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Russian To Judgment
Summer continues to be considerably more pleasant than I’m accustomed to. This pleases me.
Getting On With Life
True life is lived when tiny changes occur. ~Leo Tolstoy
Okay, so something wonderful happened this month. A friend of mine contacted me about a position that requires my specific skillset. After a fairly drawn-out process of interviews and a lot of waiting, I’ve been offered a contract position that should turn into a full time hire come November.
That’s a good thing. We’ve been living with the belt completely tightened over the last few years and I’m looking forward to being able to do a bit of catch-up on a number of overdue household upgrades.
Nothing happens overnight. One needs patience and faith. Ours has finally been rewarded. Thank God.
The Unsustainable Illogic Of The Left
Even in the valley of the shadow of death, two and two do not make six. ~Leo Tolstoy
We’ve seen a lot of horrible things this year. Most of them have been a direct result of “progressive” policies being enacted with no regard for the needs or wishes of the governed.
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In the major metropolitan areas, we see the impact of “progressive” policies and how they would look if applied to the country at large. We really need to stop voting for Democrats at every level of government. They’ve gone completely off the deep end.
We looked at the Big Apple as the glittering epitome of the American Dream. Shows and movies depict New York City as the city that never sleeps; the nexus of all human experience and opportunity.
You could eat food from virtually any ethnicity on the face of the planet at corner food carts or upscale MICHELIN Star restaurants. You could shop for anything from the 99¢ Store to Saks Fifth Avenue. You could live in someone’s spare room for more than most people pay for a suburban McMansion on a couple of acres of land or you could live in a “deluxe apartment in the sky” for more than you can even imagine having to pay for a personal plane, a yacht, your primary residence, all of your vehicles and a vacation home or two all combined.
That’s glamor, baby!
Not anymore. Stores are boarded up. Restaurants and other small businesses have been driven out of business by rampaging crime. People are fleeing the city in fear of their lives.
Why?
Because a “progressive” became mayor. All of the maladjusted, completely insane social justice approaches to governance have been enacted.
Compounded by the extra tricks they’ve been pulling in response to COVID19, the inevitable decay and demise of the city simply accelerated.
If you can’t destroy people’s lives and livelihoods with relentless taxation and burdensome regulation, you can certainly expedite the destruction by literally letting criminals out of jail with no review process whatsoever.
When you see what one “progressive” moron can do to one of the most prosperous cities on the face of the planet, why in hell would you ever put people of the same mindset in charge of the entire country? It makes no sense to anyone who isn’t directly benefitting from the madness.
If you’re one of the people who plan to be in charge or a valued member of their personal entourage, enacting chaos and torturing everyone else with your mad bullshit is just great. If you just want to live your life and mind your own business, this is the recipe for hell on earth.
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The strange thing is that classic science fiction epics predicted the doom of New York City. A deserted city quickly begins to crumble. It’s going to wind up looking like the hellscapes of Battle for the Planet of the Apes and Escape from New York rather than the yuppie fun zones depicted in Friends or The Suite Life of Zack & Cody.
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The people of New York City found this out the hard way and many of them are scrambling to flee the sinking ship.
Don’t worry. Governor Cuomo will invite you back for a burger or whatever. Who the hell would trust him either?
Escaping from New York with or without Snake Plissken is one thing. If they ruin the country the way they’ve ruined New York, Chicago, Seattle, Portland and other cities, where do we go to escape the disaster?
There’s nowhere else to go, folks.
We need to stop the nonsense here and now.
Power Of Music
Music is the shorthand of emotion. ~Leo Tolstoy
Prokofiev – Alexander Nevsky (Film score)
Sergey Prokofiev composed the score linked above. Listen to the different feelings he is able to evoke in order to set the scene for the tale of Alexander Nevsky and his struggle to save Novgorod from the Teutonic Knights.
The Soviet movie depicting this event starred Nikolay Cherkasov who also portrayed Ivan the Terrible. It’s interesting to see how they couple Prokofiev’s evocative score with Sergei Eisenstein‘s visual style.
If you listened to the score above, see if the images that the music conjured match Eisenstein’s staging of the Battle of the Ice where the Russians face off against the charging heavy cavalry of the Teutonic Knights.
Alexander Nevsky – “The Battle of the Ice”
My Own Dramatic Struggle
It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness. ~Leo Tolstoy
So, now that I’ve picked a name for the romantic foil of this year’s Holiday Season Serial Romance, the question is “What does she look like?“.
There are a lot of considerations:
- How is she going to be a distraction for the male romantic lead if she isn’t pretty?
- Should her appearance reflect the ugliness she harbors inside?
- Will there be a redemption arc for her or will she remain a comic villain awaiting her comeuppance?
Truth is, I haven’t decided yet. There is some thinking involved in writing a story. Would be nice if it all came together in a coherent vision as soon as I had the inspiration for it, but no. It’s all part of the process.
Transmission Of Feeling
Art is not a handicraft, it is the transmission of feeling the artist has experienced. ~Leo Tolstoy
Part of the storytelling process is embracing the drama of the story. If a part of the story makes me laugh, cry or drop my jaw in shock, I can reasonably hope that the readers will as well.
Even if I know it’s coming, certain scenes are evocative enough to inspire a visceral reaction as I write them.
It’s more than storytelling. Anyone can tell a story. It’s about making the story immersive for the reader. I want you to believe you’re actually there, witnessing the events and feeling the feelings.
There appear to be a few hot spikes coming next week, but still not into the 90s, so that’s fine. I hope you enjoy your lovely somewhat-summer weekend.