We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Episode 3: Lunch Break

from Broken Links: Season One by David Kulma

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $1 USD  or more

     

about

The third episode of this web series of stories in which a man makes a salad.

Go here to watch the full video on YouTube: youtu.be/9aV7rwFo16w

lyrics

He stood up. He was ready to leave.
He could only take so much of this
crap. Spending this much time on
this antisocial social website hurt
his mind. Then why couldn’t he
go more than one hour without
returning to this stream of shit?
It is so important to know exactly
what his professional acquaintance
said about random news story
that riles everyone in their mutual
grouping.

This time it involves a decision
in a state neither of them live in
that will forever change particular
human beings’ lives neither of
them know. But still it matters
to him. A piece of legislation
extending religious freedom
and discrimination simultaneously.
Another police officer not being
charged after murdering an
unarmed black man. Some improbable
choosing to waste their time
and rich people’s laundered
money to run for president.
Another person to not live up
to expectations to oversee the
badly needed change.

But he has managed to pull himself
away for at least the next hour.
He moved to the kitchen to make
himself lunch. A morning spent
on the internet always seems
like a magnificent waste of time.
You can and often do learn many
things as you stare at one of your
many screens. But this morning
was in the company of videos.
Atheist cartoons, a public intellectual
decrying US foreign policy, an iconic
eighties music video where the lead
singer ascends two and a half octaves
during the chorus and a woman is
pulled from a diner into a black and
white comic.

He decided to make himself a salad.
Decided is a strange word, because
everyday includes a lunch salad.
It is bigger than your head, but you
still will be ready to eat again before
dinner time. He contemplates his
morning of screens while he cuts
up carrots, celery, tomatoes, lettuce,
and bell peppers of multiple colors:
red, yellow, and green. Stop light
peppers, as they call them. They
each taste different. All from the
same plant, but change their
colors and taste based on how
long they ripen. He usually distracts
himself with the internet while he
does this task, but today needs to
be sound and video free. All he
hears is the knife splitting the orange
carrots into small slices that will
make loud crunching noises as
he chews. He places one in his
mouth. It always surprises him
how sweet carrots are. You have
to be away from processed sugar
for a while to notice this fact.

After a few minutes in silence,
that is, with chopping sounds
that carry no linguistic meaning,
he decides he actually does need
to include the internet in this task.
He marches a room over to
select something that will keep
him from thinking about how much
he hates the internet for being
unavoidable, ubiquitous, necessary,
and superfluous. He has recently
spent the previous few days
binge watching the political drama
made by that movie streaming
subscription service hated by
the company that owns the pipes
that bring him his loved/hated
internet. Net neutrality. What
a strange thing to name the
concept that makes his life
without boundary between
career and leisure possible.
Now hated cable company
cannot slow down the internet
to hurt the subscription service
competitor. One should note
that although this is a great
victory for freedom of access,
it does nothing to solve the
problem of when the major
internet companies (Goober,
Nile, Macrohard, Buttnovel,
Orange) decide to throw
their political muscle behind things
that will help their bottom lines
but hurt internet users. Some
say they do this already. The
imaginary President slash
murderer does not make him
feel any better about this. Although
he knows he will watch the most
recent season at least two more
times.

He chooses a video recommended
by a friend. This friend regularly
gives him interesting hip-hop music
videos to watch with helpful phrases
like: amazing! and watch now! and
holy shit! This one comes without
a moniker, and he hopes it will be
something by that young rapper
who calls himself the creator. He
was really taken with that one
where he blurred the intellectual
conversation before bouncing
on a gigantic ass. Instead,
he has been pranked. This friend
also has a tendency to dredge up
old internet memes for his own
enjoyment. So, when he opens
the video, he is met by a pompadour,
a voice not usually heard from a white
man, and the music is unmistakable.
The synthesizers place this music
in the same time period as the
one previously mentioned.
Actually, I am a stranger to love.

credits

from Broken Links: Season One, released June 27, 2016
David Kulma made this.

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

David Kulma Rock Hill, South Carolina

David Kulma is a composer-performer living in the Carolinas.

contact / help

Contact David Kulma

Streaming and
Download help

Report this track or account

David Kulma recommends:

If you like David Kulma, you may also like: