Tag: Reblogged

TBT^2: Getting Medieval… with LEGO

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Over the past two years my LEGO hobby has become something more of a habit—an expensive one.  LEGO have always been pricey, but prices have only gone up with inflation.

As such, I’m trimming back on my habit slightly.  I still have an awesome set from Christmas that I need to build, and it’s a big one—more details soon(ish).  I just keep having other projects and deadlines and such to meet, so I haven’t taken time to sit down and build it.

Of course, the best of all was the Medieval Blacksmith (#21325) set, which I purchased for $145 as a birthday present to myself in January 2022.  The set is sold-out at LEGO.com at the time of writing (it’s likely soon-to-be-retired), but were it in stock, it’d cost a cool $180.

Honestly, the set is worth it.  If you really want to get it—and, if you have the means, I highly recommend you pick one up—it’s on Amazon for $178.36.  There are also tons of knock-offs, like this $80 GUDI version.  I can’t vouch for its quality, but it’s a testament to this set’s success that it’s been copied so frequently (including variations, like the FunWhole apothecary’s shop—$60 after using a $20 Amazon coupon).

Before going on, Amazon requires me to tell you that this post contains affiliate links—they’re in that prior paragraph.  I get a portion of any proceeds from sales through those links, at no additional cost to you.

That aside, let’s get back to the LEGOs!

With that, here is 2 February 2023’s “TBT: Getting Medieval… with LEGO“:

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Lazy Sunday CXXXVIII: Firefly Dance Tracks, Part I

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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 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:

TBT: Groundhog Day

The Portly Politico2 Comments

Today is not Groundhog Day.  That’s tomorrow (Friday, 2 February 2024), but I have something special for tomorrow.  Still, I thought it’d be nice to observe this unusual holiday, which I haven’t done since 2021.

Groundhog Day is one of those fun relics of old, weird America, the America of roadside attractions, themed hotels, kooky local personalities, and the like.  I doubt seriously that a rodent in Pennsylvania can predict the weather, but it’s a fun little game we play every year.

With that, here is 2 February 2021’s “Groundhog Day“:

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Lazy Sunday CXXXVII: YouTube Roundup Roundup II

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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:

TBT^16: Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony

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For several years now I have reblogged a post about my favorite of Beethoven’s symphonies, his Sixth Symphony, the so-called “Pastoral.”  I have a soft spot for programmatic music, especially music that depicts Creation/Nature.  It’s a wonderful and moving symphony, depicting a day in the country.

Beethoven loved spending time in nature, and would jot down ideas on long walks.  What a way to find inspiration, out in the beauty of God’s Creation!

I’ve long linked to a version of the symphony as performed by the Berlin Philharmonic, but it seems that version is no longer available.  As such, here’s a version of the Pastoral directed by Leonard Bernstein, performed by the Wiener Philharmoniker:

With that, here is 19 January 2023’s “TBT^4: Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony“:

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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:

TBT: More Mountain Musings

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Over MLK Weekend my girlfriend and I took the dogs up to around Mount Mitchell, high in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Appalachia.

I love the mountains.  The mountains are in my blood, and although my home is the coastal South Carolina, every so often I need to baptize myself in the solitude and ruggedness of the Appalachian Mountains.

This trip was not my first to this region.  I went there four years ago to celebrate my older brother’s fortieth birthday.  Here’s a bit my travels during that trip.

With that, here is 21 September 2020’s “More Mountain Musings“:

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Memorable Monday: MLK Day 202[4]

The Portly Politico1 Comment

I’m on my way back from a much-needed trip to the mountains, and I’m phoning this one in, folks.  It’s MLK Day here in the United States, which is like getting a bonus day of Christmas Break right after being off for however long it is.  It honestly feels a bit frivolous so soon after Christmas and New Year’s, but I’m sure it’s what the Reverend Doctor would have wanted.  He was, after all, a notorious libertine.

What would MLK have become had he lived?  My suspicion—a sad, jaded one—is that he would have gone the way of race hustlers since.  I do not think he was a race hustler, but I think he was starting to trend in that direction with his view on poverty, and for a man who clearly took advantage of his power to engage in some truly heinous sexual escapades, it’s not a big leap to assume he’d go full on Creflo Dollar eventually—or, more likely, full on Al Sharpton.  Yikes!

Regardless, his “dream” of a nation based on judgment of character and not skin color has not exactly come to fruition.  I mean, it did for about thirty years.  Ever heard of Lando Calrissian?  It seems like we had a good run from roughly 1980 until about 2010.  Now we’ve gone from trying to treat everyone as equals to privileging certain races over others.  Isn’t that what all those 1960s radicals fought so hard against?  Yet they’re the very ones celebrating the new apartheid.

Well, whatever.  I’m just a honkey enjoying a weekend in the mountains.

With that, here is January 2020’s “MLK Day 2020“:

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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:

TBT^2: The Joy of Romantic Music II: Bedřich Smetana’s “The Moldau”

The Portly Politico2 Comments

One of my favorite pieces of the Romantic period is Bedřich Smetana’s The Moldau, which depicts a musical cruise down the titular river.  I’m not sure why I always reblog about it in January—the piece has a much more springtime feel—but here we are.

I’ve been composing more and more programmatic and Impressionistic music lately, and nothing I’ve written lives up to what Smetana achieves in this piece.

But I said it all best back in 2021—and reblogged it in 2022.

With that, here is 13 January 2022’s “TBT: The Joy of Romantic Music II: Bedřich Smetana’s ‘The Moldau’“:

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