Welcome Distractions
A better way to waste your weekend.
books | music | short stories | rambling
Hi! You’re here! Thank you.
The Blue Jays are in the playoffs, which is something I won’t write about. But it means that my evenings are shot when they play. I’ve been a huge fan since I was a kid, and it’s the rare time that I’ll put the TV on for myself. (My fixation on Australian reality TV is a subject for another week. Declan and Sarah are expecting!)
All that to say that this week was a little quieter than usual, only two books and two music features (including another Australian band!).
Oh hey: I wrote a flash fiction piece! I’m still fussing with it, but I think it’s really strong. It’s called “Lucky Socks”, but you can’t read it yet.
After careful consideration, I’ve decided I’m going to submit it to journals when it’s done. Let’s see if I can add something new to my CV.
…plus I get to learn about the process! I’ve never done anything like this before, and didn’t expect to be shopping a piece of writing. If you’d asked me on Monday I would have said I have no interest in writing fiction. And yet!
First step: figuring out where and how to submit. Got suggestions? Lay ‘em on me.
What I hope will happen? The piece gets a accepted by one of the spots that I read every day, and after that happens, I can post it on my own site for posterity.
What I suspect will happen? A slow withering of the soul, and a Thursday post of the story on Turn & Work without much fanfare.
Stay tuned to find out how it goes!
And now:
Off the blog: links you shouldn’t miss
Coda Music is live. What’s got my attention is that their goal is to pay the artists more money, more fairly. I’m going to try to post this week’s Setlist on there, if you check it out you can follow me, I’m turnandwork (duh).
Matthew “The Oatmeal” Inman’s take on AI art. I like this so much. In a year or so when these AI slop generators aren’t free anymore, we’ll see how many people still evangelize this stuff.
…when I watch AI Videos, I get the sense that the people making these things are unable to come up with anything genuinely clever beyond the feat itself.
They aren't commenting on anything but themselves.
Maybe they can’t.
Niko Stratis has the only Taylor Swift take I’ll share. Mostly because it’s only partly about Taylor Swift. Stratis is such great writer.
When a Gang Bang Becomes a Love Story: just read the piece. I can’t describe it.
Wikipedia’s List of Music Considered “The Worst”. I love this so much. There are some real guilty pleasures on there. It reminded me of this article about Grace Slick, that includes her thoughts on “We Built This City”:
“There isn’t a city built on rock’n’roll! Los Angeles was built on oil and oranges and the movie business…Stupid song. But our producer said, ‘Yeah, but it’s a hit.’ And he was right.”
There’s a new collection of Daphne du Maurier’s short stories coming out. Like Edith Wharton, du Maurier’s best work is not her most well known. I grew up not knowing that The Birds was based on a short story!
What got your attention this week? Got a hot take on something? Hit reply and let me know.
On the Blog
Listening:
Platonic Sex is an Australian indie band that is intimate and introspective, but not in the way you might expect.
haloplus+ is an alt-pop band that does embraces wild ideas with contagious enthusiasm.
Backstories from Brooklyn indie artist Leilani Patao and last week’s featured artist Ea Othilde
The Setlist: feature tracks from blue zero, Yada Yada and LAILA. More here.
Listen on Apple Music or Spotify.
Reading:
New flash fiction from Ashton Russell, and a post with links to more of her work.
It Lasts Forever and Then It’s Over is an excellent, literary zombie novel, narrated by one of the zombies
Sympathy Tower Tokyo is a kind of sci fi book, just LOADED with ideas. The kind of thing that follows you around when you’re done reading.
The Shortlist: Nine stories to keep you busy this weekend. Check them out here.
Something I should read or hear? Send it my way
Next week: More great music. I have high hopes for the Nightbus and Wax Jaw records. A very cool feature on JoobiSeaz, and features on new records by Bloodsports, Skullcrusher and Jouska. (sounds hardcore, but just you wait).
-hugh
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