Tag: 2025

Phone it in Friday CVI: YouTube Roundup CLXVI: 31 Days of Halloween, Part I

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On 1 October 2025 I launched a YouTube Shorts series, 31 Days of Halloween.  The concept is simple:  one, one-minute (or shorter) Halloween/horror movie review every day for the month of October.  These reviews are super lo-fi—just yours portly recording on a phone, sitting at a desk.  No frills, no fancy editing, just me giving my impressions of the films in an unscripted, fast way.

In case you’ve missed any installments, I’m featuring the first few episodes today!

A quick note:  most of the links below are Amazon Affiliate links, typically linking to the movie on DVD or Blu-Ray, as well as the books they’re based upon (or the novelizations of the films).  I receive a portion of any purchases made through those links, at no additional cost to you.

Day 1: Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)

Day 1 is the 1983 classic Something Wicked This Way Comes, the adaptation of the classic Ray Bradbury novel.

Grab it on DVD here: https://amzn.to/42dfK8Y

Or get the book: https://amzn.to/4nuKBq4

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Memorable Monday: Happy Labor Day [2025]!; New Releases!

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Pick up my newest releases, Electrock III: Euroclydon and Säx, for 50% with promo code storm (promo code is good for any release and works through 1 October 2025).

Another glorious Labor Day has dawned here in the United States.  I hate the Communists, but God Bless those red diaper babies for getting us a random day off in September.

This Labor Day is particularly auspicious:  I’m releasing two albums today, Electrock III: Euroclydon and Säx.  I was hoping to release a third, Ringtone Circus, but my distributor, CD Baby, took issue with the use of the word “Ringtone” in the title.  Apparently, that set off some kind of filter against what they call “pre-cut ringtones,” which they do not and will not distribute.

I pointed out that I was using the name euphemistically, and that the pieces are not ringtones, but, alas, I had to change the title of the album and its related track.  So now I’ll be releasing the album as Triple Deluxe on Monday, 15 September 2025.

I’m also working on Spooky Season IV, which still has a long way to go before it’s ready for distribution and release.  It will likely be my last full-length release for the year, with Leftovers V landing the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Otherwise, I’m not sure what today has in store for yours portly.  I do know that the first couple of weeks of school have already kicked my butt (but they’ve been awesome), so I’m hoping to catch up on some rest today.  Dr. Fiancée has to work, sadly, but such is residency.

With that, here is 2 September 2024’s “Memorable Monday: Happy Labor Day [2024]!“:

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TBT^256: Back to the Grind 202[5]

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Well, the long, glorious, hot summer is over—at least for yours portly.  Yes, the summer heat beats on, but I’m back at work today.

It’s that time of year again:  the academic year.  The poor public school teachers (and kids!) have already been back to school.  No student should darken the door of a schoolhouse in July—that’s just brutal.  July should be completely devoid of any structured learning in a classroom.  Kids should be reading for fun, splashing in the pool, running around getting heat stroke, not locked in a stuffy classroom.

And what of the poor teachers?  I’m spoiled—I’ve taught almost all of my professional life, with the exception of two years from 2009-2011.  June and July are sacred.  I don’t to put pants on in July, much less a long-sleeved shirt and a tie.

Not that August is much better.  In my considered opinion—not based on what is best for the student, but what is best for me—school should start the Tuesday after Labor Day and the Friday before Memorial Day Weekend.  The school year is entirely too long (for students, too).

But I digress.  No one ever wants to hear a teacher complain—“I have to work every day!”  Well, I became a teacher for a reason:  summertime (and because it’s my calling and I sincerely love it—just not in August)!

With that here is 8 August 2024’s “TBT^16: Back to the Grind 202[4]“:

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SubscribeStar Saturday: Sid Meier’s Colonization (1994)

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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.

Before I dove headlong back into Civilization VII, I spent a solid two or three weeks playing Sid Meier’s Colonization on Governor difficulty (the penultimate difficulty level).  I finally won a game as the Dutch, with a strong colonial basis in modern-day Argentina and Chile:

I first played this game in the mid-1990s when I was a kid.  I was hooked immediately, and this game is largely responsible for sparking my interesting in teaching American history.  It also ignited a lifelong interest in the American Revolution.

So, how does it hold up thirty-one years after its release?

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SubscribeStar Saturday: Reassessing Civilization VII

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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.

Yours portly has finally dived back into Civilization VII after almost three months away from the game.  The hiatus was not due to disinterest, but rather to the overwhelming busyness of the end of the school year.  Longtime players of Civ games—or any other franchise or game in which picking up after an extended break is difficult—will understand how the thought of returning to a half-finished save file is challenging, as you’ve likely forgotten what you were doing and what your goals were.

That made it difficult to return to my last save file, but when I play Civ VII, I need hours of uninterrupted time to lose myself in the game.  I’ve never been good at playing for an hour or two and then heading to bed.  I need to know I have three or four hours to dedicate to the game, and that my plate is clear of any obligations or tasks.

Naturally, that state of limitless free time is rare for yours portly, except for two months every year:  June and July.  Yes, I’m keeping busy with writing blog posts, teaching lessons, practicing piano, filming silly YouTube shorts, planning a wedding, etc.; but after dinnertime, I’ve got hours of gaming goodness ahead of me.

That’s all to say that, after a few weeks of dipping into Colonization, I’m back to Civilization VII.  The game has had a number of updates (with version 1.2.2 coming soon, promising massive map sizes and other improvements), and they have really improved the gameplay experience.  It’s still not perfect, but the game is getting better.

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SubscribeStar Saturday: Fondled!

