Science fiction, fantasy, mystery and what-not
I take Ray’s statement to heart, but sometimes where my intuition is taking me scares the crap out of me. I feel like I’m hanging waaayyy out on a thin branch, and the noise I hear sounds like wood splintering.
You ever think, I’m in a rut, so I’m going to do something against type to challenge myself, only to discover, yeah, I’m in a rut, and I like it there.
No, no, no, not me. Never.
Right.
I dreamed I had superpowers. The background of how I acquired them wasn’t explained.
The dream begins with me in the ocean on a clear, sunny day. The ocean is calm. Without knowing how, I’m on the ocean’s surface, but dry, and discover, hey, I have powers. Exploring that a little more, I discover that I can transform things.
Shouting reaches me. There’s been a disaster. People need help. With some listening and investigating, I learn that refugees at sea are on a sinking ship. They’re going to drown.
I tell everyone, don’t worry. I can transform things. Nobody understands what I’m talking about. It’s not important that they understand. I know what I can do, and I do it. Like friggin’ magic, because I don’t know what I transformed, the refugees are saved.
Everyone is astonished. “How did you do that?” people are asking. I tell them, “I told you that I can transform things.” Understanding begins to dawn in some.
Arriving somewhere else, where it’s dark and sinister, I met with other people and explain my power. A woman accosts me. I know who she is in the dream; basically, she’s evil incarnate. She’s there to trick me into helping her so that she can destroy me. Yes, I know this.
“I know who you are,” I said. “And I’m not playing games.” She’s sitting on a wall with her legs crossed. A shiny red mask covers her face. “I’m going to destroy you,” I said.
She chuckled with doubt. I transformed her into something that I can break but the transform doesn’t hold. She’s too strong. But I know that I can keep transforming her, but I must be fast, to keep her off-balance. So I continue transforming her until she’s a fly.
She flies off. I can’t track her but someone else tells me, “I saw her land and squashed her.” He points to a fly smashed on a wall. I look at the spot and see pieces of a red mask. Accepting it’s her, I clean her body off the wall with a paper towel and throw her away.
Back somewhere else, I’m trying to explain to people how I transform things, and do demonstrations. During these, I begin learning that the more complicated something is, the more difficult the challenge of transforming it, and that it won’t stay transformed long. That’s especially true with mechanical and electronic devices, and less so with organics. It’s a lesson in limitations that I need to remember.
That’s where the dream ends.
What a fun dream, to transform things and help others.
Quinn was all excited, accosting me as I stepped out of the shower. “I have a new song,” he said. “I’ve written the lyrics. Let me sing them to you.”
WAKE UP!
I wannawanna wannawanna
wannawanna
I wannawanna wannawanna
wannawanna
I wannawanna wannawanna
eat now eat now eat now!
“Then it repeats,” Quinn said. “I’ll get T.C. to do a screaming guitar bridge. I call it “Blue Cat @4AM”. It’s a new sound I’m exploring that I call speed floof.”
My cats have started a musical band. They called themselves T.C. and the Backyard Boys.
T.C. is Tucker Cat. Black and white, he plays lead guitar and shares lead vocals with Quinn the black paws. Quinn is the brooding genius who writes their material. Their favorite songs are “Catch the Mouse”, “Watch the Birds”, “What’s that Noise”, and “You Want to Fight”.
Quinn plays the rhythm guitar, too, while Boo is on drums and Papi is the orange cat on the keyboards who also plays bass. Papi and Boo provide backing vocals, too.
Boo – no photo available.
Playing only at night, they call their music floof rock. It sounds like caterwauling to me.
Ah, a little Tuesday Weezer. “Say It Ain’t So.” It’s a relationship song.
Somebody’s Heine’
Is crowdin’ my icebox
Somebody’s cold one
Is givin’ me chills
Guess I’ll just close my eyes
Oh yeah
Alright
Feels good
Inside
Flip on the tele
Wrestle with Jimmy
Something is bubbling
Behind my back
The bottle is ready to blow
1995. Fun video. Terrific album.
(The formatting issue is a WordPress matter. Looks fine on the draft, doesn’t work on the published version.)
I saw that Pitch Black was available on HBO last night. I was like, I gotta watch it! And did.
Thinking about that, I decided to add it to my dirty list, along with others that mentioned in comments.
Here we go, round two.
