Category: pop culture

Fogda’s Theme Music

Mood: brandnufogncoffee

We’ve slipped into foggy bottom or foggy bottom slipped over us. Fogda, Jan. 6, 2025. 40 degrees F, sunshine has taken some time away, apparently, giving us over to clouds and rain. 56 F is the projected high. An air stagnation advisory has been slapped on us.

Yesterday turned into fine, sunshiny day. Of course, we were slightly out of town for most of the afternoon, and in a slighter higher elevation, visiting our friends for a party. Good cast of characters, and the house is beautiful. The owner joked that it was a two-bedroom five two hundred square foot home with five fireplaces. Main house had a beautiful small living room and a large living room which used to be the original owner’s home movie theater. That was a natural for that original owner as he owned a chain of movie theaters. Finances crashed and he quit using the house during COVID. The owner related that everything had quit working and they needed to repair and replace multiple things when they bought the home. But they did the job and it showed. There’s also a .5 acre fishing pond, heated pool, a separate artist studio, two-bedroom guest house with a two-car garage, and an RV parking garage with space for three RVs, which cracks up the current owner. “Definitely something we don’t need,” he said. It’s about eight minutes out of Ashlandia. A hallway off the foyer has his and hers coat closets, along with a guest closet.

Papi continues losing fur at a startling rate. He’s not going bald or anything; fur keeps growing in to replace it. We don’t know what’s going on. His appetite is good, he’s as perky and conversant as ever, and he looks good. We keep thinking, must be the weather, but he’s never done this before. We eye him for signs of things going amiss. If it’s there, we’re missing it.

Today’s song was born out of texts swapped between Mom, me, and a sis in the Pittsburgh, PA, region. They had snow coming down, impeding traffic, limiting outdoor options. The Neurons took the opportunity to start “Snow (Hey Oh)” by Red Hot Chili Peppers in the morning mental music stream (Trademark blizzard). The 2005 song is about getting a fresh start. Hey, it’s kinda still a new year, new month, new day, and a new government administration in the U.S. Okay, I kind of choked on that last one. I’ve always enjoyed this hard rocker. Easy to follow and sing along. And hey, it’s also about surviving, so there we go.

Be chill and don’t thrill. Coffee and I ran into each in the kitchen and swapped some spit. Hey ho, listen to what I say yo, it’s a fresh new day. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Saturday’s Wandering Political Thoughts

It begins to appear that democracy will not end with a bang nor a whimper, but a tweet. There are billions of individuals, mostly men, but peppered with women, who will cheer that. No, I take that back. They will not cheer because they will not know that democracy has ended. The trappings will continue long after the government has been re-shaped into some form of authoritarianism that endorses wealth and greed and treats the wealthy has a separate class, with a better set of rights and more lenient judicial tolerance.

Yes, much of it has already taken place. The groundwork is there. The billionaires are lining up to make it happen. And social media is the engine.

This gloomy view comes out of a new Dame magazine article. MPS brought it to my attention via their post, “It’s the Media”, as did Scottie’s Playground. I new some of the information Dame presented, but they delivered with deeper and harder facts.

The Dame article is “America’s Right-Wing Propaganda Problem Might Be Terminal“. The article’s great, overarching declaration is, Millions voted for Trump with a distorted understanding of who he is, what he supports, what his policies will actually accomplish, and how severely his second term will hurt them and those they love.

Yes, many of us were aware of the ignorant, undecided voters out there, wholly uncritical thinkers who were briefly engaged with the election, voted, declared themselves good citizens — I Voted — and helped create a disaster set of circumstances. But their ignorance was firmly aided by the right wing, funded by billionaires like the latest villian, Elon Musk, and gleefully supported by the GOP.

Listen, if the GOP tells you that they love America and support democracy, don’t buy it. They do not. Some Republican voters probably do love America and support democracy, but they’re being conned, and they don’t know it.

Worse, of course, is that this phenomena is not just rooted in the United States. It’s a plague, a virus, that’s spreading around the world, undermining democracy and freedom without any shots being fired. This — a right-wing media composed of angry, hateful males who pose as pseudo intellectual influencers to spread their bullshit — is why we’re seeing right-wing influence increasing. People are being told lies. Immersed in the media speaking to them, they’re unaware of the truth or reality.

I still believe Trump’s administration will implode and he will personally crash. He was a convenience to advance their cause. He will be tossed aside. I’m convinced that many Americans will never realize that happened. I remain certain that the economy will worsen under Trump, but again, right-wing influencers will tell them that its great, and they will believe it so.

