I went to an art opening–which, let’s face it, was more like a big star-studded Hollywood party– at the Otero Plassart gallery, featuring the work of photographer Scott Caan (son o’ James) and presented by none other than Brett Ratner. I briefly cruised the photos (it was a hot madhouse in there) which were kind of nice but forgettable, apart from one in particular of Amsterdam which brought back personal memories.

Art gallery openings just don’t draw massive crowds like this one–with the exception of Gagosian of course. So it was a social zoo, which my date and I enjoyed quietly commenting on. “Oh look, there’s a Rock of Love reject,” and “Check out that leopard print suit,” that sort of thing. Anyway, art goes very well with wine…and well, wine goes swell with a cigarette (even if you’re a non-smoker like myself).

So we searched around the exterior space for puffs of smoke…and saw hardly any. Healthy crowd? Perhaps. Perhaps not. There, standing in front of us was an attractive exotic couple puffing away at what looked like toy cigarettes. “Electric cigarettes,” they boasted to us. Electric cigarette sounds like a band that would have a soundtrack in an Oliva Newton John movie from the late ’70s to me. But apparently it’s all the rage, according to “Turtle” from Entourage and his date (who we managed to bum a real smoke from).

This is apparently coming on the heels of the marijuana vaporizor trend of recent years. Vaporizors were initially billed as a way for cancer patients smoking weed to still stay healthy (the machines don’t burn the herb, but rather they vaporize it making it much much healthier). In the context of our evening, this technology had apparently given birth to the smokeless cigarette, so to speak (not be confused with those cheesey smokeless ash trays from the ’80s and ’90s).

The electronic cigarette smoking couple highly endorsed the product saying it was way healthier and that they loved it. You just load up your tobacco into the little faux cigarette cartridge and puff away to your heart’s desire, guilt-free, inhaling only nicotine and none of that other bad stuff. Hmmm, not so sure. But one thing is for sure, electric cigarettes are the death knell for the favorite activity of the occasional social smoker: bumming a ciggy. Too bad.

With all this talk about the latest Terminator movie wafting through the air, it’s impossible not to strike up a conversation with someone about those pesky robots taking over. Whether you’re at the gym, a cocktail party or an art opening, the apocalypse is always a great ice-breaker, but the robot apocalypse is a real crowd-pleaser.

It’s impossible to embark on such conversations (at least for me) without thinking of the prescient lyrics and song titles of German electronic music pioneers Kraftwerk. In this case, both “We are the Robots,” or “Computer Love” are appropos.

Everyone is monumentally fearful of robots taking over and using their superior intelligence to kill us humans. Whether it’s Terminator, The Matrix, Lawnermower Man (to some degree) or numerous other films that prey on this archetypal phobia.. But what I wonder is how humans can be so deaf, dumb and blind to the fact that this “takeover” has already happened!

Humans are so seduced and enchanted by the “big” terrifying picture that they are missing the insidiousness of the tiny takeover–the one where we willingly allow our minds to be usurped. If you’ve ever walked down the street and seen a half a dozen humans with their heads facing down staring at- and tapping into their PDA’s you get the picture. Whether intentional or not, the machines have us right where they want us…on our electronic leashes (our iPhones, Blackberries and computers).

I will be the first to admit that I can barely go ten minutes without checking my email or Twitter, FB, Small World and numerous other digital hubs. We’re all walking around in states of quasi-conscious hypnosis, totally mono-focused on the meaningless minutiae of data…and more data. We have so much data we don’t know what to do with it so we blow a circuit and have anxiety attacks and go to therapy and take Xanax.

So, while, a global armada of angry robots aiming ray guns at us seems like the worst case scenario (or the most dramatic, filmworthy and exciting), I would like to posit that we’re already knee deep in an even worse case scenario–a slow, quotidien, insidious draw…one that’s so sneaky no one realizes they’ve been under its control for years. Not only is digital life addictive but it’s reshaping the way we perceive physical space through Google street view and iPhone 3G GPS tracking, etc. I wonder if we could even ‘find our way home’ so to speak without the use of such paradigms.

The only solution seems to be to “unplug,” a common theme in sci-fi movies. However, if you’re anything like me, you would find it damn near impossible to ween yourself off the daily bread of blogs, social networks, PDAs and email. Ultimately, the only do-able solution may be to take it all in moderation and keep honing our organic real life skills so we don’t lose touch with one of the few things that makes us human and gifted: our intuition.

You may have overheard the buzz in line at the grocery store, the coffee place or on Facebook, about “mercury retrograde.” For astrology novices, this is an approximately three week period when the planet of communication, social networks and electronics appears to go in reverse in the sky. Western astrologist have long touted this as an extremely negative period when misunderstandings and miscommunications ensue, travel plans get cancelled or flubbed and electronics go awry. They warn not to set up any new projects or buy new electronics items until it is over.

Yet, just prior (or at the beginning of) each of these 3 to 4 mercury retrogrades that occur every year, for some reason all the above issues come up for review. You will end up having to buy a new computer, having to sign a contract, having major work to do on a web site…for instance. Many of us can attest to this seemingly bizarre phenomenon.

I’m here to say that it’s no coincidence. You see, in Jyotish (Vedic astrology) retrograde planets are said to be even more powerful. So, perhaps what happens when a planet like Mercury goes retro is that it really ramps up its power (to unnatural levels) so its themes and energy are super-strong but they’re operating in out-of-control manic mode (not usually conducive for setting things right).

During this Mercury retrograde alone the following have come up for me:

-An online training period for a web-based gig
-A commissioned web design project
-The planning of a major trip abroad for the summer
-Setting up a new site for a new business I am embarking on

Alas, instead of putting all of this on hold–which Western astrology ‘experts’ advise, I am embracing the mad rush of Mercury energy and going ahead with these existing projects (key word, as you do not want to attempt anything new under this manic energy). I am keeping both eyes open and chanelling the electronic/technology Gods and so far so good. Sure there have been little glitches here and there as there always are. But now that I have reframed these glitches as part of the “bullet train” energy of Mercury (instead of the wacky, confused energy of Mercury), it’s working.

Speaking of which, this blog has sadly been a last priority for me during this busy time in my life so I apology if updates have been even more sporadic than usual.