Started in country but now mainly a pop artist, singer-songwriter Taylor Swift is easily the biggest thing to hit music this century. She is now on the Forbes list of billionaires and the film of her current tour is a popular stream on Disney+ even as the tour grinds on. Her relationship with NFL player Travis Kelce gets more attention than his work on the field sometimes. She's got multiple Grammies and seems to drop new or remixed albums annually or more.

So what do you think of this musical juggernaut? Fan? Hater? Indifferent?

Enemy Mine

Time for COFFEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Or TEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEA!

In the coffee pot we've got a dark roast from Costa Rica. For teas, we're doing Irish Breakfast and Russian Caravan. Washed the pitchers and mixed up fresh iced tea and lemonade. Pop is stocked up. Hot water is boiled for other hot beverages.

What's up, folks?

And one day until the big day South of me. Any plans, my American friends/neighbours?

Nowadays, watch at home. Theaters around here are horribly expensive nowadays. Maybe for something on the scale of Avatar, I would still hit a theater.

Graphic novel or text novel?

Loved Dire Straits. "Sultans of Swing" hooked me from the first time I heard it. And Mark's done some interesting work on his own, too.

Baby Metal are an eclectic mix of J-pop (Japanese pop) and metal, fronted by three young women; lead singer Su-Metal, and dancers/backup vocalists Moametal and Momometal (there was also Yuimetal for a while). And while they are all the rage right now, currently hitting all the major European rock festivals, I've been a bit meh on them. Then this catchy teamup with German electronicore band Electric Callboy dropped. Yeah, I can't get this thing out of my head and it's joined my "Energize My day" playlist on Spotify.

Crash (your choice as to whether it is the Oscar-winning ensemble drama or David Cronenberg's somewhat porn-y J. G. Ballard adaptation)

Neither, really. Smoke irritates my respiratory system and I hate the smell. But bonfires can be fun, at least.

Acclaimed cinema or cheesy B-movie for an afternoon time-killer?

Quote by verbal
Woke up INSANELY early today, around 5, awakened by thunder.

Ugh. 5 is a bad time for me. I normally wake up c. 6-6:30 so waking up at 5 means I may not get back to sleep. So vibes. Take it easy.

Finally finishing the Once and Future graphic novel series by Kieron Gillen. Probably mentioned it upthread when I first started it but at the time, the story was not finished (I stopped at issue 18 and the comics went to 30 issues). Now the compilations for the remaining issues are long since out so I am finishing it.

Basic story is some batshit crazy UK Nazis summon King Arthur back to life. Except Arthur, being a Briton who tried to fight off the Saxons, is enraged to find the island ruled by descendents of the Saxons and starts a campaign to wipe the island clean. Against him are Bridgette, an eighty-year-old with long experience dealing with the supernatural, her grandson Duncan, who is the embodiment of the Arthurian knight Percival, and Rose, a young South Asian woman who is the embodiment of Gawain. Oh, and Bridgette's evil daughter/Duncan's mother, who embodies Nimue, Merlin's rival in some Arthurian stories.

It's a dark, bloody horror/dark fantasy story with a universe where stories can become embodied in reality. Besides Arthurian figures, we've had Beowulf and Grendel, a gorgon (from classical mythology and based in the Roman baths in Bath), and a giant going "Fee Fi Fo Fum" getting beaten by a guy named Jack.

And since Arthur is a figure with many different stories, we now have multiple Arthurs fighting over which is "real". So besides the British Dark Age Arthur, we have "romance Arthur" drawing on the continental Arthurian romances with Lancelot as one of his knights and Guinevere as his Queen and Lancelot's lover. And as I broke to go to bed last night, a third Arthur, whose identity I am not yet clear on, showed up.

The artwork by Dan Mora and colourist Tamra Bonvillain is incredible, too, capturing the grim mood of Gillen's story perfectly.

Quote by kistinspencil

There is the obvious assumption here that one has words enough for such leisure. If you have but 100 to cast, an adjective, carefully chosen and considered, is your soul mate.

Which is not to say I disagree when painting on an open canvas.

Yeah, that's kind of why I said it's a rule of thumb more than a hard rule. Even in Flash (100 to 1000 words) or comps and submissions with limits in the 2K-3K range, adjectives are helpful for avoiding tying up words in lengthy descriptive passages.

Quote by Cora
I hope you enjoyed Canada Day, Mendalla.

It was a beautiful day weather-wise so spent the afternoon working on the yard. Got lots done. Back hated me but whatever.

Putting on some Blue Mountain coffee from Jamaica and some Raspberry and Oolong teas. Fridge looks good for today.

