My old bull terrier, Murphy, loves winter. She really seems to come alive in the cold, and even loves frolicking in the snow.
This Friday, I have three videos of Murphy adapting to some wintry climes:
Tag: culture
Guest Post: Sudo Nonym’s “The Man from Historical Accuracy” – Chapter 1
This Wednesday kicks off something a bit different. The English writer Sudo Nonym, a regular over at Free Speech Backlash, sent yours portly a treasure-trove of fiction stories for readers here to enjoy. Many of these stories have already run at FSB, but Tom, the proprietor over there, is cool about cross-posting and republishing, and I’m never one to say no to intriguing content—especially when someone else has done 90% of the work for me!
Also, he has two eBooks on Amazon (that’s an Amazon Affiliate link; I receive a portion of any purchases made through that link at no additional cost to you—TPP)!
But I digress. Today’s story is the first chapter or part of a longer piece, The Man from Historical Accuracy. The premise is simple: a bureaucratic agency, Historical Accuracy, tweaks history to keep things trucking along as they should.
Put another way: there are drunken druids watching DVDs on Stonehenge.
With that, here is Sudo Nonym with Chapter 1 of The Man from Historical Accuracy:
New Music Tuesday IV: “Moonlight Shimmer”
I’m continuing to work on my pond-based pieces, and have a fourth piece completed. This duet incorporates whole tone scales, which possess a mystical, mysterious quality. The piece is broadly in Bb major, but the second and third sections feature some secondary dominants that, at times, push the key closer to D major. The whole tone scales also give a sense of atonality to sections of the piece, representing the mystery of moonlight.
Monday Morning Movie Review: Carrie (1976)
Last week I found time to watch a few flicks, among them 1976’s Carrie, the coming-of-telekinesis story of Carrie, who is bullied relentlessly both at school and home. Her mother’s Pharisaical view of redemption (essentially, there is none) makes Carrie’s life sheltered; meanwhile, Carrie’s classmates bully her in part because of her mother’s insanity.
Family lore has made this film legendary. According to legend, my parents went to see this film on their honeymoon in 1977. I don’t know exactly when it occurred, but my dad—who was raised Pentecostal (Church of God – Cleveland, Tennessee) was so beside himself, he walked out. My mom (raised Southern Baptist, and, therefore, a bit less bee-hived in her hairdos) was a fan of Stephen King—then an emerging author in many respects—and it apparently was a shock to her that my dad reacted as he did.
Having just seen the film, I can see why my dad got so uncomfortable. It literally opens with a quasi-pornographic shot of Carrie showering herself after gym class—and then receiving a visit from Aunt Flo. There’s also the iconic “prayer closet” with a Jesus sporting menacing, glowing eyes. The anti-Christian messaging is pretty strong.
That said, the film is not, I would argue, primarily a screed against religion, although that is a part of it. Carrie’s mom is a nut, but anyone with even a passing familiarity with Christ’s Teachings would realize that her religion is not Christianity. It’s some kind of perversion of something resembling Christianity into a legalistic tangle of extreme ascetism coupled with brutality.
Instead, Carrie is very much a coming-of-age story, in which the sheltered Carrie attempts to spread her wings and become her own woman, but instead is met only with resistance at every time. Having developed no healthy relationships—and faced only mockery and scorn from her mother, her schoolmates, and even the principal—she lashes out in the film’s fiery conclusion.
TBT^65,536: Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony
I’ve been on a programmatic composing kick, which seems to happen every January. I’m currently working on a collection of instrumental music inspired by my koi pond, which I’m tentatively calling Koi Dance.
Writing music inspired by God’s Creation is nothing new, but descriptive program music reached its height during the Romantic Era. The great composer bridging the gap between the classical and Romantic periods was Beethoven.
Beethoven is known for many works, but I am partial to one of his less-appreciated symphonies, the Sixth. It depicts a day in the countryside, and fits with the emerging Romanticism’s fascinating with the natural world and the countryside.
With that, here is 30 January 2025’s “TBT^256: Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony“:
New Music Tuesday III: “Snail Drop”
The koi pond at our new house has served as a source of immense inspiration for yours portly. I’ve spent many late nights researching various species of aquatic life that can thrive in our little pond ecosystem. I’m most excited about getting some Japanese Trapdoor Snails for our pond.
In the meantime, however, I’ve added some ramshorn snails to the pond already. They arrived in a bag from an eBay seller in Oklahoma, clinging to the walls of their watery shipping compartment. I drove them up one frosty night and gently plopped them into the pond, which inspired today’s new piece.
Lazy Sunday CCCXLXIV: Fire and Water
It’s a quick Lazy Sunday this week as Dr. Wife and I hunker down in the cold. I’m casting my gaze back to two posts from earlier this week, one based in the coolness of the watery depths, the other in the fiery crucible of the modern restaurant industry:
- “New Music Tuesday II: ‘Koi Dance’” – I am really, really proud of this piece. Please give it a listen.
- “Chilly on Chili’s” – My scathing critique of my local Chili’s.
Happy Sunday!
—TPP
Phone it in Friday CXIX: YouTube Roundup CLXXIX: Winter
It is the deep midwinter, and even the Carolinas are getting their share of the white stuff. Murphy and I were up at Dr. Wife’s house in North Carolina this past weekend, and there was a little bit of snow on Sunday afternoon!
This weekend brings Winter Storm Fern, which is supposed to dump lots of snow and/or “wintry mix” and/or ice all over the Southeastern United States. Gulp! We’ll know more by Sunday.
In the spirit of wintry frostiness, here are a couple of recent videos from North Carolina all about the cold.
Chilly on Chili’s
Dr. Wife and I love Chili’s. For my European readers who aren’t blessed with the family restaurant concept (I assume you eat at McDonald’s or at pubs), Chili’s is a restaurant that acts like it’s all about Tex-Mex and Southwestern cuisine (that’s an Amazon Affiliate link to my highly unsuccessful book Arizonan Sojourn, South Carolinian Dreams, which features a chapter about eating a massive burrito on the drive to the Grand Canyon; I receive a portion of any purchases made through that link, at no additional cost to you), but really it’s a great burger place with chips and salsa. The food is very American, with a bit of a Southwest twist.
Indeed, when I was playing the role of brash American in the comments section over at Free Speech Backlash, I kept joking with my detractors—the people who objected to the idea that the United States should take Greenland, because 60,000 defenseless Greenlanders have the right to sell their sovereignty to the Chinese but not to the United States—that we’d soon be dining together at the new Chili’s in Nuuk. Eating an Old Timer with Cheese in Greenland will be one of them any blessings of American imperialism. Who needs independence when you can get unlimited chips and salsa for free with the Chili’s app?
But I digress. Chili’s and Texas Roadhouse were the two most profitable and/or fastest-growing restaurant chains in the United States in 2025 for good reason: they offer patrons tons of great food at ridiculously low (for the post-Age of The Virus inflationary world) prices. Dr. Wife and I can split a burger and get out of Chili’s sufficiently stuffed for under twenty bucks.
However, all is not well at Chili’s.
New Music Tuesday II: “Koi Dance”
I’ve been working hard on this week’s piece, “Koi Dance,” for about two weeks now. It’s a chamber piece featuring two flutes, bassoon, and piano, and draws inspiration from Bedřich Smetana’s “The Moldau”; that piece also features a flowing theme that depicts the movement of water.
I plugged the finished piece into Audacity and applied some additional reverb and a master effect, both of which I think have allowed the sound to “pop.”
The Portly Politico 