Monthly Archives: October 2020

Movies, Music

Upcoming…!

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Been a while since I’ve been excited to see/hear some new releases and it turns out there are at least three things being released in the next couple of months I’m intrigued about.

First up is the November 6th release of the newly remastered David Bowie album Metrobolist.

What, you never heard of that album?

Welp, for good reason: This was the original title David Bowie had for the album that was eventually known as The Man Who Sold The World.

See, at quite literally the very last minute the record company decided Metrobolist was too weird a title (I guess) and renamed it after what is probably the most famous song on it.

The album will feature its original artwork, the cartoonish bit you see above, along with the photographs of Bowie in a dress which wound up being used on the album’s cover later on…

Metrobolist/The Man Who Sold The World is officially David Bowie’s third album after David Bowie and Space Oddity and, IMHO, the first “real” Bowie album through and through. Others might quibble and say Space Oddity is the “real” first Bowie album but, other than a few intriguing songs -including his first big hit- I feel that album is still showing Bowie as a work in progress.

Longtime Bowie producer Tony Visconti has remastered the album and, based on how well he remastered the song Space Oddity (he also remastered the entire album, but I have yet to hear it), it could prove to be something quite special. We’ll see on November 6th!

Next up, also for a November 6th release, is Albert Bouchard’s Re Imaginos.

For those who don’t know the name, Mr. Bouchard used to be the drummer for Blue Oyster Cult and, perhaps most famously, was the one responsible for the “cowbell” in their hit song Don’t Fear The Reaper.

However, back in the 1980’s, the band and he had a falling out and he left them. Shortly afterwards and in the early 1980’s he worked on an album he called Imaginos, which used many of Blue Oyster Cult’s songs and created a concept album.

However, acrimony between the band and he led to the album being taken away from his hands. It was re-worked by the other members of the band and eventually released in 1988…

Bouchard’s original demo version of the album was leaked years ago and can be heard here:

Anyway, the years past and we fast forward to now and Blue Oyster Cult, without Bouchard as their drummer, are about to release a new album. Amusingly, their first music video release for their first single, That Was Me, features a guest appearance by Albert Bouchard and he’s banging away at a… cowbell! (He first appears around the 1:05 mark of the below video)

My guess, when I first saw the video, was that Mr. Bouchard and the remaining original members of Blue Oyster Cult have (perhaps) settled their differences and are even having a laugh at their shared past, though based on the video it doesn’t appear Mr. Bouchard has returned to the band but rather re-appeared for this video and/or provided “cowbell” for that particular song.

However, shortly following the release of the above single/video, I read that Mr. Bouchard was going to release Re Imaginos, his polished up version of the original Imaginos album. A video was released for the song Black Telescope, which is a considerable departure from Workshop of the Telescopes, the original version of the song made by Blue Oyster Cult.

Here’s Mr. Bouchard’s new version of the song from Re Imaginos, which takes on an old mariner’s sound:

And here’s the original version of the song…

Interestingly, if you go back to that demo of Bouchard’s Imaginos I presented above, Workshop of the Telescopes/Black Telescope wasn’t part of that original version of his album!

Anyway, Re Imaginos comes out on November 6th, as I said before, and it should be interesting to hear, especially if you’re a fan of Blue Oyster Cult!

Finally, its been announced that Christopher Nolan’s Tenet will be released to home video come December 15th.

I’m very curious to see the film but there was simply no way I would go to a theater to see it. First, the local theaters in my neck of the woods were closed through the original release dates. Secondly, even if they were open I wouldn’t have felt comfortable being in an enclosed area watching a 2 hour long film. It’s simply not safe.

But I will pick up the movie when its released to home video!

General

Has Driving Peaked…?

Over at bloomberg.com, Justin Fox wrote a fascinating article that examined the amount of driving done within the United States since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and wonders if these numbers might indicate we’ve peaked in terms of driving out:

Americans are driving less than before the pandemic, and it might be permanent

Now, before you ask: There is no implication that driving is done.

But there are indicators that maybe we’ve (as I said above) peaked in terms of driving and that even when we get over the COVID-19 situation things might remains roughly as they are, with driving patterns dropping some 10% or so versus what they were before the pandemic.

Why?

For one, it appears many jobs may move from offices to employees’ homes.

This is logical: Many things can be accomplished on a computer and if there’s one thing the pandemic has revealed is that you don’t have to go to the office to do certain work. It is possible there will be many jobs which will require an employee show up to the office perhaps once a week or so versus 5 days a week. Hence, less driving.

The second big takeaway is that online services such as restaurants or Amazon or grocery stores, etc. etc. are delivering more and more products directly to people’s homes.

When people do this, while there are trucks and cars on the roads doing the delivery, it winds up being many less cars on the road as one delivery truck might mean the elimination of several individuals and their cars on the road. One UPS truck, for example, filled with product might well eliminate the need for dozens of households to go out and look for any particular product!

Again, no one is claiming the days of the automobile are done, only that because of work at home and delivery of product, it may be curtailed for the long run.

Fascinating stuff!

General

The Next Week…

Last week was a heck of a week, eh?

The first Presidential debate followed by the revelation that President Trump and his wife -and several other Republican Senators and Presidential Staff- testing positive for COVID-19.

Over on TV, Saturday Night Live had a pretty funny take on the debate, and what happened later…

Funny -and simultaneously sad- stuff.

The concluding bits, with “Biden” pausing “Trump” and noting how nice it was not to hear “Trump’s” ramblings…

Beautiful stuff.

