These days, rock, but I enjoy both styles of music. Might split the difference and go with symphonic metal. 😊

Peanut butter or jam?

NOAPOLOGY started life doing YouTube covers under the name Sershen & Zaritskaya (the surnames of guitarist Sergey Sershen and vocalist Daria Zaritskaya). They changed their name and started releasing original material two or three years ago. Their debut album of original material, somewhat cheekily called Uncovered, dropped at the end of January and this single came out with the album.

Quote by gillianleeza
It's been snowing here all day.

We are supposed to be getting a storm starting, conveniently (not), during afternoon rush hour today and running through the night. Fun, wow.

I shall put on the coffee. How about some FireRoasted Spring Fling? May make those of us dealing with winter feel warmer. And for teas there's Yorkshire Gold and Raspberry Royale. Hot water is on for whatever other hot beverages (other teas, hot chocolate) take your fancy. Sodas are stocked if you're craving something cold (smiles at our Aussie members).

Taking a shot at an old story idea in hopes of getting the juices flowing again. We shall see.

Cruise ship. Never done a liner cruise but I can't see it being as comfortable, even if we might get some interesting destinations out of it.

Caribbean or Mediterranean for a cruise?

Quote by Meagananne1986
As a matter of fact, hoping to go Milano later this month and ski. But we'll be sure to some of the sights as well. The Milan Cathedral is actually the largest in Europe.

Enjoy. We went to Milan years ago when Expo was there. My wife had a conference just over the Swiss border in Lugano so we hopped a train and went down for a few days. Nice city and, yeah, that cathedral is amazing.

Quote by verbal
Writing goes well, though it has become really difficult to listen to the news.

Tell me about it. It's sometimes hard to tell whether I am supposed to laugh, cry, or scream in rage. Or some combination of the three. I will be interested to see statistics on mental health when this four year term is over. 😕

Ghost town in here. I'll just do a quick batch of Tobermory Flowerpot Island and a pot of Assam tea, just in case someone comes around.

Later.

Chocolate. Strawberry in a shake has never appealed to me.

Take transit or drive?

New day, new week, new ... nah, I'm still the same old me. An ape who thinks he can write stories.

Here's some Columbian dark roast for the coffee crowd. For tea, there's Darjeeling and Earl Grey. Hot water is ready for other hot beverages.

No writing going on, just ideas floating around in my head. I may get there eventually.

As the great Canadian philosopher Mike Reno once said (well, sang), "Everybody's working for the weekend."

And it's the weekend. What are you working on?

Whatever it may be, we've got your caffeine fix ready. There's Tobermory Grotto coffee. There's Canadian Breakfast and Raspberry teas. Hot water is on if some other tea or hot chocolate catches your fancy. Fridge has a nice stock of sodas if you're needing something cold.

Oh, and if you don't know who Mike Reno is, here he is from 2023, still rocking out at 68 (he just turned 70 this January). He's been lead singer of Canadian rock band Loverboy since 1979, co-founding it with guitarist Paul Dean. Amazingly, the band has kept the same lineup throughout its history save for losing original bassist Scott Smith who died in 2000 at 45.

Take care of yourself Gil. Flu is one of those bugs that is sometimes mild but sometimes can really screw you up.

I have managed to avoid viruses so far this winter, which is pretty good given I managed to catch COVID on my cruise last year. But I know they is around. We've had people sick at work. Hopefully, it means my vaccinations are doing their trick but my money is on me getting sick at some point. Just have to hope it's something mild like a cold.

Lots of new music coming through my speakers and earbuds this week, including three new albums today. Roses From The Deep is the second solo album from Finnish bassist/singer Marko Hietala, marking another milestone in his return to form after his mental health break from the industry in 2021. Excellent album, too. A video came down for the title track this morning.

Good morning. Thanks for getting the hot bevvies going, Bear. It's Friday and I'm feeling like a special treet is in order, so here's a pecan pie.

An old favourite on in the car today. Northward was a one-off collaboration between Floor Jansen (After Forever, Nightwish) and Jorn Viggo Lofstad (Norwegian band Pagan Mind). They wrote the songs in 2007-08 when Floor was on a break from After Forever (the band eventually broke up) but didn't get a chance to actually record them until 2017, by which point she in Nightwish who were on a break between tours at the time. And it's a marvellous album, with Floor in fine form on vocals, some incredible guitar work from Jorn, and some wonderful songs. Floor's sister Irene, also an accomplished rock singer, makes an appearance, too. In terms of the sound, they went for hard rock rather than metal, the usual genre for both in those days. For my money, it's the best album Floor has done outside of her work in Nightwish.

