Ron

I’ll just leave this here for the cognizanti. Oh, sorry. I didn’t vet the entire video so there may be nudity and that’s a no-no. Well, I guess you won’t know what you’re missing. Onward: After watching Season three - episode seven all I can say is: Yea, Perrin! Of course, this was a must-have episode. What with Perrin’s being a ta’veren (Ha! I had to go into a book’s glossary to remind myself of the spelling), he must come into his own strength and position during this age. I think that Isabelle Bucceri who plays Faile is stunningly and absolutely magnificent in her part (she comes into her own here, too) and is an example of brilliant casting for this character. Sadly, of course, as in every episode of this interpretative drama there are shortcomings: jumps in the timeline just to mention one of them. Even if we can’t expect better it’s worth noting nonetheless. One day - one day …

Fink’s newest release: Beauty In Your Wake is a stunningly great work. If you’re into music that moves the more adult interest of GA, then this should be on your radar. I’ve gone back and listened to earlier works by the artist — and the music is good — but here Fink surpasses his earlier work in my opinion. Well worth a listen!

I just finished listening to Elton John’s and Brandi Carlyle’s new release called Who Believes in Angels?. BORING! Man did these two artists miss the boat and landed in the water. This album is NOT a work for the time we live in, it isn’t even a comfort because it sounds so downbeat despite its musical pretensions. Clearly, more than anything else, I believe it is a swan-song for Elton, though sadly not a good effort at that. Save yourself; don’t expect miracles from this work.

I just finished with episode 6 and what a doozy it is. Emotions are running low to high and back again only to return once more. It’s like ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’, so to speak. The magic scenes are really powerful in their display. The show still stretches for various elements of the books and slaps you in the face with a thing in the wrong spot, but as has been established the series cannot follow the actual timeline — or it would never end, and all the actors would be old and gray.

WOW! This Welsh guy is something else. Sadly, he acquired Lyme disease which was misdiagnosed for years and developed autoimmune conditions and subsequent brain damage. This is from 2022, he is now thirty-five-years old. This song is about all of it, at that time. Again, I say, WOW! Rap, spoken word, a conversation between light and darkness and his guitar playing is a thing of beauty.

Gasp! You’re still using the iPhone 4? 🤯 I still have an iPod classic which uses that connection, and I have the connection cord and charging puck — not that I actually use the thing. My understanding is that it’s a collectible nowadays. My sister has my old and donated iPhone 4s hidden in a closet somewhere, in the dark where it belongs. 😉

Nice to see a fellow Citizen of the Commonwealth is getting a warm-up in temperatures while here on the North-coast it remains all too chilly. I spent most of my time this week scouring the Boston Globe and WAPO for any signs of a breakthrough in the tension many of us in the U.S. are feeling, and then there is the music — I usually listen to an album or two (digitally) of various artists each day. So, @wildone and anyone else: How do you listen to music — What’s your medium of choice?

Wow, I just realized that this story is now ten years old. I’m glad to know that you picked it up. Many thanks for all the acknowledgments for the story and for our friend’s comments. Additional thanks for the accurate story review, this is a rather difficult topic for the telling and for the reading. It is, of course, a pleasure to hear that you ‘couldn’t stop reading’. I leave Max Cauler’s further existence to speculation — I see you’re on board with the plan. Thank you, Bill.

Have any of you read New Spring from 2004? It’s a prequel of sorts released in the middle of TWoT’s books, about the time everyone began saying the series was getting bogged down, if you will. If you’ve read it I’m sure you found it to be a breath of fresh air when it was released. It was as if Robert Jordan found that point of focus that Rand al-Thor was always trying to achieve, where everything locked in place and all of the extraneous elements dropped away. What we are given then is in fact a new beginning and a fresh perspective when returning to the trenches (so to speak).

Nothing to forgive. Thanks for the compliment about my … flare. That is not something I usually get compliments for. In fact it’s something I’m not known for. Go figure? I think everyone gets bogged down around book seven. But as I said, one must accept the unavoidable truth — one gets what they’re gonna get. We know this for a fact (we are both authors) that you can’t please everyone.