Original list:
Unforgiven (1992) – “It’s a hell of a thing, killing a man. Take away all he’s got and all he’s ever gonna have.”
Fail Safe (1964) – “You learned too well, Professor. You learned so well that now there’s no difference between you and what you want to kill.”
This Is Spinal Tap (1984) – “I believe virtually everything I read, and I think that is what makes me more of a selective human than someone who doesn’t believe anything.”
A Christmas Story (1983) – “Oh, fudge. Except I didn’t say fudge.”
The Great Escape (1963) – “Cooler.”
Tropic Thunder (2008) – “I know who I am. I’m the dude playin’ the dude, disguised as another dude!”
Being There (1979) – “It’s for sure a white man’s world in America. Look here: I raised that boy since he was the size of a piss-ant. And I’ll say right now, he never learned to read and write. No, sir. Had no brains at all. Was stuffed with rice pudding between th’ ears. Shortchanged by the Lord, and dumb as a jackass. Look at him now! Yes, sir, all you’ve gotta be is white in America, to get whatever you want. Gobbledy-gook!”
No Country for Old Men (1997) – “What you got ain’t nothin’ new. This country’s hard on people. You can’t stop what’s coming. It ain’t all waiting on you. That’s vanity.”
On The Beach (1959) – “The trouble with you is you want a simple answer. There isn’t any. The war started when people accepted the idiotic principle that peace could be maintained – – by arranging to defend themselves with weapons they couldn’t possibly use – – without committing suicide. Everybody had an atomic bomb, and counter-bombs, and counter-counter bombs. The devices outgrew us; we couldn’t control them.”
Fifty First Dates (2004) – “Sharks are like dogs, they only bite when you touch their private parts.”
Bladerunner (1982) – “Time…to die.”
Bridge Over the River Kwai (1957) – “Are they both mad? Or am I going mad? Or is it the sun?”
Love Actually (2003) – “A tiny, insignificant detail.”
Men In Black (1997) – “No, ma’am. We at the FBI do not have a sense of humor we’re aware of. May we come in?”
The Dirty Dozen (1967) – “I reckon the folks’d be a sight happier if I died like a soldier. Can’t say I would.”
Doctor Strangelove (1964) – “Well, boys, we got three engines out, we got more holes in us than a horse trader’s mule, the radio is gone and we’re leaking fuel and if we was flying any lower why we’d need sleigh bells on this thing… but we got one little budge on them Rooskies. At this height why they might harpoon us but they dang sure ain’t gonna spot us on no radar screen!”
Added:
Pitch Black (2000) – There are a lot of goofs in it, which is part of the fun. “They kept calling it ‘murder’ when I did it.”
Silverado (1985) – “The world is what you make of it, friend. If it doesn’t fit, you make alterations.”
Kelly’s Heroes (1970) – “Definitely an antisocial type. Woof, woof, woof! That’s my other dog imitation.”
Secondhand Lions (2003) – “WE’RE OLD, DAMN IT! LEAVE US ALONE!”
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) – “You never had a rope around your neck. Well, I’m going to tell you something. When that rope starts to pull tight, you can feel the Devil bite your ass.”
Hang them High (1968) – “Some people call this hell, but you’re still in Oklahoma.”
A Few Dollars More (1965) – “I was worried about you – all alone, with so many problems to solve…”
High Plains Drifter (1973) – “What makes you think I care?”
What of you? Andy dirty secrets about the movies you watch again and again?
Plastic straws are the latest convenience to come under attack. Honestly, I won’t miss them.
I grow up under the impression that straws were for children to drink milkshakes. That was later amended to include smoothies and fraps. But straws for ice tea, lemonade, and water in a restaurant? No.
I witnessed that whole evolution and shift. I remember being in a California restaurant and being asked if I wanted a straw for my ice tea. What? No. I then remember dining with another person in California, and she specifically asked for a straw for her water, and another for her ice tea.
That was the mid-nineties, and I thought it strange. I became horrified and startled by how frequently people asked for straws if straws weren’t given to them. I often asked people in the early years why they wanted a straw. Many didn’t want to put their lips on the glass. Others didn’t like the ice bumping up against their face, nose, or lips. More said that they thought it neater, or more refined.
I guess that’s why I never took straws up; I’m neither neat nor refined. I rarely drink milkshakes, fraps, or smoothies these days. I guess I’ll acquire a metal straw for the times that I do.
It might be my last straw.
Michael Seidel, writer 