas are silent, and any still alive It'll be those who gave their island to survive. Drink up, dreamers, you're running dry.

When the flood comes, you have no home, you have no walls In the thunder crash, you're a thousand minds within a flash Don't be afraid to cry at what you see. The act is gone, there's only you and me And if we break before the dawn, they'll use up what we used to be.

Lord, here comes the flood! We'll say goodbye to flesh and blood. If again, the seas are silent, and any still alive It'll be those who gave their island to survive. Drink up, dreamers, you're running dry.

Lord, here comes the flood! We'll say goodbye to flesh and blood. If again, the seas are silent, and any still alive It'll be those who gave their island to survive. Drink up, dreamers, you're running dry.

Now we've both saw it (we have our ways ...), just to say they could not have made a more perfect ending if they'd tried - and be warned, you will cry buckets during this more than even Gangle does every episode. We finally get to learn about what happened before Pomni's arrival with the characters that abstracted before they arrived, and a whole bunch of stuff about all of them. It was the right thing for Glitch to do by forcing viewers to watch the second last episode all over again before this one, otherwise a lot of the subtleties of The Last Act would be lost. But oh, what a roller coaster ride of emotions in this final outing for the gang! Laughs are few and far between, and its a measure of how strong the scripting and set pieces has been that you really feel for this motley band to the extent you're almost pleading that they get some sort of happy ending that they deserve. For Glitch Productions now comes the moment of truth. They've killed off their biggest show and not a single one of their past efforts or replacements have remotely come close to achieving the same viewership levels or interest that 'The Amazing Digital Circus' has - that it crushed Hollywood big bucks budgeted 'Masters Of The Universe' reboot and the latest of the tired 'Scary Movie' franchise only serves to elucidate that Goosewurx-Glitch appear to have just committed complete business suicide for the sake of artistic integrity. Others would say that if there is never another revisit to the world of the Amazing Digital Circus again, at least its legacy would remain pristine, a permanent untarnished record of what the very best of the genre can do when given the time and talent outside of 'projected earnings' targets.

Jesus Tapdancing Christ, people actually watched whole series of that? Before anyone asks, it was Season 4 Episode 14.

Talk about building your hopes up and then dashing them in the most horrible fashion.