Lazy Sunday CXXIX: Civilization Series

Yours portly is in the midst of his busy Christmas performance season, and wistfully dreams of blowing hours of his life conquering the world as various historical leaders.  I haven’t had much time for world conquering, but I’ve certainly written about the legendary Civilization games for years now.  Here are my posts about this beloved franchise:

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

SubscribeStar Saturday: Showtime!

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It’s the busy Christmas season for yours portly, and last night I made it over the first of two major humps before Christmas break:  the Middle School Christmas Play.  The next hump is the Christmas Concert for my own students, which is this Friday, 8 December 2023, in the morning.

There is a tremendous amount of work that goes into the play, as our school particularly loves to stage light-hearted musical comedies.  You wouldn’t think that a musical would involve substantially more tech setup than a typical play, but it makes the work exponentially more challenging.

The Drama teacher this year did a fabulous job, and created one of the most tech-heavy productions I’ve been involved with so far.  It was a multimedia extravaganza:  songs, choreography, videos, backing tracks, lights, around twenty-five microphones (stationary/hanging mics, floor mics, individual headset mics, wireless handhelds, etc.), and more.

Here is a panoramic view of my sound booth about ninety minutes before the play:

MS Christmas Play 2023 Panorama

The astute observer will note two sound boards/mixing consoles, plus a lighting controller, as well as my $80 refurbished laptop, which does fine if I’m just cuing backing tracks, but otherwise runs like a potato powering a lightbulb.  There’s also the spotlight, two lighting trees with around ten lights each, and a projector screen.  During the production my student assistant and I had to move a projector into place, along with a auxiliary cord running to a DI box, which fed via XLR (microphone) cable to a “snake” onstage, which ran all the way back to us at our booth.  We also had to move a baby grand piano (don’t worry—it was on wheels)!

Setting all of this stuff up is stressful, because it’s usually done in fifty-minute snippets of planning periods.  But the finished product is worth it.

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December 2023 Bandcamp Friday

Here we are again—another Bandcamp Friday.  There’s never been a better time to buy my music.

I released a new EP on Black Friday (24 November 2023), Leftovers.  It’s a short EP of four tracks leftover from my recent composing projects, including an epic-length, eight-minute-plus track from the never-completed Electrock III called “Futura (Magnum Opus III).”  Here’s the delicious album cover:

Leftovers

Tangy!

The first Friday of a bunch of months in 2023—February, March, April, May, August, September, October, November, and December—will feature this pro-indie music observance, a day on which Bandcamp waives its usual 15% commission on sales.

In other words, when you buy my music, almost 100% of it goes to me, instead of almost 85%.

Currently, my entire discography of thirteen releases is $23.39a savings of 50%, which is not bad for thirteen releases.  That’s $1.80 per release—not too shabby!  To purchase the full discography, click on any release, and you’ll see the option to purchase all of them.

You can also listen to a ton of my tunes on YouTube (and it’s free to subscribe!).

My first book, The One-Minute Mysteries of Inspector Gerard: The Ultimate Flatfoot, is $10 in paperback, and just $5 on Kindle.

My second and newest book, Arizonan Sojourn, South Carolinian Dreams: And Other Adventures, is $20 in paperback and $10 on Kindle.

Finally, after I finish Offensive Poems: With Pictures, my planned third book, I’ll be uploading those doodles to Society6 as well.  I have high hopes (perhaps naïvely) for this book, but we shall see.  The doodles are some of my best work—and in glorious color—and without notebook paper lines!

Thanks again for your support!

Happy Friday!

—TPP

TBT^2: Game Review: Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution

Thanksgiving Break is long gone and Christmas Break is still a good ways off, so yours portly doesn’t quite have the time to game that I did just recently.  I’ve had a blast playing my Nintendo Switch Lite lately, especially diving into F-Zero 99.  I’ve been hitting Civilization VI on my PC pretty hard, too, which has fed my highly cyclical video gaming buzz.

So, in the spirit of video game nostalgia, I thought I’d look back to a review of a game that’s not nearly as good as the ones I just mentioned, but which still devoured a ton of my time in late 2021.

