Blogocentric Formulations (Book)

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I am SoCalScribe. This is my InkSpot.

Blogocentric Formulations

Logocentric (adj). Regarding words and language as a fundamental expression of an external reality (especially applied as a negative term to traditional Western thought by postmodernist critics).

Sometimes I just write whatever I feel like. Other times I respond to prompts, many taken from the following places:

"The Soundtrackers Group"

"Blogging Circle of Friends "

"Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise"

"JAFBG"

"Take up Your Cross"

Thanks for stopping by!

Show Recent Comments

10 Most Recent Blog Comments:

Aiva Raine

Nov 6, 2024 at 4:49pm
In response to "October Watch List"

Grin. I loved Psych! I rewatched White Collar approx a month ago. Having issues finding good new shows so I've resorted to rewatching my favorites from old.

Currently rewatching Castle, Supernatural, and Buffy/Angel.

Enjoyed The Great and Lady Jane Grey, sad they both got cancelled. The "I made a teddy bear" episode on The Great was so funny hubby and I had to rewatch that scene 4 times before we could finally stop laughing hysterically at it.

Thanks for your recaps of shows- it's given me some new items to add to our lists.

Jeff

Nov 6, 2024 at 3:20am
In response to "October Watch List"

Aiva Raine

- I've actually watched all three! PERSON OF INTEREST was a really good show, but WHITE COLLAR and BURN NOTICE (along with another great USA Network show called PSYCH) are some of my favorite television shows of all time. I actually just started rewatching WHITE COLLAR a few weeks ago!

Aiva Raine

Nov 5, 2024 at 3:08pm
In response to "October Watch List"

Wasn't aware that there was a movie for "What we do in the shadows"- thought it was just a TV show on Hulu. Thanks for sharing that tidbit- will find the movie and add it to our watch list. The TV show is quite humorous.

I also enjoyed the Lincoln Lawyer- need to watch the newest season.

Have you ever checked out Person of Interest, White Collar, or Burn Notice? If so, did you enjoy them?

1 Like

Aiva Raine

Aug 3, 2024 at 11:10pm
In response to "Man on the Moon"

Just missed seeing the moon landing by a few years and as one of those "old people", I will admit to being depressed at our lack of space progress. Sure, we've got great new telescopes that are letting us see wonderful things way out in space, but we still haven't even put a man back on the moon again after all this time. Putting someone on Mars looked promising for a while, until Elon Musk went all nutso and can't stop mucking up everything. Yeah, he's got reusable rockets, but we aren't really progressing much beyond that.

I truly hope I can live long enough to see humans do some real space exploration. Because even though I didn't see the original moon landing in person- watching it on TV after the fact still was pretty freaking cool. Although watching the Challenger blow up from our desks at school sucked. Here's hoping we get to bring the astronauts stuck in space home soon. Maybe NASA can work with someone besides Boeing for that!

Aiva Raine

Aug 3, 2024 at 11:01pm
In response to "July 2024 Watch List"

Only seen the Fall Guy and Deadpool & Wolverine. Both fell a bit flat for me. I think because the first Deadpool was just so awesome. This last one felt a bit Disneyfied. Yes, I know- tons of gore and the occasional sex joke, but it just, meh. There wasn't any real "bite" to it.

The first one had a real plot. It made you belly laugh hard. And you cared a bit about the characters. This last one, I didn't really care at all. About anyone. I laughed, but most were the "oh wow- that's so over the top it's funny" laughs, not "that's freaking hysterical and I'm still gonna be laughing about that on the way home".

Fall guy- it was more cheesy than funny or entertaining. It wasn't that memorable at all. So not memorable that I'm trying to remember anything I hated or liked about it and well, I can't. I do remember at the end going, well, not sure that was worth the 2 or so hours it took to watch.

There really hasn't been a movie lately that's wowed me. Everything seems to be trying to follow the whole Marvel action movie formula and they just don't do it for me. There's only so many explosions, fart jokes, and over the top gore scenes all done special effecty that you can do before you've completely lost me. I quit watching Marvel or Superhero movies a while ago, but went to Deadpool because- it was Deadpool and my son asked me to go for a Mom/Son outing.

