My Music Monday

The month of "new" music is over. 

Not really, of course, but for the July theme. Next month, I'm sure it will be a hodge-podge. 

I'm going with the Record Company and their new song "Talk to Me".  It's as new as you're getting: 12 days old. 

The song / group is striking a vibe which is extremely familiar yet I can't place. Maybe it's the wine, maybe not (psssst......it probably totally is). 

Still, I'm into it. I don't know of the group or anything, but anymore does that even matter? 

For the record, I own at least three other songs called "Talk to Me".  That alone could be a month theme. 

Record of the Month

I figured I'd do a monthly 'what I'm listening to' kind of thing. This could be viewed as a lame placeholder kind of post. And probably it is. But it's my blog! So there!  

I gotta say, I'm enjoying Stories from a Rock N Roll Heart by Lucinda Williams. It is very much one of the best records (at least so far) of 2023. 

Williams has been at this for pushing 50 years and in the last 10 (maybe longer?). I had to look, but save her first two disks, I own everything she's put out - phenomenal, good or bad. I have joked in other reviews and her vocals made it sound like she's had a stroke or a mouthful of marbles. Some of it was just unintelligible and not great listening. 

In her last few disk the vocals became better and then she actually had a stroke. Ironically, on Stories, her vocals haven't been this good since maybe Essence (which is still such a great album!). And it's co-produced by the dude who co-produced her stellar Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. 

I'd say highlights include "Last Call For The Truth", "This Is Not My Town", "Stolen Moments" and "Where The Song Will Find Me", and they are, but I like all the songs on this. 

The musicians are good, though Williams isn't one of them. Her stroke has left her unable to play guitar. At least for now. 

I'm glad at 70 she's still writing and recording music. And glad Stories is a good piece of her discography. 

Creepin'

Blah Blah Blah Ginger. 

Far Side aficionados will get that.  I've been lame on the intros these last few pet posts. Today will be no different. 

Where Shep goes, Simon must lurk. 

There is valid rationale for the phrase "curiosity killed the cat". 

Lake breeze makes his ears fly. It's adorable. 

Simon isn't as ballsy or tough as he thinks he is. 

....but he's always watching. 

I lied last week, apparently. 

My mother would not be amused. 

Song by: Metro Boomin, the Weeknd & 21 Savage

Carjack '94

This world is fucked up. It just is. 

One of my employees was carjacked the other evening after getting her mother situated at the Emergency Department after having a stroke.  The employee got in her car to leave and was about a mile from the hospital. And it was not after dark. 

The street is a well traveled six lane road - three each way - that is widely used. But at whatever time, two cars coordinated and boxed her in forcing her to stop. The four people, split between two cars, reached in her partially open window unlocked her door. 

It wasn't enough to try to get her purse, which they did. They punched her in the face, held a gun to her head while the two teen girls yelled, "shoot her!  kill her!!". 

Of course, they took her car. 

But what the actual fuck???

Shoot her.  Kill her.   For a lousy $35 and a car they ended up abandoning less than an hour later?  I'd say, is that worth 25 to life?  But clearly, this isn't how folks like that think. Or care 

Oh - did I say, they were all teens? Or alleged considering none of have been caught. Clearly none of them worried about the police. 

As you'd imagine, she hasn't been back to work. She's trying to put on a good face, but she's rattled. And honestly, I don't know how you come back from that. Hearing your life to others meant absolutely nothing and that a gun to your head and people advocating shooting you is just horrific. 

This is our current state of devolving. I'm scared for the future. The near future. 

Song by: Mudhoney

Thank You for Hearing Me

Totally bummed about Sinéad O'Connor's death.  .....and she's 3-4 years younger than I !   

While she had a trouble and storied life, for sure, in all of that turmoil and chatter starts to get lost of what an incredible artist she was.

O'Connor had a unique voice, but many don't know she wrote her own music - for the most part. Her debut album, Lion & the Cobra is flawless. As is her second and most famous disk, I Do Not Want What I Have Not Got. 

