Spontaneous Musings

1. Olympics

Watching Break Dancing on the Olympics via Peacock replay, because I missed it this afternoon, thinking it was just basketball. Note, this is the first time ever that Breaking is an Olympic Event - it was added this year. (I'm not watching anything with a ball in it. I see that all the time. I'm watching the stuff I don't see.) France is going to the finals, with the US in the bronze round. But dear god, Japan and Canada are excellent. They are both Asian. Their moves are blowing me away. (Apparently Canada, France and US won? Can't remember, will find out soon. ETA: yup, USA got bronze in first ever Breaking competition. ) In the Women's? It was Japan and the Lithusania and China - less exciting. They have nothing on the men, sorry.

So far? I've seen:
( the Olympics )

2. I went on a long walk today to Greenwood Cemetery to bring down my blood sugar - which had skyrocketed to 300 and was going above it, after I had mini Waffles with blueberries, maple syrup and sausages. I was annoyed. So took a 2-3 mile walk, or about 6,560 steps.

At the cemetery, discovered some new improvements. They'd planted trees along the grass and sidewalk leading up to the Cemetery. And at the small chapel at the entrance was an installation from this year's in resident artist, Adam Tendler, entitled Exit Strategy.

( blurb on Adam Tendler )

Pictures:

(  pictures= )

It's a conceptual art installation requiring the viewer to interact with it. In it is a piano that was left to the artist from his father, who had passed away. He stuffs it with the things those he has lost and others have, rendering it incapable of being played. And on the walls are writings from the artist and anyone who has entered the exhibit and chosen to participate - regarding people, things, etc that they are grieving the loss of. It can be anything that you are grieving. On a recording are musical compositions and the artist talking about grief. And in big letters on the walls - the words in harsh black letters, "How, When, Where".

The walls themselves are white. The only color on the writings, or in the stained glass windows of the chapel.

I sat down at one of the small tables and chairs (like those you might find in a class room or library) and took one of the pens and wrote on the small white lined tablet with shaking fingers. Trying not to cry. About my Dad.
I don't know why I chose my father out of all of the things and people I've lost and grieved. But I did.

It was oddly soothing. Cemeteries are comforting and quiet. Soothing. Or Greenwood is. It is my favorite place in NYC, a haven amidst all the hustle and bustle.

Flowers outside of the Cemetry:

( flowers )

And a little library...

( little library or one of many that populate my neighborhood )

There's little libraries on almost every street in my neighborhood, sometimes two on a street, and little pantries on almost every other street - where folks leave non-perishable items, like tea, coffee etc for their neighbors. We also have a Buy Nothing sites in our neighborhood.

3. During the walk - I finished another audio book. I'm racing through Illona Andrews' Innkeeper Series - which is a kind of sci-urban fantasy hybrid. I find it to be different than anything I've read previously. They are all "Graphic Audio Dramatizations" - which are also rather innovative in the world of audiobooks. Grapic Audio Dramatizations are adaptations of the novel with a full cast in a kind of dramatized radio play complete with music and sound effects. It's an audio book on steroids.

I love them. Particularly Illona Andrews novels - because the author is good at creating distinctive voices in her dialogue, and does great dialogue. And Andrews is good at innovative world-building, and tiny details such as food, plants, animals, creatures, etc. And her novels have a heavy anti-War, anti-violence motif by showing what it does to people.
They are a married writing team - Gordon and Illona write the books together. He provides the military and action background, she provides the rest. And they met in a creative writing course.

The Innkeeper Series is about a magical Innkeeper who runs an Inn for Universal clients, or visitors from other worlds and planets, since the Inn is a magical technological gateway to these worlds. She has a symbiotic relationship with the Inn, and her parents were Innkeepers. ( vague spoilers )

I like to find books that are different and not like anything I've previously read? And if I can't find a book or story that I'm craving? I write it myself.

4. It's getting late and I need to go to bed. Good night moon, stars, and all the people out there who may or may not stumble upon this tonight or in the wee hours of the morning.

