"All apologies"

(With apologies (sic.) to Nirvana.)

I never hear what I want when I'm the one being apologized to. I try to remember this when it's my turn to apologize.

LOST IN SPACE, various dir.

Our kids resent us for Climate Change. We knew it was going to be something -- but that?  Did we listen to too much Donald Fagen, or did we listen to too little? 

It doesn't matter, just like meeting Rick Mercer's One-Tonne Challenge doesn't matter. Our kids will die a horrible death. 

So, yeah -- it's a hoot watching Will Robinson drive in Season 3. But if that vehicle ever conks young Will is toast. Better to sing along with Ajay Parikh-Friese, Three Little Birds. He makes the song his own. 

In this equation we are all Dr. Smith, really.

I saw Lost In Space on Netflix.  

Ready!

I expect I'll make other changes to the July 21 post but they will be superficial and you get Luce's drawing. I said "Tired iPod"and got this in a hot minute. He's got that thingy that goes straight to the computer. Give Luce a try, won't you? 

May 14, 2022 -- the last of the iPods rolls off the line

This post was borrowed off my blog here. But it pertains. Plus there's a hot new illo!

It would be disingenuous not to comment -- Google "Whisky Prajer infernal device" if you need some idea of how long this hate/hate affair has been going on. But Apple has changed the way we listen.  

Here are 5 Apple iPod moments I experienced: 

5) -- Podcasts. They took their very name from Apple. You have your favorites -- please mention them in the comments. Mine include Nalah Ayed's Ideas and Diarmaid MacCulloch's Gifford Lectures Silence in Church History. Professor Ayed's radio show can be easily subscribed to (the Corporation is very friendly!) and it isn't tricky to turn YouTube into sound files -- Google it, or talk to me.

4) -- Playlists. I keep them around long after they've served their earthly purpose. Speaking of which... 

3) -- "Donald and Walter" Okay, this is where Apple's randomizer gets lazy: it would rather play off the six "solo" discs than play anything from the Steely Dan oeuvre. Yet it was The Dan I sang along to when I was "out." You could say (and I do) that Steely Dan -- and my wife -- kept me alive. 

2) -- Nicolas Deletailles. I was probably listening to Bach: 6 Cello Suites when she poked her head in. I had the Blue Box propping open my hotel room door. She said she was looking for her daughter. I took down her particulars, but it was all just a ruse. She was on the lookout for hanky-panky. Between the classical music, the black coffee and Toronto's National Newspaper I'd have done better if I'd hosed the room down with Eau du Sweaty Sock. She left as she came -- daughter-less -- and I was free to enjoy my paper and music until the next ringette game or Boston Pizza, whichever came first.  

1) -- Apple Music. Or Spotify. Or YouTube Music, what-have-you. I have seen Google Play Music go and I have lamented its passing. When it can't be helped I use HDtracks.com and SoundConverter to change them into files I can use. Otherwise I use CDJuicer and rip CDs into mp3 files that confuse these old ears of mine. (Check Google -- you'll see I'm hardly alone.)

  

I listen to the iPod "Classic" and when it finally joins that click-wheel in the sky I'll reach for something just like it -- the Sony Walkman probably. I like the size of it -- big enough for the home stereo and the car -- I like headphones, and I like the GUI. 

Apple has changed the way we listen to everything. 

DA 5 BLOODS, dir. Spike Lee

Odie Henderson really digs Da 5 Bloods, a Spike Lee joint. You should probably read that. Me, I thought Da 5 Bloods could be junkier. The beauty of Apocalypse: Now and The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (both of which are name-checked early) is the viewer can almost taste the desperation -- of not just the actors but the filmmakers too. There's none of that here, although the cast is suitably slovenly. You might like it, though. Check it out and let me know in the comments.

THE DISCOVERY, dir. Charlie McDowell

 We've all lost somebody close. It is this film's breathtaking premise that the only thing shopping us from slipping the surly bonds of earth is... information! 

For nearly two hours it is the film's genius to make the viewer wonder Why not just off myself? If that's your idea of a good time you're welcome to it. Me, I'll be cueing up Joshua Judges Ruth or watching the TV of David Lynch yet again. 

"FIRE!"

The Hamilton Fire occurred across the street from me. And yet it kinda wasn't a big deal? 

It was hot and windy. I heard sirens around four o'clock. I could smell the fire when the wind blew a certain way, but that was rare. The wifi came down as did the Internet and cable. So did power. 

One girl checked all the rooms, another called my wife. I lay back, put on the cans and listened to Led Zeppelin. Like I said: no trouble. 

When the power came back up I videoed the wife and kids and did my best Stevie from "Malcolm In The Middle" -- one breath per word, and a wheelchair. White as the driven snow, but what are you gonna do? I'm just glad to be alive. 

Richards Re:dux

Because I wish I wrote it (though I don't begrudge Gerald Howard the drug trip) here is Performance Anxiety. 

Re: covery

Choir -- a non-starter. I sound bad. I used to sound good -- as in Mennonite basso good. Now I just sound bad

Oscar Isaac -- I'm watching Moon Knight the same comic book that a young Bill Sienkiewicz  cut his teeth on in the early '80s. (Yeah, I remember, Bill. Hey, Dear Reader, you should follow him on Facebook. He's not fussy (witness...)). The Corporate Rodent gets Disassociative Identity Disorder (DID) wrong (it's kinda the flavour-of-the-month in TV-land) but Oscar gets the character of Marc Spector. And any soundtrack with Engelbert Humperdinck is bad in a good way (unlike my singing (or guitar playing -- about which, more later) which is just plain bad). 

I watch Moon Knight on Disney+. 

"Ramble On," Led Zeppelin -- how does a song which doesn't make a lick of sense last over 50 years? Rick Beato lays it all down. 

"Hey, Google: what are the best headphones to practice guitar in?" Boss Waza-Air rates a mention, but only just. After that it's Sennheiser, Audio-Technica and other expensive brands. I mention Sennheiser HD 650 because I already have the Yamaha THR10c and as with other THR amps placement is all. If you're not standing in the "sweet spot," forget it. There's no tube "feel," nothing. It just sounds tinny. Try tilting it up, or something. Or mebbe try expensive headphones!

Linux -- it's ridiculously easy. If you already have an old laptop, tablet, whatever why wouldn't you give it a try? I don't know where it's got this difficult "programmer's" reputation from. 

And lastly , John Darko is worth following. Entirely out of my price range, but worth following. 

Disney+

Song of the South is a non-starter, of course (you were looking for Riley's First Date or The Sound of Music maybe?). 

But Pinocchio is a go, as are the Don Bluth years. I recommend Obi-Wan Kenobi. But I'm also the guy who recommends Star Wars Vintage: The Clone Wars.  Hey, it's by the same team that delivered Samurai Jack and that's not bad!

While you're there you may as well watch Mickey and The Three Musketeers.  I hate that little turtle, but what are you gonna do? Move the story forward, always move the story forward. 

Write a book!

I spent most of 2021 and some of 2022 in a coma. I "woke up" and I'd lost my wife's brother and mother. You want to write a book? Hey, me too! In the meantime read Maud Newton's Ancestor Trouble: A Reckoning and a Reconciliation -- it's what I'll be doing.  

Julia Kasdorf, and the company she keeps

"For the most part writers from my tribe produce work I'd rather not read" I said so here. Julia Kasdorf is the exception, and Michial Farmer is the reason for that. 

Full disclosure: Michial is somebody I Facebook-know. Hey, you can Facebook-know him, too! Just say Prajer sent you.