Month: January 2025

  • ODDS and ENDS: Cough it Out, An Empty Theatre, and NFL Predictions

    (How much do you commit yourself…)

    I wouldn’t go as far as to say that the kid has a cold, but she has something that has given her a stuffy nose, and a slight cough. And with this cough, it sounds all wet like she’s breaking something up in her throat. Except she refuses to cough and break that phlegm up. And, I know this might be hard to believe, but it makes me a little nuts. I just want her to cough, get it out, you know. But she thinks she’ll throw up, which creates a perpetual motion machine of frustration for all parties.

    For the record, being in an empty theatre, with a ghost light sitting on the deck, is about as close to a feeling of going to church that I can have.

    Commanders and the Bills in the Super Bowl. But I would also be fine with the Commanders and the Chiefs. In all honesty, as long as Philadelphia doesn’t win the Super Bowl I will be happy

  • No Short Story Review This Week… Sort of

    See, I read a piece that I really liked, and I wrote a quick review on it. But then I saw that Split Lip Mag publishes micro reviews (250 to 500 words) which is normally my word count for a review, and on a whim, I decided what the hell, and sent it off to them. Clearly I have not heard back, but if they do reject the piece, then I will publish it here, and ya’ll can go crazy on it. If they do publish it, I will put up a link, and let ya’ll go crazy, but on someone else’s platform.

    Anyways, here’s hoping…

  • It’s Cold and My Mind Wandered

    Man, is it cold here. Woke up and it was ten degrees. As of this afternoon, it’s only nineteen, and we are going to bottom out at fourteen tonight.

    Pretty cold alright.

    Not that I mind. You know, last night I had a sweater on, and then a cardigan over that. I was pretty warm. At the moment I am writing this, I have a flannel shirt on with cable knit sweater over that. I am comfy and toasty at the same time.

    It is seventy degrees in my apartment, but it feels way colder than that. It’s because two of our walls face the outside, and that cold just penetrates through the bricks. Oh, and the steam pipes and radiator come and go like an unwanted family guest. Believe it or not, it used to be worse in this building.

    When I get to experience days like today, I imagine that one day I will have a nice thick and soft tweed suit to put on. And I’m not talking some stylish American tweed suit. No sir! I’m taking about an old wrinkly Irish tweed suit; one that looks like it’s been handed down for a hundred years. The type of suit that is perfect to wear a bowler hat with. It would be my cold weather tweed suit that I would put on when it was particularly cold out, and then just sit around the apartment in it. Maybe drink some tea, see where the day took me.

    Anyway… It’s cold and I feel like taking a nap. Maybe reading a book. Or I could play the wife in Mario Kart.

  • What a World, Right?

    Say! Is it me or does 2025 suck a whole lot?

    I’m trying to stay positive, but three weeks into this year, and I feel like I have been hit by several body blows.

    The L.A. fires and its aftermath continue to be nothing but awful. I had one friend and his partner lose their house, which is just gut wrenching to one’s core. Come to find out that I have way more friends in Los Angles than I thought. Some close to the fires, some way out of harm’s way, but all of them chipping in and trying to help out those in need.

    Then I have been dealing with several friends who all lost a parent in the past month; one which I wrote about last week. In all of those situations, my heart breaks for each one of them. Some were close with their parent, others weren’t, but in all of their situations, it has become a stark moment of change and reflection. How I wish I give them each a hug.

    And then there was Trump yesterday, doing all his Trump things. Nothing he did surprised me, and though I tried to ignore it all, I allowed a low-grade simmer of infuriation to start burning in me. (I am still unsure if that is a good or bad thing.) I hope I am wrong, and I hope am over reacting, and Trump doesn’t do anything awful, or maybe even makes things better. But I don’t trust him, especially after the J6 pardons. No, this will be four years (PLEASE GOD, LET IT ONLY BE FOUR YEARS!!!) of having to push back, and stand our ground. Because, “The struggle of today, is not altogether for today – it is for a vast future also.” – A. Lincoln

    It’s still early yet. There is a whole lot of this year left to go. Things could change – as things always change. I try not to forget that when things get bad, really awful, that people do show up to help. People do care, and know what the right thing to do is. Darkness can seem encompassing, never ending even, but it only takes the slightest bit of the light of hope to dissipate what once felt overwhelming.

  • Discovering Stelvio Cipriani’s Music

    I will admit that it bothers me, on a serious existential level, that the YouTube algorithm knows me so well. The other night it sideswiped me with a song, “Mary’s Theme,” which is from a 1969 Italian erotic thriller, “The Laughing Woman.” (I will say this, you are on your own when it comes to watching this movie. The description is problematic, to say the least.) I wasn’t searching for music, nor was I doing some deep dive into world cinema. Nope, this just showed.

    I was rather taken with the piece, and had to find out more about the composer Stelvio Cipriani. Oddly, I feel like there are a few similarities between Cipriani and Vince Guaraldi’s music. Over all, Cipriani’s music is sweeping, and romantic and so very Italian Cinema that it makes my nerdy cinephile heart swell with excitement and spurs my imagination on.

    If one get’s the chance, check out Stelvio Cipriani music. It’s quite entertaining.

    And for no other reason, here’s a really cool picture of Vince Guaraldi from 1967…