Tag: Lazy Sunday

Lazy Sunday CXLIII: Food II

The Portly Politico2 Comments

Yours portly loves food, and if my constantly fluctuating weight is any indication, I have a contentious relationship with it.  Food for us fatties is like a narcotic to the addict:  we know we shouldn’t eat so much of it, but it numbs us to the harsh realities of life.  Conquering the hold food has over us is an eternal struggle.

So here I have some classic posts about food (or the lack thereof):

Bon Appétit!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

Lazy Sunday CXLII: Murphy Vids, Part I

The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

I’ve been posting videos of Murphy to my YouTube channel, and they’ve been catching on quite nicely.  It seems that narrating my fat dog’s antics is an easy way to distract people from their bitter ennui for a few seconds—or, you know, people just like cute dogs.

Whatever the case, I’m never one to work harder than necessary, so I’ve been posting compilations of Murphy’s videos to this humble blog.  Now I’m sharing the first three of these posts here.

“Where are the links to the videos, Port?” I hear you cry.  Reposting them here defeats the point of Lazy Sunday.  So click on the original posts and find three succulent videos each—a total of nine toothsome morsels of canine cantankerousness:

Happy Sunday—and Happy Viewing!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

Lazy Sunday CXLI: Days Off

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Well, yours portly has been skipping a lot of Saturday and Sunday posts lately.  You see, dear readers, my usual schedule is to write a ton of posts for the week on Sundays, then get around to the lengthier, subscriber-only posts sometime during the week.

Lately, the problem has been two-fold:  I have not had much time on Sundays to write (or, alternatively, I have had a ton of other things to do on Sunday), and the weeks have been so slammed, I haven’t had the energy or time to write the weekend posts.  Ay yi yi!

So, what better way to resume Lazy Sunday than with a bunch of recent posts about blowing off my writing responsibilities?

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

An Actually Lazy Sunday: Composing Update

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Last Sunday I was exceptionally busy and had to phone in my already-phoned in Lazy Sunday post.  Today I’m doing the ultimate phoning in and taking yet another day away from the blog (as it were—gotsta keep that daily post counter mollified).  I’ll actually be doing a significant amount of writing this afternoon, so have no fear—we’ll back to the more-or-less regular schedule tomorrow.

As I noted in yesterday’s lazy post, I’ve been fairly swamped at work, and ended a long week with two very long days.  I spent most of Saturday lounging like Goethe, alternating between reading, napping, and eating.

I wasn’t completely useless.  I finished composing for my next major release, Four Mages.  It’s a collection of fantasy-inspired instrumental music, with nine of its ten tracks corresponding to different fantasy archetypes (each with their own color).  The titular mages are “Red Mage,” “Blue Mage,” “Black Mage,” and “White Mage.”  The other tracks (in no particular order) are as follows:

  • “Pink Princess”
  • “Purple Prince”
  • “Green Knight”
  • “Yellow Knight”
  • “Brown Friar”
  • “The Blind Prophet”

That album will hit Bandcamp and all streaming services (sans Spotify) on Thursday, 2 May 2024—exactly halfway to Halloween!  It seemed an appropriate time to release a fantasy album.

Of course, if you haven’t picked up Epistemology, please give it a listen.  You can purchase a digital download via Bandcamp for $5.

You can also listen to the full thing on YouTube for free:

You can listen to Epistemology on YouTube Music and Apple Music, too.  It’s even on Amazon Music—cool!

Thanks for your patience—and please give my tunes a listen.  Every stream helps!

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

Lazy Sunday CXXXIX: Firefly Dance Tracks, Part II

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On Friday, 2 February 2024 I released Firefly Dance, my latest collection of original digital compositions.  It’s a fun album, and I’m pleased with how it came out in the end.

You can purchase and/or stream Firefly Dance through the following services:

– Bandcamp ($5!): https://tjcookmusic.bandcamp.com/album/firefly-dance
– Apple 🍏 Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/firefly-dance/1724130522
– YouTube 📺: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_k5xlOgwiUIFHGrMXpJ4bjmKHGGepfpCYM&si=U5tXOlFABVRwmA-E

Of course, if you’ve been reading the blog regularly, I’ve been posting sneak peeks of the album since late November.  So for the next few Sundays, I’ll be featuring past installments of Open Mic Adventures that highlight the tracks:

