We had a bit of a violent rainstorm last week. Made for an interesting Impressionist work.
DISTAL MUSE – OBSERVATIONS, OPINIONS, EPHEMERA, & VIEWS
I wish I had recordings. Sometimes, these monthly jam sessions just turn out sweet.
I don’t have much to say about this past Saturday night’s coffeehouse other than everyone had a good time and we had some surprising performances. So rather than try to recapture the musicality, I offer a few images.
Bob is a multitalented player, whose skill I envy. A pleasant surprise was his daughter, Diane, showing up, who turned out (not very surprisingly) to be musically adept as well.
The guy on the right is one of my oldest friends, Tom. …
I don’t post music videos normally, but I thought this was exceptional. It’s music based on China Mieville’s truly excellent novel, Embassytown, which I urge everyone to get, read, immerse yourselves in. This novel goes on my list of “novels to be used to teach science fiction” along with a handful of others. Enjoy.
…
So what do you do with a bare patch of backyard? Why, put a tree on it!
Donna wanted something for the front yard, which is admittedly rather plain and neglected. We spend most of our time in the back part of the house where the bay windows look out over an increasingly eclectic yard. (Donna keeps saying we need to simplify, get it more low maintenance, but…)
So we bought a Japanese Maple.
We both love Japanese Maples. We bought one shortly after moving into the house and it thrives to this day, but what we wanted was a red one and that first one, after an initial showing of red leaves, turned a lovely green and stayed that way. …
As she says, this ought to be utterly noncontroversial. Yet it is, because a toxic meme has been released into the public discourse.
She’s more polite—more “politic”—than I might be, so I’ll just leave this to stand on its own for now.…
I don’t have a lot to say about this kerfluffle over the remarks of someone who, as it turns out, is not actually working for Obama regarding Ann Romney never having worked a day in her life. This kind of hyperbole ought to be treated as it deserves—ignored.
But we live in an age when the least thing can become a huge political Thing, so ignoring idiocy is not an option.
I remember back in the 1990s a brief flap over Robert Reich. I’m not certain but I believe it was Rush Limbaugh who started it by lampooning the Clinton Administration’s Secretary of Labor for “never having had a real job in his life.” …
Last Friday, the 6th of April, I had the pleasure of being on-stage host to Mr. David Gerrold, writer. If you’re not familiar with his work…but what am I saying? Of course you are! Even if you may not know it. David Gerrold wrote one of the most loved episodes of the original Star Trek, the marvelous The Trouble With Tribbles. Even those who don’t especially care for the show tend to like that one.
But if that’s all you’re familiar with by him, then I urge you to correct that lack. David Gerrold is one of the best SF writers in the business. …
I must at the outset state that I personally don’t, as the good ol’ boys like to say, have a dog in this hunt. There was a time I might have, but at this stage of my life—our lives, my partner’s and mine—there is no personal blowback. At least not yet, but I’ll make a point about that later. I say this in order to assure people, some of whom will assume what they will no matter what, that I’m grinding no axes here other than my usual intolerance for duplicity, hypocrisy, and related misapplications of do-goodism.
First, watch this video:
https://www.c-span.org/video/?311757-1/national-organization-marriage-nom-rally-national-mall…
I’ve been having a productive month. This morning I polished up and submitted the fifth short story in two weeks. Granted, most of them are rewrites, but a couple of them are such thorough redrafts that they might as well be all new, like the one I finished today.
Normally, I let a story sit for a while before sending it out, but right now I just want material in submission. It has been a long time since I’ve had this kind of productivity in short fiction and I want to take full advantage of it. Of course, it would be nice if some (or all) sold, especially to the markets they’ve been sent.…