Seem to be pretty much blocked writing-wise but keep trying. Too bad, because I have lots of ideas floating around, just can't seem to get them to work on the screen.

O Caaaaaaanadaaaaaaa!

Good morning and Happy Canada Day!! For today, everyone is Canadian while they are here in the cafe.

We've Timmy's Dark Roast coffee, and Red Rose and Canadian Breakfast tea. Hot water is ready for other beverages. Iced tea and lemonade are mixed up fresh and waiting in the fridge. Boxes of Timbits are on the counter for your sugar fix.

Pistachio gelato sounds like something to die for.

Depends on what flavours are being offered, really. I mean, usually ice cream but a favourite sorbet might trump that in the right situation.

Hotel/Motel or camp out?

It's actually been a cool, damp weekend here so far. Not much rain today but lots yesterday. Very windy, though. Tomorrow looks nice, which will be good for the various Canada Day events and parties.

Like all "rules of writing" I think it needs to be taken more as a "rule of thumb" than a "hard rule". It's a best practice and there are times where it is okay to deviate. After all, adjectives do have their place in the language. But, yeah, in general I like this.

I am sure it will delight Anna to know that I am currently watching a livestream of Eivor's performance at Hellfest 2024.

Wow, I make 10 entries, though it's getting hard to count with all the chatter in between.

Way too creepy, unless the ending has the twin sisters waiting eagerly for his arrival. Though their revenge on him and his employer could make his plans look sweet by comparison...😲😈

Quote by JamesPBear
MS Word thinks it's 70 words.

MS Word has some funny ideas sometimes, though. 😜

One weird thing I have noted with LibreOffice Writer is that the dang thing counts the header. So I have to CTRL-A to select the whole body to get a count of just actual text. That's one thing Word gets right, it ignores the header in word count.

G'mornin'

munches on a rocket cookie

Thanks for the cookies, Sara.

Bit grey here but the rain isn't supposed to come until tomorrow so could be worse I guess. Was mostly nice yesterday, anyhow.

Made some rando coffee that was left over in a tin. No idea what it is or how good it is. Could even be our "house blend" (ie. a bunch of ends and dregs). Teas are Red Rose and English Breakfast. Hot water is on for other drinks. Iced tea and lemonade are refreshed for those needing something chillier. And the soda stock is replenished.

Later, alligators.

🤣 at James' entry. Probably the funniest so far.

Quote by verbal
Making popcorn for the debate tonight.

How much will end up in your stomach vs. getting thrown at the screen in rage and disgust? Apparently, I can watch it on CBC Gem, the national network's streaming app. I suspect I would rather have cataract surgery again than watch those two go at it. And Kennedy is having some kind of alternative event where he sits on a stage and responds to what they are saying. It is supposed to be streaming on X and his website.

Woohoo! Some more "hints" in WriterGirl's challenge including a curious Aussie and a bear. This might get more entries than the last official comp at this pace. 😲

Putting on some Las Chicas dark roast in the coffee pot. Teas are Assam and Earl Grey. Hot water is on for other hot beverages. Cold drinks are looking good.

Okay, here it is.

_______________

Walking in the summer heat, I met Goldie. The old man looked nervous, even a bit frightened.

“What’s the buzz?” I asked.

“Mickey’s back.”

My face went pale.

“You’re kidding?”

“I’m not.”

The last thing I needed was Mickey back. I hurried home.

“Mickey’s back,” I told Laura.

My wife stared out the window, then sat down and wept.

A cat’s meow made us both jump.

“Oh no,” I whispered.

Quote by verbal
Dierks Bentley, who we are seeing in August, has an excellent cover of American Girl on it.

Yep, that one is pretty good, too. I haven't got to Rhiannon yet.

Quote by Cora
Hope everything is back to normal now.

The local hydro got things back online fairly quickly. Just had to adjust a bunch of clocks when I got home (wife leaves that for me). Saw a tree down on my way to work this morning in a cemetary of all places. It's a old one from a church that used to be there (the church still exists but moved to a new building less than a kilometer to the West back in the eighties).

Quote by Cora
I have extra bass ear buds; they are excellent.

Oo, I should look into those. Would probably be better for rock and metal than what I have. Wired or Bluetooth?

Quote by Cora
It is a gloomy day today. The past few days there have been severe thunderstorms from night through morning and sporadically throughout the day.

We had that yesterday morning. Then a band of storms came through with high winds that knocked out power in a good chunk of the city. Work was fine but home was out.

Alien : Romulus (upcoming next movie in the franchise)

I have done both. Later is fun. Former is overrated. Not to mention in some snowstorms here you could probably get enough on your tongue to take a drink.

Savoury or sweet?