And so, the United States of America will become a shell of what it was, an empty vessel that once offered the kind of hope for equality and justice which is theoretically possible, and the right-wing media will tell them that’s great again, no matter what their life is like.

And they will believe.

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Satrda’s Theme Music

Mood: Sleepsatisfied

It’s the fourth day of the year, Jan 4, 2025. Satrda. 38 degrees F. Cloudy. Blue sky has been banished. The meek, subservient sun does little to warm and light us. We’re prepped for another day of rain with a high of 48 F. But, corresponding with my sister in Plum, PA, it’s not bad. They received a few issues of snow yesterday and then dealt with a snow squall. Monday is forecasted to be a heavy and cold snowy day for her. She’s worrying about patients canceling and travel issues. So, rainy and gloomy will suffice.

Today’s music is “Green Tambourine” by the Lemon Pipers. Came out in 1968. I was twelve. The song became a hit and was rotated on all the regular pop stations heard on transistor radios and car radios. With all that exposure, I remember it well. Don’t know why it’s in my morning mental music stream (Trademark old). I slept heavily last night after feeling pretty gloomy yesterday evening. Didn’t have any cat visitations that I know of. No wind or wife disrupted my Zzzs. No need for visiting the bathroom during the night, and nothing amiss with my foot and ankle broke into my sleep. Only one dream floats around my noggin, and tambourines aren’t featured. The song just rose up as I went about opening blinds on another dull day, feeding cats, and making breakfast and coffee.

I enjoyed this video. Such a black and white throwback, including a sexist commercial for ‘Neet’ hair removal cream. Look how young Dick Clark appears. Check out the clothes and dancing. Trippy.

Coffee and I are doing our daily two-step. Hope your weather and fates are kind to you wherever you are. Here’s the music. Cheers

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Frida’s Theme Music

Mood: Happysad

It’s a gorgeous January day. It’s also a sloppy January day, dark and gloomy. Depends. Comparing the day’s weather to other places and their situations, you can easily judge one way or the other. We’re not especially happy because this Friday, Jan. 3, 2025, is sunny, cloudy, and rain, or suncloura. We’ve been having many suncloura days. That’s part of the trick, too: if there’s a succession of like days, it weighs on us. All of this falls onto the final piece, whether you like this kind of weather, or even thrive in it, or you fall into the circle of thought that it’s okay but could be improved. The temp. BTW is 44 F. High will be 51 F.

Another local restaurant went out of businesses on Jan 1. Pie +Vine is the closure. It replaced Piatta’s about ten year ago. Both were owned by the same folk. I’m sad because it means unemployment for some. Conversely, the food has been steadily declining since it opened. Conversations about eating there often mentioned how bad the last meal or the last service was. The same people own several other restaurants. People are not pleased with the owners because they gave no warning to their employees. Just locked doors and put a notice on the door, we’re closed and done. Not the way to treat people, and several employees claim those owners have done the same thing at other businesses across the years.

My wife and a friend are going to see Wicked today. I opted out. Didn’t want to slice another three hours out of another writing day. The movie is two hours and forty minutes but then you need to reach the theater, park, etc. So. They decided they’d first meet for coffee and pastries, so the outing has been extended to about four and a half hours. I’m pleased to have solitary time. I love my wife and enjoy her company but we are together a lot.

Over in the news, I see Republicans making false claims about the New Orleans and Las Vegas terrorists. The Army vets are claimed to have just come over the border. Those lies have been thoroughly disproven but the base will digest it children going after popcorn. Meanwhile, ‘Trump Warned About Invading Mexico’ in a Newsweek headline. “Experts are urging caution.” The article is slanted IMO toward Trump actually using military actions in the way it’s written. GOP talking points about the border are given without any fact-checking or counter-discussion. Piss poor journalism. Seems more like a balloon being floated to see what kind of reaction the idea of invading Mexico gets. It’s been comprehensively demonstrated that the GOP doesn’t need facts to sell their ideas. Given how the Roberts Supreme Court has treated Trump, I wouldn’t be surprised if Trump does use military force. Democrats and the international community would condemn it but the GOP would probably crow, “What a man!”

I can imagine such an action quickly escalating into economic arenas, with Mexico retaliating by cutting off the flow of exports, affecting manufacturing, especially cars. Mexico is the number one car manufacturing nation in the western hemisphere. Most of the cars are shipped to the U.S. If car availalability in the US drops, prices go up, driving up inflation and decreasing sales. That would apply to not just new cars but used cars; it’s a ripple effect. The lack of sales revenues would cut into state and local tax revenues. Given all these things, someone might be able to talk Trump and his bloodthirsty Administration down. Hard to say. Trump likes the idea of being ‘manly’ in a corrupted, negative way that was once prized as the epitome of manliness.

