Podcaster Talks About Things We Cannot Change

On a recent Mindset Mentor podcast, personal development coach Rob Dial explored the notion of things we have no control over, and why reacting to them as if we did is counterproductive to what we're trying to accomplish in our lives.  He cited some personal examples, such as someone stealing a TV set from his office years earlier or a harrowing plane flight he was on in which one of the engines caught fire.  In both situations he noted that ultimately, his control over them rested in the responses he made, giving the Victor Frankl quote about the space in time between a stimulus and response being the opportunity for personal growth, depending on the choices we make therein.  For me it's important...after considering a particular situation as to its actual possibilities for change...to come to a conclusion about the elements that are beyond my powers to influence and then be at peace with it other after doing what I can do to make things better.  I couldn't change the fact that significant issues were discovered about my heart back in 2012...after nine years of annual testing my physician finally, strongly recommended corrective surgery: I couldn't change the situation but decided to be at peace with it and undergo a pretty involved procedure.  I see the way many people around me reacted to the recent (and still ongoing) Covid-19 pandemic as they refused to wear masks or even socially distance, some of them (including a wonderful couple I had worked with for many years) succumbing to this horrid pestilence...but other than protecting myself around them and practicing my own consideration for others by masking up, to continually browbeat others about what I perceived to be their utter callousness on the subject would not have done myself, them, or anyone else any good.  I could go down a list of grievances about this issue or that and ultimately conclude that I have little to no control over them, beyond public protests (I'm skeptical about the value of that strategy) or casting my one single vote among millions.  Think of the ongoing news stories about war, mass shootings, the price of gas and the upsurge of fascism...other than writing some criticisms about them and expressing my opinions to others from time to time, there is little point in me allowing them to destroy my composure and react as if everything in life is horrible.  Life is wonderful and precious...let's honor it by making choices of love and encouragement in the midst of the pandemonium...

My #26 All-Time Favorite Album: Violator by Depeche Mode

My #26 all-time favorite album is Violator by the British electronic/rock band Depeche Mode.  It came out in early 1990 with singles releases throughout the year, the most prominent being Enjoy the Silence and Policy of Truth.  The former became a top ten hit here in the USA and its accompanying video, featuring lead singer David Gahan dressed as a king in Shakespearean garb hiking alone across country vistas carrying a folding chair to rest on, captured my imagination.  There's something dark and at the same time romantic about the often-morose music of this band with David's deep voice, all songs composed by their genius keyboardist Martin Gore and featuring creative arrangements using synthesizers.  The first Depeche Mode song I ever heard was back in 1984 on MTV with their Everything Counts video...back then I knew this was a group to watch out for.  On Violator, here is a ranked list of the tracks in the order of my liking:

1-Enjoy the Silence

2-Policy of Truth

3-Halo

4-Personal Jesus

5-World in My Eyes

6-Blue Dress

7-Clean

8-Waiting for the Night

9-Sweetest Perfection

The only song I dislike is Sweetest Perfection...the others have beautiful lyrics, melodies and arrangements.  Culturally, I think that Depeche Mode, as it presented itself during the late 1980s and early 1990s (it's still around today), was more in sync with what I was feeling back during my high school and early college years...a kind of socially skeptical, dark gothic-tinged band with a healthy dose of romantic foolishness thrown in for good measure.  All of this is in great evidence on Violator, which I consider as their best work.  When I listen to their music I wonder if I might not have had a more enjoyable and meaningful adolescence had I been able to fit it with a group of this kind of disposition...but I don't think there was such a thing as goth culture back when I was growing up.  As with all of the albums on my favorites list, you can at least for now hear Violator on YouTube.  I recommend, however, getting the album and enjoying its totality without any annoying ads...

Hot Weather, Congratulations to Golden State Warriors

I'm sitting here at home late at night on a Saturday after work a shift on my off day...man, what hot weather we've been having here!  I remember, though, not too many years ago when the afternoon temperature would get into the low 90s, but I would out and do ten-mile-plus training runs and then clean up and go to a physically demanding job.  Now when I take Daisy our new puppy out into the backyard to do her business, I feel like I'm stepping into an oven...no running needed for the effect.  I'm afraid we're in for more of the same not only in the next few days but for the entire summer.  On a completely different note, I'd like to congratulate the Golden State Warriors for their great comeback from injuries and winning another National Basketball Association championship, this final series over the Boston Celtics four games to two.  Although I like Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Poole on the Warriors side, the Celtics' Al Horford, who starred on the last major college basketball team to win two consecutive national championships in 2005-06 and 2006-07, has been a long-time favorite of mine and his play during the entire playoffs has been extraordinary.  One thing that bugged me during the Golden State-Boston series was how the Warriors on offense often seemed too cavalier and careless with their ball handling, dribbling and passing...I wish they'd get all that together.  Still, they made the shots they had to make and are the champs...hooray!

