Just to keep busy.

 I'm making a solid effort to try to write a little bit every day, even if it's just long threads on Twitter, but it's not always easy. I'm also trying to write in the morning after breakfast, just to have a set time where I do it. I'm told that helps with the get-along. I figure get up, have breakfast, write some, take a nap, go to the gym, play video games, eat supper, play more video games/watch movie, & that's a pretty good day.

 Still, the problem is I can't come up with a story. World building is all fine & good, but with apologies to Tolkien, that does not (necessarily) a story make. I have my main themes - noir fantasy, Weird West, & space western - & the bits & pieces are coming along, but I just can't come up with an overall narrative to make it an actual story. It doesn't have to be deep or world shattering, just a nice tale, a fun romp to kill an afternoon.

 Granted, there's always non-fiction writing or, to be honest, ranting about politics. However, with the ubiquity of such journalism - plus the overall low quality of such as exemplified by living wank socks like Michael Tracey - I really don't have the heart for that. It's all too crazy now & there's just too much meanness in it all.

 Anyhow. I've piddled enough for today. I think it's time for a nap. This CPAP was was supposed to help with my sleep apnea & help me stop feeling tired all that time. Well, I don't feel tired so much as sleepy. There is a difference, but I couldn't tell you which is worse.

Rock & roll may not be dead, but it's pretty damn stupid.

Liz Phair's take on this whole business, in re: a dumbass story about Alanais Morrisette's Jagged Little Pill album in a recent edition of "Jezebel".

One of the reasons I got out of music criticism was that the gulf between what fans thought was important about music & what the musicians themselves thought was important was just too much & I didn't have enough cache to get everyone to just shut up. When you're in a position to need to pay attention to both, it can give you a perspective.

Story time. Years ago I interviewed Lemmy from Motorhead. The band was playing Atlanta, & because a previous interview had to be canceled, his PR people - who liked me 'cause I did 'em good - got me a backstage, two-hour interview with the man himself. I'm a big 'Head fan & bigger admirer of Mr. Kilmister, so that was cool anyway.

Plus, Lemmy was a pretty sharp dude & had a fascinating career once you looked past the leather jackets & weird thing on his face. So, I did the interview with him, my friend/photographer Jeff, & two of Lemmy's "friends from Atlanta", & we had a blast talking about rock & roll, Napster & the 2000 election. After the show - which was killer - I use my backstage pass to say bye to the opening act, Nashville Pussy, some of who were friends of mine. I'm saying goodnight & Lemmy says to me, "You're coming to the after party, yeh?"

Very cool. Now, I'm not a big partier - plus I was driving - but Lemmy asked, so I went. It was at a place in the Little 5 Points area in Atlanta - a place to go if you're looking for music snobs & hipsters - called 9 Lives Saloon. Few years later, a band I was in would play there regularly. Anyhow, if you know anything about Motorhead fans or rock & roll Atlanta, you can imagine how obnoxious this party was. It was more obnoxious than that & I left by 3 a.m.

But while I was there, I enjoyed myself. I spent time talking to Ron Heathman from the Supersuckers (another favorite), Mikky Dee & Phil Campbell from Motorhead, some of my Atlanta rock & roll buddies, & sat in on a group chat with Lemmy. Him, a bunch of Atlanta thumbs-down-your-pants butt rock posers & my dumb country ass.

Being a music journalist, I asked a music journalist question when I got a chance to speak. "John & Paul," he graveled, without hesitation. "No one wrote better rock & roll songs. Everyone else since then is just an imitation" And like dominoes, you'd could see the metalheads' faces fall.

It didn't matter if it made perfect sense or was a perfectly reasonable conclusion for someone in Lemmy's particularly crusty boots to make, it didn't fit the narrative. Like Johnny Rotten digging disco, fans can't grasp that musicians like music, & the rest is merchandising.

Bootes Void - The Creepiest Place in the Universe [OOTW]

The Zipf Mystery

It takes a melancholy turn I wasn't expecting. You figure it out.

The Quantum Experiment that Broke Reality | Space Time | PBS Digital Studios

Reasons "Gamers" Suck, An Ongoing Series

 This may be the saddest thing I've ever seen, even sadder than some of the weird fetish mods one finds for Skyrim.

Just to have it on record.

 I really don't think we're going to see much when whatever is in the Mueller Report comes out in the wash. Regardless of what the vulgar boob has or hasn't done, no one in Washington, D.C., has the wherewithall to really do much about. The Republicans have no problem with anything Trump does - don't kid yourself - & the Democratic leadership isn't inclined to shake the boat when it comes to insider business. The Younger Left that's come up with the past midterms might throw a monkey wrench into the works, but again, I doubt much will come out of it. The GOP is Trump's party through & through, & there's still too much rigidity in the Democratic party to get too radical.

 Now, whether he is guilty of the worst, I ain't saying because I don't know. The fact that everything else the filthy swine has done doesn't disqualify him is enough to tell me there's no sense in giving the office much respect at all.

