Quote by rolandlytle
They got here Monday and are getting married tomorrow at 10 am. I am so excited!
Congrats to your son. A wedding with two grands out of the box sounds grand. have fun.
Quote by rolandlytle
Can I enter it on the 1st or before the 1st?
Usually entries stay open until end of day on the due date but I forget which time zone they use. Molly could tell us better (once again, I wish we could @ tag in this software).
Oo, Bear brought goodies. All is well here. A bit fatigued for some reason. Didn't sleep the greatest last night so that's likely part of it. Heard that the contractors might be out to start on my driveway next week so there's that. I have a new idea for the comp but haven't had time to take a crack at it yet. Cats are involved (the one I have in hand involves cellos and headbanging).
Quote by Molly
They have it set so that all outside chat sites are blocked. It does include InstaG. One of the last large batches of spammers to come through were using links.
Odd. I am pretty sure the software I use can block the links without blocking just the use of the name without a link. Oh well, now I know. Have a good one! 😊
An album about the end of the world (due to a Cretaceous-level asteroid impact, not any human action) sounds ... well, grim. And I suppose it is. But in the hands of Dutch musician-producer-songwriter and all-round musical genius, it also generates some fantastic music. The first release, The Final Song, was a complex fourteen minute piece of prog with four vocalists including Arjen himself.
The second pulls back, presenting a sad, melancholy ballad mourning a child who will never get to grow up due to the coming catastrophe. When one of the singers is also the mother of two young girls, that only ups the emotional ante. Arjen is joined here by Floor Jansen, stepping back for the final minute to let Floor have the mic and do what she does best ... powerful, emotional singing ending on a belt to bring the house down.
And on that first song I mentioned, one of the vocalists was Floor's little sister Irene, who is a formidable vocal powerhouse in her own right.
Quote by AnnaMayZing
The Green Manalishi (with the Two Pronged Crown)
That has got to be one of my favourite song titles ever. I haven't listened to much of the Peter Green Fleetwood Mac. First encountered them when Rumors dropped in 1977 so have been a fan of the Buckingham-Nicks-McVie lineup since I was a kid.
Was watching the full video of After Forever's set at Pinkpop 2004 (the band ran from 1997 to 2009 roughly). Amazing to see a 23-year-old Floor Jansen in action and realize how much of the Floor I watch today was already there and how much was still to come. This is lifted from that video.
I have a 1000 word story. Needs work, but I can submit it if nothing else comes to me. Still a bit skeptical about it, though. Seems a bit too much like my Sounds of Silence entry from last year (only 7 months ago) so might sideline it and see if another idea pans out.
Good day, all. Still a bit steamy here but the smoke has moved on. Freshened up the hot drinks and made new pitchers of iced tea and lemonade.
Hope all are well.
Marco Pugno shoots some of the best fan vids I've seen and I sort of know him since he's another regular of Floor's fan site (Floorworld). This is an older Nightwish song that predates her joining the band but has been a fairly standard part of setlists during her time in the band. It is inspired by Stephen King's novel Wolves of the Calla from his Dark Tower series.
Fresh pots of coffee and tea are on. More cookies laid out. How's things? Air quality sucks where I am. Smoke from wildfires (surprised?) in Northwestern Ontario.
I have a new idea for the comp but I'm having trouble finding time to bash it out. The previous one, while I have a 1000 word version done, really screams for more detail (like, maybe 2000-3000 words) so might be something I put out after I get an entry in.
And since I was up in Haliburton in Ontario cottage country, we've got a stock of beans from Haliburton Coffee. Today, there's some of their Colombian Azalea medium roast brewed for the coffee crowd. For teas, I've got Cream of Earl Grey and Kenyan Tinderet. Washed the pitchers and made fresh lemonade and iced tea. Soda stock looks good. Here's cookies.
Good morning and back in my usual haunts. Too much driving over the past two days (8-9 hours total including pit stops) so nice to be sitting at my desk instead of the steering wheel.