I leave you with the daisies planted outside my apartment complex - which I pass by daily. Outside my living room window are lovely trees, rooftops and sky. The ugly courtyard outside my kitchen and bedroom windows - I rarely see or not at all. With the shades drawn in the bedroom blocking out the light. And the kitchen has pictures of sunflowers taped to the windows, with the light shining through them whenever the sun is out.

Finished Andor finally on Disney +. The series is twelve episodes in length, each episode is about an hour in length. The last episode has a big teaser at the end of the credits that connects the series to Rogue One, and Star Wars: A New Hope. (No, it's not a person or droid so much as an activity, so no worries or anticipation there, at least.)

It stars Diego Luna, with Stellan Skarsgaard (Alec Skarsgaard's father), Forrest Whitacker, Geneive O'Reilly, Andy Serkis, Alan Tudyk (he plays the droid K-2SO) and Fiona Shaw rounding out the cast. ( vague spoilers? I'm never sure what are considered spoilers - so cutting just in case ) It's set between Revenge of the Sith and Rogue One, and follows the escapades of one of the members of the Rogue One team, Cassian Andor (portrayed by Diego Luna in both films). It's his backstory.

Part character piece, part thriller, part political espionage film - it kind of blends and blurs genres as it goes. For the most part, it works, but there are pacing issues here and there (which apparently are par for the course with these shows), ( vague spoilers again ) The action scenes are loud, the parlor speaking scenes too quiet.

When we're focused on the dynamic and engaging Cassian Andor - the minutes fly on by. Stellan Skarsgaard's character is also rather dynamic. Both are kind of anti-heroes in different ways. ( Read more... )

It does have some other interesting and captivating characters - ( Read more... )The action takes place in multiple places and planets, and clearly they had a large production budget or very good special effects.

My only quibble with it - is the political maneuverings going on with ( Read more... ) They all mumble, and I had troubles following it or focusing on it. It was boring. There was a lot of pointless chit-chat and talking around things. I'm not certain Star Wars lends itself well to the political bits. Bablyon 5 - it's not. Bab 5 is among the very few sci-fi shows that I think handled political maneuvering and espionage well. The others kind of flirt with it, but don't quite handle it well. Farscape did handle it better than most. But Bab 5 was by far the best in that department.

( Read more... )

But other than that, it's rather good. Compelling. And by far the best thing I've seen in the Star Wars franchise since maybe Force Awakens.

Diego Luna holds the story together well, and has the charisma to lead the series. Stellan Skarsgard does as well. And the rest of the cast is equally good.

1. Finished S1 of Ted Lasso - which I think cleaned up at the Emmy's or maybe it was S2? The last episode made me cry and laugh, but my hormones are all over the place at the moment.

It's a feel good, warm hearted comedy, with some nice zingers or one liners about Americanisms vs. Britishisms. Ted says at one point, for example, the Dick Van Dyke's accent in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was the best proximity of a British Accent ever done. (He had an American accent in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang because his British accent in Mary Poppins was atrocious and Van Dyke refused to repeat the mistake in Chitty, insisting that he be allowed to use his own accent or not do it at all.)

That's just one example. The series is hilarious if you know the British and American differences.

2. Someone on the GH fan board complimented me on my in depth analysis of the storyline and characters. They said..."I wish others in the fandom had the same inclination and ability to analyze to this degree - it would make for some great discussions." Alas so do I. I've found a few here and there. My mother and I have done it for years. I had the same problems in the Buffy fandom - it wasn't until I stumbled upon the ATPOBTVS site that I hit analytical minds who liked to discuss storylines and characters. Everywhere else I went it was, alas, shipper wars.

3. So, Dune isn't the only big adaptation of a classic series of sci-fi novels coming out. The big one is Apple TV's adaptation of Isac Asimov's classic "Foundation", which basically influenced a lot of sci-if. Everything from Star Wars to Star Trek to Farscape, was influenced by Foundation. (Which I've never read and always intended to.)

Trailer..



It has a good cast. Lee Pace, Terence Mann, Jared Harris, among others.

It premiers on Apple TV on Friday - I'll let you know what I think of it.

Also, Robert Jordan's classic fantasy series (possibly the longest and most extensive with 58 books, which was concluded by Bradford Anderson), Wheel of Time.

The Wheel of Time Series has been developed by Amazon.