"Theme From Bret Maverick", by Ed Bruce featuring James Garner 1982

In the '80s & early '90s, whenever the local NBC affiliate had to time to fill or didn't want to broadcast something for fear of upsetting old folks in Mooreville, they played episodes of this show. It was the 1982 revival of the old '50s Western Maverick, staring James Garner. It also featured the singer of the theme, '80s country star Ed Bruce as a two-by-four with a sheriff's badge.



 I loved it.

Dave Alvin - Love Theme From Mystery Science Theater 3000 The Movie

It never occurred to me that these particular streams would cross, but what the hell.

10 Widely Misunderstood Pieces of Writing

 If I had pet peeves, these would be among them. Especially the Dracula one, that just drives me up the wall.

Gaming rant.

"Gamer culture", whatever that is, is garbage. I should not be checking my Steam queue & come away embarrassed about one of my hobbies. You little turds need slapped good & hard. There ain't no call for this.


I'm not going to go into detail, but this morning I clicked through half-a-dozen poorly made puzzle games that existed only to eventually show anime nekkid girls. Granted, that's what I get for assuming "Nudity" & "Sexual Content" meant shit like The Witcher & Mass Effect. That's my fault, but my mind is still blown by what computer games are these days. That's not a bad thing, & even as cringe-y as (at least) the first Witcher can be, it's more than just boringly drawn cartoon boobies. Again, I expect too much.


But call me an old fogey, but I just can't see the humor in "cutie anime girl Nazi with a name reminiscent of one of the higher officials" in what ostensibly a war simulator RTS thing. Really? That's where we are now? That's just tacky &, honestly, makes me think someone else is paying the designer's bills & they're going to be pissy as hell once they grow up & try to get a job. Probably blame it all on feminists.


You know, I got back into playing video games at a time in my life where, not to be too dramatic, I was somewhat adrift in the ozone. It not only let me reconnect to a joy of happier, younger times, it also reinvigorated a creative & artistic spark.

It pisses me off to share a pleasant diversion with a bunch of thick-skulled children who think "being a butthole" is a personality. Guess it's a good thing I didn't what kind of shit-asses comic book fans could be back when I read them on a regular basis.

Another day...

 You've heard about the news in Christchurch, New Zealand, about how a right-wing white nationalist dickhead shot up a mosque & killed some folks. Apparently, the shooter streamed it & the video has been widely shared. Folks are freaking out about this, but you hear it every time there's a shooting: they want attention, don't give them what they want.

 Well... maybe. Maybe they do want attention & blasting his manifesto is doing just that. But these people are still killing & the folks that tacitly agree with the idea that Muslims (in this example) represent some sort of existential threat will still argue that brown people who pray differently are destroying Western Civilization. The guy apparently cited Trump & two-bit grifter Candace Owens in his "manifesto", so of course the wingnuts are circling wagons. Beady-eyed panty sniffer Ben Shaprio & a grown man that calls himself "Count Dankula" & expects to be taken seriously are already tut-tutting the media over trying to blame right wingers who just want to encourage white nationalism in peace.

 Don't get it twisted. None of those people have a problem with a mosque being shot up or a synagogue being shot up or a gay club being shot up. That's what they encourage. That's what they preach. That's what they want.

 So maybe don't share the video or manifesto, but do blame the greedheads & war mongers & filthy racists who claim decent white folk are under siege just to wring their hands with regret when some dingbat takes them seriously. Don't buy it. They are the bad guy.

Need to make a note to myself.

 Does anyone still read blogs? I know a number of the political blogs I used to read are still going & their readership is pretty constant. I don't much read them anymore, just occasionally when they say they got something new & interesting via Twitter. Half the time they post a link to something they wrote for an actual publication which, one hopes, they were paid justly for.

 In any event, I don't know how much impact they still have, nor do I care, but I imagine the hobby bloggers are pretty much in the same boat. There's more options for us to howl our thoughts into the uncaring cyber-void. Some even let you do skits, thought maybe we need to be stopped.

 This all leads me to wonder just how much attention Blogger brings in. Obviously, it still has it's niche. Tumblr has it's place & audience, & since it's still charging money for use, I assume WordPress is as well. Come to think of it, the last social media site I can think of that's gone the way of all flesh is Google+, & that's mainly because Google didn't give enough of a shit about it.

 Anyhow, I said all that to say all this. However much attention Blogger does or doesn't get, I think it's safe to say this particular blog doesn't get much attention. As I continue to struggle for an idea to move me enough to write about it, I also find myself less inclined to interact with hoi palloi via Twitter. There's talking with people I know that I don't actually want to talk on the phone to & then there's having to explain to some gibbering fenderhead, once again, that the sun doesn't rise when they wake up. You know who you are.

 So, that's what I'm going to try to use Blogger for. Back when I got back on Blogger, I got on Tumblr at the same time. I'd meant to use Blogger for more journalistically minded things & Tumblr for more prosaic ideas. Didn't work that way. So now, and again keep in mind I'm trying to get back into writing via the method of "write something every day even if it's just for the same of writing (like this, for example)", I will use Blogger for those thoughts that I want to put on Twitter but either don't want to deal with the word count or having some goon howl at me about Clinton getting his oil changed in the Oval Office. Editing will be light & no promises are made.

 You, if you indeed exist, have been warned.