A couple of weeks back, TYG and I went to a display of live animals at the Raleigh Museum of Science and Nature. The highlight of which was a two-toed sloth.
I’ve seen sloths in museums before, but mostly they hang around doing little. Which is fine, they’re not there to entertain me. This one though? When she realized lunch was on the way, she got lively.
The woman feeding her eventually got the sloth to stretch into the “spider-man” pose.
Here are a few more animals from the same display.
There’s also this strange diorama figure. A friend of mine suggested the bird the man was holding was to make the fledglings think they were dealing with a mama bird. Sounds plausible.
One of the great things about moving up here is that there’s so much to do, more than we can ever get around to. Coolness.
TYG has been a huge fan of folk musician Rhiannon Giddens since catching Giddens when she was just starting out. We went to her local concert last year and Monday, she was performing in Durham again, so …
As you can tell we were waaaay close to the stage. We got to see Giddens up close, and she was clearly over the moon about performing. As with her last concert, she had a roster of talent performing too: Mavis Staples, Blind Boys of Alabama, Rissi Palmer, Toshi Reagon. I don’t know any of those names (music is not one of my fields of expertise) but damn, they can sing.
Trouble was, rather than wrapping up around 9:30, the concert ran until well after 10. Then we had to get an Uber home. Then we had to dose the dogs. We crawled into bed around 12:30 AM which is late for us (particularly me). That left me off my game Tuesday (which I’d anticipated) but the rest of the week as well. I think maybe I had some sort of mild bug or my pollen allergy kicked in — I shouldn’t have felt as wiped as I did. Though the concert was still worth it.
I got in an article for The Local Reporter, though in our new format, it won’t be out for a week or so. Over at Atomic Junk Shop I blogged about Marvel’s execrable War Is Hell series and the appeal of Bill Bixby in The Incredible Hulk (a repost from this blog). I got some work done on Savage Adventures because proofing nonfiction doesn’t require the kind of creative thought that writing fiction does. And following the two shorts I sent off last week, I submitted a third short story, “Champions of Darkness,” this week. It’s a no-pay market but there aren’t that many places to submit a 6,000 word reprint so I’m cool with it.
At this point, 2026 is one third over (you may have noticed). It’s tricky to assess my performance so far, given that a lot of it is long-term stuff (e.g., two drafts of Let No Man Put Asunder). I’m doing well on short stories, not just submitting but writing them: “Oh the Places You’ll Go” is finally done, for instance, though I haven’t found a market yet. “Honey on the Grave” and “Die and Let Live” are both looking closer to finished than they have before.
However I’m way behind on writing Impossible Takes a Little Longer or Let No Man Put Asunder. I think I can still get in two drafts of each but it’s looking tougher. Part of that’s because I used up the vacation time and “time off for disaster” that I’d budgeted in this year. Which, of course, doesn’t guarantee I won’t have to take more time off for more disasters … fingers crossed.
Financially, things are still dismal. Dog drug expenses are up, other expenses have been up and with Local Reporter dropping back to monthly coverage, income has been down. I’ve been looking around for more freelance work, no luck so far (while we are a two income family, I do take some satisfaction in covering my designated share of the bills).
Health, last time I had it checked, is good. Weight down a little, blood pressure back down. Exercise was off with everything else this week, but hopefully not enough to reverse the improvement.
And now May. Let’s hope for reasonably smooth sailing.
Cover by Gil Kane. All rights to images remain with current holders.
Recently TYG and I went to the local Ackland Museum as we do every so often. One of their exhibits was a wall of color, a collection of bright paintings on one wall. I think they set it up well.
Here’s a modern piece of pottery in the design of an old Greek vase.
Here’s some random art
We had to leave the car at the top of the parking garage, which was full for some college event. Can’t beat the view, though.
All rights to art images remain with current holders.
A few weeks back, TYG and I went to a baroque music concert at a local church. It’s more her kind of thing than mine but I did enjoy the music. And the church looks cool.
WAKE UP, DEAD MAN (2025) is the third of Daniel Craig’s outings as ace detective Benoit Blanc, following Knives Out and The Glass Onion. Josh O’Connor plays Father Jud, a boxer who turned into a priest as a path to redemption after viciously beating his opponent in the ring to death. He’s assigned to the small-town parish of Monsignor Jefferson Wicks (Josh Brolin), a hellfire-and-brimstone preacher who looks down on Jud’s belief the church should offer grace and lift people up, not punch down at them. Wicks’ reverential flock included a failing doctor (Jeremy Renner), a frustrated lawyer (Kerry Washington), a devout believer (Glenn Close) and others. When Wicks walks into an alcove in full view of the flock and comes out stabbed to death, who could have done it? And how?
