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My primary Writing.com blog. |
Logocentric (adj). Regarding words and language as a fundamental expression of an external reality (especially applied as a negative term to traditional Western thought by postmodernist critics). Sometimes I just write whatever I feel like. Other times I respond to prompts, many taken from the following places: ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Thanks for stopping by! ![]() |
"Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise" ![]() The more I spend time as a father, the more convinced I am that time is the most important aspect of it. We started fostering our kids when my son was almost five years old and my daughter had just turned three months old. Now that my daughter is five and my son is closing in on ten, I look back on the time spent with them and realize that the time itself has been the key element of our relationship. There are parenting choices I've made that have turned out brilliantly. There are also parenting choices I've made that have turned out to be a total fail on my part. My kids sometimes do things that make me proud, and sometimes do things that drive me crazy. There's no rhyme or reason to it either; there are times when I'm sure I've got this whole parenting thing figured out, and others where I feel lost and out of my depth. But as I sit here on the evening of Father's Day, having just spent most of the day with my family and looking at the handmade gifts they created for me, I realize that I've been truly blessed to have spent as much time with them as I have. One of the few silver linings of the COVID-19 pandemic was that I spent a lot of time working from home and being home, rather than being squirreled away in a corporate office somewhere, only being home for dinner on the days that I was really lucky and traffic wasn't too bad. My wife and I were talking the other day about how, from March of 2020 through the end of 2022, we could count on one hand the number of nights that all four of us weren't around the dinner table together. That's truly special, and remarkable in this day and age. When I think about my own father, the things I remember most are the times we spent together. Not the arguments, or the differences of opinion, or the occasional absences when he had to work; it was the times that he was there (which were plentiful as I was growing up). I remember backyard barbecues and camping trips, summers at my grandparents' lake house where he would let us push him off the dock. And, more recently, the times we sat and grieved together after losing my mother. Time is the one thing we're all universally short on, and so it makes sense that those fathers who invest the most time in their children and their families are the ones that live longest in our memories when they're gone. (442 words) |
WDC 48-Hour Challenge: Media Prompt | Prompt ▼ Coldplay has a couple of really great songs that I love, and this is definitely one of them. There's no question that Chris Martin and his band are great songwriters. I'm also amazed by how often this song comes up in popular culture. It was featured during an Apple event when they first launched the Apple Watch, played during the 2020 Democratic National Convention after Joe Biden and Kamala Harris' acceptance speeches (selected by Joe Biden as it was apparently his deceased son Beau Biden's favorite song), and during multiple significant sporting events. My personal favorite occurrence of this song, however, is the cover that Taron Egerton did for the animated film Sing 2, with his character (Johnny the Gorilla) performed this song during the final performance they had been working toward. While this song is great, my favorite song will always be Coldplay's "Fix You," which has been a favorite of mine for a long time. "The Scientist", "Yellow," and either "Speed of Sound" or "Something Just Like This" probably finish out my Top 5 favorite Coldplay songs. Despite the fact that I like so many of their songs, I'm actually still amazed at how popular they actually are. They're one of those bands that I think are pretty good, but their popularity it just off the charts compared to how much I enjoy their music. For me, they're one of those bands where I don't really have much of a desire to go to a concert or listen to a full album or anything because I'm not a huge fan of the band itself; I just really like certain songs of theirs a lot. (276 words) |
To qualify for my Watch List every month, the following has to be something that I've watched that's new to me. It doesn't necessarily have to be a current show, but it can't be reruns or rewatches of something I've already seen. So if I'm including it in this list, it means this month is the first time I've watched it. I'll put "DNF" (Did Not Finish) next to anything that I stopped watching and have no immediate plans to finish. Movies ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Television ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() It was a very productive viewing month, thanks in no small part to the fact that my wife has been binge watching procedurals for the past several weeks. Procedurals aren't my particular cup of tea; they're mostly background noise while I work on other stuff. Knuckles is a spinoff of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise and my kids really seemed to enjoy it. Tales of Empire (a Star Wars anthology series) was pretty good, but like Tales of the Jedi from a few years ago, it's a little too disjointed and random for it to be truly great. Speaking of Star Wars, on the feature film side I watched both installments of Rebel Moon a.k.a. Zack Snyder's Star Wars Movie. Both installments were pretty bad. I'm becoming increasingly convinced that Snyder is basically Michael Bay; he knows how to create some stunning visuals, but really isn't very good at telling a story or developing character. And on the topic of bad sci-fi movies, I can also enthusiastically not recommend Atlas which was basically Jennifer Lopez acting alone in a room talking to an A.I. for more than half of the movie. I also watched both the new Planet of the Apes movie and the previous film that I somehow didn't even know came out years ago, and I just don't get the hype about this franchise. People love it, but all four of the recent films have been pretty mediocre. Lift was a cheesy heist movie, and Anyone But You was an entertaining, if predictable romantic comedy. All in all, even though I watched a lot in May, I didn't love a lot of what I saw. The best was probably the second season of Punisher, but even that wasn't great. It was a pretty lackluster month, to be honest. TOP PICK: Punisher (Season 2) |