( article regarding the series and the recast for S2 )

See link: Recast in Wheel of Time Series

4. Mini-meme.

I am a culture junkie. Like most stuff. Have a weakness for relationship melodrama, soap operas, and super heroes.

This is all subject to change of course. It's odd though that most of the stuff on the list is old. Most new stuff I've seen doesn't appear to stick with me long for some reason or other.

( meme )

5. Today saw two covers of songs by Bruce Springsteen of all people that I didn't know he'd done...

Bruce Springsteen does the Clash - London Calling

And..

Bruce Springsteen does The Ramones, I wanna be sedated

I think he's better at the Ramones than the Clash. The Clash sound furious, Springsteen sounds exhausted.

1. Been tired most of the day, as if I'm trudging uphill somehow and dragging a few boulders up that hill with me. Work as frustrating.

Lando went and got acupuncture to heal his sleep apnea. And...well, apparently the acupuncturist put a need through his neck, and showed him the ingredients that go in his herbal medicines -- including dried scorpion and snake venomes. (I'd have run screaming out the door. But Lando was rather pleased with the results, and said his sleep apnea was no more -- he got the rec from Russian co-worker.

2. On Twitter someone asked for books on writing by established writers mid-career, not Stephen King (who he'd already read). So if you like this stuff, here's a few links..

* Chuck Wendig

* Dean Koontz - How to Become a Best-Selling Writer

When reading how-to tips from any writer, always remember that what technique or attitude works for him or her might be so alien to your creative nature that to adopt it unthinkingly will do you no good and might hamstring you. While grammar, syntax, and craft can be taught, writing fiction is--or should be--such an intensely personal enterprise that the story and its meaning comes from a place deep inside yourself and involves approaches that are unique to you. Take advice, yes, but think it through thoroughly and be sure it works for you.

He did publish a book on it. I know, I read it a very long time ago.

* Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing

Or go HERE for the list.

What's Leonard's secret to being both popular and respectable? Perhaps you'll find some clues in his 10 tricks for good writing:

Never open a book with weather.
Avoid prologues.
Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue.
Never use an adverb to modify the verb "said"…he admonished gravely.
Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose.
Never use the words "suddenly" or "all hell broke loose."
Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.
Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.
Don't go into great detail describing places and things.
Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.

* John D. MacDonald

* Ursula Le Guinn - Conversations on Writing

* Bird by Bird - Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott

* Negotiating with the Dead - Margaret Atwood on Writing

* John Scalzi on Writing

*Neil Gaiman on Writing Well

2. Because I despised the NPR Sci-Fi List with the force of a 1000 suns, I went and found another, better ones -- much much better ones, I think most of you will agree?

MEME: Bold what you read. Italicize what you own or tried but haven't finished.

First -- this one: Penguine's List of The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time

The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
A while ago, we came up with a list of the Best Fantasy Novels of All Time. Now we’re doing the same with science fiction! Some of these are classic tales you will surely know, but others are excellent works of science fiction that may have been flying under the radar. So, dear readers, as you make your way down the list, congratulate yourselves on the books you’ve read and add the unfamiliar ones to your TBR list. Note: This list is organized alphabetically.

( Penguin's List of Best Sci-Fi Books )

As an aside? I think this is just cobbled from the list of books published from Penguin/Random House.

[Best Fantasy Novels added here]
( Best Fantasy added here )

Now Reedsy's List:

100 Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time

These are ranked by date, and this is the best list I've seen. I haven't read or heard of a lot of them, but I want to read them. And various ones, I've read about or own.

MEME: Bold what you read. Italicize what you own or tried but haven't finished.

( 100 Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time ranked by date )

I've actually read more on that list. It's by publication date. Which is cool, because I didn't realize so many of them were published in the 1960s.

