Write Right

I decided to dive into NaBloPoMo - National Blog Posting Month - for the simple fact I can.

I mean, why not? 

It's not for lack of writing. I have about 450 entries on my personal blog (Rupe's Value Added Services ... Redux), another 1,000+ postings on my personal photography site F (STOP), I've contributed just shy of 2,000 television, film, book and music reviews on several online sites (Hotchka, CliqueClack), offered even more reviews to magazines and other online entities, filled in for various bloggers on their sites and written introductions for books and music and other media.

It goes without saying: Far be it for me to be at a loss for words. I obviously enjoy blathering to the masses. (Bonus: Sometimes, people even read and comment on my stuff. *snort*)

So ... why NaBloPoMo? Well, you might notice in the "Becoming Dust" section of this particular blog that my posting count appears to be sorely lacking. Prior to this writing, I had only 9 meager postings for the year. Only 26 the year before that, down from 62 the year prior. You could say I've been in dire need of a little kick start, so to speak. 

Now? Here I am, Day 2 of a spiffy little 30 day challenge for the month of November. Totally doable, attainable. And not so obtrusive as National Novel Writing Month (known as NaNoWriMo) wherein the goal is to cough up a 50,000-word novel, which works out to almost 1,700 words per day. I don't know about you, but I have a job, lots of simple and not so simple common chores that need tending (many of which I'm "reminded" of), a dog, an ever-growing list of various daily and weekly duties, not to mention various stints of monkey business I often find myself embroiled within.

Which has me wondering: Do you have time to plunk down a 50,000-word novel as the holiday season kicks into gear? Yeah, that's what I thought. 

That being said, here goes: 30 blog posts for the month of November. I have Kat Christensen to thank for poking and prodding me forward on this little project. Visit her at AsKatKnits and see what she has to say, please.

Onward!

.......... Ruprecht ( not STOPping until day 30 )

Possible Delusion

"Correlation does not necessarily mean causation."

- Jim Fitzsimons

True. But ... it can't hurt.

And no one can say that by not wearing my shirt I was the source of a loss.

Which didn't happen.

Of course I'm talking about the Los Angeles Dodgers' Game 6 World Series win last evening against the Houston Astros, a game that saved them from certain elimination and forced a deciding Game 7 this evening. I like to think I contributed not only faith in my team but a little bit of causation along with a ton of correlation, regardless of my friend's statement above.

At any rate, the final curtain call for the 2017 baseball season culminates with tonight's winner-take-all. Go, Dodgers.

.......... Ruprecht ( don't STOP until the final out of the season )

And hey! This is a thing this month ... !!!

Flu Shot Drama

In line awaiting my flu shot this afternoon there was a woman. She was in a state of mock panic.

I say "mock panic" because the entire time she was in line awaiting her turn she was complaining she was laughing at what she was telling the people around her. Everything she was saying came across as contradictory.


"I don't know why I put myself through this stuff! I can stand shots! I thought it was a good idea to get a flu shot this year but I haven't had one in I don't remember how long! The sitting down ... seeing the bandages and alcohol swabs on the table ... the rows of needles! It's enough to give me a heart attack! Even the paperwork they rustle around when you sit down ... it's unnerving! And when they ask me which arm I want the shot in? I just might faint right then and there! I mean ... what should I do ... ??!?"

This woman appeared to be an adult of about 40 years of age.

But in reality? I'm certain she was 11.

.......... Ruprecht ( STOP )

Adolescent Beatdown

Me: "Want a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch? I'm craving one for some reason ..."

Other: "Sure."

Me: "On white, right?" I already knew the answer but asked anyway.

Other:  "Eeeeewww! No! Gross!"

Me: "It's better on white."

Other: "No, it's not. On sourdough, please."

Me: "You know ... it's a proven fact grilled cheese on white bread brings out all the flavor. And it's what I grew up with as a kid."

Other: "Well, it's time to grow up."

Me: "What? I can't relive  a fond childhood memory?"

Other: "Not if it's resurrected on white bread you can't."

Me: "Unbelievable. You're actually denying me a cherished adolescent comfort moment. I can't believe you'd do that ..."

Other:  "Believe it."

Me: "I'm flabbergasted. This is a side of you I've never experienced before. It verges on being mean ..."

Other: "Deal with it."

Me: "Wow. Just ... wow ..."

.......... Ruprecht ( STOP )

Nine Inch Nails Revisits John Carpenter's Halloween Theme

Admittedly, a lot of cool films came out in the 1970s. And especially when I was in high school: Star Wars, Jaws, Alien, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, Logan's Run, Animal House, Apocalypse Now, Superman, Rocky and, of course, John Carpenter's Halloween.

As teens, we did a lot of movie watching, a majority of it at the Puente Hills Mall in Rowland Heights, California, east of downtown Los Angeles. (It was this same mall where Back To The Future would later be filmed in the mid-1980s.) And, while I'm not completely certain, it was probably at this mall I caught Halloween when it debuted in late October of 1978.

The film (which would eventually establish itself as one of the true horror classics, one which still stands up today) was on the top of our list to see that Halloween season. It was terrifically creepy, it was responsible for initiating my love affair with Jamie Lee Curtis (her first starring role as a matter of fact) and would cement its theme in my head for years to come.

Today, Friday the 13th, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of the band Nine Inch Nails have re-imagined the film's main theme. How convenient and how appropriate. I've been a NIN fan from the very start when they released their debut album Pretty Hate Machine back in 1989. Since that time, Reznor (the only constant mainstay of the group in all their incarnations) has released a bevy of NIN records and EPs, won a couple Grammy Awards for his efforts and even managed (along with Ross) to garner an Oscar for Best Original Score for 2010's The Social Network.

So how does NIN's version of the Halloween theme stack up to the original? Pretty well truth be told. It's understandably polished from the 1979 original but with clear reverence to Carpenter's composition without too many added extras. My biggest critique? It's overly long. Clocking in at the better part of eight minutes, it becomes rather tedious around the five minute mark. That's not to say there aren't some nice flourishes, eerie backgrounds and swells that add to the ambiance of the track. But it's a bit of an effort to sit through in its entirety. 

Both Carpenter's original along with NIN's update are provided here for your dining and dancing pleasure. Please enjoy as All Hallow's Eve rapidly approaches.

.......... Ruprecht ( STOP )

T-Shirt Collection: Oakland Raiders

Going into today's game with a 1-0 record (and yes ... the season is young yet) I figured this was an appropriate shirt to wear today ...

.......... Ruprecht (STOP)

I'm An Honorary Mayor Of Simpleton

I can't have been there when brains were handed round

Or get past the cover of your books profound

And some of your friends think it's really unsound

That you're even seen talking to me ...

- Mayor Of Simpleton

It seems I'm racking up quite a few notifications and acknowledgments for various projects, publications and the like.

Here's another wee contribution. Coincidentally, this publication (an anthology of "Limelight," the XTC fanzine brought to life and published for about 10 years beginning in the early 1980s) was received in the mail on the anniversary of XTC's "Drums And Wires" release in 1979. It was the first of the band's albums I picked up (on vinyl no less) and the one which ushered me into my continuing love affair with their voluminous output. 

.......... Ruprecht ( STOP )