Quote by verbal
Sara, I am writing about the Braves! Specifically the Mets/Braves 1999 NLCS. You guys won it but I still went to two of the best games I’ve ever seen. If you like I will send a link tomorrow when it goes out in the newsletter.

That's brave. (flees as the groans begin)

Quote by verbal
We have weekly “once in a lifetime” events occurring now.

Actually, Friday's "once in a lifetime" event was more than just the USA, believe me. Chaos all around. And I am not yet convinced it will be "once in a lifetime". Sucky programming has been with us as long as I have been in IT. This was just the worse to date. Who knows what AI will manage to do?

The Evil That A Man Does

I frequently watch videos by music YouTuber Nahre Sol, a classically trained pianist and composer who explores music from a variety of styles. And last night, she introduced me to Tigran Hamasyan, an Armenian jazz musician and composer with myriad influences from the folk music of his own culture to metal (Meshuggah specifically got name-checked).

And the profile from Nahre's channel:

Well, it's late but it is also Sunday. There's Don Rey's French Roast from Las Chicas brewed for the coffee set. Teas are Darjeeling and Sangria White. Cold beverages also available in the fridge.

I went back to an old project to see how it stood up after a few months and realized that I totally f-d up a plot point. The protagonist inherits a house but then in the next chapter, I have her visiting the wrong house. It was supposed to be one her late, estranged mother inherited from the protagonist's maternal grandfather. But then I describe the place as being built only a few years ago and describe it as a fairly modern house with a huge master suite and that sort of thing. D'oh. Some major rewriting needed to fix this one. Maybe just jettison that second chapter and start over.

Bad Boy : Ride or Die (latest in the franchise)

American singer Chrissy Costanza, who has fronted the band Against The Current for about 12 years starting when she was sixteen, released her first solo single and video yesterday. She's got a great voice and I'm glad to see her taking this step. Just saw her band's set from Pinkpop, a big Dutch music festivals, a couple weeks ago, too.

A Wedding and a Funeral (Four Weddings and a Funeral)

Attack of the Killer Tomato

The One Amigo

The One Musketeer

Since I know Cora likes Metric, here's one of the songs they sang on Parliament Hill in the annual Canada Day concert.

Quote by Cora

There were issues nationwide earlier today, apparently in Canada too. Tech issues affecting planes, pharmacies, websites, etc. I could very well be wrong about SS but your post sounds like what I learned of earlier. All should be back in order now.

That post of mine is from four days ago, though. The outage you're referring to started last night when an alleged security vendor managed to screw up a patch on their software. What a mess. The CEO is apologizing but given that their stock tanked when the markets opened this morning, I imagine he's dusting off his resume.

Pan - Nightwish

Quote by Cora
I am not very familiar with Wordsworth but his poetry is beautiful.

Amen. Wonderful poet.

I will get to yours soon.

Another nice day in my neck of the woods. Supposed to heat up on the weekend but today looks good.

Throwing on some Ethiopian Yirgacheffe from Fire-Roasted for the coffee crowd. For teas, we got Raspberry Royale black tea and Buddha's Blend, which is jasmine green blended with white. Washed the pitchers and made fresh iced tea and lemonade. Sodas are stock up.

It's Friday! Weekend is coming!!

6636 (hanging out here just for kicks)

Viking metal (Amon Amarth specifically).

Night to Remember - Prism

Battlestar Galactica (1978)

(yes, the pilot for the original seventies TV series got a theatrical release which I saw in theater)

Grabs a hay bale and a tractor and finds a comfy chair of his own.

Hope you don't mind my headbanging. Listening to Viking metal and it's very bangable.

Tole - Told

Love Is In The Air

Z (yes, really)

New music from Dutch metal mezzo Simone Simons today. Her first solo album is due in August. For this track, she has some familiar faces in tow. Mark Jansen, her bandmate in the band Epica since 2002, contributes some harsh vocals and the whole band joins a bunch of other Dutch metalheads to form a chorus for the R.E.D. Crowd Chant. Multitalented Dutch musician Arjen Lucassen (Ayreon, Star One) once again provides the music for Simone's lyrics and produces.

Jotun - In Flames

Thanks, Verbs. I do agree on the consistency. Chapter I is pretty set, but I can keep that in mind as I work on the next few. Other opinions still welcome, of course.

And good morning. First really nice day in a while. Not too hot, not too humid, no rain or flooding. So I'm actually using my other home office, aka the deck, today.

Coffee is a dark roast from Lavazza. Teas are Assam and Mukujima Sencha (Japanese green). Cold drinks for those still battling heat are iced tea, lemonade, and an assortment of sodas, all waiting for you in our perpetually cold fridge.

Have a nice one, folks! Later.

Lake - Cake

Beautifully, the butterfly flutters about.

Heathers

Rocket Man - Elton John

Quote by Cora
Another famous soundtrack he composed was, "King Kong" (2005).

And he did a bang-up job on that one. While I still prefer the 1933 original, the 2005 is a fantastic movie in its own right. Certainly humanizes Kong nicely and has some pretty good acting. Better than most monster movies anyhow.

Swedish guitarist and singer Tommy Johansson is very good at both. He spent a few years in the band Sabaton but is back doing his own projects now and a new track for his band Majestica dropped today. He also does weekly covers on his YouTube channel, though I understand that he is taking a break in August.

Glad it's your election and not mine. Our boy is having his problems but anything happening up here pales by comparison with your shitshow. Have fun.

Sorry I wasn't in to prep this morning. Will do better tomorrow. Hopefully.

Question: How long should chapters be? I mean, I am working on this new fantasy story that is going to be long so I am looking at doing it in chapters. It's the first time I have started out with that as the intent so I am not sure how to approach it. First chapter is c. 3200 words. Second and third are in flux for plot reasons right now but are clocking in a bit shorter, 2000-3000 words.

I am sure the correct answer is going to be something vague like "as long as they need to be" but thought I would try.