Craig is delightful as he relishes the prospect of a genuine locked-room impossible crime but there’s less of him in the movie and it suffers thereby. Beyond that, the movie felt off to me in a way I couldn’t pin down until I read Camestros Felapton’s review — the problem is that it’s a Catholic Church but the trappings, the sermons are very much right-wing Protestant and it doesn’t quite work (Kirsten Kobes du Mez, however, argues it works in many ways). Still, it’s a fun one to watch. “They all look like John Goodman in THE BIG LEBOWSKI.”
TYG has never seen THE TERMINATOR (1984) so we watched my DVD for a recent date night. Having imagined it as an over the top spectacle like the Avatar films or True Lies she was pleasantly surprised by the tense, low-budget story of cyborg Arnold Schwarzenegger traveling back in time to alter history by killing Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) and Michael Biehn jumping back to stop him. The story is set up so we don’t know who’s who or which side they’re on or what it’s all about at first; for all the jokes about Schwarzenegger at the time (who better to play an emotionless inhuman robot?), he’s effectively menacing here.
The film’s opening acknowledgement to the work of Harlan Ellison reflects his view that it ripped off his Outer Limitsepisodes “Soldier” (visually the openings do have a lot in common) and “Demon With a Glass Hand” (I’m not convinced) though I think the film is enough of its own thing that it stands on its own. The start of a long-running franchise and a fine movie in its own right. “He won’t stop until he finds you. That’s what he does — that’s all he does.”
TYG bought me a collection of three early Fritz Lang silents on DVD for Christmas, the first of which is HARAKIRI (1919), a film that show Germans are as susceptible to Orientalism as Americans. This adaptation of Madame Butterfly is competently made but not terribly interesting, and the jerk male lead deserve to be soundly slapped. “You lost your belief in Buddha — beware his wrath!”
It’s a big week for TYG related films — although she’s a fan of HIGH FIDELITY (2000) she’s never seen it on the big screen so that was last weekend’s date movie (it played at the Carolina Theatre here). John Cusack plays Rob, a record-store owner and something of a jerk who’s just gone through Number Five of his all-time worst breakups, with girlfriend Laura (Iben Hjelje). This sends him into his flashback booth to contemplate lost loves including Lili Taylor and Catherine Zeta-Jones — why didn’t it work out? Is there a pattern here? Meanwhile he has to ride herd on his peculiar staff, most notably Jack Black in his breakout role as an obnoxious music nerd.
My only reservation when I watched this originally was wondering why Laura should be The One when she didn’t stand out compared to his past girlfriends. Now I’m inclined to see it as Rob having grown up enough to handle being in love, which he definitely wasn’t earlier. Based on Nick Hornsby’s novel, the cast includes Joan Cusack as Rob’s sister, Sara Gilbert as a music nerd and Tim Robbins as a possible romantic rival. “I’ve been listening to my gut since I was 14 years old, and frankly speaking, I’ve come to the conclusion that my guts have shit for brains.”
On one of our late-2025 dates, TYG and I once again attended the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle’s fund-raiser dinner. Good music, good, food, and Whitehall Antiques is an interesting place to wander through.
Hope the pretties give you a nice start to the day.
Not that I’m feeling Scrooge-ish or anything. As I said yesterday, it was a good December despite having to stint on my usual Christmas entertainment. But I was reflecting this week that Christmas season is one of the few big events in our calendar.
We don’t travel together (we don’t want to leave the dogs with someone else — at their age a health problem could happen any minute, and sometimes does). I don’t go to the Mensa national gathering regularly like I used to (it’s harder to justify spending the money without TYG there) and we haven’t gone to Dragoncon since the pandemic. There are no big regular family events for us to attend. That makes Christmas time that much more special, something to look forward to. That’s only possible because it ends, leaving us waiting (sort of) for next Christmas.
I’m happy to say goodbye for now. Only 11 months till we buy the next tree, whoo-hoo!
Christmas was low-key — us and the pets — and good. German apple pancake for breakfast, then presents, then naps, then, as always, A Christmas Story. Then a game I bought TYG for Christmas, The League of Lexicon. The naps were needed because TYG got up earlier than usual after Plushie fell off the bed. In a Christmas miracle, he didn’t wreck his leg or any other part of his body.