1. Husband Plants Thousands of Flowers for Blind Wife to Smell
( Read more... )
2. How Blade Runner's Behind the Scenes Issues Made it a Good Movie
( Read more... )
3. Amazon Agrees to Stop Making Stranger Things if Netflix Stops Good Omens due to Christian Protest
( Read more... )

4. Ask Polly - My Friendships Make ME Sad
( Read more... )

5. Today's Masculainity is Stifling
( Read more... )

6. How Your Looks Shape Your Personality

( Read more... )

7. It's humid and sultry here. And I'm somewhat tired and unmotivated. Did buy a swimsuit via Amazon -- it wasn't that expensive in comparison to other sites, and I'm only wearing the dange thing a couple of days. We'll see if it fits and works.
Or I'll have to send it back.
( personal )

1. Already irritated for various reasons not worth going into, a shelf fell on my head, while I was attempting to get my grill out from the lower shelf. Luckily only plastic ware was on the shelf. The little plastic thingamigs that held said shelf in place broke off or came undone for no discernible reason and the shelf fell. This is worrying me, because its the second shelf that's fallen. And I don't know if the shelves holding my glasses will follow suit. I complained to the super but the prior shelf, but nothing.

So, am sending an email to management company tomorrow to advise that the shelves keep falling and it's dangerous. And I need someone to fix the shelves that they clearly constructed in a poor and faulty manner.

2. I have eclipse glasses, whether I'll use them or not, no clue. I will be working at the time. And the eclipse is around 2:45 PM. I've set my television to record the news specials on it, where they are showing it live around the country.

Also there aren't really that many trees around my building or places to see it. I work in a city.

Apparently there are people out there who have no idea what an eclipse is. One wonders about our educational system.

Actually, I've been wondering about it since the Doofus got elected.

3. Here's a nifty Trailer for a Television Anthology Series Based Solely on Philip K. Dick stories entitled Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams. It's apparently Australian produced, with Bryan Cranston and Ronald Moore at the executive producing, show-running, etc helm. Amazon has rights in the US, Channel 4 has rights in Great Britain.

4. Bloody tired of the seemingly endless debate on the ugly confederate statues and monuments.

Anyhow, I got irritated enough to waste time doing a bit of research on the topic.

The NY Times has a good article about the bloody statues, which were erected by, the Daughters of the Confederacy, along with various other white supremacists over time. Confederate Statues and Our History"

And Where and When they Were Erected -- although not sure how accurate that is.
( Read more... )
From: Confederate Monuments History..

* From the Atlantic The Stubborn Persistence of Confederate Monuments
( Read more... )
* Aha, found the article stating that the silly statues were mass produced from pre-fabricated parts and as artistic as well the wrought iron molding on your gate, although some people see that as art, I guess.

( Read more... )
Why Those Confederate Soldier Statues Look a Lot Alike

* List of Hate Speech Cases From the US Supreme Court Note, Hate Speech is NOT protected under the First Amendment. But, most people don't know what it is.
( Read more... )

Well, somewhat concerned about the growing water stains on my ceiling above the tv and down the wall, I decided to move the tv down a bit. So now, my armchair is against my far wall, across from the windows, the tv just slightly to the right of the windows, and the space beneath the leakage empty.
If it does drip, it will only damage the floor and nothing else.

As an aside, I bought renters insurance on Friday.

Seriously, I resign my lease for two years...about four weeks ago. And all these irritating problems pop up. I have extension cords across my kitchen floor, because the outlets closest to the stove and fridge fritzed out. No idea why. They are new outlets.

In other news, picked up a TV Guild for the Sci-Fi Preview, and...ghod, there are a lot of television series. Seriously there is literally something for everyone. It's gotten so that if the television series doesn't hold my attention within the first fifteen minutes, I'm gone. Also, if it premiered already elsewhere, and was canceled before it could wrap up its storyline, I don't watch any longer.
(Learned my lesson with Sense8. It's too bloody painful. Also Sense8 is getting a two hour wrap-up movie due to the outcry.)

BTW -- Better Call Saul got renewed. But Downward Dog and Girlboss were cancelled out of the box. ( Read more... )

For Supernatural Fans? Apparently the YA author SE Hinton, who wrote all those young boy ganster wannabe books, starting with the Outsiders and ending with Rumble Fish...is a huge fan of the series. ( Read more... )

TV Shows premiering in July and August, in case you find yourself bored, and with nothing better to do with your time but binge on television shows:

( Read more... )

While I loved the series Sense8 as a whole, I think I preferred Season 1 to Season 2, it was better structured and the season finale was less busy and less rushed. I felt the first season to be tighter than the second, and that it wandered less. The stories seemed to interconnect more, and by the end of it, each character's arc was completed with a sort of open feeling of more to come. But it could have ended there, without feeling too jarring.