With that, here is 10 November 2022’s “TBT: Game Review: Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution“:

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Chapel Lesson: Being Thankful in the Storm

Right before Thanksgiving Break I prepared a chapel devotional for school.  It went undelivered, as our regular chaplain returned after weeks in the hospital.

It turns out that he had a large tumor along a major artery, and nearly bled out and died on at least two occasions.  He has been diagnosed with stage four cancer, and has already begun the usual regimen of chemotherapy and radiation.  Please lift up Father Jason Hamshaw in your prayers.

While I did not deliver this message, it seemed apropos to Father Hamshaw’s diagnosis, and something we all need to remember from time to time.  Here is my message on “Being Thankful in the Storm”:

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Open Mic Adventures LVII: “Firefly Dance”

Over Thanksgiving Break, I renewed my subscription to Noteflight Premium and began fooling around with the software again.  My niece and nephews found it fascinating, and starting writing their own little compositions.

They asked me to write something, and I started with a simple theme in 3/4, which would become “Firefly Dance.”  After they left to go back to their home, I buckled down and expanded the theme into the piece I’m featuring today.

In order to have a working YouTube version available, I scheduled the video to go live this morning (Tuesday, 28 November 2023).

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Monday Morning Movie Review: Hard Rock Zombies (1985) and Hard Rock Nightmare (1988)

Ah, yes—the air is turning crisp and cool.  Stores are bustling with busy shoppers.  Christmas music is blaring across the land.

What better time of year to review two little-known 1980s flicks with “Hard Rock” in their titles?

So it is that I’m diving into a twin review of two quite different films:  Hard Rock Zombies (1985) and Hard Rock Nightmare (1988).

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Lazy Sunday CXXVIII: 2023 Releases

It’s been a prolific year for short-form electronic composing for yours portly.  I’ve released three albums and/or EPs in the past three months:  Spooky SeasonSpooky Season II: Rise of the Cryptids, and Leftovers.  They’re all available on Bandcamp, but also on Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube, etc.

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

SubscribeStar Saturday: Thanksgiving Break 2023

Today’s post is a SubscribeStar Saturday exclusive.  To read the full post, subscribe to my SubscribeStar page for $1 a month or more.  For a full rundown of everything your subscription gets, click here.

It’s been an action-packed Thanksgiving Break for yours portly.  I’ve been busy with family—the best kind of busy—while also trying to snatch some time for myself.  The ankle is doing well, although I have to be careful not to overdo it.

My younger brother’s kids—my niece and nephews—absorbed a good bit of my time once they arrived at my parents’ house, and we had a lot of fun.  We built a couple of LEGO sets together, and I also got all three of them messing around with my composing software.  It’s so fun seeing them placing the notes and trying out different things.  My niece—a very gifted pianist—insisted I transcribe the theme from the Harry Potter films into the software, which was a fun challenge (originally, she wanted me to do it around 9 PM Thanksgiving evening, which I flatly refused on grounds of mental and physical exhaustion).

All in all, it was a good chance to recharge my batteries before the craziness of the end of the school semester.  Once I get back home tomorrow, it’s full steam ahead until Christmas.

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New Release Out Today: “Leftovers”

My latest release, the EP Leftovers, is out today!  You can pick it up on my Bandcamp page for $5, or you can stream it on Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube, and pretty much every other streaming service out there.

My favorite track on the release is “Futura (Magnum Opus III)“; it’s the longest electronic instrumental piece I’ve ever composed, and it’s languished on a hard drive for ten years.  Now it’s finally seeing the light of day.

The other three tracks are pieces I composed and/or arranged while working on Spooky Season and Spooky Season II: Rise of the Cryptids, but which didn’t fit the themes of those albums—thus this EP’s title!.  They include “Augmented Fifthality” (an experiment in augmented fifths); “Carousel” (a bouncy bit of classical composing); and “Chorale for a Sleepy Wednesday Afternoon” (a laid-back little instrumental chorale).

I’d be honored if you gave these Leftovers a listen.