Sophy Says
Tuesday’s Theme Music
Today’s theme music has nuttin’ to do with politics, dreams, cats, or memories. It’s not prompted by introspection and self-questioning. It’s not in memory of a friend that passed away, and it’s not related to the news. It’s just a song by The Weeknd that I enjoy. “Blinding Lights” (2020) just keeps running in my mental stream. I suppose, if I think about the words — about being touched and empty cities — I can establish some rational reason why it’s jumped up out of slumbering brain masses, but it’s a good song, and I’m just going to enjoy it for a few minutes as just a good song.
Never saw the video before this. Takes half a minute to get into the song.
The Doobie Floofs
The Doobie Floofs (floofinition) California based floof rock (flock) band, who successfully mixed many line-ups and musical styles to create sustained success.
In use: “The Doobie Floofs came out with a cover of a gospel song, “Jesus Is Just a Floof to Me”, and had a hit with it in 1972.”
Monday’s Theme Music
Today’s theme music is an Queen song from 1970, “Keep Yourself Alive”.
Keep yourself alive was my reflection to watching protests grow into riots as police and others escalate the situation. It’s been an ongoing mutter in my head as we deal with the novel coronavirus situation. Why practice social distancing, masking, isolation, and good hygiene? Well, to mitigate spreading the virus, to gain time to understand it, to gain time to allow our healthcare systems the chance to cope with it, and well, to keep ourselves alive until a vaccine can be found.
Thought it works well on this first day of June in the year of the riots and COVID-19.
Two More Dreams
I often dream about four things: being in the military (again), cars, houses, and animals. Two of those made it into the second dream. It was the main event. First, though, came a dream snippet.
I was working on rice flavors. I came up with a new, exciting idea: cinnamon rice. Awakening, I thought, cinnamon and rice? That’s been around for eons, as in, say, rice pudding. I was quite excited in the dream, though.
My boss entered. I made my announcement.
He loved the idea. “Cinnamon and rice. That’s our new potato chip flavor.”
Whaaat? I’d been working on potato chip flavors? I was aghast, horrified, and crestfallen. Then I said, move on.
My second dream found me in a huge house. My wife and I had been living there for years, but the place surprised me with its size. Besides several levels, the house featured several wings and a huge yard.
I’d been living on the main levels, I realized, and had forgotten about the other parts. Now, remembering them, I went on a re-discovery exploration. Everything was well lit, plush and well furnished, but some of the white marble steps were dusty. I had to clean those off, I told myself.
Back in the house, my black cat was clamoring for my attention, but I had a house guest. I took her to a breakfast nook off the second dining room (the more informal one). There was a table with three chairs. Two were standard dining room chairs, white with light blue padded seats. The third, in the same motif, was on wheels and featured a wicker headrest that could be folded up to extend the back.
I presented this to my friend. I hadn’t seen here in over a decade. She’d never been to my house. Dressed in light blue and white that weirdly matched the dining room and breakfast nook, she stood there with a laptop bag over her shoulder. “Perfect.” She set her bag down. “I will write and type here.”
Good. She wouldn’t bother us there. But I said, “You’ll be facing a wall.” That was anathema to me; I liked facing a window so I could look out.
“No, I like facing walls, so I’m not disturbed,” she replied.
Weird to me. Meanwhile, I had to pick up the dogs from the vet. I went out as the van arrived, bringing them back. (Yeah, that confused me for a second; I thought I had to go get them, but no, they’d been brought to me.)
I took the dogs inside and let them go. They rushed to one bathroom. Surprised, I followed them in. There, I found kittens: a gray, ginger, and two black and white. They were toddling around, their little tails straight up the air like pointers. The dogs avidly sniffed them.
I called to my wife, “Where did these kittens come from?”
She didn’t answer. That’s where the dream ended.
A House Dream
We were in a new home. In some ways, we seemed dissatisfied. The place was large and new. Despite that, there was a feeling that we needed to change it and make it our own.
My wife left on errands. While she was gone, we were overrun by cats. We had cats, but every time I looked around, new cats had arrived. Some were afraid of me and scurried out. Others ate without care.
While this was going on, I was trying to explore the house. There wasn’t any furniture or personal things yet. Those were due to arrive. I found we had a large, green yard surrounding our house. Part of a plan, we were on a paved road with other new houses. Plenty of space was between us.
Yet, something about the house continued to bug me. As I walked around, I realized the floor was tilted. It hadn’t been that way. I inspected the rooms while talking with the cats, trying to understand why the floors were tilted. Returning to the living room, I discovered a huge bulge in the floor.
My wife arrived back home in an annoyed mood, berating me for not ‘doing things’. As she went about, I tried telling her to look at the damn floor and the bulge, but she stayed focused on other things and kept talking. I finally said, “Will you stop and look?” in a loud, dramatic manner.
Glancing toward the bulge, she dismissed it as my fault.
