Ron

So true, so true. That “Someday” has been my start date for putting words down for the upcoming anthology feature (which are all currently resident in my mind). I have now set a specific date to Labor Day, September 1st. I have no plans for that day other than to work, ironically enough. Wish me well, because a lot has to happen in a short amount of time.

Yes, I’m sure it was. 🫠

Stinky fish on a Tuesday? What are my neighbors thinking?! I could hear the exhaust fan of one of my upper neighbor's stoves echoing down through mine; not good when you're listening to Tears for Fears and that demonstrative song (one of my favorites) 'Woman in Chains' -- so I pulled the curtain (both actually and figuratively) against the sound. Later ... I pulled that certain back and I was immediately confronted with: Stinky fish; On a Tuesday! What were my neighbors thinking?!!

Halfway through episode three of FX’s Alien Earth series (interesting, so far) a sampled ‘Maggot Brain’ by Funkadelic — from their album of the same name — begins playing. I wonder just how many people will catch that?! Will they wonder; will they care? I caught the music right away (being from the time and place that I grew up in, and considering that the WMMS radio station out of Cleveland, Ohio [“The home of Rock and Roll”], played that song at the bewitching hour — being that place beginning at midnight Friday and continuing through Saturday morning) every week. I hope all of my family and friends back in my home state did, too — if you watched the episode. What goes around comes back around; it’s just a matter of time!

Scrolling, scrolling, scrolling … “Bob Mackie Came Out of Retirement to Design This Bride’s Bespoke Wedding Gown” (courtesy of Vogue), I clicked. I’m nearly sixty-six years old, do I need further affirmation?!

The problem with a quick-fix, frozen pizza is that you smell it ‘baking’ long before you can eat it. ☹️

Yeah, this is me. Although, the reading would likely go along at a faster pace than it would if I were actually reading myself, if I could get into it. edited: for grammatical clarity. To add: See, I’m working on something and I’m already thinking about the (f-ing) editing.

I don't recall the books being all that pernicious, but the movies struck that chord what with the sparkles and all. The Harry Potter books for sure and Rick Riordan with the Percy Jackson books were a phenomenon. But even though adults read those books they were geared toward kids. I wonder what happened to them(?), I would suspect all those kids would remain readers. You make the future sound horrible though. I don't know what the answer is, audio books maybe. If you can't read, then listen.

This may be why we are/will be seeing more drops in reviews: Fewer reading for fun. This is a free to read article. I used to pop into the local Barnes and Noble bookstore in Boston and peruse the aisles looking at the 'new' section for Sci-Fi/Fantasy books, grab a few copies of favorite magazines to read and grab a coffee at the Starbucks located inside and have a sit down. Well, B&N closed and there has been nothing to replace it. Consequently, that removed an outlet for me to discover new books - even those by favorite authors. Now, Amazon sends me a book plug every now and again about an author I've expressed interest in. It seems to me that now that I have plenty of time on my hands my day just disappears from me. I feel like I accomplish far less now than I did when I had responsibilities. So, seeking out reviews for books would be one more thing that I don't have time for, let alone read for pleasure. Go figure!

That is one possibility, Bill. Although, I think skipping reviews of such material until such a time as it feels safe to resume those types of reviews would be sufficient answer if that’s even an issue. It seems that AP is throwing out all book reviews and not just picking and choosing. It’s more likely a cost savings thing for AP. This ending was reported by WAPO, and as far as I’m aware that news source will continue with book reviews as will The Boston Globe. My question was really related to what authors and readers think about losing one source of information related to our interest. The books I read generally fall into the categories of Science fiction and Fantasy, books that are not necessarily well reviewed in newspapers but they do pop up now and again in ‘Best Of’ type articles. So, will losing book reviews from AP be important in the long run? Is it a portend of things to come? Will we be left to read book-jacket blurbs disguised as reviews because no source is covering books seriously?

According to an article in The Washington Post (WAPO), the Associated Press (AP) will no longer produce or publish book reviews. I find that I do skim the book reviews in the Boston Globe and WAPO, and sometimes assorted articles found on Apple News. Those reviews getting read by me are the subjects I’m interested in, of course — but I’m not always sure that what I’m reading is the most best interpretation of the book. After all, I’ve ignored movies that were poorly reviewed only to watch them later and find that I enjoyed them quite well. So, I wonder if this reduction in book reviews is of great importance. I can’t think of a specific instance when I’ve looked up a book with the intention of getting a AP review of the book. Although, I suspect that I have read AP book reviews without knowing. What do you all think of this?

A lovely way to spend a summer evening; listening to Chris Thile and Brad Meldau.

