Category Archives: Uncategorized

Nightfall on Danny Street

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– Source unknown – found at Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie Photo Challenge 373

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Walking across the bridge spanning the freeway, Matt was startled to see a young woman leaning back against the rail. He was momentarily aroused and then embarrassed when he looked at her breasts projected forward thanks to her arched back. Was she going to commit suicide? He stopped and almost reached out. Instead he said, “Excuse me.”

She lifted her head so he could see her face. For an instant, he hoped it would be different, but, of course, it wasn’t. Like everyone else, he couldn’t see her face, just the forehead to chin mask everyone wore these days. Even though most of the city had complied with the vaccination order, the CDC had issued yet another order continuing the mask mandate for another year “just in case.”

“I help you with something?” Her voice was muffled but still carried an annoyed tone.

Matt made eye contact hoping to communicate his sincerity, but he felt like he was invading her privacy, while her gaze uncomfortably bored into his soul.

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How a Tweet on Trying to Prevent “Zoombombing” Got Me Suspended on Twitter

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Screenshot from my email.

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Yesterday, I put up a tweet on twitter questioning the security of the app Zoom and a link to a source I found on LinkedIn showing how “zoombombing” was used for anti-Semitic purposes. Today, I found I was suspended from twitter because of that tweet, but twitter won’t tell me why.

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Review of “Wonder Woman 1984”

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Promotional image for the film Wonder Woman 1984

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I finally found the movie Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) as a DVD at my local public library and saw my opportunity to view and review it.

I’d read quite a few reviews already so I had a pretty good idea what to expect. There were a lot of people disappointed at the “woke” aspects of the film, but I’ll get to that in a minute.

First of all, as always, Gal Gadot totally owns the role of Wonder Woman/Diana Prince. She deserves the highest praise for her portrayal of the character and for bringing a truly iconic hero to life.

I felt a little sorry for Kristen Wiig as Barbara Minerva, especially at the film’s beginning when she was so beneath everyone’s notice. No, not just men’s but even Diana didn’t warm up to her at first. It was cringeworthy watching the stereotypically shy, socially inept, yet highly intelligent person trying to make her way through life.

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I’m Featured in “Who’s Who of Emerging Writers 2021”

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Cover art for Who’s Who if Emerging Writers 2021

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I made the list of Who’s Who of Emerging Writers 2021. The blurb at Amazon says:

In the second annual Who’s Who of Emerging Writers compiled and published by Sweetycat Press, the bios of 128 writers worldwide are included, along with seven essays by professionals in the writing field that should be of interest to every writer at all stages in their careers as writers. An emerging writer is one who has reached a level of proficiency and publication to be deemed a professional writer but not yet reached the level of fame and recognition they deserve. Their bios are as interesting as any story or novel. In this Who’s Who are bios of novelists, short story writers, poets, playwrights, screenwriters and journalists. In this 2021 issue discover WHO the 128 emerging writers are, WHAT they have written, WHERE they live, WHEN they started writing, and WHY they write. Many of them have websites where you can find out even more about them. Open the pages of the Who’s Who of Emerging Writers 2021 and enter a world of unmatched writing talent.

My bio says in part:

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Review of the Lovecraft Country Episode “Strange Case”

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Wummi Mosaku as Ruby Baptiste in the television show “Lovecraft Country”

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So, I watched the Lovecraft Country episode Strange Case last night. The title refers to the title of Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, only Misha Green‘s version is far more disgusting.

The show starts where A History of Violence leaves off. Yahima (Monique Candelaria) has seemingly disappeared. Leti (Jurnee Smollett) thinks that Montrose (Michael K. Williams) has just let her go, but Atticus (Jonathan Majors) knows his Dad killed her. In a rage, Tic tries to beat Montrose to death, but Leti manages to stop him.

Montrose also destroyed the Book of Names, but Tic figures out that Leti photographed the pages. After rough sex (doesn’t this guy ever just kiss his girlfriend and treat her gently?), she develops the photos and he starts to work deciphering the code.