To qualify for my Watch List every month, the following has to be something that I've watched that's new to me. It doesn't necessarily have to be a current show, but it can't be reruns or rewatches of something I've already seen. So if I'm including it in this list, it means this month is the first time I've watched it. I'll put "DNF" (Did Not Finish) next to anything that I stopped watching and have no immediate plans to finish. Movies ![]() Television ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() With all of the "Game of Thrones" ![]() ![]() But my top pick of the month (if it wasn't apparent from the fact that we blazed through three seasons of it) was The Rookie. My wife loves procedurals and I tend to find them tedious and repetitive, but this one has enough good characters and story development to maintain my interest. Or at least my interest in background entertainment while I spent the month reviewing and writing like crazy! ![]() TOP PICK: The Rookie |
This task challenges us to list ten books that we think the community should read and, to be honest, the hardest part of this is going to be figuring out which ten books because there are so many good ones out there. 1. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab This is the book I'm currently reading and I'm really enjoying it so far. It's about a girl from the 1700s who makes a pact with a demon to live forever, but in exchange no one can remember her once they're out of sight, out of mind. So she's cursed to live forever, but go through that life with no connections to anybody. It's really interesting an well written so far. 2. Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant This was a really thought-provoking book about the things that people with unique ideas do differently from everyone else. There was definitely some good advice and insights for everybody to consider who does creative work. 3. Letters to the Church by Francis Chan Francis Chan is always on the cutting edge of Christianity, contemplating what it's like to be a faithful Christian is a world where increasingly more people use it as a label and don't truly live out its tenets. This book was a really hard-hitting series of letters to Christians (and the Church writ large) about rethinking some core concepts and how to live them out. It was really powerful. 4. The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer This is one of the most important books I've read in the past couple of years. As the name implies, it's about making tough decisions about the ways we invest our time and focus, and making conscious choices to slow down and take time to enjoy our lives. 5. Recursion by Blake Crouch Blake Crouch is one of my favorite writers. He always has some unique idea and he's a good enough writer to turn those concepts into a compelling story with interesting characters. This is his take on alternate realities and parallel universes and, honestly, the less said the better. It's worth a read where you discover the story and all its twists and turns as you go. 6. Atomic Habits by James Clear This was an interesting book about the power of small changes and how, when you stack them on top of one another, you can accomplish amazing things. For me, it was a new way to think about how to build routines and develop work processes from the ground up. 7. Space Team by Barry J. Hutchinson Comedic science fiction is an underrated genre, and this is easily one of my favorite book series in recent years. It's ridiculous and hilarious and crude and silly. The basic premise is that a loser from Earth is mistaken for someone else and transported into space where he becomes the leader of a ragtag group of heroes. Bonus points if you listen to the audiobooks; the narrator includes outtakes at the end. ![]() 8. Starter Villain by John Scalzi Another science fiction comedy, this is a story about an average guy who inherits his estranged uncle's business, not realizing that his estranged uncle was a supervillain complete with a volcano island lair and everything. He has to learn how to be a supervillain on the fly, as people vie for his uncle's weakened empire. 9. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia I finally got around to reading this after so many people had raved about it, and I wasn't disappointed. I've always loved gothic stories and the Mexican cultural elements interwoven into this story made it really compelling. It's not a perfect book, but it was good enough that I picked up a few other of this author's books right after I finished. 10. The Blade Itself (The First Law Trilogy #1) by Joe Abercrombie This is one of my favorite fantasy series and I just recommended it to a friend who finished the first book and has been talking to me about it, so it's fresh in my mind. The characters are incredible, and it's a surprisingly humorous book given the gritty hard fantasy setting. Definitely one of the best examples of the genre, IMHO. I'd highly encourage you to check out any and/or all of the above books! |
To qualify for my Watch List every month, the following has to be something that I've watched that's new to me. It doesn't necessarily have to be a current show, but it can't be reruns or rewatches of something I've already seen. So if I'm including it in this list, it means this month is the first time I've watched it. I'll put "DNF" (Did Not Finish) next to anything that I stopped watching and have no immediate plans to finish. Movies ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Television ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Lots of good stuff this month. On the movies side, Road House was ridiculous, silly fun, and Dune: Part Two was visually stunning and way better paced than the super-slow first installment. But my favorite movie of the month has to be Nimona, an animated movie on Netflix that was nominated for an Oscar this past year. It was funny, touching, and set in a futuristic science fantasy world that was really interesting. I don't want to say too much because I think it's a movie best enjoyed without any prior expectations, but I highly recommend it. On the television side, I finally started watching Game of Thrones to get ready for the game on WdC this month, and my wife and I finally found a procedural that I like watching along with her: The Rookie. Is it basically Castle, except set in Los Angeles where Nathan Fillion plays an old rookie instead of a writer? Yes, but it's still fun. We've raced through the first two seasons, and still have four to go. Will Trent, on the other hand, was pretty terrible. I couldn't get over the lead actor's inconsistent accent which came and went even within the same scene. Definitely pass on that one, unless you happen to be a huge fan of the book series. TOP PICKS: Nimona |
