April Words of Wisdom

Slow quote month, y'all.

 

The modern world will not be punished. It is the punishment. -Nicolas Gomez Davila

 

I was born with a soul that is way too sensitive for this cold and ugly world. I have always felt things deeply and differently than most people That has always been my blessing and my curse. --Reggie Nolan

 

Spare me the fake morality of these Hollywood hypocrites. --Piers Morgan 

Some people's idea of free speech is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone says anything back, that is an outrage. --Sir Winston Churchill

Virtually no idea is too ridiculous to be accepted, even by very intelligent and highly educated people, if it provides a way for them to feel special and important. --Thomas Sowell

To me there is nothing free-er than a bird. You know? Flying where ever it wants to go. And that's what this country is all about, about being free. I think everybody wants to be a freebird. --Ronnie Van Zant

The possession of knowledge doe not kill the sense of wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery. --Anais Nin

Cuts like a knife

So this popped up on my Facebook feed today, and if it wasn't for that one episode, this would be sooooo tempting:

From the post:

Channel your Dark Passenger and seek justice in this ruthless version of the classic mystery game, based on the award-winning Showtime drama! 

 

In CLUE®: Dexter™, Miami-Metro PD is on the hunt for a homicidal monster, but another unseen threat is at large! Get behind the badges of the city’s best investigators to figure out WHICH serial killer is accountable, WHO will apprehend them, and WHERE they’ll be caught!

Two observances: One, I notice they put Dexter back in Miami where he belongs. And two...the responses, of course! Here are a few:

 

You get the idea. There are actually quite a few people who did seem interested in it, so they'll sell a few. Just not to me.

 

Okay, I am a blogging idiot

I don't usually get comments on the blog, and that's fine. I know it doesn't have a huge readership which is also fine. It's something I enjoy doing and that's what I get out of it, rather than exposure and/or attention. 

In the past, I would get an email notification when there was a comment submitted, so I could check it for spam before approving it to be posted. And since I wasn't getting any emails, I assumed there weren't any comments. Fine.

The other day I'm bopping around the posts page for the blog and accidentally click on the left sidebar and to my great surprise, what pops up is a list of comments. Some of them going back a few years, in fact. Turns out that they're there, even if I'm not getting email notifications anymore. Now most of them (especially more recent ones) are clearly spam, but there were a few I would have liked to have seen at the time. I feel bad that they were probably expecting a response. The probably think I'm a jerk.

So I've set the comments to non-moderation and will just deal with spam comments as they come up. We'll see how that works out.

Idiot.

Applaud or die

Oh, how do I begin to thank KC Loewen for sharing this on the All things Monty Python FB page and introducing me to my new favorite YouTube channel, There I Ruined It. Behold, the North Korean Edition of Always Look on the Bright Side of Life:

 

 

 

Totally brought back memories of this: 

 

More importantly, how have I not heard of There I Ruined It before now? The account does some wickedly funny music mashups. Nirvana performing Smells Like Teen Spirit K-Pop style? Bossa Nova Born in the USA? Disco Folsom Prison Blues? How about an absolutely awesome Christmas take on Dancing with Myself? These treasures and more await you at There I Ruined It's Facistbook page. Please go there now, just don't expect to get anything (like homework for the Film Appreciation class that started today) done in the next couple of hours. Enjoy!

Happy Easter

CSI: Doggo

Who's not a good boy? 😞🐕

The official announcement, sort of

I've been holding out until an official announcement was made before revealing more details, but it took a while. I still haven't seen anything about it online (Facebook or their website), but the publication acceptance I received last month is from Writers' Police Academy. They included it in their latest email:

 

 

I thought they might be rushing it out in time for the upcoming Writers' Police Academy in June, but apparently it won't be released until later this year. I haven't received my contract or heard from my editor yet, but this updated info pretty much explains that. 

More info as it becomes available!

Update: And of course, as soon as I post this, they put in on the FB page!

Fall in love with the world around you...

Fall in love with the world around you. Fall in love with the sound of birds, with thunderstorms, with the little flowers that grow against odds in random places. Fall in love with the people and places you can build a home in. --Unknown (via wildnsoulss on Instagram)

CSI: Stranger Than Fiction

Remember this one? From 2018, Author of "How to Kill Your Husband" Arrested for Killing Husband.