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Part Two of Reviewing “Lovecraft Country”

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Letitia (Jurnee Smollett), Atticus (Jonathan Majors), and George (Courtney B Vance) in a scene from the show “Lovecraft Country”

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After my review of the first episode of Lovecraft Country Sundown, I thought I’d just keep watching and maybe review the entire first season as a whole. But after viewing three more episodes, because each show is so densely packed, I was afraid of losing a lot of the details.

So now that I’ve watched Whitey’s on the Moon, Holy Ghost, and A History of Violence, I thought I should recap them now.

In “Whitey’s on the Moon,” the creepy white guy at the door of the huge mansion in the middle of nowhere is William (Jordan Patrick Smith) and he seems to treat Tic, Leti, and George very well. They all wake up in their rooms with objects of their most cherished desires. George is hip deep in books while Leti has a closet full of wonderful clothes all exactly her size, and they couldn’t be happier.

Tic, on the other hand, remains deeply disturbed by their encounter with monsters the previous night, and finally comparing notes with the other two, realizes that they didn’t remember a thing. Even their car Woody has been restored to them. All of this is due to magic spells, but I’ll get to that.

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Lovecraft Country First Season

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© James Pyles

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This afternoon, I was at my local branch of the public library and I found the first season of Lovecraft Country on DVD. As some of you may know, I was critical of the timing of the premiere of this series during certain (ahem) events.

However, when I mentioned this in social media, I was told the series was being developed well before all of that happened, so I stand corrected. I also can’t miss the fact that since writer H.P. Lovecraft has been identified as a white supremacist, the title for the series has a double meaning.

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WordPress Did It Again (Darn Them)

Screenshot from my blog dashboard.

Months back, the free version of WordPress took away what they now call the Classic Editor used to write and edit blog posts and replaced it with something that for me is almost unusable; Gutenberg. I tried to work with it at first, but it was (and is) terrifically awkward.

Then I discovered that if you create a post, publish it, and then edit it again, there was an option for the Classic Editor. I figured I was saved.

Then today or yesterday, I saw that my blog’s menu had changed again. Instead of “Dashboard,” there’s now something called “My Home” which doesn’t behave quite the same way. Actually, it’s a dumbed down version of the old Dashboard. What’s worse is when you put a blog into edit mode, the Classic Editor is just plain gone.

I’ve tried various settings but there’s no way I can trick it back.

The first time the Classic Editor disappeared, I Googled hoping to find a way to have it return, but the only option I could find was installing a plugin. You can’t install plugins with the free version of WordPress.

I Googled again and still no go. I can’t even find help pages for the current changes and what I can find about the plugin doesn’t mention the account type you need to follow the instructions.

So I decided what the heck. This is obviously WordPress trying to get people to pay for their product (I can’t blame them, but it still feels like they’re playing dirty). I looked at my upgrade options (but not very closely as you’ll see) and selected Premium. It’s only eight bucks a month or just under $100.00 a year, so it wasn’t going to break the bank.

After my purchase, nothing seemed different.

I looked closer and you can only install plugins with the Business version or higher, which is something like $300.00 a year. No, I’m not paying that much just because I want one plugin.

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G. Scott Huggins Wins 2021 Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Contest

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Baen books logo.

Just wanted to say a quick congratulations to G. Scott Huggins for being named the 2021 Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Contest Winner. A few years back, I somehow started following him on Facebook and more recently twitter, so I’ve known about this for a few days.

The really cool thing according to Baen is:

In an interesting turn, Huggins was the winner of the 2020 Baen Fantasy Adventure Award, another short story contest sponsored by Baen Books. Both contests are judged anonymously.

He’s definitely on a roll.

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Standing Up Against the Bullies

A couple of days ago, I posted a commentary about COVID and vaccines and I took great pains to shield the source of my conversation.

But when I woke up this morning and checked in on twitter, I found that the “haters” had discovered my commentary and decided to call me a bunch of names. No, it had nothing to do with “science” or “evidence.” It had everything to do with them being bullies.

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