Today finds “Missing You” by John Waite circulating through the morning mental music stream (Trademark missing). The 1984 song is all about missing someone while lying to themself and denying that they miss them at all. That’s how it goes with me when the wife is away. The house feels chillier. It’d definitely quieter. I miss turning and saying something or having her ask or tell me something, even if I do also resent it at times. Such are relationships.

Have a proper Frida. Do it up right. It’s the first one of a new year. The new on the year is already fading. Here’s my coffee and the music. Cheers

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Tursda’s Wandering Political Thoughts

Colson Whitehead has sadly summarized my own initial gloomy feelings for 2025.

Colson Whitehead, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author:

I have no hopes for 2025. Humanity is disappointing. We killed the Earth. Villains triumph and the innocents suffer. I imagine these trends will continue.

I wish I could be more like Garrett Needham.

Garrett Needham, 13, of McKinney, Texas (interview):

Stuff has gotten so expensive. If we could just form a system to support everybody. America was based on freedom, but right now it seems like only the wealthy have the freedom.

These quotes are from a Peter Coy penned-column in the NY Times. Business executives often mention AI. Like Roland Busch, for example.

Roland Busch, the chief executive of Siemens, the industrial company based in Munich:

2025 will be the year of industrial A.I. It will be a powerful tool to address skilled labor shortages and boost productivity, creating substantial growth opportunities.

I’m trying to pivot to be more like Douglas Hofstadter.

Douglas Hofstadter, a computer scientist at Indiana University in Bloomington and an author:

I hope somehow to regain some measure of hope in this, the most ominous-seeming year that I have yet faced. Over this past year, and especially these last few months, I have lost much of my once-strong faith in humanity, but I hope, somehow, to regain at least a little bit of it in 2025. How, I certainly don’t know, but hope springs eternal.

Really, though, it’s a balancing act for me. I react to the news and trends. So far, they’ve not been overly reassuring.

The year is still young, though. The year is still young.

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Tursda’s Teme Music

Mood: Yawninspired

It’s a nice day for a white sky, Billy Idol might have sung for today. A flat white sheet mottled by gentle grey moguls hangs loose across our valley. A little blue slips in from the far western edge on my field of sight. Sunshine chips through where it can, coming in with a fair facsimile of light. 46 F, windy, it rained last night. Might rain today. Might achieve a 51 F high.

This is Tursda, January 2, 2025.

Many are not aware that January has an interesting populist origin to its name. The first part of the year in the nothern hemisphere was often dark, cold, and quiet except for storms. Outside wasn’t a hospitable place. Inside caves, huts, and other primitive dwellings, not much was going on, either, as a lack of light, Internet, and decent heating kept folks huddling. Those first months became known as Jawnsuary. That j was actually a y; the period was Yawnsuary because they were so dull and boring. Later, the first month of the year became known as January to appease the god, Janus. Winter festivities were promoted to lift people’s spirits and change their attitudes. Religious leaders told people, “The cold, darkness, and suffering is good. It helps you appreciate the light and warmth that comes later. Snow is good. Look at all that you can do with snow. Have a drink, you’ll come around.” High priests built the first snow churches, snow men, and snowballs. Religious leaders led the way in going outside to have fun in the snow. That’s why religious leadership often wore heavy black, red, or blue robes. To stay warm outside, and to be visible in the snow. That’s a fact, jack.

Today’s music started last night when I, reading some news reports, dubbed some people as crazy. I know, it’s not nice, and often maligns people with genuine mental health and emotional issues by lumping those who are deliberately delusional, greedy, evil, and corrupt in with them, such as certain right-wing leaders. Anyway, catching a sniff of those thoughts, The Neurons came up with Gnarls Barkley and their offering, which is just called, “Crazy”. It’s playing now in the morning mental music stream (Trademark impaired). This song is not to be confused with the song, “Crazy”, covered by Patsy Cline, and written by Willy Nelson. They do have things in common in their lyrics, like believing something which is a delusion. I’ll include them both so you can compare the two different but impactful songs.

Stay groovey and be hip. Coffee and I have renewed our vows for 2025. Here’s the music. Let’s go get ’em. Cheers

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Floofybeat

Floofybeat (floofinition) – Style or sub-genre of rock or pop music which incorporates animal sounds or approximations of animal styles. Origins: USA circa 1965.

In Use: “The Kiffness creates floofybeat videos of cats ‘singing’ tunes.”