Looks like her trial is finally getting underway. And that damning "How to Kill Your Husband" essay has been ruled inadmissible and therefore will not be presented to the jury. How's that for a plot twist?

I still maintain this would be a bang-up TV crime show episode. CSI in its early, glory days would have had a field day with it.

Via Post Secret's early, glory days.

As I mentioned in my original post, if I've learned anything about researching crimes and investigations, it's not how to get away with committing a crime - on the contrary, I've learned I wouldn't get away with it. I guess we'll find out how Nancy Crampton-Brophy's research will pay off. Oh, and also, don't be worth more dead than alive to anyone. Bad things happen when you're worth more dead than alive.

A welcome sense of normalcy

Yes, I live in The People's Republic of Commiefornia, but even we are beginning to see a return to normalcy. Sort of. Finally.

The past week or so I have not worn a mask into grocery stores or at the car wash, and it hasn't been a problem. Some customers are still wearing masks, while others are not. Most employees seem to still be wearing them, probably required by their employers just to err on the side of caution. 

In the past week, I registered for two in-person 2023 writer's conferences and gotta say, it felt kind of weird (but a good weird) to be looking at hotel info, indicating what kind of meal I'd like at the banquet, offering to serve as a volunteer and requesting to be put on panels, all in person. It was delightfully normal. On the other hand, I should be at Left Coast Crime in Albuquerque as I type this. I was signed up since it was originally scheduled in 2021, but in December they sent us an email stating that vaccinations would be required to attend, so that ruled me out. I can understand that four months ago they weren't sure how things would be going at this point, but fingers crossed that next year this won't be an issue.

 

Also, today I submitted a story for the first time in over a year. I have been writing and publishing, but the writing has been ongoing works in progress and the published stories have been out there for a while. The one that was accepted in March was submitted over a year prior. I did "win" NaNoWriMo in November, but even that project is in first draft condition, not anywhere near ready to go out into the world, so getting something out, even a flash fiction story, still felt good.

I like the feeling of not being on hold anymore, even as our political and media overlords seem to be tentatively floating the idea of yet another deadly strain of COVID. But I think people are sick of it, sick of having their lives and livelihoods put on indefinite hold by the powers that be despite the fact that COVID did not turn out to be the black plague we were promised. People are not dropping dead in the streets, populations are not being wiped out. There are numerous deadly diseases and medical issues out there, many of which are contagious and most of which have been around for years, and we never shut down our entire society for any of them, at least not in my not lengthy lifetime. Not sure what ultimately was the point of shutting it all down for this one, but I look forward to books that will no doubt be published on the subject in coming years. Yeah, I'm a little skeptical.

Fortunately, one constant that can be relied on to make life better is Sophie being ridiculously cute. Enjoy!

GIANT. BUNNY. FEET.

April 24 can't get here fast enough

HBO's fantastic Barry returns in a little under three weeks. I can't wait to see how they deal with the corner they painted themselves into. I think it's going to be a different show that the first couple of seasons. 

Here's the latest trailer:

 

Soooooo looking forward to this! 

 

Holy moly, I will watch the crap out of this

Next installment of Feud will be Capote's Women. From the linked article:

 

Ryan Murphy and Plan B have set a second installment of their FX anthology series Feud. Titled Capote's Women, the project will star two-time Oscar nominee Naomi Watts as Babe Paley who ruled the glamorous world of New York society in the 1960s and 70s.

 

*****

 

An adaptation of Laurence Leamer’s bestselling book “Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era,” the miniseries is set in the 1970s, and ends with Truman Capote’s death in 1984. It chronicles the tale of the famous wunderkind author as he stabs several of his female friends — whom he called his “swans” — in the back by publishing a roman à clef short story called “La Côte Basque 1965” in Esquire in 1975. 

 

*****

 

La Côte Basque‘s characters were thinly disguised versions of Capote’s  female confidants and exposed their shocking secrets and scandals, from adultery to murder. Its publication destroyed Capote’s friendships, with all of his swans cutting him off, as well as his reputation and his social standing.

It's been a long wait for the next Feud. The first installment was 2017's awesome Bette and Joan. At one point they announced that the second season would feature Prince Charles and Princess Diana, but that never happened.

This should be so good. Can't wait for more casting news, especially for Capote himself.