Quote of the Week...from Brian Tracy

Imagine no limitations; decide what's right and desirable before you decide what's possible. 

                      ---Brian Tracy

Brian Tracy is a motivational speaker and author who at some point decided to make a hard right turn into politics...fine for him but I'm guessing that it diluted the positive effect of everything else he was trying to do, whether or not you happen to agree with his conservative positions.  As for me, I never heard Tracy until I came across a quote of his on my Soundscapes music TV channel...I checked him out on Brainy Quotes and it seems his personal development philosophy is similar to that of Rob Dial, whose podcast I regularly consult.  In the above quote, Tracy isn't implying that there are no limitations to what's possible for you...he's just saying that before the calculations about what isn't possible are done you should decide the direction you think is best for you in life.  I think that's pretty profound and is applicable to anyone in any situation or stage in their life.  Of course, this is an individual thing and each of us are different in our experiences and outlooks...and where we might want to go, others may disagree or even vehemently oppose.  But that's a later step to deal with, right? For those barriers need to first give way to the endless depths of the imagination.  As for Brian Tracy's dual life as a self-improvement guru and political activist, I'm okay with it as long as he hasn't developed a persecution complex about it in the way My Pillow huckster Mike Lindell has been carrying on after he took an active interest in overthrowing the 2020 presidential election and keeping Trump in there as a fascist dictator. Another figure, Christian evangelist Franklin Graham, comes to mind as well.  One minute I'm seeing him elegantly laying out the salvation gospel of Jesus Christ in a TV ad...great...but the next I'm seeing him loudly and consistently siding with Trump as a personality cult idol and steeping himself deeply in partisan politics.  Dude, make up your mind who you're worshiping.  Don't get me wrong: each of us...myself included...has the right to express ourselves through the First Amendment.  But if one's primary message, be it promoting personal development, religious faith or lumpy pillows, is getting confused from sidetracking into more divisive areas and this causes their money-making capacity or image to diminish as a consequence, that's freedom in action as well...

Constellation of the Month: Libra (the Scales)

 

Libra, representing measuring scales, is a zodiac constellation, crossing the meridian during mid-evening in June and bounded by Scorpius on its east and Virgo to the west.  In fact, the two brightest stars in it...and with the coolest names out there...are Zubeneschamali and Zubenelgenubi, respectively meaning the "northern claw" and "southern claw", presumably of the neighboring scorpion.  Other than them, though, Libra is pretty nondescript as constellations go, with star maps usually just showing an irregular quadrilateral of faint stars...even the two I just mentioned are only of third magnitude brilliance. Libra doesn't have any Messier objects (usually star clusters, galaxies or nebulae) but in May there is the Librid meteor shower centered here. Although easy to miss in the night sky, Libra is still more conspicuous than other zodiac constellations like Cancer and Pisces, more on a par with Aquarius and Capricornus.  For me personally, besides Zubeneschamali and Zubenelgenubi's ushering in of the much more interesting Scorpius in the southeastern sky, Libra is my birth sign although I thoroughly reject the validity of astrology as a personality indicator or soothsaying device. Next month I'll pick a constellation from the July evening sky to discuss...

Weekly Short Stories: 1984 Science Fiction, Part 7

Today I finish reviewing 1984 science fiction short stories I read from the Gardner Dozois anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction, Second Annual Collection.  As years go, 1984 wasn't at all like the 1984 in the George Orwell dystopian novel of the same title...but I fear we're sadly getting closer to that scenario here in 2022.  I was still a young man at 27-28 years back then, but I felt old.  As a matter of fact, I've always felt that way, even when I was a little kid. In some ways I feel younger now at 65.  As Dylan once sang, "Oh, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now." Here are my reactions to those final six stories...

BLACK CORAL by Lucuis Shepard

Like the author's short story Salvador...also from this year and which I reviewed a few weeks ago...the protagonist here is a young man made cynical by his war experiences.  In this story it's Vietnam and after his tour there he has settled on a small Caribbean Island that he knew before, only now he only sees contemptible weakness and laziness among the population.  He treats everyone wholesale with that contempt and does a lot of local folks wrong.  Outwardly they seem to tolerate it all, but one day three of them get together with him and have him smoke the local drug: black coral, which causes hallucinations of fiery, malevolent spirits long afterwards.  A "jerk gets his comeuppance" kind of tale...

FRIENDS by James Patrick Kelly & John Kessel

A psychological drama set in a spaceship shuttling between planets in a distant system and then onward to Earth, the space passenger fleet employees Friends, that is specialists in making sure that the flight goes smoothly among the passengers, ensuring peace and tranquility...and good reviews from them.  One such Friend encounters a dilemma when he finds himself personally torn between aiding a dancer to smuggle herself to Earth and reporting her as a stowaway, a major offense.  Complicating matters is a former Friend whom he detests...and suspects that he is being put to the test regarding the dancer.  What I got out of this story is that sometimes the ones playing the role of keeping others sane and together are in the greatest need of a "friend"....