This is the only official video from the project, which never toured and has never released another album (much as fans of Floor might wish). Floor does perform some of the songs in her solo concerts and her song "My Paragon" from her debut solo album Paragon is, at least partly, a response to the song "Paragon" that she and Jorn co-wrote for Northward so the project is certainly not forgotten.

Hm. Quiet. Brews a fresh batch of coffee. Puts on more tea.

Busy trying to sort out next vacation. Had been looking at Greece and the Aegean Islands but with the earthquake situation on Santorini and neighbours right now, we are rethinking. Hopefully would die down by the time we go, but geologists don't seem too sure where it is all headed.

Ape here.

Fire Roasted Fireside coffee is brewing. There's English Breakfast and Raspberry Royale in the teapots. Hot water is on standby for other teas and hot chocolate. There's sodas in the fridge for those sweltering in the South.

With new music from Ukrainian metal band Jinjer due on Friday, my driving music today was Wallflower, their last album from 2021. This is the title track.

And also from the album.

Jesus Christ Superstar

New Marvel teaser out and, while I have largely given up on the MCU, this looks promising. It seems to be its own thing rather than tied tightly to the rest of the MCU and really looks like a live action Fantastic Four comic. That said, this is the third attempt at doing the FF on screen and the others ... yeah, kinda sucked. Maybe they'll get it right this time, though??

Wine. Never been fond of beer even if I hit the odd one I like.

Pop or juice?

A rather silly punk pop song I came across last night.

Omelette. Generally not fond of eggs, and still very, very not fond of scrambled, but I have developed a taste for omelettes.

Rice or potatoes?

Finished Byzantium. Interesting approach to writing a history book. Instead of being rigidly chronological, she looks at how various facets of the Byzantine Greek culture, including the Eastern Orthodox branch of Christianity, developed. So you have chapters on things like icons and the controversies around them, the empire's relationship with Islam when the Arabs expanded, the economy, and so on.

And then read How Did T. Rex Run? by David Hone, an interesting look at paleontology focused more on the unanswered questions and what we still don't know than on facts and figures about dinosaurs.

Now supposed to be reading another history book by Judith Herrin but, as often seems to happen at home, I'm getting a bit bogged down by life. This one is about Ravenna, Italy during the period when it was the capital of the crumbling Western Roman Empire.

I can take either but Beef is the more flavourful and we don't eat it much, so maybe that.

Concert or Musical?

Quote by CuriousAnnie
Cruises, I did one as a fifteen year old, from Vancouver to Alaska on Celebrity with my parents and one brother. We all loved it

We did Alaska when our son was around that age (out of Seattle). Yeah, that and the Baltic have been my favourite cruises.

37 in the mountains? Eek. I have only been in temps like that once, SW US in August. But I preferred that to the humidity we get around here.

Good morning. Coffee is on. Deathwish Dark Roast today. For teas we have an organic Assam and Earl Grey Cream. Hot water is on for other hot drinks. Sodas are stocked.

Have a good one!

Heaven Can Wait

Quote by AnnaMayZing

I liked Marianne but the song that really struck me was The Ballad of Lucy Jordan from 1979. It was originally a hit for Dr Hook and the Travelling Medicine Show, who released it as The Ballad of Lucy Jordon in 1974. Marianne totally made it her own.

Yeah, I posted her version in the music thread on another site. It's an amazing song that I have heard several versions of over the years but I had not heard Marianne's until today. She nails it.

Fast Times at Ridgemont High

At home (winter), outdoors (summer). No gym.

(Meagananne didn't give us a new this or that so I'm using Gil's)

Supermarket or farmer's market?

First Monday of the month so it's time. What do we got this month? Hmmm. Cottage crimes, furries, non-fiction monsters, cryptids, illumination, humourous fresh starts, and more.

» 39 Themed Submission Calls for February 2025

Taking a break from metal today. Marianne Faithfull died last week and I've been meaning to listen to her. There's a "This Is" playlist for her on Spotify that was recommended for obvious reasons so I'm listening to it.

I thought I had the wrong list at first because it kicked off with ... thrash metal? But no, it was the right list. Marianne actually collaborated with Metallica on a song for their album Reload. And not one of their power ballads either. It's a banger.

The song that pretty much made her career and is, for me, one of the most beautiful songs of the Sixties is "As Tears Go By" written for her by Mick Jagger (her partner for a period) and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. While I have heard a Stones version with Mick singing it, teenaged Marianne (she's 18 here) is just so perfect for this song.