Wednesday, October 30, 2019

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


                        >>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


 
 
 
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




Tuesday, October 22, 2019

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

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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



















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Random Musing: That certain stranger. . .





















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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





















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

Flash Fiction: 'Doris' (animated)




















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Random Musing: A world of scribes













•OLDER POST

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Random Musing: Her royal majesty



Random Musing: Down the global rabbit hole. . .



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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

































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