Consortium of Seven: Year 4

In which we look at an image, I keep quiet for once & you can make up your own mind about it.  Wishing everyone a kinder 2023. From a project which asked artists to depict what Hope looked like to them by Shadowchaser (Daniela Yankova), 2020

     This could be relatively brief one.       Thoughts are turned more strongly toward the too many things that need doing, slamming up against so little time remaining in the year. For many of us, with Mon-Fri official jobs, the calendar gives us a little extra padding this calendar year, with the new year starting on a Sunday, spilling that holiday into Monday. Hypothetically, at least, that lets us better land in physical ruin on New Year's Day , knowing we have Monday, too, to better recover and readjust our sleep schedule before reengaging the workweek schedule on Tuesday. We know from experience that these four-day weeks will somehow feel even longer than the five-day ones usually do, all the more so following a general sense of holiday adjacency that's been with us since Thanksgiving.       Anyway, while I will doubtless slip repeatedly into staring passively at screens for chunks of the next few days, it'll pro...

 Happy Thursday, everyone!  Sorry I'm a bit late this week but work has been...weird in this liminal space between New Years and Christmas.   But hey, let's get to it! ________________________________________ I indulged myself and picked up the Criterion Collection of Godzilla: The Showa-Era Film, 1954-1975 .  A huge box set of the 15 movies in that time period, it's been dinged a bit for not getting the best transfers (apparently Toho balked at giving Criterion their best prints) but hey at least now I have all of those Godzilla movies together. And jeez, look at all those extras (including alternate cuts of some of the movies for American markers).  And I was not expecting an interview with Sid & Nancy  director Alex Cox about his love for the series. Seriously, it's huge.  Godzilla is streaming on HBO Max, as are some of the other films here (there's apparently a whole bundle of rights for various movies in the USA so you have to dig around...

New episodes of my ongoing modern suspense audio story appear on YouTube every two weeks. It's in audiobook form with a slideshow.  While we're waiting for 2023, both author and readers can take a breather.  This short video tells how to start "Freedom Island" from the beginning. You can get caught up and be ready for new episodes in January.   

    Oh gosh, where do I begin?     In last week's post I said that I wanted Wikipedia to revive the disambiguation stuff it used to do, meaning they used to put up entries which made titles, names, and keywords less ambiguous.  But, I said in my post, I'd taken this task upon myself in regards to a 1931 German-language early-jazz hit about a European spa town.    Until now, I thought I was getting things sorted out. Turns out I was not.  I had the wrong video up, for one thing. I'd put up this one:           But I should have posted this video, which actually matches the post.            I hope you can see why I got a song called "Herr Lehmann" mixed up with a song called "Herr Lehmann, Herr Lehmann." Google Translate is the only way I can make any sense of the German title and lyrics. (The English word "lyrics," by the way, turns out to be "text" in German, just to make looking things u...

A while back, I was sorting and tagging mp3s as the CD player over my left shoulder ran through the two-disc set  Night Train to Nashville , subtitled “Music City Rhythm & Blues, 1945-1970.” Deep into the second disc of the set borrowed from the local library, I’d already heard a lot of stuff I wished I’d heard long ago, much of it on the Excello label.   A new track began: a thrumming bass with two measures of eighth notes solo, then percussion on the backbeat for two more measures. And then: “Doooo, do-do doo. Do-do-do! Do-do-do! Do-do-do.” I jerked my head around, stared at the CD player as the verse began: “Dancin’ with you, baby, really turns the soulshake on. Yeah, groovin’ with you, baby, really turns the soulshake on.”   Knowing the song as “Soul Shake” but never having heard this version, I reached for the booklet that came with the set. The track was by Peggy Scott and Jo Jo Benson, recorded in Nashville in 1969 and released as “Soulshake” early that yea...

Christmas cold weather has arrived, which I still find invigorating. I haven't completely acclimated to southern Florida, yet. I still like doses of cold weather. Despite setbacks and minor health issues, including over 16 hours of unexpected intense housework Christmas Eve and Christmas Day for Mike and me, the holiday has been appreciated. I sure hope events never conspire in this fashion again. We are both exhausted and are leaving for a road trip in the morning.  Nature provided a few opportunities for admiration and delight, including a hummingbird feeding in the back bushes on Christmas Eve morning, and some crows milling about in the same spot Christmas morning.  Hoping whatever situations you find yourselves this holiday, that you find quiet peaceful moments and some joy.     https://youtube.com/shorts/NPOOdkEpEuw?feature=share   https://youtube.com/shorts/2jVJl8sELVM?feature=share

Most Scottish occupations are the same as anywhere else. The world over, the same things preoccupy us & the same services are required. Many jobs involve the sea or water & the use or exploitation of those for better or for worse. As a vegetarian of nearly forty years, some of the occupations in Scotland come from an abhorrent place as far as I’m concerned; in no way am I in favour of jobs such as in gamekeeping, fishing & land “management” as well as nuclear energy. Then again, there are those who use the water in the creation of sustainable & renewable energy. Of course where there is people, there is art & I’ve trawled around trying to find some representatives from the world of work in Scotland. Many of these works are not really my cup of tea but of course that’s no reason to exclude them... Architect: Portrait of Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1914), Francis Henry Newbery (1855-1946) Of course Mackintosh was a great artist & Scottish genius, but he started out...

        I'll note - potentially apologize for? - this week's piece not having a real holiday theme... aside, I suppose, for anticipating more leisure time in the coming week for most of us. While we'll likely all be getting to spend some time with family and friends in here somewhere, there are at least three, big, viral infections out there, leaving me wondering how many people will either be out sick, or dragging their diseased selves back into the workplace to spread it all anew, when we step into the new year in about 11 days.     My slow, gradual move into Apple TV+ territory continues. Since last time, I completed the remainder of Ted Lasso 's second season - the most recent - and so have that behind me. The second season ended with much more emotional weight, but still much more in a good way than a threatening one. Much for fans to conjure with as they await season three, likely somewhere off in 2023, when the series will conclude. My...