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Yours portly has been flying more frequently, which is out of character for me.  My older brother lives in Indianapolis, and I’ve flown up there twice this year so far for various events (and will do so a third time this summer).

Between the two trips, I’ve somehow set off TSA’s full body scanner three times.  No, dear reader, yours portly is not some kind of chaos agent attempting to smuggle more than three ounces of shampoo into the airport.  For some reason, my manly area is setting off the scanner.

At first I thought it was the pants I was wearing.  I wear these Member’s Mark mason pants (just $15 a pair at Sam’s Club!) and they have a brass (or some similar metal) button above the zipper.  I figured those were setting off the scanner.

So on the way home from Indy, I wore a pair of shorts with a plastic button.  Surely, I thought, I’d be immune from setting off the scanner, but I set it off nonetheless.

Is it the zipper?  We’ve all heard of microplastics; are there micrometals?  Is my personal area full of tiny particles of metal?

Regardless of why I keep setting off these scanners, let me explain to you, dear reader, what it is like to be fondled by Uncle Sam.

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SubscribeStar Saturday: Minecraft Camp 2025 Postmortem

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Ah, ’tis the season for postmortems.  I’ve gotten another Minecraft Camp in the books, and it was another good year.

For my British readers who might find the conflation of “Minecraft” and “Camp” confusing, allow me to clarify:  in America, “camp” can be a.) a woodsy outdoor adventure, consisting of “roughing it” in a cabin or tent and staying overnight in such accommodations or b.) any sort of hobby or activity in which children (or, in some cases, adults) spend part of a day (or a full day, or overnight) pursuing for fun or learning.

Minecraft Camp is the latter—it is a “day” camp, meaning children just attend for a few hours (9 AM to 12 PM) and then go home.  When the camp first began way back in 2014, we actually went from 9 AM to 3 PM for five days, but I found that was too much for students (and me).  When the school instituted summertime hours that closed campus on Fridays, I shifted to a Monday-through-Thursday morning camp.

Even with that reduced camp time, I find that students still start to get a little weary of playing Minecraft by the end of the third day, especially the younger ones.  It’s a bit like a little kid thinking that eating forty-seven scoops of ice cream would be amazing, but by the fourth scoop, he’s ready to stop; by the eighth, he’s ready to vomit.

So I always provide some alternative activities.  The big favorite is LEGOs.  I bring a huge box of them, and kids are free to tinker and build with them to their hearts’ content; some of the kids built some cool stuff this year.  My counselors also started playing Hangman with some of the kids, which was a big hit.  Additionally, we take a couple of “screen-free” breaks in the sunshine, and the kids will shoot hoops or kick a soccer ball around.  On the last day of camp, I brought King’s Hawaiian Rolls—a time-honored Minecraft Camp tradition—which the kids devoured with the pitiless fervor of the sea lion.

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SubscribeStar Saturday: Spring Jam 2025 Postmortem

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On Friday, 23 May 2025 I hosted the fifth annual Spring Jam Recital on my front porch.  It is one of two front porch recitals I host each year, the other being the Spooktacular in October.

This year’s Spring Jam featured a fairly intimate crowd, with seven students in total performing, as well as my buddy John playing some pre-recital tunes.  I think it was slightly larger than last year’s, especially as one little girl brought not only her parents and brother, but a number of extended family members as well.  One of the parents, a local restauranteur, brought delicious wings from one of her establishments.

As usual, my Mom made her famous Rotel dip, this time with sausage added.  My Dad and my younger brother grilled up some all-beef hot dogs, and Dr. Fiancée helped with selling t-shirts and getting the table set with my mother.  My niece and one of my nephews played, too; it’s always fun having a family get-together mixed in with the recital.

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SubscribeStar Saturday: More Dubious Graduation Day Wisdom

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Today is another graduation, which means it’s time for yours portly to dish out some more dubious graduation day wisdom.  The older I get, the more I realize that the only certainty we can have is found in Jesus Christ.  Human frailty is such that, no matter how hard any of us try, we are going to let even people we love down—and they’ll let us down (don’t worry, no one I love has let me down lately—ha!—and I hope I haven’t done the same, I’m just noting a general Truth).  Perhaps that is the greatest wisdom I have to offer, younglings:  put your trust and faith in the Lord.

But besides the preachy stuff, what about more spicy nuggets of enlightenment?  Come, gather at my feet, and let me teach you.

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SubscribeStar Saturday: “Irish Clover”

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Pickup my newest release: The Galactic Menagerie!  Use promo code obesekangaroos to take an additional 20% off all purchases on Bandcamp!  Code expires at 11:59 PM UTC on Friday, 4 April 2025.

Want to play the sax?  Read my ultimate guide to getting started for under $350.

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.

With Saint Patrick’s Day earlier this week, I decided to compose a little piece to commemorate the holiday.  Due to some pressing work, it took me a few days to finish it, but it’s a jaunty little piece.

Here’s the manuscript of the piece, which I jotted down on Saint Patrick’s Day (17 March 2025):

“Irish Clover” is written for piccolo, flute, classical guitar, and harp.  I have no idea if I composed the harp part correctly (in other words, if it is actually playable on a harp), but it sounds good!  That’s the beauty of electronic music:  you can do whatever you want!

That said, I always try to make the pieces realistically playable.  I love the idea that someday, someone somewhere will put together a little ensemble and play some of my pieces.

Regardless, today I’m sharing the WAV recording of the piece, as well as a little video, for subscribers.  Don’t worry, non-subs:  you’ll get to hear the piece soon!

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