Even more impressive, she made them at ages 20 and 23 respectively. 

The latter disk spawned her biggest hit, a cover of Prince's "Nothing Compares 2 U".  It was rumoured that Prince was not happy it was a hit for her when it wasn't for his group the Family.  Either way, he made a lot of coin from her rendition. 

There really is not a bad song on any of those two disks. And she had one offs of other songs, some I've featured in My Music Monday. I'll link those below. 

It was during the promotion of I Do Not Have.....when she ripped up a picture of the pope on SNL and cried, "fight the real enemy". 

I really don't know where all the shock and dismay came from the audience and NBC. It was widely known by that time that the Catholic church had been covering up tens (hundreds?) of thousands of cases of sexual abuse by priests in said church. 

Her punishment for that would be far worse than it was for Father Flanagan putting his pud up Timmy O'Leary's ass. She'd be musically ostracized for the rest of her career for the most part. He'd just get reassigned to another church to make Jimmy O'Malley gag on priest dong. 

She would still put out albums up until 2014, none matching the success of her first two - though some had some really good songs. She dabbled in multiple religions along the way and struggled with her mental health. Her life took attention away from her music and probably vice versa to a degree. 

I knew I wanted to add a song of hers today, but struggled with which one. I had gotten all her music up until about 2010 but kept focusing on the first two disks. I had already featured "Troy", "Feels So Different", "Why Don't You Do Right?" "Drink Before the War" and "Sacrifice" over the years. All deserve repeats, so click away. 

But I went with "Jackie". Undoubtedly her shortest song and some really strong vocals and emotions. Emotion was always the thread to all her music. She conveyed it like few other artists....almost to her detriment. It worked for her, and it was the appeal which drew me to her as an artist. 

She will be missed. 

 

Song by: Sinéad O'Connor

License to Thrill

I don't think it's a coincidence that my new driver's license and my antidepressants arrived in the mail on the same day. 

It's one of those years where everything is due. 

Eye Doctor.  Done. The issue he noticed a few years ago - you know, potential eye cancer is stable and fine. No progression of anything.

And get this:  my vision is better!  My prescription hasn't change for the last four visits. Now it's better. Maybe my lenses will be thinner. How does that happen?

I had to get my car serviced. 50k miles, dontcha know. That did not go ok. It seemed to, until the next day I found out they forgot to fasten the oil cap.  So........not great. Oil on the driveway, in the garage, on the gym parking lot and I'm sure countless streets before I noticed. 

Nor has the dealership responded to any of my messages. The car is out of warranty now, so maybe there's not reason to go back there, though I kind of want them do something for me. I just don't know what that something is. 

And then there was e-check, registration and the aformehtioned new license. 

The only sweet thing of the last one is, now it's an 8 year one. No more of this every four years.  I'll look that way and be 190 lbs forever now. I mean, at least for the next 8 years............when they restrict me to no night driving at that point. 

....which is one of the reasons I need the antidepressants. Naturally. 

Earlier I had an updated tetanus shot. I'm not due for a colonoscopy for another three years, so right now I'm good. 

And done.  For a while.     

Song by: Billy Idol

Small Town

I feel I need to write about Jason Aldean - but I don't wanna. 

He's an artist I've heard of, but never heard. 

There are like 53 people across from Mandalay Bay who are now lucky enough they don't have to hear him. 

Yes - a mass shooting joke that is too soon. Or is it?  But it was at his concert, so maybe the guy just missed his target and hit 53 people who weren't on stage at the time. 

Yes, CMT pulled (not banned) song about, basically threatening anyone in a small town who doesn't act like they're from a small town. Country motherfuckers are up in arms over CMT's actions. 

Now think back to 2003, when the Chicks said they were embarrassed the president was from Texas. That's it. Not about the subtle art of saying "lynching" without saying "lynching" like Aldean does.  CMT did ban the Chicks. Still do, btw 

So, these country hayseeds don't get it - the irony, they hypocrisy, the stupidity or general understanding of the two instances. They certainly don't get "you can't ban our music; but we will ban books'. 