I've tried watching many of the newer shows that get all the hype and they fall flat. I've gone back to watching reruns of shows I actually enjoyed- like Leverage, or White Collar. I'm on rewatch # 3 of Supernatural, rewatch 2 of Vampire Diaries, got about half-way through rewatch 2 of Originals before I gave up.

I did enjoy "The Great" and was bummed they killed it after 3 seasons. That was funny!

I loved the Bridgerton series, but this last season left me a bit unimpressed.

I'm currently rewatching Warehouse 13 with hubby who has never seen it. We watched Eureka before then. Somehow- all these older shows are much better than 99% of the newer shows and I honestly want to know why.

Why do most of the newer shows suck? Lazy writing? AI writing? What's the story? I'm really curious?

Kåre เลียม Enga

Aug 3, 2024 at 4:46pm
In response to "July 2024 Watch List"

I don't go out or have a television. I would watch more on-line but the internet has been wonky recently.

Two Thai BLs:

"1000 Year Old Vampire"

So... uneven. Some of the premise makes sense in a supernatural way. A vampire can't die even though he's bored of living. He's old... very old... and keeps meeting the same human/alien again and again. That 'love story' has some merit. The final scene is moving.

12 episodes could've been condensed to 4 or 6 (so... 160 - 240 minutes total; even a 90 minute western movie would've been better). I could take the final words "Wave goodbye, Master Yoh" and rewrite it as a prequel, having it placed in 1940 (not necessarily in Bangkok), ending in 2000... with it being 'reborn' in 2020. I like the idea, not just how it's done.

"Love Sea"

Good acting, great chemistry, edgy at times. It tackles sex-for-pay, family abuse/neglect, criminality, and the age old "what happens when we fall in love". I love a romance when there are layers of other genres and when it takes me to a time and/or place. Episode 2 is steamy and geo-restricted but it's fitting to get past the 'sex' because that's not the story.

Both main actors are top-shelf and work well together. The niece Meena is adorable. The father is chilling (evil wrapped up in normality). It hasn't finished yet. There are 10 episodes. #9 airs August 4th.

"1000YO" gets about a 6.5 rating at MyDramaList ... and that's about right imho for PG silliness. "Love Sea" is rated 8.0 and that's a tad low. The story may be a bit too 'real' for some audiences as it's 18+ and serious.

These are the opening episodes to save time looking for them! IMHO, it's getting harder to find some things on-line.

1000YO: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8sq35e
LoveSea: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9037r4

[Visit the entry for more...]

Kåre เลียม Enga

Jul 29, 2024 at 12:01am
In response to "Hiding behind humor"

"I was just joking" can trigger my traumas and make me distrust someone. I want to respond, "I'm not laughing" ... without an apology or smile. It's too akin to bullying.

1 Like

Kåre เลียม Enga

Jul 28, 2024 at 11:55pm
In response to "Man on the Moon"

The original Star Trek was 1966-1969. And let's not forget the Jetsons. Both forecast new technologies... as people looked to the future.

The future seems more dystopian now. And since the Moon has little commercial value, money has gone elsewhere. NASA has a $25 billion budget; Pentagon ... $825 billion.

When there's a military base on the Moon... or when it's found to be made of gold instead of cheese... then it will become a priority.

Sumojo

Jul 16, 2024 at 2:16am
In response to "Memorable Places"

Hi, Jeff, I’m reviewing this interesting blog post as next in line for I Write in 24.

I’ll comment on each of your memorable places in turn.

Flathead Lake (Polson, Montana
I could feel the connection you had to this place, but also to the memories of your grandparents. I couldn’t quite envisage the boathouse though. To me a boathouse is a shelter for a boat! But obviously it wasn’t just that.
I could also feel the sadness when you returned there, even if it was just on line. It’s distressing really to see the new owners had messed with a place you held so dear.

Zuma Beach (Malibu, California)
Now here you showed your true romanticism. What a beautiful plan you devised to recreate the table setting of your wedding day. Your wife would have been so happy.

Gare du Nord (Paris, France).
I understand that feeling when you become the foreigner when you first land in a country whose language is not yours. I felt it when we were in Vietnam, even the street signs weren’t in English and finding one’s way around was daunting.
I believe though that the French people are willing to speak English if one makes at least an attempt at French.

Edmund D. Edelman Children's Courthouse (Los Angeles, California).