FOREIGN SKINS by Tanith Lee

Hardly a science fiction story and more a mythical fantasy based on Indian religion, Foreign Skins explores the cultural rift between the English occupiers and administrators of India as a colony and that great land's diverse people. One of these administrators is a very unlikeable man who tyrannizes his family and those he comes in contact with over the course of his day...including his little son David.  He takes on a mysterious woman to tutor David...and she turns out to be someone much more than how she presents herself.  David's subsequent adventures constitute the bulk of this story...very much like a fairy tale, with a little "wardrobe" Narnia twist at the end...

COMPANY IN THE WINGS by R.A. Lafferty

The premise of this story takes the musings of writers like Stephen King...who sees his creativity as something derived from what is already out there...and make them literal: the imagining of "fictional" characters and places are only the mind's recognition of them as they already exist...albeit in a different plane of reality.  The story is very funny and introduced me to a new word: obulus, here a magical coin as the key to entering these other worlds...

A CABIN ON THE COAST by Gene Wolfe

Another not-so-science fiction story, a young man under the sway of his powerful political father escapes to a tropical beach cabin with his girlfriend.  All is well, except he keeps seeing a ship off shore and it mysteriously goes in and out of his vision as if it isn't quite all there.  One morning he awakes and she has disappeared...and he knows she has been taken by whoever is on that boat.  So he swims out to it and his life forever changes.  Yet another tale, interesting enough, that Dozois has included although it is outside his stated genre...

THE LUCKY STRIKE by Kim Stanley Robinson

An alternative history story about the closing days of World War II, particularly in regard to the events leading up to the atomic bomb dropping on Hiroshima, Japan in August of 1945.  Just a minor change in the chain of events drastically changes everything...but is it for the better or worse?  Stephen King explored a similar scenario in his novel 11/22/63: sometimes a better alternate outcome of a specific event can create a bleaker future...or maybe things will be better.  The Lucky Strike deeply explores the role of personal conscience in the face of strict orders to do something ultimately immoral...

Next week I begin my look at short science fiction from the year 1985...

Just Finished Reading The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

I already knew science fiction and fantasy writer Ursula K. Le Guin from her Earthsea fantasy series as well as a number of sci-fi short stories I've read in "year's best" anthologies.  Her 1969 novel The Left Hand of Darkness, which I just finished reading, was a great critical success probably mostly due to its examination of gender roles in an "ambisexual" society and its analogous use of Eastern religious concepts in the setting of a distant planet in the far-off future. On the remote planet of Gethen exist two competing human societies, with its population simultaneously male and female...at least potentially, since sexual characteristics and behavior only arise during a short period called "kemmer".  The federation of planets, a.k.a. the Ekumen, has sent Genly Ai to investigate the situation on Gethen and invite their leaders to join this organization of worlds...sounds kind of like the Federation in Star Trek.  But first Ai has to not only overcome the political infighting present in both nations of that planet, but he also has to see past his own biased assumptions about sexuality and how he is inaccurately judging the people there, whose physiological makeup and social customs are vastly different.  On top of this are complex ritual systems of communication and interaction that the envoy can't seem to help violating every time he opens his mouth.  This seems a pretty relevant story in the context of today's discussions about gender identity and many regard it as a significant, early feminist science fiction novel.  The narrative goes back and forth between Ai and the nation of Karhide's disgraced and exiled prime minister Estravan, whom Ai cannot bring himself to trust in spite of every indication to the contrary.  Le Guin is very detailed with her descriptions of Gethen's geography and the dominant philosophies there.  I think I may have rushed reading through it...I have a feeling that I'll be giving it a second reading before long and can understand how it received such acclaim.  I became aware of this story of Ursula K. Le Guin while reading Gardner Dozois' introduction to one of her short stories in his anthology series.  I'd be interested in reading any of your reactions to it should you decide to take it on...

Podcaster's Tips for Increasing Confidence

The other day on his Mindset Mentor podcast, personal development guru Rob Dial discussed how to increase confidence, listing six ways.  He stresses that confidence is a learned thing and can be enhanced...or destroyed.  He also points out that results will build up confidence over time...but that what he calls "results" differs from how the world at large defines them.  But back to those six tips: the first is simply to take action and not overprepare or overthink. Two, visualize the result as you would like it to be. Three, practice positive, affirming self-talk instead of the negativity we often succumb to. Four, fail! That's right, for failure is a type of result that Dial encourages...you learn the most from your setbacks. Five, step out of your comfort zone, doing things you are not used to doing.  And finally, do what you don't want to do, combatting the resistance you have in some directions is a great growth tool.  So according to Rob Dial, following these six suggestions of his will help to increase confidence...sounds reasonable to me. Of course, all of this involves changing personal habits, one little bit at a time.  This was one of those "easier said than done" episodes...

