sat/20211113

What would I do if I weren't writing? Been on my mind a lot lately, the last couple days especially. Maybe a banker (because that’s what I was raised around) or something but I'm shit with math – even though it's keeping me alive; then again, being shit at math doesn't seem to preclude banking these days. Or keeping me alive.

(Alive, not necessarily living: still working on that part.)

Halfway through SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS and it's already my second favorite MCU film, right after ANT-MAN (though it might end up being higher on that list if only because of Tony Leung, who immediately elevates every project in which he takes part). Excellent flick, helluva good time.

I've considered returning to social media but I don't wanna so I won't; I also don’t want to be a banker. The day awaits.

NIAGARA

That rare gem, a Technicolor noir, featuring Marilyn Monroe in one of her most underrated – and villainous – roles. Joseph Cotten remains, forever, one of my favorite actors. 1950s Technicolor Niagara Falls is truly a wonder to behold.

(Directed by Henry Hathaway from a screenplay by Charles Brackett Walter Reisch, and Richard Breen. Starring Marilyn Monroe, Joseph Cotten, and Jean Peters. Released 21 January 1953.)

"Iskorka" (Sparklet) Soviet magazine cover, 1970

(via @sovietvisuals):

fri/20211112

Technological snafu - a somehow corrupted memory card in my once-beloved Podtrak P4 resulting in another lost TSR interview – capped off this week in technological distrust: while I appreciate the Muse team's efforts to look into my "vanishing text" / reversion to previous version of text bug, their "but since no one else has reported it..." hands-up-in-the-air final response and the app's pulling the vanishing act that same morning was the final nail in that coffin: I ran a non-profit with a tech team and I know all too well the "since no one else is reporting it" response, a response which grates now as it grated a decade ago – a grating which cuts deep because Muse is a truly excellent app with amazing potential save what is, for me, a catastrophic dealbreaker: if I don’t trust the tool, I can’t work with it. And right now, I don’t trust it.

Solutions: working again in Obsidian and reformatted the SD card in the P4. Coming up with a pre-recording checklist to ensure this shit never happens again – or at least minimize its potential; two lost shows out of nine is two too many. Embarassing and enraging, particularly when I recognize the time sacrifice made by someone else for something of mine.

Beautiful day otherwise. Dogchild sustenance then back to work.

Current Frequencies, Updated

Taking a social media break – with exceptions for new work and/or TSR episodes – until at least the end of the year. This space is my home now. Here’s where I’ll be broadcasting into the ether.

thu/20211111

TSR interview prep this morning to Elfman's DICK TRACY soundtrack; Madonna, "I'm Breathless" album up next. Both are so very, very good – and putting me in the proper headspace for this afternoon's conversation. Should be a fun chat. (Been awhile – hopefully this will start another TSR chain.)

Kirby is chasing a mouse and the mouse is winning: escalation of capture methods in order. Such is life in a Saturday morning cartoon, one rife with copious profanity and little if any profundity.

The day awaits.

Watching:

WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS, directed by Otto Preminger from an adaptation of William L. Stuart’s original novel by Ben Hecht. Starring Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney, and Gary Merril. Released August 1950.