Song of the Day: "Rise" by Public Image Limited

<< last song

                        >>next song

So much of writing is intuition. I'm trying to polish off a screenplay written years ago with a couple of friends. 

A small but integral part of the characters is being tweaked. I've taken way too long to finish this thing and have all but lost confidence in myself. 

So I'm fueling my "writer's journey" by listening on repeat to "Rise" by Public Image Limited (PIL, if you want to be quick about it.) Because that's what I intuit I need to keep going. I need to listen to Johnny Lydon and put one word in front of the other. 

You should try writing to a certain rhythm, sometime, by the way. I do it a lot. 

Can you imagine the momentum you're charged with when writing along to the Killers' careening "Sam's Town"? The perfection and elegance you strive for when listening to the glittering romanticism of Roxy Music's "More Than This."

So that's it. PIL on repeat. Me writing.

—Sarah Torribio

Song of the Day: "Head Over Heels" by The Go-Gos

 

 

<<last song

 >>next song

 

NEWER POST

OLDER POST

My song of the day is "Head Over Heels"  by the Go Go's off their 1984 album Talk Show. How underrated is this band? And how adorable is keyboardist Charlotte Caffey?

—Sarah Torribio

Flash fiction: Oh, the irony

<<last story

>>next story

•OLDER POST

•NEWER POST

Random Musing: On the zeitgeist of pessismism

<<last musing

>>next musing

•NEXT POST

Random Musing: On confidence

<<last musing

>>next musing

Song of the Day: "Bound for the Floor" by Local H

<<last song

                                                                              >>next song

I find this 1996 song, "Bound for the Floor" by Local H, irresistible. It's great guitar-driven rock and then there's the satisfaction of chanting the pouty, disaffected chorus. 

Those are some tight lines: "And you just don't get it/You keep it copacetic. And you learn to accept it/You know you're so pathetic." 

—Sarah Torribio

Random Musing: The uncertainties of pet ownership

<<last musing

>>next musing

Random Musing: That certain stranger. . .

<<last musing

>>next musing

I was just DM’d on a certain social media platform by a vaguely continental-looking stranger.

From his avatar I deduce he’s part of a Prague-based catfishing operation targeting women having a midlife crisis. I’m currently having several discreet midlife crises regarding entirely different topics, because I compartmentalize. It only hurts when you breathe.

Anyhow, his one-line opener was: “Hello you look stunning and I want to be your friend.” The message was oddly compelling. What’s more endearing than charming words delivered so directly there’s no time for commas?

Friends, I was flattered. I who am happily married and know the message is fishy as hell. Is this what being in your (ahem) mid-40s is like?

Totally deleting the DM, tho.

Random Musing: Hold Your Holiday Horses

<<last musing

>>next musing


When all the stores have their Christmas decorations out way yonder too early, you’ve got to take a stand!

Flash Fiction: 'Doris' (animated)

<<last story

>>next story

Random Musing: A world of scribes

<<last musing

>>next musing

•OLDER POST

•NEWER POST

Random Musing: Identify yourself

<<last musing

>>next musing

Bad Dating Site Profile #236

<<last profile

>>next profile

Random Musing: On being your own worst enemy

<<last musing

>>next musing

Random Musing: A word from our sponsors. . .

<<last musing

>>next musing

Why, yes, I do haiku!

<<last haiku

>>next haiku

•OLDER POST

•NEXT POST

Random Musing: Moving forward

<< last musing
>>next musing

Random Musing: Her royal majesty

<<last musing

>>next musing

Random Musing: Down the global rabbit hole. . .

<<last musing

                                                                     >>next musing

I’m at Starbucks, engaging in a light beach read. Paging through 50 Years of Deep State: JFK to 9/11  I’m feeling a new respect for Kennedy reading his words and seeing how he was besieged on every side by the CIA and various appointed officials, hellbent on assassinating Castro and starting a nuclear war with the former USSR.

I take all I read with a grain of salt, but it’s apparent to me that there exist people and groups—in every government—whose aims are contrary to the nation’s public leaders and to the people.

After I’ve digested this book, quite a history lesson, I'll I repair my disillusioned soul with a charming Harlequin novel. Preferably, it will be set in the Edwardian era.

Bite-sized Autobiography: Supermarket larceny

<<last bite

>>next bite

When I was a kid, I stole candy from the bins at Alpha Beta. Those bins were so low, even a child with more scruples than I would have been tempted.

These candies were the worst of the worst. Granted, there were no circus peanuts among the bins. There were, however, sickly sweet butterscotch candy, sugar-dusted fake oranges and limes that hurt your teeth when you bit into them and chocolate-covered malt balls.

Also present was hard candy, wrapped in cellophane and looking like jewels but tasting just a little past decent. Later, most of those candies would live out their retirement in some grandmother’s coffee table candy dish, softening and then clinging to their dish mates in a state of benign ossification.

Brach’s selection also included these fake tootsie rolls, some of which were pink and bore a flavor I can only describe as pink.

But it was candy, even it was crap candy. Looking back, my grocery store banditry signaled an addictive personality. Who else misses Alpha Beta? 

—Sarah Torribio