General

President Trump… Reap What You Sow…?

For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.

So last night we found out that Hope Hicks, confidant to President Trump, had Covid-19.

Right away, speculation ran rampant that President Trump, who hangs around with her perhaps more than any of his other staff, could have it as well.

Last night, a little past midnight, the AP verified what many speculated: The President, as well as his wife Melania, tested positive for Covid-19.

It’s so very tempting, as someone who has absolutely no love for Trump the man and certainly Trump the President, to revel in this moment.

I certainly could, and I even found a posting over at avclub.com that made me laugh out loud:

But eventually the reality of the situation provokes, once the laughter dies, a feeling of… anger.

Here we have the most powerful man in the world, the President of the freaking United States of America, who for months and months and months refused to take Covid-19 seriously. A man who mocked people who wear masks and steadfastly refused to do so, in a country where over 200,000 people have now died from this disease and, to my great shame, there still exist a bunch of people who do not take this disease seriously… mostly because of the actions of President Trump.

President Trump, a man who just three days ago had the first Presidential debate, where everyone on the Joe Biden side wore masks while at least half of those on the Trump side, including his idiot kids and wife, did not wear their masks while in the audience, even though they -and everyone who witnessed the debate- were told they needed to wear them at the indoor event.

(To read more about that, check out this article by Shannon Palus and presented on Slate.com)

Ivanka Trump turns around in attendance at the presidential debate.
The above picture, from the debate, shows Melania Trump and Ivanka Trump sitting next to each other (one in black, one in white, natch).

At this moment in time -again, only three days ago– it was possible both President Trump and Melania were already infected and, because they so steadfastly refuse to wear any protection, were putting people around them at risk.

Including, of course, Joe Biden.

The First Presidential Debate Was 'Unproductive,' Teens Say | Teen Vogue

For ninety minutes Mr. Biden, though a fair distance from President Trump, nonetheless was close enough to be in danger of catching the disease. It was reported this morning he will get himself and those around him tested. I’m sure they hope neither he nor anyone who was at the debate on his behalf, even though they wore masks, was infected by this careless bunch.

Yet another case of Trump saying something that’s come back to bite him right in the ass.

We’re only a month from the actual election and we face yet another couple of weeks of grave uncertainty.

Will Trump recover fairly quickly? What if he doesn’t? What if the infection hits him hard? What if it hits him… really hard?

The big question: What if it kills him?

Grim stuff to contemplate, for sure, but the reality is he’s an elderly man who isn’t -despite his medic’s say so- in terribly good shape. As such, he’s in the population most at risk for developing more serious problems because of the virus.

Though, of course, that’s not to say he will.

Whew.

Once again, its time to buckle up. Hell of a bumpy ride ahead of us.

Books/Literature

And just like that…

…I’ve begun my next novel.

It’s the way it goes, you never really stand back and admire your work but rather put it aside when its done and start up something new.

While I’m not totally done with Terminus Island -I’m still waiting for the paperback proof copy of the novel to arrive- the fact is the creative aspects of that novel are pretty much finished and, therefore, its time to think about what’s next.

I started doing so and certain ideas started creeping into my head. Next thing I know, I’m putting some of those early rough ideas into a brand new Word file and I’m off and running…!

I suspect this next novel will not take place in the Corrosive Knights universe, making it the first book in many a year that is set apart from that series.

…but…

Does that mean I may be leaving the Corrosive Knights and the various characters behind?

Hard to say. I still have that one “Epilogue” story sitting in my hard drive and I do mean to one day get to it but we’ll see about that.

Further to all this, given that I’m at the very, very early stages of writing this new work and there’s little doubt it will go through a lot of changes before I’m done with the first draft, much less the final draft, it is certainly possible it might wind up tying into the Corrosive Knights universe when all is said and done.

So, for now, stay tuned!

General

Coming In Late To This Party…

So two nights ago we had the first of three Presidential debates and… well… it sure was something.

Interestingly, the first impressions seemed to be: “Well, that was a shitshow” with the implication being both candidates, Trump and Biden, didn’t do much for themselves…

But, as is usually the case, after some reflection, the immediate reactions went away and a consensus built that Trump was the deranged one, especially toward the very end of the debate when he couldn’t get himself to speak ill of the far right-wing Proud Boys.

Further to that, though, was a feeling that Trump was flailing and interrupting, perhaps desperately so, because either a) he realizes he’s losing and wanted to claim every moment of the debate or b) he’s just that desperate for attention.

Regardless, the next day evaluation seems to be that Trump was the one that looked terrible in the debate. Polls bore this out, with most feeling that Biden “won” simply by not taking the bait, even though he did lose his patience at a couple of points and not only told Trump to “shut up” but also called him a “bozo”.

Certainly never saw anything like that in a Presidential debate before!

If we were to look past the highlights, however, there was plenty of other strange stuff Trump said during the debates. While they may not be quite as startling as being unable to say anything negative about the Proud Boys, it was nonetheless startling.

Ben Mattis-Lilley over at Slate.com offers this list of…

Eight things that were somehow not takeaways from the debate because everything else was so deranged

My favorite bit was this, presented at the very end of the article:

This was, according to Trump, one of the reasons he should be reelected:

“The greatest, before COVID came in, the greatest economy in history, lowest unemployment numbers, everything was good. Everything was going—and by the way, there was unity going to happen. People were calling me, for the first time in years, they were calling and they were saying, ‘It’s time, maybe.’ And then what happened? We got hit.“

Time for what? And who was calling? Unfortunately, we will never know, because we got hit.