Posts

It’s fall in Phoenix.

Every generation remakes their immediate world. Dress, slang, music and social norms all change. Those changes then ripple downstream and the next, next generation builds, or deconstructs and refabricates, on that. After half a century, the 60 years olds say they hardly recognize the world while the even older generations say nothing. The world has become an alien place to them.

Back when I was a working stiff – nine and a half months ago – I would watch movies on “pad” devices, iPad at first then Android later, during long airplane flights. Depending on the pad’s capacity, I could carry a dozen movies and a couple of seasons of “Rumpole of the Bailey”, one of my favorite British TV series. Most of these movies and TV episodes were “ripped” (copied) from DVDs we own. In many cases, the purchased media contained extras. These include trailers, behind the scenes segments and, on occasion, a version of the movie narrated by the director, cinematographer, producer and other insiders. Those are fun!

The Martian by Andy Weir, his first novel and soon to be a movie (click for trailer), was originally published on the author’s personal website without charge. You could read it free. That’s “free as in no money.”

When you travel to a place that uses a language you don’t know, things can be challenging. Where’s my hotel? Where can I get something to eat? What sign means “Bathroom” and which is which?

In Vancouver, a naked man displayed a sitar before switching to, aiming, and plucking his banjo at Police officers. Understandably, they “returned fire” with non-lethal ammunition.

Ok, Ok, you’re right. It’s a new toy and I wanted to show it off. You’re absolutely right. But I learned some things and can do better on my next wire antenna.

Writing from the heart occurs in two distinct phases: spew, and then clean it up.