Maybe they do get it - and just don't care that they look stupid as fuck.

It's another exhausting link in the chain of the anchor that is dragging us all down to the depths of the Titan sub. I just want them all to implode. 

Song by: John Mellencamp

My Music Monday

"New" music. That's the theme for July. 

In reality this isn't new - it seems Lykke Li's "Get Some" is 12 years old. I just heard it a few weeks ago. 

It's an ok song. Honestly, I was more taken by it when I heard on the radio (ooh ooh ooh on the radio), but it's got a decent vibe. 

Maybe it's me, but it has a quasi-Bananarama-esque thing going on. Maybe part of their earlier years? I can't quite pin it down. It also has an "Iko Iko" thing going on too. 

I won't be buying it or adding it to a running playlist anytime soon, but it's different yet oddly familiar. 

Tear Off Your Own Head (It’s a Doll Revolution)

I don't think anyone is more surprised that I saw, let alone liked, Barbie. Nay - really liked it. The movie, that is. Not the doll. Dolls. 

Our friends, David & James, who are frequent-ish movie companions, asked us to go. I would assume they'd want to see Oppenheimer, and they do, but this was their first choice. We deferred to them. 

It was shown at our art house theater, so instead of trekking to the 'burbs, we showed up (tickets pre-purchased) at a place 1.5 miles from us. 

There was not an empty seat in the house. I'm 93% sure none of the youths there had been in that local, independent cinema. 

I won't give away plot points too too much - if at all, but the script was clever. The execution, for the most part, was very good. The only spoiler, which is even in the trailer, Barbie goes to the real world. 

This is how good a job Greta Gerwig did:  she hired Will Ferrell and even he couldn't fuck up the movie. ...and they only played "Barbie Girl" for about 7 seconds, which was unexpected. matchbox 20 got more exposure. 

I think Margot Robie did a great job. Ryan Gosling, whom I love, did pretty good. The hair and body were actually distracting. Maybe that was the point? It did not make me want to bump smooth parts with Ken. 

Oddly, America Ferrera has a biggish part in it, and possibly the longest monologue of anyone in the movie, and it's on point. 

There are other moments too - more subtle. One being my purposefully select image for today's post. And one with a character played by Rhea Pearlman.  I know, right?    .....and I was glad to see Issa Rae too. 

I might have two criticisms, one of the movie, another possibly of the movie or maybe not. 

1. Weird Barbie. Kate McKinnon was perfect, but shouldn't have Weird Barbie remained weird and not become a lot less so as the movie went on?

2.  The sound. Often, I struggled with the muddiness of Ken's dialogue. And some of the songs. I cannot, unfortunately, rule out age-related anything here. It might all be me. Or some of it. 

Clearly, I don't know a lot about Barbies and her cohort. Yes, I've heard of Midge and Skipper, but they use variations of the Mattel history of the dolls - all real things - that you'll laugh at because they sound so unreal. They are not.  Who knew? 

Right now, Barbie might be the best movie I've seen all year.   .....and I never expected those words to ever come out of my mouth. 

2023 Movie Count / Goal: 08 of 15

Song by: Elvis Costello

Star Me Kitten

It's way way past my bed time.  No intro. Just cats and dogs. 

One more week, and he's not gonna be able to fit in there 

Shep made a friend down at Bow Wow Beach 

Simon found the bed. Our bed. Maybe his. We will see. 

Beat the heat in the dirt. 

Planting himself near Shep's water and food. 

No good can come of this. 

Happy dog at daycare. 

Chipotle is good for something. 

Simon being a cat. 

Song by: R.E.M. 

Happiness is Just a Thing Called Joe

I'm just sayin', if Gloria doesn't want him, and he needs a place to lay low for a bit, Joe Manganiello can hang here, with us me, should he like. 

