Hello there!
Welcome to the new folks who have joined in the past month!
It’s the start of November so that means a lot of things.
First, last November is when we adopted our third dog Honey. Just the other day my wife and I were thinking about how Honey spent the first month afraid to come out of her crate, only leaving at night to eat and use a pee pad. Now she sits atop our couch cushion just a few feet from us when we watch tv, taps are legs with her nose when we eat dinner, and spends each night sleeping at the foot of our bed. It hasn’t been easy, but she’s made a lot of progress with hopefully more to come.
Second, November means NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). Last year I wrote the first 16,000 words of one of my works in progress, Janet! I’ve add a few words here and there, but not a lot. I’m going to take this opportunity to set a daily goal and try to double my numbers by December. That should get me to a very health place in terms of working on the back half and actually finishing it.
Was recently watching Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol when my daughter caught a few minutes and was intrigued. I know Tom Cruise is not everyone's cup of tea, but I'm a sucker for the spy movie genre with cool gadgets and crazy stunts.
So a week later, we've watched every movie except Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1, which came out this summer.
Her assessment is that Rogue Nation is the best because it has a "back-stab back-stab," i.e. she liked Isla's character. Next faves were Ghost Protocol and Fallout.
While #3 is good, Philip Seymour Hoffman was a bit too intense and scary for her, so there was a lot of covering eyes and running out of the room. To be honest, PSH is kinda terrifying in that movie.
She liked the first one as well, but like me and Katie, thought #2 was trash. Thought that when I saw it in theaters over 20 years ago, a total letdown and forgot what the series is about - Ethan Hunt leading a team, not being a poor imitation of James Bond in slow motion with gratuitous use of masks and doves.
Thanks to her finding Simon Pegg hilarious as Benji, I suggested we check out the 2009 Star Trek reboot directed by J. J. Abrams and staring Pegg as Scotty. She enjoyed it, though the “red matter” time travel stuff got slightly confusing and complicated for her. We followed it up by going back in time to watch one of my favorite all-time films, Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan. Even though this was the original cast, meaning no Simon Pegg, she enjoyed it. At some point, I’m hoping to revisit episodes of Star Trek - The Next Generation and see what she thinks.
RECENT DIG ME OUT
Here are the October episodes of Dig Me Out:
Blur - recommended if you like bands such as Oasis, Pavement, Gorillaz, The Beatles
Samiam - RIYL bands like Bad Religion, Green Day, Jawbreaker, Sense Field
Duster - RIYL bands such as Low, Red House Painters, Slint, Blonde Redhead
Course Of Empire - RIYL bands like Prong, Faith No More, Ministry, Tool
RECENT TV/MOVIES
ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING, Season 3 (Hulu) - This show is never not a delight.
COPSHOP (Plex) - Solidly entertaining shoot ‘em up, like a leftover Tarantino script.
TRANSPORTER (Hulu) - I’m watching these out of order but I don’t think it makes a difference. Dumb but fun.
RECENT MUSIC
Sparklehorse - Bird Machine (2023)
Prong - State of Emergency (2023)
Hurricane - Reconnected (2023)
Wilco - Cousin (2023)
Emma Anderson - Pearlies (2023)
Al Caiola - Italian Guitars (1960)
Jerry Murad’s Harmonicats - The Soul of Italy - L’Anima D’Italia (1963)
If you read through these, you may have noticed the shift from new releases to old Italian album from the 1960s. Those are from my grandfathers record collection, which I inherited this past summer. I have been going through album by album, cleaning and playing them, when we cook or eat. Each one is unknown, so many have been pleasant surprises.
A few reminders before you go:
Help spread the word - leave a book review at Amazon or GoodReads!
All previous newsletters are archived. Lots of stuff to check out including a link to the original 2011 screenplay of THE BLACK SKY, hints and helps to get started on the real work easter egg hunt teased at the back of the book, and more
Spotify Playlists! I made them for when I was writing THE BLACK SKY, THE RED SKY, and there is also a special one for “The Dank” bar that is in THE BLACK SKY.
If you like instrumental electronic music, I have soundtracks for THE BLACK SKY and THE RED SKY available at most streaming services, along with several other releases.
Stay Safe!
Tim
Listen to my 90s music podcast: Dig Me Out
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Hey Tim- I shared the CoR episode with the band’s guitarist Mike Graff who listened to it and shared it on FB.
Meanwhile, the CopShootCop/Firewater guys were disappointed.