Season2....oh dear. It has moments of brilliance, but it is a bit of jangled mess at the end. I agree a great deal with the AV Club review of the finale episode, found HERE. The final two episodes felt more like a mid-season episodes than a season finale, and left the audience with more questions than answers, and sense of being left with a major cliff-hanger. I almost wish I'd stopped with S1, although there are bits in S2 that I'm rather glad I saw, and at least four of the eight characters story-arcs are to some degree completed.

( Spoilers for Sense8 )

Finally finished this book. It's probably good to know where and how I read -- I read on my commute. Each day I travel by foot, subway, foot, and train to my workplace. It's about an hour and fifteen-twenty minutes give or take each way. I also read whenever I'm traveling by train elsewhere. Mainly? I read primarily in transit. Travel reading is a very different thing than stationary reading. For one thing it's far harder to read dense fiction or philosophical meanderings while in transit. It tends to give me a headache. Why? Well, distractions.

Example?
( Read more... )

I also read before bed at night. I tend to read more ...dense stuff at night. I read Blind Assassin before bed at night for three years -- that's why it took so long to read that book. I'd read it in snatches for twenty to thirty minutes before bed. Couldn't read it on the train -- mind refused to focus on it. It's very hard to read literary or dense material when people are chatting on the phone, listening to loud music or coughing around you, not to mention the train announcements and noises. Also I tend to read standing up and I cart the book around with me -- so it's better if it is a Kindle and not a hefty hard back or paperback, preferably with a light in case all the lights go out on the train, which happens.

Anyhow, enuf on that..

Review of Witches of Karres

A co-worker thrust this one on me. One day at work, he came up to me and handed me a ratty old paperback from the 1980s (actually it was from the 60s, but this copy was 1983), and said, you have to read this ! I just read it and I really think you'll love it.

So, with much trepidation I did. Book rec's don't always work out. And co-worker and my tastes don't always coincide. What's that phrase? You say tomato, I say tomatoe....? Anyhow, I read it and liked it a lot better than I thought I would.

( mild spoilers for Witches of Karres )

1. Still reading The Witches of Karres by John Schmitz which is more of a sci-fantasy and sort of comical, although I've never laughed, just smiled. My sense of humor is very dry and more towards witty, puns and absurdist humor for absurdity sake (see Hitchhiker's Guide) doesn't really work for me. It's hit or miss. If I feel like the book is just one joke after another, I get rather bored. In regards to Terry Pratchett, I don't really know if I like Pratchett or not. I loved "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents" which I fought was a rather clever take on the Pied Piper of Hamlin, except with a clever cat working with clever mice. But "Good Omens" written by Gaiman and Pratchett started to drag, it was funny to start, but the joke was drug out too long and began to wear thin (sort of similar to my issues with Hitchhiker and The Palace Job.) The other one I tried and could not get through was "Monstrous Regiment" - which I had to look up and bored me silly. It was a clearly a satire about war, but I don't do well with satire for satire's sake -- that's my problem with Jonathan Swift and 98% of American Satirical comedies ("The Good Place", "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt", "The Office", "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" and "The Simpsons"). Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying they are poorly written or anything, just that I get impatient and bored during them, because the "satire" and "themes" are more important than the characters or the characters arcs. Yes, the characters are interesting and even complex, but..I feel distanced from them somehow, as if they are satirical tropes. And they are. Nothing wrong with that, but, I'm a "character" gal as an old college buddy likes to say. Character sort of comes above all else with me. Not everyone is like that. Most folks aren't. And that's okay, although I wish it was the opposite, but what can you do, and differences and diversity make life interesting.

Anyhow..as a result I don't know if I like Prachett. I've only tried three books that he wrote. One - I loved, and remember fairly well, one disappointed me, and one just could not finish (which was a shame because it was a gift from a dear friend at the time, who thought I'd love it. I had to side-step that with her.) Sort of like Opera, I don't know if I like Opera -- only really seen Carmen, listened to some on CD (high soprano, doesn't do a lot for me -- my parents love it and played it constantly when I visited for a while there), parts of a comic opera, and listened to Mozart (I love listening to Mozart, how can you not?). Should try the city Opera at some point, be warned not to try the Met, it's pricey and not comfortable.