Oddly, I can count three things I've seen him in: the first Spiderman (for about 38 seconds); Scrubs (for about 17 seconds) and multiple episodes of How I Met Your Mother. 

After those roles, he became a bit too buff. He was always (or most always) nicely built, but when you get to the stills I saw of Magic Mike, a baby oiled 8-pack isn't attractive to me. 

I think I read he was in True Blood, but I never saw a second of that show. No interest. Even with a probably partially nekkid Joe. 

He shore is purdy. I don't know if Joe is a deep thinker, but I am pretty sure it's not his brains I'm after. 

If those crazy kids can't make it 7 years, I'm tellin' ya. They must be bad in bed (or at least one of them), because with other flaws, you'd overlook them to for a chance at............that. 

Oh now, I'm objectifying a fellow man!

eh.........he'll live. 

Song by: Ella Fitzgerald

Tired

You know the other day when I said I had nothing to write about, and then wrote about stuff?

Not today. 

I might even have something to say, but I am SO tired, I couldn't possibly formulate anything of note.  

I'm letting myself off the hook and going to bed.  And that's happening before 21:00.  I'm that tired. 

Enjoy your day. 

Song by: LCD Soundsystem

Recover

I just can't write about BLOTUS. But once again, he controls the story that may or may not be real. Allegedly the DOJ is to charge him with crime for January 6th.  You think the DOJ would control the story, but like the document shit, Fatso announced weeks before, controlling the media. 

There will be time to write about that, should I choose. 

I'm more worried about my amazon feed and their suggestions for me. 

I've been a little worried about myself lately. Clearly Bezos & crew are much more so. Let's be honest, as they dig through my personal history on the webs, they probably know me better than myself. 

For all my mother's possible faults, being a narcissist wasn't one of them. The rest???   Welllllll.....lets not rule them out too quickly just yet.

.......though I'm looking at my teens in the rear view mirror......with the help of the Webb telescope. 

Song by: CHVRCHES

Free Fallin'

As sometimes happens -  usually once per month - I just blank on this blog. 

Nothing going on in my life you want to know about - or that I care to write about, at least today. There ain't much going in this world worth of interest either. 

Well, maybe one thing. 

An - and I quote - "expert skydiver" fell to his death over the weekend, when he grabbed camera gear to film a jumper, and leapt out of the plane himself. 

.......but without a chute. 

I don't mean to be crass or anything, and I know news organizations are on skeletal staffs, but maybe an editor could have (and should have) ix-nayed the 'expert' part? 

Oh and yes, someone captured footage of his fall - though I don't know they knew what was going on at the time. And yes, that is a still from the video. 

Mind you, I did not click on play. I'm never going to see the movies "Faces of Death" that catch real people in the process of dying or about to. 

The dude was 10,000 feet up, so you've seen the free falls from there on shows and such. You fall for a while before deploying the chute. Morbid as it is, I can't help wonder at what point did he realize, "oh fuck......."?   And then just have to wait for the inevitable to happen. 

Maybe you go out doing what you love and you kind of accept it.. Like the surfer who drowns, or the professional baseball player who eerily gets at neuromuscular disease that oddly has the same name as yours. Maybe it's already drilled into you that these are the risks of the job - though I have to believe the risk is the faulty chute, not forgetting to put it on. 

I know when 710 was skydiving for a while there were 72 different checks and balances of equipment et al. I suppose no one does that for the staff. 

.....but I bet they are now. 

Can you imagine being the client who was jumping and it was supposed to be filmed, but then, you know, the guy died for your vanity video?  And you realize it was a non-refundable purchase and now you don't even have the video? 

I have read no detail on any of this.  Now and then I can be morbid, but this isn't one of those times. 

I mean, even the blog title and the image are questionable.............at best. 

Song by: Tom Petty

My Music Monday

I'm trying to focus on new music. Or at least new to me. 

We are at the point, and have been for a while, to have Tame Impala imitators, or at the very least, those who display an homage to their style. 

Tame Impala is fine, and I don't turn them off when they come on, but I don't actively search them out, nor have I ever purchased some of their music. 

Beach Fossils (a band?  a singular guy?) attempt it with "Don't Fade Away".  It's the guitar work that somewhat separates them / him from the Impalas of the world. But ironically, or not, the guitar work harkens back two decades to bands like the Gin Blossoms, Toad the Wet Sprocket, or Big Head Todd and the Monsters. Maybe even a little Shins thrown into the vocals too - though Tame Impala might be guilty of that too. 

None of that is bad. The fusion of all of this kind of makes it new in its own weird sense. 

"Don't Fade Away" is pleasant and flows along easily and now and then almost has a hook. It works. 

Going Backwards

I cannot keep posting that I'm voting in the most important election of our time. 

The line keeps getting moved.  So, in a certain way, this is the most important election for Ohioans. 

Quick recap:  the GOP run legislature is attempting to make any changes to voter initiated bills / laws to require a 60% majority to pass.  Not 50.1%.  They call it, get this: a super majority. 

The Right is pushing this as a way to keep reproductive rights with straight white men to rule over women's bodies - many of them minorities. And that is how the voting Right is seeing it. 

And it is.  But it is SO much more. 

This is ANY voter-initiated attempt to change things in the state. 

And it's being funded by - ta da - out of state folks.  

What the Right doesn't understand - and honestly even a lot of the Left - is this means any and every would-be change. If there was a repeal of same sex marriage, it would have to be 60% or more. Voting right?  Civil rights?  Medicaid. Education. Elder health. Anything at all. 

So if someone in the GOP makes a change, it is still 60% - and btw, they will pitch a fit if / when they find out this applies to them.  And you can be damn sure, if a Democrat proposed a "super majority" all fucking hell would break loose. 

We got our mail-in ballots (something the GOP wants to limit - surprise surprise) on Friday. We filled them out yesterday and drove them and dropped them in the single drop box in the county - another limitation by the GOP. One single drop off place where people of limited means could not participate in this manner. 

And to top it off, the AG for Ohio, who should be advocating for fair election or law anything is stumping for Issue 1 to pass.  A clear violation of Conflict of Interest, but who's gonna hold him accountable? Not the AG office since he is that already. 

It's fucked up. It's just all fucked up. Which is why I feel all fucked up - still. 

I am heartened by the number of "Vote NO on 1" signs I see.  Yes, we live in a very liberal city, but last weekend we were on the west side which is normally very conservative. I only saw one Vote Yes sign and the rest were all NO.  And the few pics I've seen of lines for early voting were long!  I have to believe (or want to) that this is good for the NO vote. 

Oh - and the special, almost never done before ever August election, was to suppress voter participation as it's during many family holidays, work obligations and back to school shit.  And it's at the taxpayers expense. 

If you're a registered voter in Ohio, you had better get the fuck out there and vote. Early. Or day of. I don't care you're ticket preference. This is going to affect you in so many ways down the line. Do the fucking right thing - for once. 

Song by: Depeche Mode

the Boss

We are kitten heavy today. 

We let Simon out last week. Out of his enclosure. Not out of the house. Never out of the house. 

For the first hour, he stuck to the adjoining room. But now he owns the place. He's brave, feisty and adventurous. He's also figuring out hierarchy. Or we are. 

Simon found the dining room table easy enough. 

We have forgotten how much energy kittens have. We haven't had one for 16 years. 

The word your looking for is: antagonistic. 

.....and adorable. 

....and antagonistic, again. 

He's seems all hype and no followthrough. 

And very inquisitive about everything. 

But when it comes down to it, there can only be one boss. 

Song by: Diana Ross

Struck

I'm not sure the Actor's Strike could come at a worse time for 2023. Big movies are about to open and now without promotion.  Oppenheimer.  Barbie.  Mission: VERY Probable. 

Indiana Jones doesn't have to worry. $250MM to make and it raked in a paltry $26M. That thing is dead in the water.  Maybe that's because somehow Indy ages 41 years, but the span between when Raiders was to have taken place and the new one was only 31. 