  • “Open Mic Adventures LIX: ‘Listless Chorale’“ – At the time of writing, this track has 366 views on YouTube, which is kind of ridiculous (but I’m not complaining).  An attempt at a chorale, which I called “listless” because it doesn’t seem to go anywhere (except back to the tonic, eventually).
  • “Open Mic Adventures LXIII: ‘FRANTIC!!’“ – And “FRANTIC!!” has 316 views, which is even more ridiculous.  Again, I’m not complaining.  In fact, I kind of want this track to reach an absurd degree virality—perhaps to become an instrumental “Rick Roll” for nerds.  The piece is written to be intentionally annoying and anxiety-inducing for both the listener and the musician.   I think I succeeded.
  • “Open Mic Adventures LXIV: ‘Snowfall’“ – This piece is actually good—but only has 43 views.  Not bad, but it could be better.  It’s an experiment with an Eb whole tone scale, and depicts a pleasant snowfall.

Enjoy—and, if you do, maybe consider spending $5?

Happy Sunday—and Happy Listening!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

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Lazy Sunday CXXXVIII: Firefly Dance Tracks, Part I

The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

On Friday, 2 February 2024 I released Firefly Dance, my latest collection of original digital compositions.  It’s a fun album, and I’m pleased with how it came out in the end.

You can purchase and/or stream Firefly Dance through the following services:

– Bandcamp ($5!): https://tjcookmusic.bandcamp.com/album/firefly-dance
– Apple 🍏 Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/firefly-dance/1724130522
– YouTube 📺: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_k5xlOgwiUIFHGrMXpJ4bjmKHGGepfpCYM&si=U5tXOlFABVRwmA-E

Of course, if you’ve been reading the blog regularly, I’ve been posting sneak peeks of the album since late November.  So for the next few Sundays, I’ll be featuring past installments of Open Mic Adventures that highlight the tracks:

  • “Open Mic Adventures LVI: ‘Orange Roll’” – I went way too far with this one—ha!  I reharmonized it, played it on bass, etc.  You can experience all the iterations in this original post.
  • “Open Mic Adventures LVII: ‘Firefly Dance’” – I love the title track.  Honestly, my only regret is that I didn’t start the album with it, as it’s a beautiful piece.  I think it’s one of my best works.
  • “Open Mic Adventures LVIII: ‘Kartofelsalat’” – Well, I misspelled “Kartoffelsalat,” leaving off that second “f,” but by the time I realized my error, I’d already submitted everything to CD Baby for digital distribution and didn’t want to change it.  But much like German potato salad, it’s a tasty jam.

Enjoy—and, y’know, maybe shell out $5 and help a musician out, eh?

Happy Sunday—and Happy Listening!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

Lazy Sunday CXXXVII: YouTube Roundup Roundup II

The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

I have a YouTube channel.  At the time of writing, my subscriber count is at sixty-three, so it seems to be growing at a steady trickle.

So, in the spirit of promoting my channel and being lazy, here are the second three installments of YouTube Roundup at your fingertips:

There’s loads of tasty jams and succulent garbage on my YouTube channel.  Check it out!

Happy Sunday—and Happy Viewing!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

Lazy Sunday CXXXVI: YouTube Roundup Roundup I

The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

I have a YouTube channel.  It’s hard to gauge these things, but it seems to be doing well.  My subscriber count has risen from around thirty last summer to—at the time of writing—fifty-six.  By the time you read this post, I’ll have close to 100 videos.  I’m not sure how many views I’ve garnered, but it’s decent for a tiny channel like mine.

So, in the spirit of promoting my channel and being lazy, here’s the first three installments of YouTube Roundup at your fingertips:

Happy Sunday—and Happy Listening/Viewing!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

Lazy Sunday CXXXV: Best Myersvision Posts of 2023

The Portly Politico2 Comments

After giving Ponty some love last week, I decided to do one more edition of Lazy Sunday highlighting the best-performing guest posts of 2023.  This time around, it is our dear Audre Myers, author of the Myersvision series of posts, enjoying the limelight.

Again, the usual notes:  these are not necessarily the best posts qualitatively—although they are quite excellent, as is all of Audre’s writing—but merely the Myersvision posts with the highest views.  Note that all of Audre’s writing deserves more clicks and views, so get to it!

  • “Myersvision: Hoarders” (55 views) – Audre’s review of the A&E series Hoarders, which is such a sad but fascinating show.
  • “Myersvision: ‘Ode to the PB&J’” (51 views) – Ponty somehow does not like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, so I asked Audre to set our boy straight with this bit of whimsical doggerel.
  • “Myersvision: Theme Music” (35 views) – When she’s not waxing lyrical about sandwiches, Audre praises the great television theme music of our age.

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments: