Science fiction, fantasy, mystery and what-not
Flock of Seafloofs (floofinition) – Synth floof rock (flock) band formed in Liverfloof in 1979, who achieved significant influence as a floof wave band.
In use: “Flock of Seafloofs was noted for their outlandish fur styles but also created entertaining songs, such as “I Barked (So Far Away)”, which became a top ten song in several major markets.”
Been listening to some blues streaming in my head and decided to share it with you. Here’s Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble with “Pride and Joy” from 1983. Turn it up!
We had a Black Lives Matter/Defund the Police protest and march in Ashland this weekend. My wife and I didn’t attend; her underlying health issues increase her vulnerability.
But we drove down to check it out. Hundreds attended. It was peaceful. Most — probably ninety-plus percent — were masked but social distancing wasn’t observed, so mixed bag. Holding our breath on that as the case count continues rising in Oregon.
Young and old, Black, White, Asian, and Latino marched. Later, as we talked about it during “Sixty Minutes”, my wife asked, “Why do we need to keep doing this? When will it permanently change?”
Good question, one that stayed with me this morning. The question prompted a recall of a 2007 Foo Fighters song and video, “The Pretender”. Dave Grohl said in interviews that 2007’s political unrest influenced him when he wrote it. Watching the video, well, you see the same themes as in 2020: protests, taking a knee, confronting police, violence escalating.
Big difference exist between now and 2007. Videos emerge almost weekly of police killing people, almost always Blacks, for little provocation. Too many times, it was brushed aside, hidden again and again. But as it’s happened, it’s just become, too much. The expression, “Black Lives Matter”, arose to express the gulf we see as Blacks were killed or had the police called by Whites for being black. The expression, “Being Karen”, became the code for privileged White people who called the police for such a list of shocking reasoning about why Black people weren’t supposed to be there, or why they were a threat.
“The Pretender” speaks to these things. All those things done by the police hat were hidden or protected are being exposed, again, again, and again. That’s the momentum that keeps this wheel spinning, and will until, finally, Black Lives Matter.
Send in your skeletons
Sing as their bones go marching in again
They need you buried deep
The secrets that you keep are at the ready
Are you ready?
I’m finished making sense
Done pleading ignorance, that whole defense
Spinning infinity, boy
The wheel is spinning me
It’s never ending, never ending
Same old story
Today’s stream music arrived in my head because, what if?
The what if game is always a small diversion. The rules are to ask yourself to imagine how your existence would be different if you made a different decision, followed another path, or handled something in some other way than what you did.
What if you had gone to college?
What if you’d taken that job?
What if you’d married that person?
From that, in trickled Rob Thomas singing Matchbox Twenty’s song, “Real World”. It asks those questions about being in charge, or a superhero, among other things.
And it all has a direct link to writing yesterday. A big portion of my writing process is playing what if? It’s intriguing as part of the process because I’ll think that through, applying different ideas, possibilities, and outcomes, but when I sit down and write, it’s something completely different.
And that’s why writing entertains me.
Here’s the music.
Floofbox Twenty (FB20) (floofinition) – American floof rock (flock) band, formed the mid-1990s in Flooflando, Florida.
In use: “Floofbox Twenty, sometimes called FB20, achieved international success with their first album, Yourself, or Someone Like Floof, in 1996. One hit song was “Floof World”, a song about alternative lives.”
Confloofit (floofinition) 1. An event faked by animal as a diversion.
In use: “Growling and barking at a dog, the Schnauzer waited until everyone gathered to see what was going on, using the confloofit to run into the other room, grab a grilled hot dog off a plate, and haul ass.”
2. A path between animals.
In use: “Getting out of bed was difficult as a confloofit was made by sleeping animals who weren’t ready to awakened forced him to contort his body into uncomfortable positions to extricate himself from the bedding, get into the bathroom, and pee.”
Michael Seidel, writer 