Tag: Reblogged

TBT^65,536: Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony

The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

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“:

Read More »

TBT^16: The Hermit’s Life

The Portly Politico2 Comments

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

My mind is always a bit sharper during these cold, bitter wintry months, especially in the morning after a good cup of black coffee.  Indeed, I’m writing this post while sipping coffee in the wee hours of a very cold morning.  Dr. Wife and Nugget, the three-legged wonder dog, are still fast asleep; Murphy and I have been up for about thirty minutes.  The old girl (Murphy, not Dr. Wife) is munching on a beef rawhide in the other room as the morning light slowly pierces through the grey of January.

These early hours are about as close as I get to the hermit’s life these days.  It’s quiet to focus on writing, spending time with God, reading the Bible, and knocking out whatever little tasks need doing.

In putting together these TBT posts, it’s always fun—and occasionally cringe-inducing—to look back at posts from yesteryear.  One of the joys of maintaining a daily blog for seven years—whoa!—is the ability to explore my own, evolving time capsule.

It’s one of the things I love about WordPress.com.  It’s very easy to find my old posts and link to them instantly.  Oftentimes, I’ve forgotten about some of the topics I’ve covered over the years (in searching for “coffee” this morning, I found a post about coffee glasses).  Links are insanely easy, especially if you use the “Classic” block—still my preferred method of writing using WordPress.com:

They're like glasses, but made from coffee!

I currently use the $8/month “Premium” plan, which features the functionality I crave (for plug-ins, however, you’ll need the $25/month “Business” plan).  It boasts 13 GB a storage, which might not sound massive in our age of terabyte SSDs, but is more than ample when you’re mostly uploading pictures of your dog:

Also, WordPress.com is constantly throwing coupons at me.  It’s rare that I actually pay full-freight for my plan (which is billed annually).  For example, WordPress.com‘s sister site, Pressable, is offering 15% plans with code 2025PRESS15AFF.  I can’t speak to the functionality of Pressable firsthand, simply because I haven’t used it, but it offers hosting services for ecommerce sites, developers, and the like.

For everyday use, however, WordPress.com is fantastic.  I love the “Classic” blocks because I’m used to working with the formatting ribbon included, but the sheer number of available blocks is impressive:

So many blocks!

I literally just realized there’s a “Slideshow” block—my mind is already envisioning compelling slide decks of koi pond pics once the weather warms up!

I’ve been really pleased with the functionality of WordPress.com, which also comes with Jetpack built in.  Jetpack has functionality I’ve only begun to explore; that said, I love its Akismet anti-spam system. According to Akismet, it’s blocked 13,830 spam comments in the past six months alone—and 141,377 over seven-plus years I’ve been writing this blog:

Well, enough of my yakking.  If you’re like me, these cold, dark months are the perfect time to brew up some coffee, pet your dog, and start your own blog at WordPress.com.  Blogging has opened up so many doors for me, and the switch to WordPress.com back in Summer 2018 has been life-changing.  I may be a hermit, but I love the little community we’ve built here around TPP.  I have several readers who are bloggers, and many more who should be blogging.

I’d love to see our little community grow further.  WordPress.com makes it easy to get blogging, but I’m here to help!

With that, here is 2 January 2025’s “TBT^4: The Hermit’s Life“:

Read More »

Memorable Monday: Daybreak in America: Trump’s Inauguration, MLK Day, and a New Hope

The Portly Politico8 Comments

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in America, and tomorrow will mark one year since President Trump’s Inauguration.

It seemed fitting that Trump would be inaugurated for his second non-consecutive term on the day set aside to commemorate King, a man who very likely would have descended into grifter status had he lived much longer.  Trump election also continued the rollback of the affirmative action racialist system that King’s successors endorsed.

Most importantly for yours portly, it’s a day off—and a cold one!  I’m looking forward to a quiet morning with Dr. Wife before Murphy and I make the frosty trek back to the South Carolina.

With that, here is 20 January 2025’s “Daybreak in America: Trump’s Inauguration, MLK Day, and a New Hope“:

Read More »

TBT: Make Greenland American

The Portly Politico16 Comments

Yours portly has a lengthy post over at Free Speech Backlash today about Trump, Venezuela, and the intersection between American nationalism (“America First”) and American imperialism (the piece is called “Trump: Nationalist or Imperialist?“).  “Imperialism” is a dirty word, but America is an empire, whether we like it or not.  Indeed, we’ve been an empire since at least 1898, when the United States gained Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines from Spain, and occupied Cuba for several years.  Cuba became nominally independent, but remained a virtual American protectorate until Fidel Castro’s Communist revolution in the 1950s.

Many on the Right are concerned that the Maduro capture is something of a “heel turn,” to use wrestling parlance, for Trump’s foreign policy, and that he’s abandoning America First principles in favor of open-ended American adventurism abroad.  My piece details why Maduro’s arrest is not another quagmire, and how it’s very consistent with traditional American foreign policy dating back to the Monroe Doctrine of 1823.

Similarly, Trump’s desire to annex Greenland, which sounds like a joke or someone playing a True Start Location Earth map in Civilization VI, is quite serious.  Greenland is in the Western Hemisphere, which—whether we like it or not—is America’s hemisphere.  American geopolitical strategy since 1823 has been to dominate this hemisphere to avoid a balance-of-power situation like Europe’s in the nineteenth century.  It is also seeks to prevent foreign intervention into the independent nations of this hemisphere.  One reason for the Maduro operation was to prevent Maduro from selling his country off to the Chinese, which would put America’s primary geopolitical rival in our backyard.