That irritated me. I didn’t see how it was my fault, and didn’t care; it was a new house – less than a year old, I decided – so the builder should be responsible. I had to find the building.
In my underwear, I left to find the builder. As I went, I grew more concerned that if something wasn’t done, the house would collapse, or if we waited to take care of it, the builder would weasel out of responsibility. While walking in my underwear, I carried shorts with the idea that I would put them on. Every time that I tried, something convened to interfere and stop me.
Struggling on to find the builder, I came to a market and passed through it, trying to put my shorts on as I went. I discovered a black woman naked from the waist down. Not wanting to embarrass her, I looked away. She laughed at that, but I made it a point to stand in front of her with my back to her so that she could dress with some privacy, which she did. Then I put my shorts on.
I left the market and ran into my nephew. He said that he’d been by my house and that a pillar had gone through the roof. I was horrified. He told me that the same thing had happened to his house, and we needed to find the builder and have him take care of it.
I hurried home with my nephew to tell my wife. As I approached my home, I studied the roof. I didn’t see the pillar sticking up through it. When I turned to ask my nephew, he was walking to his car and about to leave.
That’s where the dream ended, giving me a lot to think about.
Stevie Floof Vaughn
Stevie Floof Vaughn (floofinition) – Talented guitarist from Flooftin, Texas, known for his urban blues style.
In use: “Often backed by Double Trouble, Stevie Floof Vaughn’s covers, such as “Texas Floof” and “Voodoo Floof”, originals songs such as “Floofire” won new fans.”
Zomboat
Our entertainment efforts are sinking. By that, I mean, the stuff that others create that entertain us. “Devs” was interesting but I didn’t have anyone to talk to about the science. My wife’s eyes glazed over as soon as I asked, “What’d you think of the science?”
But it was a diversion, as was “The Last Kingdom”. I’m a Bernard Cornwell fan. I was leery and excited about the series when it came out. Sometimes when a movie or series is made about a novel or series, it hurts too much to watch, because they change everything, damn it.
(Likewise, it’s ruined if I know too much about a subject. I didn’t enjoy Ford v. Ferrari as much as many because there were too many small lies. Likewise, Rocketman failed to launch for me. I kept saying, “Elton John didn’t write that song, Bernie did,” or, “That song didn’t come out until years later. WTF?” Then I’d hurry to googlepedia to verify that I wasn’t going insane. Some critics noted that Rocketman was a musical fantasy. Ohhh; like that’s a license to lie. Anyway.)
(Yeah, and that was my problem with “Devs”. I’m not a computer wizard or physicist or anything, but when they said some of their stuff, I retorted to the screen, “What? But — “. Then I whirled to speak to my wife, who steadfastly looked away. Some of it was clarified by the end, but some just hangs out there, waiting for discussion.)
“The Last Kingdom” was very entertaining, although I had to keep googlepediaing everything for veracity. Cornwell often explains in his novels where he diverges from history, and why, and often had meticulous reasons. Yeah, I know the series itself is based on some fanciful potentials, but he generally fits it in well.
I’d also gone through the newest season of “Bosch” fast, and then “Upload”. The two seasons of “Counterpart” that were made were swallowed like cold beer on a hot day. We’re indulging in “The Great” but it’s another one where the truth is a dim light. At least they warn you right up front that it’s sometimes historically correct and is satire, but yeah, they cut out a huge chunk of history in making it.
The Aussies, of course, have pitched in something intriguing. They often manage to kick something out that makes us pause to watch. In this case, it’s “Bloom”. It has lost its luster for my wife, but she says she’ll keep watching to see if it ends up making sense.
Besides those, we’re watching “What We Do in the Shadows”. Had to, with Jemaine Clement and Taiki Waititi involved. It’s entertaining (although I keep thinking that Matt Berry is still Toast, but as a vampire).
We really like smart mysteries and comedies, though. It’s best when they’re combined. “Raised by Wolves” and “Misfits” come to mind as two ideal shows. “The Kominsky Method” and “Fleabag” answered our humorous tastes. The Aussie effort, “Rake”, too, and the Brit show, “Shameless” from eons ago (American versions of “Rake” and “Shameless” didn’t work out for me.) We’d tried “Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist”, and found it, ‘okay’. CBS was a little more fun with “Picard”. But really, where was the new offbeat stuff?
Then I stumbled over “Zomboat”. Zombedy always energizes us. Give us Shaun of the Dead and the Zombieland movies, and we’re very happy. “Zomboat” was like them, but fresher and smarter.
These people were idiots, but with some self-awareness. Better, they had distinct personalities, and were struggling with life and their situation. They bring history but not anything heavy. They were, if you will, well fleshed-out characters.
Alas, it was also only one year, and just six episodes. We went through them in three days.
So now, here we are, searching entertainmentland for new ventures to push the sludge of time along. “Baroness von Skit” was found. A few of those were consumed. They might be the short-term antidote that we seek.
Meanwhile, there’s got to be something else out there.
The quest goes on.