My #27 All-Time Favorite Album: A New World Record by Electric Light Orchestra

A NEW WORLD RECORD, by the British band Electric Light Orchestra, is my #27 all-time favorite album.  ELO in its early years was much more popular in America than Britain.  Its founders were Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne...Wood would leave in 1972 after only a couple of years and guitarist Lynne took over the band's creative direction while serving as its lead vocalist.  Other regular members of this group that tended to take on (and shed) different musicians over the years were drummer Bev Bevlan and keyboardist Richard Tandy.  A New World Record, their sixth studio album, came out in 1976 and is widely regarded as their best.  Continuing with ELO's tradition of fusing rock and classical orchestral music with a not-so-subtle tribute to the Beatles and their producer George Martin's arrangement skills, this record is loaded with beautiful and compelling songs.  The only song on it I dislike is Telephone Line, and that's most certainly because the radio mercilessly overplayed it to the point that I became sick of hearing it.  My favorite song of 1976...as I lived through that year...is the track Livin' Thing, and the two sides' respective opening tracks, Tightrope and So Fine, represent my next two favorite songs from the album.  Do Ya, on the second side, is the heaviest rocker on the album, while the closing track Shangri-La is very dreamy and reflective.  Rounding out this album are the songs Mission: A New World Record, Above the Clouds and Rockaria...it's all less than 37 minutes in length, two of them easily fitting on a compact disc.  Electric Light Orchestra's follow-up work Out of the Blue, a double album, is also loaded with good songs...but afterward they began to slide into a pop/disco act that I felt detracted from their earlier appeal.  Different incarnations of ELO have sprung up over the years...Lynne is still out there performing the old hits.  He's also well known as a member of the supergroup Traveling Wilburys, along with his old idol George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Roy Orbison.  You can hear A New World Record off YouTube if you like.  Although Jeff Lynne has expressed his affection for the old Beatles music, in my opinion much of the harmonic singing on his group's records reminds me more of the Beach Boys...and that indeed is a compliment... 

Belmont Stakes Horse Race on NBC Later Today

Later today will be the third race in the Triple Crown of three-year old thoroughbred horse racing: the Belmont Stakes, taking place on Long Island in New York around 6:44 pm, broadcast on NBC.  The Kentucky Derby's improbable longshot winner Rich Strike is part of the eight-horse field after skipping the Preakness in order to protect his health...but he's not the favorite: We the People is.  This horse didn't run in either the Derby or Preakness, and the favorites from those two races...including the Preakness winner Early Voting...won't be running this year's Belmont.  There will be a couple of familiar names, Mo Denegal and Skippylongstocking.  Creative Minister, Nest, Barber Road and Golden Glider round out the lineup.  If I only went by names, I'd be pulling for Nest...but Rick Strike is my sentimental favorite for this race.  There won't be much pre-race television hype for the Belmont like there was for the Kentucky Derby, and that suits me fine.  The trainer of Rich Strike, after the announcement that his horse wouldn't be competing in the Preakness, explained that these races are held too closely together, exhausting the horses and placing their health and future in jeopardy.  If they'd only space these major events a couple of weeks further apart, then I believe we'd see more horses going for the Triple Crown instead of selectively entering just one or two races.  After all, in tennis the four major Grand Slam tournaments are spread throughout the year...can you imagine what Nadal and the others would say if they were all crammed together during the spring?

Quote of the Week...from Viktor Frankl

Between stimulus and response there is a space.  In that space is our power to choose our response.  In our response lies our growth and our freedom.                       ---Viktor Frankl

Viktor Frankl was a Jewish concentration camp survivor during Hitler's Nazi-instigated Holocaust who became a renowned psychologist and author of more than 60 books.  His most famous, Man's Search for Meaning, focuses on the notion that as humans we always have choices in life...even during times of extreme limitation and suffering, such as in a concentration camp.  It is this enhanced capacity for choice that distinguishes us in our humanity from other animals, who are much more tightly controlled by stimulus and response.  But as Frankl says, no matter the provocation or brief the time for reaction, we still have that moment to determine our own destinies and select which response to make.  Of course, we can also cop out and let habitual reactions run our days as well...but that is also a choice, isn't it?  I first heard of Viktor Frankl and his approach late in high school English class...a rare learning experience for me there.  And this past week, podcaster Rob Dial used the above quote of his to hammer home important points. Sometimes I think we have to chisel out new "shortcut" personal habits that allow us to recognize our ability to choose when those provocations inevitably arise.  For me I'm working on automatically speaking the work "choice" when such adverse things happen in different settings and circumstances...I'm thinking of traffic and the workplace as prime locales to implement this.  And then, of course, I choose, hopefully, a higher path...