Ouch! Once again both the title and the last line to a story came to me at the same time. Stop! Stop, I say! I need filler!

In the new Superman movie there comes a point where Superman is clobbered and lands in a hole in Metropolis (this is actually Cleveland, Ohio) and my sister in-law is an extra in that scene. If you watch the 'bystanders' crowded around Superman you can easily spot her; she's the attractive, short, blonde haired woman in the front of the crowd. During the multiple takes it took in order to get the shot done she said the crowd didn't have much to look at but Superman's crotch -- it was right there in front of them, what with his legs splayed out like they were. Ahem. I'm sure she's right.

Well, dang! If I’ve learned something from all of the above it’s this: You do you because it works for you, and I’ll do me because no one else is doing me (or something like that). Otherwise, I can greatly sympathize with any and every author who struggles to get their words out on the page. I would love to disagree with @Jason Rimbaud on the subject of discipline but I fear I’d be on the losing end of a stick. But all the same I agree with @Mikiesboy in that having too much time on your hands is a grave risk, considering one’s time might feel unlimited — I can sit down and write pretty much any time I want, until I wonder where the day went. And, there’s this little gem from @Inkognito : “It’s just storytelling and stress, bro.” We need a drumroll after that. @BendtedWreath needs to know what the ending looks like in order to write toward it. For whatever reason I usually come up with a title and an ending lickety-split, along with some of the beginning and/or parts in-between, then I’m left with all these blank-spaces that must be filled in. And then I actively muse and muse some more (as opposed to being affected by a muse) thinking that I have lots of time… . In the end I’ve paid attention to all of the given advice (even if I didn’t mention you specifically). Yes, I could have spent all of that time writing instead of reading and writing this, but I’m sure some things may require time to percolate. I’ll take the wait-and-see approach, maybe some of it will stick. Thanks.

I'm breaking in a newly purchased espresso machine, albeit cheaply acquired using acquired points - thereby halving the price of it plus the addition of tax, and I find myself needing to grab one piece of paper towel after another ... one must clean up this and/or that throughout every new adventure when breaking in a new appliance, even if you are not me; when a thought popped into my head, although I was unaware of it at the time -- but consider me nonplussed when -- suddenly, I said aloud 'No wasting of paper towels' into the vacant, kitchen air -- when the thought previously introduced brought me way-back to this one time when I was visiting friends who lived very near Victoria Rail Station (very easy to get around from there) in London (not so very far from where the formally big bee herself was reputed to hole-up now and again) at some point in the mid-nineties, and during a visit to the grocery (I think that's how the British say that: 'went to the grocery'; negating the word store from: I went to the grocery store, as civilized people do say) and I began wrapping my purchased wine bottles around with plastic to keep them from knocking about (I think that may be another British-ism) and thinking about my poor, abused credit card -- don't get me started on exchange rates, back then; and fees -- losing out to a broken bottle on the way back to my good, British/Italian friends (good boys; married) home where, I'm sure, they would certainly not want to be at the end of my grief; and I was daydreaming about that very same thing while wrapping my purchased wine when a voice (as if from the outer world [my words]) rang out, screaming at me even, 'No wasting of plastic bags!'; I suddenly thought 'Woe!'; and with that you should reasonably think of me as being nonplussed at the time, what with that juxtaposition from out of time going on, and all that.

Subtitles!

I listened to The Black Keys' new release NO RAIN, NO FLOWERS tonight, all through without critically listening and they have a hit on their hands, as far as my opinion goes. Rollingstone magazine has reviewed the release positively, too, if that means anything to you.

What?! That’s the best line in a story I’ve read so far all week. I don’t know that smell, and, yet, I can somehow imagine the scent.

@Zombie I see your reactive Wow, and I raised you a Wow. What are you going to do now, huh?

@Zombie I believe that the talking babydoll near the end of The Planet of the Apes was first proof that not everything disappears.

I wouldn’t say that Hong Kong is my favorite. I’ve had the pleasure of visiting there — I’m fairly sure it has been five times — with the most recent being not long before the handover to China and, every visit has been a terrific experience. The hottest, spiciest chicken I’ve ever eaten in my life was at a small mom and pop restaurant up one of those high hilly streets. Both the chicken and getting back down the steep street (after a few beers and a bottle of wine, for three) were adventurous.

Has anyone watched Fellow Travelers? If so, what did you think about it? I’m thinking about buying the first season since it doesn’t seem possible to watch it on any of the streaming services I have access to for free.

I wonder if the writers for the Andy Griffith show were aware of this when they hired Jim Nabors to play Gomer Pyle? At least it wasn’t Gozer (the Gozerian) Pyle — none of those heathen names..

Has Methuselah popped up, yet?