Similarly, China and Russia have designs on the Arctic, with the former particularly attempting to gain influence over the tiny Greenlandic population.  Denmark is entirely too venal to combat foreign intervention in its colony, so greater, more serious powers will do so.  With ice caps receding, the Arctic is the great oceanic chokepoint of the twenty-first century, and America needs Greenland to secure our interests in the Western Hemisphere—and to keep China out.

It’s unpleasant to think about Great Power politics in the twenty-first century, when we’re supposed to be beyond all that foolishness.  But it is the rules-based international order of the 1990s that is the aberration, not the kinds of aggressive power plays we’re seeing today.

Taking Greenland—which the Trump Administration seems intent to do—is part of the broader return to Reality the world is experiencing.  Reality is often hard, but it cannot be ignored.

I wish no violence upon Greenland or Denmark—far from it!  Greenland does not need to be taken by force.  At a certain point, the United States can offer Greenlanders a package so enticing, they cannot refuse.  Denmark should be eager to offload an expensive asset that they are not using—and that the bankroller of their social welfare state is willing to go to great lengths to obtain.

With that, here is 15 January 2025’s “Make Greenland American“:

Read More »

Lazy Sunday CCCXLXII: Koi

The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

Now that I’m a Koi Boy (lol), I’ve been slamming out some more koi- and aquatic-life-related posts.  More will come—be warned!  Mwahahahahahaha!

Uh, I digress.  Here are some recent pieces about these beautiful fish (and/or their aquatic chums):

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

TBT^16: The Joy of Romantic Music II: Bedřich Smetana’s “The Moldau”

The Portly Politico2 Comments

Other than a quick piece I dashed off earlier this week, I haven’t had much time for composing.  However, my koi pond adventures have inspired me—just in time to reblog this post about one of my favorite pieces of Romantic music.

That the piece is about a river is appropriate—while my koi are swirling about in a murky pond, the watery imagery is a source of inspiration for the piece that is slowly taking shape in mind.

I actually have an idea for the cover art for the album that will feature this imagined piece.  I took a picture of these cool little koi tea cups that Dr. Wife got me for my birthday on one of the pianos at school:

Regardless, I’ve always loved this piece, ever since I read about it in Roger Kamien’s Music: An Appreciation, Brief 8th Edition (that’s an Amazon Affiliate link; I receive a portion of any purchases made through that link, at no additional cost to you) and listened to it with my students.

With that, here is 9 January 2025’s “TBT^4: The Joy of Romantic Music II: Bedřich Smetana’s ‘The Moldau’“:

Read More »

Lazy Sunday CCCXLXI: 2026

The Portly Politico6 Comments

It’s the fourth day of 2026, which works out well, because I typically feature three posts on Lazy Sundays.  So, why not look back at the first three days of this already-eventful year?

How’s 2026 shaping up for you so far, dear readers?

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

TBT: Happy New Year from TPP!

The Portly Politico7 Comments

2025 was quite a year!  Dr. Wife and I often talk about how long the year felt, for good and for ill.

It was a year with many ups and downs.  Dr. Wife’s third year of residency has been brutal, but she is doing well as the co-chief resident.  My work schedule has been far more manageable, but financing and buying a house—as well as planning a wedding!—took up a good deal of my time in the latter half of the year (to Dr. Wife’s immense credit, most of the latter-stage wedding planning fell to her—she really nailed the fun details, things I would have neglected or not thought of).  My maternal grandfather passed away; several of her close friends and family have had personal and medical crises.

But we also got married—woooooot!—and bought a house.  We have great dogs and even better families.  We have immensely enjoyed spending so much time together over the Christmas holiday, even if we’ve been rocketing all over the Carolinas moving furniture.  We are excited for 2026!

What are your hopes and dreams for 2026, dear readers?  Leave a comment and let me know.  I think Dr. Wife and I primarily want to get moved into our house completely—and get her through residency!

With that, here is 1 January 2025’s “Happy New Year from TPP!“:

Read More »

Memorable Monday Morning Movie Review: Portly’s Top Ten Best Films: #3: The Thing (1982)

The Portly Politico6 Comments

In late 2022 through early 2023, Ponty and I did an exhaustive rundown of our Top Ten Favorite Films.  His was very thoughtful and deliberate; mine was more or less picking through flicks I had in my DVD collection.

That said, I did put some thought into my Top Three, and this flick definitely deserves its slot.

Another note:  I know I’ve been recycling movie reviews a lot this month, so thanks for bearing with me.  Dr. Wife and I have been moving and taking care of all sorts of other tasks while we have some precious time off together, so the blog has—as it so often does—fallen onto the backburner.  She and I watched 1984’s Gremlins last week, however, so I’m looking forward to reviewing that soon.

But I digress.  With that, here is 30 January 2023’s “Monday Morning Movie Review: Portly’s Top Ten Best Films: #3: The Thing (1982)“:

Read More »

Lazy Sunday CCCXLX: Christmas Cheer 2025, Part III

The Portly Politico2 Comments

Well, Christmas has passed, but I choose to believe that the Christmas season lasts until Epiphany, so we’re going to keep the good times rolling with a look back at some pieces from this recently-expired Christmas week:

Merry Christmas!

—TPP