Democrats Should Become a Big Tent Party Again

I am certain that this article is bound to tick off a few of my more progressive friends, but here goes anyway.  I think it's time for the Democratic Party to once again become a big tent party that welcomes a wider range of ideological beliefs. Not the segregationist Dixiecrats of the distant past, but those with a more pragmatic and centrist belief system (myself being one of these) should be accorded more acceptance and respect.  When Joseph Biden was running for president, he distinguished himself as the more moderate, centrist candidate...you would think that senators like West Virginia's Joe Manchin and Arizona's Kyrsten Sinema were right up his political alley.  Instead, he has largely sat back and let his party's dominant progressive wing...the very group to which his primary opponents like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren belong...run the legislative agenda.  Although Biden is far, far better than his fascist predecessor (who wouldn't be) and I'll probably vote for his reelection should he decide to run again, I am disappointed in our president's performance in office so far.  His promise to be more collaborative in working out compromise bipartisan solutions to our nation's problems has never materialized...I had been expecting more of an open-door policy at the White House than it was during the previous three administrations, where the president would not only be regularly conferring with elected representatives from his own party but also with Republicans...including of course Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.  Instead, you see the House of Representatives marginally pass highly partisan legislation that they know in advance hasn't a prayer of getting any Republican support in the Senate...it seems that President Biden could exert some effective influence on Nancy Pelosi and the House to go in a more practical direction, but for some reason he won't.  If I were a Democratic candidate for the Senate or House in a traditionally "red" or "purple" state, then I would be embracing Manchin and Sinema's politics...we need more of them, not less.  And I get the frustration with obstructionist, manipulative partisan politicians like McDonnell...but I wonder how much I'm feeling is from media manipulation while also realizing that he stands on the side of democracy and against the scary fascist trend enveloping his own party, as well as against senators with their wacko plans like "my" Rick Scott here in Florida.  We need to help old Mitch stay in control of his party...as much I as resist saying it...by throwing some success stories out there he can use to support himself.  And we need more stable laws that aren't going to automatically be overturned every few years when the other party inevitably takes control. But that's just the way I see it and you're entitled to see things differently...

Weekly Short Stories: 1984 Science Fiction, Part 6

This week I have more 1984 science fiction short stories to review from the Gardner Dozois anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction, Second Annual Collection. 1984 for me was one of personal growth in the area of financial management. I was already living on relatively meager resources when that April I developed and implemented a plan and mindset of frugality and wise economic choices. It was here that I developed within me the notion that there was such a thing as "enough" and that I would never be personally susceptible to ad campaigns that tried to manufacture a want for a product I didn't want in the first place.  But back to those stories...

ROCK ON by Pat Cadigan

This story is a play on the notion that rock n' roll music is based on the rhythm of sex...the setting is into the future a few decades (around now?) when rock stars record their music while connected to "sync-ers"...people with a special ability to transmit the essence of a hit while hooked up electronically...and hooked up sexually as well.  The narrative is about one such sync-er...or "sinner" as the common parlance goes among them...who decides to leave the artist she's under contract with.  And how once she's on the loose she then becomes a target for other acts.  To me this story was a commentary about the demeaning and degradation of popular music in our time...not just in a moral sense but also in that less and less personal talent and creativity factor into stardom nowadays in favor of technology and production...give a listen to local pop mx station Kiss-105 for a little while to see what I mean: yuck....

SUNKEN GARDENS by Bruce Sterling

Another (groan) futuristic short story taking place in Sterling's fictional universe (that the editor seems to love) where Shapers and Mechanists vie for control of the solar system, here the focus is on Mars and its ongoing terraforming.  The organization controlling the project has settled various outcast subgroups of Shapers on its surface and is holding a contest between them at a site called the Sunken Gardens to see which has the best terraforming ideas.  But those in charge, while communicating the fact that the previous ecology there from an earlier project must first be cleared, don't tell the whole story about the life they will be obliterating...

TRINITY by Nancy Kress

This novella is a combination cloning/sibling rivalry/search for God tale.  A woman's seeker sister is staying at an institute where siblings are paired in a machine to generate a strange entity that the scientist running it suspects may be God him-it-her-self.  Knowing from her own past in research that such a study has produced an unusual number of deaths among the participants, she tries every trick she knows to dissuade her sister from participating and to get her out of there.  Complicating matters is the clone her now-late father had made of her sister and the efforts to bring him into the project.  I think my problem with this story is that it had too many different areas of focus...

THE TROUBLE WITH THE COTTON PEOPLE by Ursula K. Le Guin

Set on a future Earth or may another world...the author doesn't reveal this...society is rather primitive with the northern area trading their wine across the Inland Sea for the cotton grown and provided by the southern people.  Only one problem: the cotton they are receiving is starting to be inferior quality...should they send it back, cut back on their wine exports, or do something else?  Finally, they decide a combination of all three, choosing to send a small delegation to the south to ascertain the problem and negotiate a solution.  It is their experiences with the "cotton people" of the south that seem to form the moral of this quizzical tale about how to get along with those one has a dispute with...

TWILIGHT TIME by Lewis Shiner

For me the best story of the five I'm reviewing today, it does use time travel to alter the past...not necessarily the best premise for a story although H.G. Wells and Stephen King have used this device to perfection.  In a near future America...and world, I presume...where proctors have been voted into permanent control of society, a couple of scientists perform an time travel experiment in their rural Arizona town.  The one "going back" discovers evidence of an extraterrestrial craft tearing up a road...and a couple of frightened children convince him that something amiss is happening here.  The story is a puzzle of different pieces that all come together nicely at the end...bravo, author!

Next week I continue with comments on stories from Dozois' anthology covering 1984...

June Features Five Planets Aligned in East Before Sunrise

I don't watch Lawrence O'Donnell's opinion show on MSNBC, nor do I follow him on social media.  However, for some reason I probably would rather not know, a posting of his appeared on my Facebook newsfeed page with a topic I wouldn't normally associate with him and his politically oriented output: astronomy.  It revealed that sky-gazers in this month of June 2022 are getting a special treat...if they are early-risers, that is.  The five planets visible to the naked eye...Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn...are strung out close to each other in the eastern predawn sky along the elliptic, in that order starting from the horizon in the constellation Taurus near the Pleiades (Mercury) and extending westward (up and to the right) in Aries (Venus), in Pisces (Mars and Jupiter, visually close together) and Aquarius (Saturn) on the far west end of the planetary spectacle.  The most difficult planet to spot will most definitely be Mercury, for while it will have enough brightness to be visible, to observe it I'll have to catch it just after it rises but just before the sun...and it'll be just above the east horizon so there can't be any impediments like trees or buildings.  I'm going to bravely try to get up early...totally against my current habits...and see whether I can't get a glimpse of our innermost planet: it will be down and to the left from very bright Venus.  Of course, if it's cloudy or foggy I'll have to try another morning.  But this planetary alignment phenomenon will be out there for most of the month.  By June 24th the moon will even be a part of it... 

Podcaster Distinguishes Between the Journey and the Destination

Recently I've been writing weekly posts about a personal development podcast, called The Mindset Mentor, and hosted by Rob Dial.  Some shows are better than others, and while I don't always agree with Dial there is usually at least one episode that resonates with me.  Such was the case this past week when he discussed how people who are trying to improve their lives find themselves stymied and discouraged because the problems they thought they were overcoming keep coming back.  To this he replied that it's all a journey and that there is no destination...and that whatever bad habits you overcome you never completely rid yourself of them.  So ten years ago something might have made you mad for a week...five years later the same kind of thing would only set you back a day, and now maybe five minutes...but the potential for relapse is always there.  And if you screw up, then realize that the journey is what matters.  I'd only add to what he said by mentioning that while life is definitely a journey...or process...it's still important to have direction to it.  Just stop beating yourself up whenever you come up short...that's a necessary part of it all: I call it a "growth opportunity"...  

My #28 All-Time Favorite Album: Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? by Metric

#28: OLD WORLD UNDERGROUND, WHERE ARE YOU NOW?  by Metric

Metric is a longstanding Canadian alternative rock band, in existence since 1998 with several albums out between then and now.  Emily Haines is their lead singer and, with guitarist Jim Shaw, created the band.  Later came bassist Joshua Winstead and drummer Joules Scott-Key to complete the lineup.  All of them take songwriting credits on their tracks, which over the years have come to more heavily rely on the synthesizer and less on the harder guitar riffs epitomizing their earlier works.  Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?  in 2003 was their second recorded album but the first one actually released...it spawned the catchy anti-war single Combat Baby, which I heard played the following year on my local alt-rock station WHHZ on 100.5.  That's all I knew of this band until 2009 when I explored some of their music on YouTube, eventually getting a copy of this album.  If you liked Debbie Harry's new wave Blondie group from decades earlier, then Metric in their early years was a more hard-rock version of them...both Harry and Haines are very good, emotionally expressive singers.  Of Old World Underground's tracks, here is my ranking of my favorites, with a brief comment following each:

1 Calculation (Theme)---A cryptic song with pure synthesizer background, Haines sings from the viewpoint, it appears, of a computer.  The ending is chilling and poignant.

2 Love is a Place---The album's short closing track is a combination of Haines' soothing voice and one of the most wicked guitar accompaniments I've heard in a while.

3 Combat Baby---One of a couple of songs on the album hinting at protest against the Iraq war, its music stands on its own as a melodic, catchy mainstream pop/rock hit...which is probably why they chose it as their first single.