I guess dating Marion Ravenwood ages you. Or trying to keep Calista Flockhart out the vomitorium. 

You probs saw that the strike came right when Oppenheimer cast was on the red carpet in London for the film's premiere. When news came of said strike, they all walked out.  OUCH. But I get it. I'm pro-union. 

But Hollywood has a problem. Both writers and actors are currently not working. The Emmys were just announced, (as Mike well knows) and they're possibly soon to have a show with no one there. At least it'll be a quick one. 

Me? I for one am THRILLED there is a strike.Strikes. Plural.  

I'm so far behind on content I need some time to catch up before they make new shit.  And by "some time", I mean, like four years. Even that would require me to quit my job and watch about 18 hours per day......and I'd still be on the second season of Dead to Me. 

The big names won't hurt any. I'm not too worried that Robert Downey Jr. won't eat tomorrow. But the character actors, the extras, the work-a-days: all terribly affected.  And if things aren't being made: directors, lighting, sets, costumes, music, et al, comes to a screeching halt. 

I'm not even sure if the actors performing the Glass Menagerie at the Bonnie Franking Dinner Theater can do their job.  I think we can say everyone dodged a bullet there. Maybe Lincoln should have been there instead of at Ford's Theater. 

But let's hope people get fair deals on their contracts. I'm looking more at the writers than the actors, but even in the latter group, there are a ton just trying to get by. And if it takes a while, I'm declaring myself the winner of Mike's and my quasi-annual Emmy betting thing. 

Song by: Joe Henry

12 of 12

So I'm doing my 159th 12 of 12.

Normally it is 12 pictures taken on the 12th of the month. Since I only post once per day, you get my images the following day. All pictures taken with my iPhone. Click images to enlarge, if you choose.

Created by Chad Darnell and picked up from, what I can tell, any number of random bloggers who then link back to him and vice versa. Chad is no longer doing this, nor is successor coordinating the linking of other 12 of 12'ers anymore. 

03:35.  Apple Watch sign-on.

.....and yes, I'm aware of the time. Thank you. 

04:17.  Packing my healthy lunch. 

04:47.  Parked. Waiting for the gym to open.  Playing Spelling Bee. 

05:09.  Recumbent bike time.  ...because I ran the night before 

06:25. Caffeinate me.  

So Christian did. He's a cute queer kid. Which sounds may or may not be alliteration. 

06:27. Walking in to work.

09:42.  Numbers.  I'm all about numbers. 

17:34.  Leaving the garage. 

Yes, I forgot to take any pics during the day, but to be fair, I never left my office, except to get my lunch from the break room fridge.   ......and to poop.   ...but not in the break room. 

17:58. Doggie Pick-Up. 

18:34.  Came home and had to fold and put away the laundry, which is 90% gym or running clothing. 

19:17.  Hunter. 

Simon is one. He has one of Shep's ducks. He bunny kicks it, tosses it in the air and carries it around. 

Shep is not thrilled, but he hasn't done anything about it either. 

20:47.  Mail in Ballot. 

Ohio is having a special election that is trying to - ironically -  limit our voting rights. 

There you go. 

Warm Ways

I get why women have a second kid after a painful childbirth of the first one. 

Short term memory, I guess. 

Last Saturday was my foray back into the running group I bitched about for the last five months. 

I came from a different place this time. I don't have to like them, or they me. But I'm ok with the structure of the runs. 

Weekends are 4-20 miles, as the weeks progress. Tuesdays are 3-6 miles. 

Yesterday kind of sucked.

While we don't run until 18:00, it was still 87°.  87 fucking degrees.  Add to that another 10 when you're running. 

There were choice of routes - 3 or 4 miles. I went with the latter. On Saturday, I took the longer route too. I think I've put in the work this year and can run with the big boys. Sure, they don't let me play in their reindeer games, but I don't need to. 

I need someone to set up the runs. They don't really hold me accountable, but I do. I have a set date / time and route. The rest is up to me. 

I think, due to the heat, most people opted for the 3 miler. I went the 4. Due to that, I ended up running with one of the coaches. I think they got their feedback from a survey they put out (and I didn't take). Usually they run ahead of everyone and their coaching is "good job", as they pass you. 

But this one, who is way way way faster than I, just stayed with me for a mile. And we chatted. She helped, unknowingly, as it was hot, and I was struggling and it was mile 3 to 4. But I not only kept my pace, I picked it up too. But she wanted to talk, which was ok. 

At the last turn, she stopped to wait for others who might not have known the route. 

My time was ok. I started out super strong, then came the hills. And the heat. 

As much as I complained about running in low double digit temps, I would take that an day over the heat. But it's 15 more weeks of this. In summer. 

It's gonna be hot. 

Song by: Fleetwood Mac

Ad of the Month

I know I did an ad a bit ago with Christopher Meloni. I had to look back, but it's been over a year ago. I'd have sworn it was like 3 months ago. 

I scrolled through my Ads of the Month posts and it's all quite sad. So many of the YouTube links are no longer there........which means, leaving them as (nothing) or seeing if there are new links and replace the old - but that seems like a LOT of work with little pay-off.

This will bother no one but me. 

The ad in question is for Tommy Copper, which does thing like support clothing - joints, muscles and stuff. But like in his other ads - he's nekkid. 

I'll give to Chris - he knows his audience and he has fun with them. 

The ad is on Instagram only - as far as I can tell.  I had to find a way to download it to post it here. 

You're welcome!

My Music Monday

I'm sticking with "new" music in June. 

Queens of the Stone Age have a new disk out. Their first in six years, or so.  

I get that most wouldn't think of me as liking QotSA, and admittedly, I own now albums, though have a few songs. And the only original band member, Josh Homme, isn't unfavorable to look at. I get he wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea, but I'm not everyone. 

The band are harder rock than some of the stuff to which I normally listen, but I like it, just not enough I guess to pry open my wallet it seems. 

Anymore these days, it comes down to:  can I run to it.  The answer is a big fat 'yes'. 

One of their new songs, "Emotion Sickness" is out on XM.......seemingly in high rotation. It's ok, but...you know, just ok. It has a '70s vibe that was driving me nuts - mostly on the chorus - because I couldn't quite place the sound. 

I think it was on the fourth or fifth listen, as I was driving home when I went: "TODD RUNDGREN".  And that's exactly what it sounds like - the chorus, that is. 

The sound is kind of a flashback...........in a good way. 

Hotter Than Hell

I'm drafting this on Saturday prevening. Somewhere between 16:00 and 18:00. 

So there isn't an update for Saturday yet. We could be at Day 5. I see no reason why we, as a planet, would go backward. 

It was just a week ago I wrote about the Canadian wildfires and their probable tie to climate change. 

But for four consecutive days this last week, the Earth has, as you can read, it's hottest recorded days. 

63.01 was the global average temp. Fahrenheit, that is.  It was 62.92 the day before that. 

Great if it's April or October in the U.S, but don't let the seemingly low temp fool you. This is global.  So, where some parts of the planet it's winter and some places - well once had ice caps that weren't shrinking and ice shelves that weren't melting, falling into the ocean and not only raising the water temps, but the level itself. 

For some comparison, here is a graphic from NASA. 

1951-1980, the Global Temp was about 57°.  So yeah, it's going up. 

We're fucked. 

Song by: Dua Lipa

Peek-a-Boo

Well, the good thing about having a kitten:  there are no lack of pictures. Let's just get to it. 

Hiding Simon

Whapping Simon.

He got away with it. 

Shep took out this frustrations on the squirrels at the park. 

Brotherly blonding .

Dip in the lake. 

Hunting skills intact - even though he's now an indoor kitler. 

More bonding. Different window, 

Tempting fate and surviving. 

Song by: Siouxsie and the Banshees