Gifts? From my friend Ross I got the movie Alias Nick Beale. From my bro, an Oberlin College t-shirt (he was in that area recently). From TYG McVitties digestive biscuits (mmmmm), a Cheescake Factory gift card (like League of Lexicon that’s an “us” gift) and a collection of the great German director Fritz Lang’s. Plus a book, The CIA Book Club.
Other than that, the week was spent working like a demon on finishing Jekyll and Hyde. It’s going slower than I hoped but not so slow I can’t finish it up Wednesday. Not guaranteed though, so we’ll see.
Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it. Also Happy Holidays, Cool Yule, Kickin’ Kwanzaa, Happy Hanukkah and Fab Festivus.
Cover by Nick Cardy, all rights remain with current holder.
As long-time readers may recall, I usually immerse myself in Christmas classics and treacly Christmas movies throughout December. When I’m working on a film book, there’s a mix of book-related films and Christmas films. But I’ve never had a book wrapping up at the end of December before.
When I set that timeline last year, I was confident I’d have everything wrapped up by now and mostly be doing final edits and proofing. That didn’t work out. I should have known, because I don’t think I’ve ever done one that wasn’t a rush to finish. And I’m doing better than I did with The Aliens Are Here, where I had to ask McFarland for an extra month.
The rush to finish, plus all the extra pet care I’ve blogged about, means less social activity than I’d usually see in a month. No going out for tea, and our only party is my writer’s group Christmas party.
And yet it’s been a good Christmas season. I feel Christmassy.
We have a gorgeous tree.
I picked some great gifts for TYG. We have stuff to worry about (who doesn’t?) but no catastrophes. And I just feel very happy, really appreciative that I have an awesome wife, a home and our four adorable (if somewhat troublesome pets). That’s more than many people have at Christmas time (I have a colleague whose spouse died last Christmas).
Part of why I made a habit of so many Christmas movies was that I lived alone and spent a lot of Christmas mornings alone over the years. That’s no longer the case. I still enjoy flooding the zone, don’t get me wrong, but it seems I don’t need it.
Merry Christmas to me. And TYG. And our pets. And all you Whos out in Whoville. Contrary to Dr. Seuss, Christmas Day isn’t always in our grasp — but if it is, I hope you’ve been able to seize and enjoy it.
With three days of work this week, I poured myself into getting a first full draft of Jekyll and Hyde written. I pretty much succeeded.
(No relation to the topic, I just like showing photos of Wisp).
There’s still lots and lots of work to do and some of the later chapters need heavy revision. I’m not completely satisfied with the chapter breakdown (some chapters are too short, some have the wrong mix of movies). But getting to a milestone makes me feel I got something accomplished this month, despite all the vet appointments, errands and contractors that got in the way. It gets me excited to surge forward in December.
Other than that, nothing much written (but that’s enough, right?) as the Local Reporter had a week off. Over at Atomic Junk Shop I had two posts related to the Silver Age collections I reviewed Sunday. One looked at two good Superman stories dealing with Superman lookalikes —
— while the other looked at how DC’s science fiction anthologies in the early 1950s anticipated the Silver Age. For example giving us an early, if unsuccessful superhero in Captain Comet —
— and in one story pitting him against a prototype for Gorilla Grodd.
On the medical front, mixed news. My iridotomy was a success, which is good for my eyeballs. Trixie’s new medicine has improved her energy and reduced her cough. Even if she doesn’t look energetic in this photo, trust me she is.
Plushie’s surgeon, unfortunately, agrees with our vet that he’s not healing as well as we’d hoped. Worst case, more surgery and longer recovery; best case, he’s just healing slower than expected. We have another recheck next month. Prayers and positive thoughts appreciated.
Of course TYG and I also had Thanksgiving yesterday. A quiet, lazy day with a big lunch at Cafe Parizade, which hosts a massive vegan event every year. Awesome food; it was difficult but I stopped just short of discomfort.
All rights to images remain with current holders. Superman cover by Curt Swan, Strange Adventures by Murphy Anderson.
One of TYG and my recent date nights was a chamber music concert at Duke Chapel. She told me, correctly, that even if I didn’t care for the music, the chapel was awesome.
As it turns out I did enjoy the music, though I’m not as much of a classical music lover as TYG (I know I don’t appreciate the finer points). But yes, the chapel was amazing to see. Have a look.
My brother and I went to visit it when he came to Durham last year. Drenching rain put an end to that plan. Glad to have finally seen it.