4 The List---An anthemic track that seems a bit autobiographical, I loved the musical flow.  Plus, I'm partial to lists if you've known me for a while...why, look, here's one!

5 Hustle Rose---A sad, beautiful exposé of the lifestyle of someone who derives her livelihood from "hustling".  It's a story in itself as well an extremely danceable song (so are #3 and #4).

6 Succexy---Harshly critical of the military and the pro-war spirit dominant during this era, this is probably the most political of all their music...

7 Wet Blanket---I can't help but think that Metric deliberately set out to pay a musical tribute to The Knack for their monster 1979 hit My Sharona and that unmistakable, singular guitar riff that permeated it, copied here.

Other album tracks were IOU, On a Slow Night, and Dead Disco...I didn't care too much for these, but it's nearly impossible to listen to an album and like every song.  Old World Underground, Where Are You? is primarily a rock album, with some slow ballads and several danceable tracks.  And you can't beat the voice of Emily Haines...

Tropical Disturbance Floods Out South Florida

After eastern Pacific tropical storm Agatha crossed Mexico and dissipated into stormy weather after emerging in the Gulf of Mexico, it headed quickly toward South Florida, this morning dumping 6 to 9 inches of rain in just a few hours' span.  The Weather Channel thankfully suspended its usual boring late-night programming to cover the storm...but their repeated warnings didn't prevent locals from driving their vehicles through flooded areas, stranding themselves and most likely ruining their cars.  When you see water on a road, all you're seeing is the surface and not how deep it goes. Even if you've gone down the same street repeatedly, you may not be aware how it dips in elevation from one place to another...and that's causing a lot of the turmoil in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale area.  By the way, this storm has no official name because the meteorologists don't detect adequate tropical circulation in it...they simply call it "PTC 1" (Potential Tropical Cyclone 1) in spite of the fact that the Weather Channel routinely gives names to winter frontal storm systems and even heat waves.  As for South Florida, I haven't been back down there since 2013 when my father died, living in the northern part of the state since 1977...even long-established sports franchises like the Miami Heat, Florida/Miami Marlins and the Florida Panthers came into existence long after I had departed the scene.  The last times I was there we walked along Hollywood Beach, but it felt more exotic instead of a homecoming...the numerous Russian-speaking people there probably added to this effect.  I can't think of any compelling reason for a return visit, unless they finally get around to establishing a decent theme park with real roller coasters.  Even the earlier quaintness of the western fringe of the populated area with many rural pockets that I remember when growing up in the 60s and 70s (I lived two blocks from a cow pasture and went to school in a town with horses on the street and rodeos) is largely gone with the unrelenting expansion of urban and suburban sprawl...it's now all just one huge, ugly unnamed city going on for miles north, south, and west....

Quote of the Week...from Jim Carrey

Your need for acceptance can make you invisible in this world. Don't let anything stand in the way of the light that shines through this form. Risk being seen in all of your glory.            ---Jim Carrey

I've noticed that comedic actor Jim Carrey has become something of an armchair philosopher, and I find myself in agreement with a lot of what he has to say.  The above quote of his struck me in particular since for much of my life my unconscious strategy to get by was to make myself as invisible to others as possible...not so much because I craved acceptance from them, but rather so that they would stay away and not bother me.  In being like this I missed out on an important principle: like people attract like people, and for the things that mean the most to me, loudly broadcasting them to others...while possibly generating opposition and even persecution, also lets those with the same outlook and interests as me know that I'm one of them.  Eventually I would find myself in a circle of like-minded souls...no longer any need to be "invisible".  That's not exactly what I think Carrey meant...his message is that if people don't risk standing out before others, then their lives diminish as a consequence, invisible to others and, worse, invisible to themselves.  But old habits are hard to break...fortunately I think I have some keys to breaking this one, one "atomic habit" at a time...

Just Finished Rereading Song of Susannah by Stephen King

Song of Susannah is the sixth of seven books in Stephen King's Dark Tower fantasy/science fiction series, published in 2004...just a year after the sixth book, Wolves of the Calla and in the same year as the very lengthy finale, The Dark Tower.  The series' premise continues, with the "ka-tet" of Roland Deschain, Eddie Dean, Susannah Dean, Jake Chambers and Oy the billy-bumbler as they seek the Dark Tower, which binds all of reality together and is threatened by the evil, powerful, and most probably insane Crimson King.  Here Susannah is going through her pregnancy induced when having sex with a demon while trying to save Jake from captivity in an earlier book. An alternate personality in her own body, Mia, takes control of it and steers the "two" of them to where the bad guys are preparing for what is most likely a demon child's birth.  Meanwhile the rest of the heroes, along with Father Callahan from the previous book and King's early novel Salem's Lot, seek to buy a crucial empty lot in east Manhattan where a single red rose seems to hold the key to the Tower.  To this end they end up in Maine, where they discover King...which starts a curious mirror effect in the series where readers are reacquainted with his earlier works as well as his personal life history and habits.  Even reading through all this a second time around, I found the book to be a bit confusing to say the least...but I think its main function was to serve as a link to the series' final volume.  And with this I think it succeeded, and now it's onward to that amazing ride in King's massive conclusion to the Dark Tower series...

