Wednesday, November 30, 2022
Monster Bat
I started hearing a loud flapping noise that sounded like a flag blowing in the breeze and I thought it must have been a semi truck on the overpass that got a flat tire. However when I got under the overpass the noise was so loud it was almost ear splitting. I looked out my driver window and I saw a monstrously huge bat with a wingspan longer than my SUV (ford escape) and who's body was larger than my own (I am 6'4" and 240lbs), it was on the opposite side of the street separated by the support columns. It had the snub nose face of a vampire bat, but it's face resembled more of a gorilla almost. The overpass is illuminated underneath by street lights and when the beasts wings were up I could see it's veins through the membrane of it's wings. It almost looked like it's flight was incredibly labored as though it was struggling to keep itself in the air. I immediately began to panic and rolled my window up. As soon as the beast and myself were out from underneath the overpass it shot straight upwards into the sky and turned east flying higher and higher and was soon out of sight.
Image by Scott Daniel Ellison.
Tuesday, November 29, 2022
Monday, November 28, 2022
Sunday, November 27, 2022
Excluding The Possibility That A Female Scandinavian Olympian Was Running Around Outside Our House Last Night, What Else Might Be A Possibility?
Morgan, this crop stuff is just about a bunch of nerds who never had a girlfriend their whole lives. They're like thirty now. They make up secret codes and analyze Greek mythology and make secret societies where other guys who never had girlfriends can join in. They do stupid crap like this to feel special.
Saturday, November 26, 2022
Now Playing: Return To The Stars
Man, Dark Ambient music. Such a weird form of music. I've shared some stories in the past, about how my dad heard some of it playing in my car when I was taking him somewhere and at one point shushed me suddenly and asked "Do you hear that? What is that?!" and I explained it was the music I listened to, and he proclaimed incredulously (and judgmentally) "I thought it was your brakes!" Then another time when a friend said it sounded like a vacuum cleaner (I wish I could remember that track/album [as it totally didn't {I think}]). Then once at work, a bunch of us were driving out for lunch and I made the mistake of volunteering to drive. I had shut the car off without first turning off my cd player. When I started the car, my music was waiting for me, and soared. Click here to listen to the exact moment that flared up in a car full of coworkers. My one friend shouted, "YOU LISTEN TO MURDER MUSIC!!!" She still tells people about this, as if I'm a serial killer.
Still have a hard time articulating what is so appealing about this stuff. Ambient, moody, sad, unnerving, poignant, and soothing. And vast. I love that there are artists making this stuff. And I love that I've been into it since the 90s. Watching it change over the decades has been really neat, as this stuff never ages. Never feels outdated. So the classics will always be there as if they were written yesterday. And the new stuff by new artists will continue this weird Dark journey. Murder music and all.
This long track by a favorite Dark Ambient project called Tineidae got me thinking about this stuff. I'm 42 minutes into it and feeling very nostalgic about this neat hobby.
Click below to listen...
Friday, November 25, 2022
Thursday, November 24, 2022
Wednesday, November 23, 2022
Thanksgiving Poems
A book I never knew existed, illustrated by a favorite artist... no one else out there like Stephen Gammell. Thanks for the heads up on this, Wren! Currently on my bookshelf next to my copy of Halloween Poems. Gammell is a magician, making things mysterious and beautiful. And the colors are perfection.
The artwork really captures that feeling from the landscape in late November in these parts. And that brought back some memories. Thanksgivings from my youth were initially spent at my grandparents' tiny brick home in an urban block of the city. We'd show up early and the day always seemed to be sunny, breezy, and cold. It always felt like a holiday - different than a normal day. Halloween was a month behind us, and Christmas was coming. The Gimbles parade was on their TV, and we waited for Santa to arrive at noon (the official start of the Christmas Season, you know).
And the house smelled amazing. My grandmother was an exquisite cook and everything she made felt like we were in on some wonderful culinary secret. Cooking and hosting duties eventually were turned over to my mother. An assignment that no one was pleased with, including (and especially with) my mother. My mother would be a great cook at a penitentiary. Growing up, we were served the same particular meal on the same day of each week (e.g. Thursdays were chicken soup, Fridays were fish sticks). Every. Single. Week.
The turkey seemed to be my mother's nemesis. She battled with that thing for an entire day. And you'd think the oven broke or the turkey refused to thaw, as we always ended up watching her check and poke and essentially ruin the classic shape of a turkey as we all braced for some form of salmonella (though that part never happened). I recall the first time I cooked a turkey on my own. I was filled with anxiety and fear. But it turns out when you follow cooking instructions, a beautiful turkey can be made. I'm wondering if my mother was trying to get someone else to volunteer for cooking duties... playing the long game for sure (no one ever did).
So you look back on holidays from the past and you realize magic was there and it was a finite resource, all around you. But you didn't realize that at the time. As I get older, I find myself wishing I would have complimented my grandmother's meals more. Or stayed longer. Or visited more often. I'm hoping she knew we were all excited to be a part of her talents and her generosity. I'm certain she could tell (I'm hoping she could tell).
Anyways, going into this Thanksgiving, I'm feeling a mountain of gratitude. For those memories. For the good stuff. Grateful for the people in my life. Extremely grateful to be able to spend a peaceful Thanksgiving with music, a nice fire going, and plenty of wine and great food.
Wishing everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving. Thanks so much for following this blog and my Instagram account. All the emails, nice comments, and all the "likes" and follows mean the world to me.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Tuesday, November 22, 2022
Now Playing: Other Oceans
This neat track by PatternShift reminds me of something Mark Snow would have written for a sad episode of The X Files, where Mulder is telling Scully that maybe the reason that they haven't been able to find the truth is because the truth isn't out there. I'm sure Scully would say something perfect to soothe. Something like "Elusivity isn't proof of nonexistence, Mulder." Hopefully it would be a Christmas episode too. So I could go to sleep with a smile on my face.
Click below...
Monday, November 21, 2022
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