Act one. Scene one. Ron is seen finishing reading a post made by a good friend concerning the series The Wheel of Time. He pushes his chair back as he stands, a shocked look upon his face as he looks at the computer screen. His hands clasp involuntarily to his chest, each palm flat and fingers widely splayed. He cry’s out: “Oh, Gary!” Ron then spreads his arms outward, shoulders wide, his hands seemingly beseeching for some unavoidable truth. Ron speaks quietly, plaintively : “Aren’t we long-time friends, Gary? Didn’t we join Gay Authors dot org about the same time? How can you say that you don’t care for Robert Jordan’s exquisite detail? How can you say that you don’t care for chronological order?!” Ron draws his right hand tightly into a fist and pushes it against his lips - pauses - then slowly drops his head and hands in anguish. We are left with the visage of a man standing, illuminated in the bad lighting of his computer who thought that he knew his friend well. End of scene. 😬

The abdication was much later, after having fled an unrecoverable situation. The Queen was never described as ‘Old’ but as one of those beauties of youthful years having mellowed into an appearance of fine bearing and underlying integrity — glimpsing the remembrance of youth. Good observation. This aligns with my memory, and with a large dollop of arrogant deceit and self worth. Why, no. Due to an inversion of time and space, the White Cloaks are back doing what they’re good for doing. Um, what they’re usually up to — which is up to no good. This is sad. 😔 Shame! Shame on you! It doesn’t matter if it’s precisely represented (is that a word?) — it’s science-fiction fantasy and we don’t get enough of it.

Wow, I’m listening to Radiohead’s In Rainbows and it’s absolutely (or - effing) brilliant! One song leading into the other just makes me want to listen to the next song. It’s been a while since I’ve listened to this and I’m just now listening to the work in a newish space (I’ve been here nearly one-point-five years) for the first time. Every time you listen to a work of music in a new space it’s different (I’m not making this up) and it strikes you differently. I’ve spent a not insignificant amount of time getting my system to ‘sing’ in a way that I know that it can do here in my newish environment. The room dimensions have changed in … well, every dimension — from 4,000 cubic feet to 2,400 cubic feet, nearly half of the space. Attempting to incorporate two thirteen inch SVS sub-bass drivers with a pair of full-range Bowers and Wilkins floor standing speakers (683 S2) capable of reaching in-room bass response of 46Hz +/- is difficult. I will say that I think that I have the right of it. My music system is humble when considering the money you can spend if you’re looking for the absolute sound $$$$. But, with a little luck and some sacrifice a very musical system is available. The music sounds so good!

Not sure if this has been mentioned yet. I recently watched the first season on Hulu (with advertising no less) and it’s not bad. The Ignorant Angels Serra Ylmaz who plays the character of (wait for it) Serra is one of the supporting actors. About a dozen +/- years ago I had the pleasure of hosting Serra for dinner at my former home in Boston along with the contemporary curator from the Gardner Museum in Boston (visit if you’re ever in the city) and my ex who was then Curator of the Collection (a fancy title meant to convey the authority of the position) at the Gardner. I don’t remember to many specifics of the evening but I do remember having an overall sense that it was a pleasant event. Oh, and I was the chef, as always for these special occasions — well, and daily, too 😉, but I only remember serving a dish of mixed olives that I had nothing to with creating and a lump crab dish (I no longer have the recipe, I looked for it) served along with a absolutely delicious Chablis. That’s it, I can’t recall what the entree was or what wine I served with it — that’s what happens over time, I guess.

I watched all three episodes late last night. And, just what is up with the Queen of Andor’s consort, Gaebril? In the books I remember him as a strong figure with good looks. Of course Matt was written as being a downright pretty man and that is definitely NOT the case in this series. While speaking of appearances, Perrin strikes me as having a freshened up look and Egwene seems to have a darker skin tone in the newest season, and still not a beauty. Is it just me, or is there a lot more jumping around with the facts and timeline in the books this time around? Also, I’m not sure that the episodes are shorter or the jumps in the timeline (and poetic license being exhibited) are throwing me off.

Consort! What consort?! Sshh, no more spoilers, dude. 🫢 Ignore that. You said ‘Queen’ of Andor. I was thinking of the daughter, because up into the most recent episodes I don’t recall having any memory of the actual Queen on screen. Of course, you’re speaking of him from the books (hopefully).

While it had been a long while since I’ve read the books, like with yourself they have been lined up and waiting. So I took the plunge.

Saturday, March 1st, was the beginning of meteorological Spring in the northern hemisphere. We hit 50* and today we will lose 25*, you win some you lose some at this time of the year.

@wildone Steve… that otterly unbelievable depiction of an endangered species of animal acting in an otterly undefensible (or is that indefensible) manner, is otterly unbelievable! You must be channeling from an entirely otter dimension if you think that is true. Wait … what are we talking about?!