To qualify for my Watch List every month, the following has to be something that I've watched that's new to me. It doesn't necessarily have to be a current show, but it can't be reruns or rewatches of something I've already seen. So if I'm including it in this list, it means this month is the first time I've watched it. I'll put "DNF" (Did Not Finish) next to anything that I stopped watching and have no immediate plans to finish. Movies ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Television ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The two movies that I really enjoyed this past month were The Killer and Wonka, although they both had their faults and weren't perfect. Still, they were really enjoyable compared to the other features that I watched last month, each of which had a significant weakness or missing element. Argylle got too slapsticky and contrived toward the end. Aquaman was another DC mess that felt like it was phoned in. The Marvels was just okay, but I had a really hard time working on that film, so I think I probably enjoy it less thanks to the work memories I have of it. Upgraded was an incredibly generic romantic comedy that was released directly to streaming, and Saltburn was an incredibly weird movie. It was intriguing, but also pretty offbeat. On the television side, I finally finished watching Echo, and finished out Fleabag when I completed the second season. I have to be honest, I don't see the big deal about that show. A lot of people are calling it one of the smartest shows ever written with memorable characters and I found it pretty middle-of-the road. Star Wars Rebels continues to be one of my favorite Star Wars properties despite being an animated television show aimed at kids, but it's exceptionally well done and the characters are incredibly memorable. Colin in Black & White was a fascinating docuseries on Colin Kaepernick and his younger years, and it was supplemented with information about American history as it relates to the experience of black citizens. It was really well-produced and touching. And True Detective: Night Country was a phenomenal show. I never really got into this anthology series for the first few seasons, but this one is set in Alaska during it's extended period without daylight, and has a great mystery surrounding it that's equal parts conventional crime and supernatural mystery. I highly recommend it. For the first time in a long time, I'm calling my top pick a tie between a nonfiction series and a narrative series. TOP PICKS: Colin in Black & White AND True Detective: Night Country |
"The Soundtrack of Your Life" ![]() "Is It Over Now?" by Taylor Swift It's only fitting that I end this year's "The Soundtrack of Your Life" ![]() ![]() ![]() I had a really hard time choosing just one song to feature this year. She released her album Midnights in late 2022 which has a ton of songs that I really love. I featured "Anti-Hero" ![]() But then I started thinking back to the Taylor Swift concert my wife and I attended over the summer, and how many phenomenal songs we were reminded of. "Long Live," "My Tears Ricochet," and "Dress" (the last of which was one of the songs from the acoustic set of our show) were all songs that I started listening to again in earnest since the concert, and all of which eventually ended up on my Spotify year-end playlist. But ultimately I decided not to go with any of those because... ... the real highlight of Taylor Swift's year, for me, was the release of 1989 (Taylor's Version), which was the self-produced re-release album that I was most looking forward to. Not only is it my favorite album of hers (although Lover and Reputation are very close), but the "From The Vault" bonus tracks are all amazing. This is the one that's been my favorite so far ("Now That We Don't Talk" is a close second), and I've been listening to it on repeat for a while now. The fact that it's near the top of my Spotify "most listened to songs of 2023" and it wasn't even released until the very end of October 2023 should give you an indication of just how much I've been listening to it over the past few months. ![]() The final reason why I chose it is because the song title ("Is It Over Now?") is a perfect encapsulation of my feelings about this year's "The Soundtrack of Your Life" ![]() Still, I really love this activity and I'm looking forward to getting caught up on everyone else's playlists and starting to put together my own for next year! (552 words) |
"The Soundtrack of Your Life" ![]() "bad idea right?" by Olivia Rodrigo I really like Olivia Rodrigo's music. At first when she was a Disney kid I didn't think much of her, but the way she really struck out on her own with her first album Sour was revelatory... and now her second album Guts is proving that it's not just a one-off. She's managing to bring an older, adult perspective (ironic, considering she's only 21) to pop music and I love the fact that the subject matter of her songs and lyrics don't hold anything back. Lyrics from this song like, "I only see him as a friend / (biggest lie I've ever said)" and "I only see him as a friend / I tripped and fell into his bed" are great turns of phrase that I think a lot of people can really relate to. If she's only 21 and already releasing music that's this catchy and this sophisticated, I'm really excited to see where her career goes from here. |
"The Soundtrack of Your Life" ![]() "Homemade Dynamite" by Lorde I'm not a big fan of Lorde in general (I know some people absolutely adore her), but I have to admit that this song is really catchy. I discovered it playing on the radio of a friend's car on the way to Disneyland and found it really catchy. I had nothing else to do but listen to it because she was trying to surprise him so she made him wear a blindfold and earplugs then snuck me into the car so I could let them in... so I was in the back of the car and we couldn't talk or anything (lest we spoil the surprise) so she cranked up the radio and this was the song that was playing. All in all, it wasn't a bad way to pass the time until we got to the park and could reveal where we'd brought him. ![]() |