In Use: “‘Li’l Red Riding Hood’ by Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs is a 1966 pop song that incorporates a wolf howl, qualifying it as floofybeat music.”

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Wezda’s Theme Music

Mood: Firstdayfever

It’s a day of firsts. First day of bloated rain drops clunking down on us. First day of gray fog tongue lapping around everything, licking up the sunshine. First day that it’s 38 degrees F with light rain and a high of 46 F on the afternoon’s horizon. First day of Butter Butt (aka Papi the ginger blade) whining for freedom and first day of Tucker (pronounced Tuck-ah) begging to see what I’m eating. Yes, it’s Jan. 1, 2024. A new year.

Today’s music was heard in the car yesterday. Hooking a few loose Neurons with its vocals, they began whispering and humming it throughout the evening. By this morning, they’d swayed other Neurons into joining them. Now they’re all singing it together in the morning mental music stream (Trademark first).

I knew little of the song or the performer. Looked both up when I came home yesterday. The song, “Lose Control”, was released by Teddy Swims in 2023. June. It peaked at number 1 on the Billboard’s Hot 100 in March of 2024. News to me; it was relatively fresh to my ears but my wife knew it. Guess I wasn’t tuning into the right stations. I’d not heard much of Swims and the net tells me that he didn’t get much recognition until this song made it. Well, I’m happy he’s achieved success with it. Hope you enjoy.

Continuing my day of firsts, I must finish my first cuppa coffee, take my first shower, do my first shave and my first exercises. We’re not really ones for celebrating a new year. The shadows cast from 2024 shave our hopes for the new one. Today’s festivities won’t be about welcoming 2025. We’re instead taking an ice cream cake to a friend’s house to celebrate her birthday. I will echo what a friend passed on to me: courage.

Cheers

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Twosda’s Wandering Thoughts

I’m thinking about becoming a person who goes by one name. Join Madonna, Cher, Sting, Beyonce, Pink. Kick off 2025 in a different way. The Neurons came up with Midel as the name. This is the first two letters of my first name and the last three letters of my last name.

I ran it by my wife. She wasn’t impressed. So I ran it by my sister. She laughed and laughed…

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Munda’s Theme Music

Mood: Timeflective

G’ mornin’, peeps of the online written word. It’s 2024’s final Monday, December 20, 2024. To celebrate, my other and I will go out for brekkie after she returns from her exercise class. Then we’ll do some groc shopping. Breakfast will be had at Crackin & Stackin in downtown Medford, I think.

It’s 33 F outside. Sunshine and clouds war again. Blue sky wins as the sun prevails. The ground is wet but drying for the moment after a few days of rain on a heavier scale and flooding in other parts of the county. No rain is forecast for the next two days. Today’s high will be 43 F.

I experienced vigorous, positive dreams last night and that’s put me in a solidly upbeat mood. Seeing sunshine reinforced it. Also contributing is that my foot/ankle are happier, and I had a lengthy solid if interesting writing outing yesterday.

Spoke with Mom on the phone last night. Says she’s feelin’ tired. Not surprising. Holidays always sap. Like many, it pushes her out of her comfortable returns. Now at 89, with several major health issues as part of her history, her energy is low, and every day is a new exploration of something in her body contending for attention. Her other, Frank, is doing great, she said. He’ll be 95 next month.

However, one of my younger sisters now has the flu. She is the Trumper who has had COVID three times. Believe she vaccinated before but she reportedly has underlying lung issues. She won’t tell anyone deets so we rumble about what it is. Her husband, a year younger than moi, went through open heart surgery a few years ago and is now dealing with kidney stones.

One of my other younger sister’s boyfriend lost his brother. But 66 years old, the man had a stroke and then a heart attack. Home alone while his wife was away visiting family in another state for the holidays, he was found on the kitchen floor after a day. Rushed to the hospital, he was pronounced dead and was removed from life support. He passed away yesterday morning.

Meanwhile, the boyfriend himself went into the hospital Friday for some scans after he complained about feeling ill and not breathing right. Turns out that he was experiencing congestive heart failure a 56 years old, astonishing us all. He’s 56 and is a regular runner. Those who saw him on Christmas thought he looked healthy and fit. It’s the way of life, I guess.

All that news and subsequent thinking gave permissions to The Neurons to introduce Joni Mitchell into the morning mental music stream (Trademark aging) with “The Circle Game”. A simple song, very poetic.

Coffee downed, here we go, putting another Monday into the books. Have the best you can, right? Don’t know how the next day will change your expectations.

Here’s the music. Cheers

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