I do however love Gilbret & Sullivan Operettas...I've seen every single one in the space of a month on VHS, plus two performed by a G&S troop. We did the Mikado in high school (I was on the makeup crew, which was fun. As a result, I saw the Mikado a million times and almost have it memorized. I adored it.) See, that's interesting -- because G&S is pure satire and parody, yet I find it hilarious and loved it. (Hmmm, haven't seen it in a while though...so it is possible my tastes changed).

I don't know if I like Roger Zelzany either, just that I could not finish "Lord of Light" but that means nothing. It's possible I'd like another one of his books?

Too many books, too little time. Which makes me wonder why I am writing three at the moment. Oh that's right, because no one else has written them and I want to read those stories.

2.) Romance Genre has a frigging lot of sub-genres, some favorable, some....that ahem give it a bad name and make me wonder about people. This is unfortunately about the latter...and yes, I've read a lot of it, so I feel qualified to rant about it for a bit. (I only feel qualified to rant and rip apart things that I've experienced and read. Not that that always stops me...unfortunately, and much to be my own chagrin, but still.)

Was wandering about on Amazon during work, and Amazon being Amazon decided to rec Paper Princess by someone named Erin Watt..who is an erotica writer, writing a YA romance novel or at least this is marketed as a YA. I think Amazon rec'd it because I'd read Royally Matched and Royally Screwed and this story appeared to be in the same vein? Who knows? Amazon can't figure me out any longer -- it's just throwing everything at me including the kitchen sink.

Anyhow the title perked my interest. So I checked it out. And...I think YA may be the wrong subgenre for it? The marketing blurb is rather amusing.

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE BOOK

Q: Is this really a YA?

We recommend this for young adult readers, age 17 and up. We think it’s a book that will appeal to older teens and those adults who are in touch with their inner teen, like us.

Uhm, hate to break this to you, but that isn't "Young Adult", young adult is teens, between 14-18 usually. (ie. Twilight, The Hunger Games, Maze). 17 and up is New Adult - basically college kids. Post-high school age readers. (ie. 50 Shades of Grey, CrossFire, Colleen Hoover's books, Beautiful Disaster, etc.)

New Adult often syncs into the Billionaire Boys Club romances -- which is basically 50 Shades of Grey erotica Cinderella fantasies. Think Cinderella, except her Prince is into BDSM or rough sex. But not always does it sync into this ...sometimes it's more along the lines of Colleen Hoover and Jamie McGuire novels which is melodramatic teen sex romances. They are either in college, high school, or somewhere in between...having lots of forbidden elicit sex. The reason the writer goes younger -- is the want the virgin and the badboy trope or in some scenarios the naughty girl/bad boy trope. But unless the girl is 17-22, you can't really make it a big deal that she's having sex in contemporary romance novels.

( rant about our societal insecurities and crazy ass assumptions regarding sex and other's sexual lives which I've lost all tolerance for )

Enuf of the rant.

Q: Is there a cliffhanger? I’ve heard there’s an awful cliffhanger! Why’d you write a cliffhanger?

We promise that we didn’t set out to write a cliffhanger, but Paper Princess does end in one. The good news is that the next book is up for pre-sale and it will be released July 25, 2016.

Sigh. According to the reviews there is an awful cliffhanger, which appears to be the routine in New Adult romance novels. You only get the crazy cliffhangers in the New Adult and sometimes the Young Adult contemporary. You don't get them in the historical romances, the adult contemporary romances, just the frigging YA and New Adult for some reason. And they don't help the story. If anything they stretch it too thin.

So, yes, you silly marketing people, you did intend to write an awful cliffhanger. Who do you think you are fooling? You did it so you could sell two books not just one, possibly even a series of books -- because hello, we have six boys, which lends itself to a series...it just writes itself.

I despise the New Adult genre.

( why I despise it and brief description of Paper Princess )