Weekly Short Stories: 1984 Science Fiction, Part 5

Today I continue reviewing 1984 science fiction short stories I read from the Gardner Dozois anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction, Second Annual Collection.  Although for much of the 1984 I owned two (shabby) used cars, my preferred mode of transportation was the bicycle, and the kind of bicycle I preferred you'd never see in a race: strictly basic Wal-Mart material.  Nowadays I don't even own one, and if I did, I'd be a lot more concerned sharing the road with motorists distracted by their gadgets than I ever was about drunk drivers.  And now my reactions to the next eight stories in the book...

NEW ROSE HOTEL by William Gibson

Brutal cutthroat industrial espionage of the not-so-distant future reigns here as the narrator, one of the "spies", flees death from the opposition after his team's attempts to lure a crucial geneticist from one company to another go disastrously. His description of discount hotels as "coffin racks" with the "rooms" being "plastic capsules a meter high and three long, stacked like surplus Godzilla teeth"...oh yeah, sign me up, I want to live there!   

THE MAP by Gene Wolfe

Gardner Dozois is very big on Gene Wolfe, but his stories just don't resonate with me...here's another one. On a fantasy world of the distant future, there is the river Gyoll and the decaying, dead city of Nessus...and a map. The quest is on to find whatever it leads to, but betrayal, murder and frustration are its only fruits.  I see nothing science fiction here, and frankly, not much of a story...maybe you'll have better luck with it...

INTERLOCKING PIECES by Molly Gloss

A woman with a dire medical need of a cerebellum transplant (needless to say we're speaking of the future) uses her high position to gain access to the donor, a man with a certainty of death after he voluntarily rejects another heart transplant.  It is this need to contact and bond between donor and recipient that stands out in this brief tale...

TROJAN HORSE by Michael Swanwick

Elin is a scientist whose brain was damaged during an experiment done in Earth orbit.  She has received a personality transplant...yes, I know this sounds weird...and is recuperating on the moon in a terraformed area under a dome, complete with a lake.  There is a woman, Cleo, living there and she had a similar transplant...and now she thinks she's God.  How she, Elin, and their mutual acquaintance, Tory...a "wetware" surgeon who is involved in both of their cases...relate forms the core of this story in which I, the reader, had some trouble discerning what was real and what wasn't, not always a good sign... 

BAD MEDICINE by Jack Dann

One of my favorite pieces so far from this anthology, this story is all about Native American traditions and religion, with Stephen, a white "seeker" kind of dude dabbling in different projects, agrees to go with his Indian friend John to where one of John's friends is undergoing a special ritual.  Part of the preliminaries involves everyone sitting in a confined, painfully-hot place called a sweat-lodge...it is here that the resentments and grudges building between some of the participants come to a head. An interesting story, but more along the lines of Stephen King's horror genre than standard science fiction...

AT THE EMBASSY CLUB by Elizabeth A. Lynn

This is a brief tale about caste systems, racism, and misogyny...especially toward young women, a clear analogy to some present-day regions in the world and their social structures.  A diplomat from Earth falls in love with a girl on Tanderai...one of those brutally stratified societies...and the two each undergo the consequences of their romance. Great ending, although crossing forbidden class lines between lovers isn't exactly a novel idea for a story...

PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE by Rena Yount

A few weeks ago I wrote a generally unread blog article titled "People Magnets" that describe how certain folks seem to automatically be set apart from others in terms of their looks and opportunities...this story transfers it all to a dreary science fiction future in which people pay through the nose for their offspring to be genetically engineered for looks, intellect, athletics, or whatever their interest is for them.  In turn, the bioengineered get all the good jobs and run society over the "norms", like Evelyn who wants her planned daughter to be bioengineered and neglects her own bright-but-normal son in the process.  Aside from another story about the "beautiful people", this is a disturbing study about how parents can become excessively obsessed about what they want their children to become...

THE KINDLY ISLE by Fredrick Pohl

On a Caribbean resort island, a large hotel has been shut down for years...a company has sent a representative to assess the place for purchase and renovation possibilities.  While there he discovers the presence of a missing scientist formerly involved in biological warfare research.  How these two stories come together steer the course of the story to the ending...for which its title is quaintly apt: another plate of lobster, please, for the sake of humanity...

Next week: more about 1984 stories from the Dozois anthology...