No comp entry yet but ideas are dancing in my head. Something will happen eventually, I am sure.
Floor Jansen is doing a tour of European festivals this month and with her regular band Nightwish off the road, she got to give the debut live performance of one of the songs off their last album. It was a terrific song to start with and I thought from its release that is was very much a song that could work as a Floor solo piece. Hearing her actually do it with the wonderful band she's lined up to back her at these concerts was a treat. This is actually the second live performance, from Masters of Rock in the Czech Republic. The actual debut was the day before at Rockwave in Greece.
By the way, she's doing this tour with a broken bone in her foot. Kitchen accident, or so she said on . Doesn't seem to be slowing her down much but she's also gone onstage with the flu at least twice that I know of. Yeah, she's tough.
Oh, and the backup singer is bassist Jascha Offermans, who is fast becoming my favourite of her band. Solid on bass and a good enough singer to be able to back up one of the finest voices in rock.
Quote by Molly
I want to remind everyone that our story counter does not always show the correct count.
I've been using my word processor's count and just ignoring the glitchy counter on here. Never been a problem. Would be nice if the programmers fixed it (likely, they need to find a new code module to replace the one they are using) but it's hardly urgent.
Sorry there's no ape entry. With my evenings shot due to fatigue and my weekends continually getting sucked up with various other things, it's just not happening right now. I have ideas, though, so will probably be in at some point.
Quote by verbal
It's like, the characters decided to fall in love, regardless of what I wanted to write.
Characters going their own way, eh. Sometimes you get the best stories that way. 😊
Good morning. I am away right now, just an overnighter. Have a memorial to go to and it is far enough from home as to require an overnight stay. Will be heading home this afternoon (For the other Ontarian, I am in Lindsay).
Quote by JamesPBear
However, in retrospect, my biggest regret was not spending more time around Bar Harbor, Maine. It's a delightful part of the world, whereas the geography on the Nova Scotia side is much less interesting. Try to spend some time in Maine before taking the Cat if you can!
When we went that way, we drove through Maine, spent a night in the Bar Harbor area, then drove through NB and PEI before heading into NS and visiting Cape Breton. Our ultimate destination was Halifax, though, since Mrs. M was teaching at Dal then. But, yeah, that part of Maine is beautiful.
Quote by Meagananne1986
All three have caused me to reevaluate my own story and pause on its submission.
Which is why I usually wait until my own is at least well underway before reading others. 😉 Nothing gives me doubts about my own story faster than reading other entries.
Quote by rolandlytle
Remember that the AI we are using today is not, by definition, Artificial Intelligence. They are just very sophisticated programs.
Yeppers. We are still a long way from Skynet. Whether the US regulates AI or not almost doesn't matter. China is likely going to be the leader in AI eventually anyhow.
Chocolate.
On sundaes: A place I used to eat, I think it was the Canadian chain restaurant Swiss Chalet, used to have absolutely killer sundaes that were exactly what you describe. Haven't been there in years and with my diabetes, probably should steer clear of the sundaes even if I do go.
Comp entries: Agonize over them until the last second on the deadline or get them out as quick as possible?
New (to me, they've been kicking around for a few years now) symphonic metal band that came up in my recommendations the other day. Flowerleaf is originally from Brazil but has made Germany their home base for now. They have two albums out and, based on this new single, another must on the way. Great song, too. Lead singer Vivs Takahashi has a wonderful voice for this kind of music and is pretty good songwriter, too, based on what I have listened to so far.
Quote by verbal
Anyone remember Hale-Bopp?
Very well. The first comet I really saw. One evening, I was riding a bus from my place in Hamilton to my wife's place in London (this was during the time when we lived apart for career reasons) and got a great view of it out the window.
I've put on some Jamaican Blue Mountain Dark Roast for coffee. Teas are Irish Breakfast and Black Currant. Cold drinks all refreshed.
Temperature has improved here but it's still muggy. At least there's a breeze, which helps a bit.
No comp entry here, just stray thoughts that could become one.