A peanut butter sandwich with chili is absolutely the way to go. Firstly you must use two pieces of white sandwich bread and slather both sides with the butter of your choice — then you add the peanut butter (preferably sweet and creamy) to one piece of buttered bread and slap the other piece of bread on top. Eat with chili. 👍🏻

Interesting, I believe that I’ve watched this movie a couple of times with excellent subtitles. Once on Amazon Prime and and… well, maybe twice on Amazon Prime.

Wow, trying to figure out the where and whereabouts that I’ve been is a lot. Let’s see: I grew up in Ohio and I lived in various cities thereof. Then I moved to Toronto, Canada before moving to Boston, MA and then moving up north to Swampscott, MA. In between I’ve lived in Singapore for more than two years of time (though officially I was a visitor). Although I visited Hong Kong back in the late nineties and flew into the city when you could look outside of the windows of the jet and watch the city go by on either side of the plane as one landed (both frightening and exciting), I’ve had the privilege and pleasure to have visited Hong Kong several times before the transition to the Chinese overlords. I’ve been to Sydney, Australia (where I spent three days in bed after acquiring a food bug) and to Melbourne afterward. I’ve also had the pleasure of visiting Indonesia where I spent a day in Jakarta (the hotel had a very loud after-hours karaoke bar, you can guess how much sleep I got) before moving on to Yogyakarta and the former capital of Solo and the surrounding countryside where I had the immense privilege and pleasure to visit Borobudur and Prambanan. Afterward, I spent time on Bali. First on the beach, which was even in the late nineties overrun with buskers and hustlers aggressively trying to sell you trinkets and other things; that lasted a day. Then it was on to Ubud in the upland hills where rainforest and rice paddies existed among Hindu temples and shrines. It’s hard to describe the food in depth here because it would take too long, but suffice to say I have many memories. Now looking at the UK, I’ve been to London on many occasions and visited the surrounding countryside… Stonehenge (on a dreary day (you expected differently] was an experience that was very much more than I expected), Hempstead Heath (what a wonderful place to walk in the countryside), Oxford (a brilliant time spent with a friend from Toronto and his girlfriend, who then lived in Gateshead), and Gateshead where I walked across the Gateshead Millennial Bridge over the River Tyne as I did across the London Millennium Footbridge (True story: I accidentally walked over the bridge during a film starring Liam Neeson and thusly I became a part of the movie, albeit just one of many people. The internet is unclear as to what that movie was, so maybe I didn’t exist.). I was also in Paris where I slept at 1 St. Sulpice (after all these years I still remember the sloping mattress that shuffled my former partner and I to the center of the bed; we couldn’t escape one another no matter how much we tried and you need some distance when traveling together, even in bed) Of course we visited the Lourve and Notre-Dame Cathedral, etc. and outside of the city the Palace of Versailles. It was in Paris that I first ate Blanquette de veau a dish that I relish to this day, and one that I’ve made on special occasion to the rave of friends. A Parisian friend insisted that I enjoy the cheese plate afterward despite that I was feeling stuffed already. I am grateful to this day that I was convinced because French stinky-cheese is among those great things that one must indulge in after a meal, no matter how stuffed you are after a meal — there’s always room! When in Rome and Florence and Venice and Pisa and Padua and Mantua and places in between it’s just best to eat your way through them. Ha! I can’t even remember all of the great restaurants and meals I had in Italy, although if prompted… A special time was in Florence during an event to celebrate the release of a book for Italian furniture at the Gardner Museum in Boston investigated and curated by Fausto Calderai. I was invited to the festivities at the Comune di Firenze (the Palazzo Vecchio which overlooks the Piazza Della Signoria which holds a copy of Michelangelo’s David.) which is City Hall to celebrate the occasion of the book launch. Afterward I spent the evening at the Frescobaldi palazzo where I was one of the guests along with other American, UK and Italian friends. I will add that I had an absolutely wonderful time up in Spoleto in Umbria. It is the birth home of a good friend and he and his UK husband (a friend of many years) own a small house in the countryside. Spoleto is also the home of Spoleto Festival USA, a festival of music, dance, opera and theater that nurtures young artists. The food and the locals (new friends and old) and the remnants of Roman architecture and influence are pretty spectacularly and wonderful as well. There you have it, I’ve covered most of my travel history for you. Of course I’ve barely touched upon most things as one must do with summaries. Just as I failed to mention that one night in Heaven (in London) where I saw Jean Paul Gaultier hold court in one of the alcoves of that subterranean club, where later everyone was holding space on the immense dance floor after rumors that Janet Jackson was going to be a surprise guest… well, that didn’t happen!

Yes.

Aren’t we all…

I am what I am that is what I am today.