A different feeling and experience here. I was a little taken aback when I saw a courthouse as a place you had strong memories about until I read the rest of the post. Yes, a location can leave a person traumatised. Your experiences at that particular courthouse are mixed. The applications and endless paperwork involved in the process which allowed you to adopt your precious children would certainly have left you with mixed feelings of that location.

The Walt Disney Studios Lot (Burbank, California)

Now this location isn’t one where many people can put as their workplace. You certainly have an interesting job.I would have loved to hear more about your experiences in the movie business.

Overall I throughly enjoyed the blog post. Thank you so much for sharing.
Sue.

[Visit the entry for more...]

Wordsmitty ✍️

Jul 15, 2024 at 12:12am
In response to "Memorable Places"

A nice time capsule of your life as well. Thanks for sharing.

1 Like

January 28, 2024 at 11:41pm

#1063129

Second and Third Jobs

"Invalid Item"
Andre's Fractured Resolutions
Week 3 | Prompt 1 ▼

I hereby resolve to get a job.

As someone who's currently working three different jobs, my resolution this year is to actually get rid of a job. In addition to my day job working at Marvel Studios in their legal department, I'm also the president of the board of a local community development nonprofit, and the Director of Operations for our church. For almost a year, I've been balancing the responsibilities of each and it's safe to say that I'm pretty exhausted at this point as I constantly shift from one job to the next, trying to get everything done that needs to be done each day.

Turns out, the church job situation will probably take care of itself in the coming weeks, so I'll be down to two. And the community nonprofit is the least work of the three, so I'm really hoping that my workload will be reduced enough to introduce some balance back into my life.

One of the most difficult things about having multiple jobs is that you're just never "off duty" because something's almost always happening somewhere. The last time I was this busy was when I took a bunch of consulting gigs during a brief period of unemployment about five years ago, and then a bunch of work came my way all at the same time. I was working a full-time office job, then working two consulting gigs in my spare time (on my lunch break, after work, late at night, etc.). I used to carry three different laptops around in my work bag, so I always had each job at my fingertips just in case something came up. The money was great, but the physical and mental and emotional toll was pretty high.

So this year, I find myself resolving not to get a job, but to get rid of one.

(301 words)

1 Like • Comment

January 17, 2024 at 12:42pm

#1062548

Take a Hike

"Invalid Item"
Andre's Fractured Resolutions
Week 2 | Prompt 2 ▼

I resolve to take a nice healthy hike!

Hiking is one of those activities that I'm wary about, because it means different things to different people. If you're talking about hiking in terms of it basically being an "outdoor walk" then, sure... hikes are lovely. I like being out in nature, and low-impact walking is great, especially with some scenery to appreciate along the way. But if you're talking about hiking in terms of it being a "grab your backpack, your expensive hiking boots, and make sure you carry your own food and water because we're going on a ten-mile hike in the mountains" then no thank you.

I've never been much of an outdoorsy type. My parents would take us on fishing trips often, and I was in the Boy Scouts for most of my youth, so I'm not unfamiliar with outdoorsy-type stuff. I just don't really like it. On family fishing trips, I'd just bring a book and go off somewhere and read a book. On Boy Scout camping trips I'd set up the tent and then spend most of my time inside of it. Also reading a book.

Now that I'm older and spend the majority of my time inside (at an office for work, in a home taking care of kids, etc.) I've come to appreciate the outdoors much more, but I still can only take it in small doses. We have friends who love long-distance hiking and "dig your own latrine" camping and, well, that's just not for me. But drive out to the ocean for a half day at the beach? Or take a morning hike for an hour or so? That I definitely can appreciate more these days.

So I actually can resolve to take a nice healthy hike this year... as long as it's not too far and I'm home by lunchtime.

(308 words)

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January 17, 2024 at 12:31pm

#1062547

Habits not Resolutions

"Invalid Item"
Andre's Fractured Resolutions
Week 2 | Prompt 1 ▼

I hereby resolve NOT to make any New Year's Resolutions at all.

I was listening to a podcast the other day (Episode 103 of Offline with Jon Favreau

titled "The Science of Achieving (and Enjoying) Your New Years' Resolution"), which included an interview with Wharton professor Katy Milkman about the limits of willpower, the science behind habit formation, and ideas for building incentives to accomplish your goals. My big takeaway was that trying to accomplish something by willpower alone is almost always destined for failure. Basically, willpower saps your energy, so trying to "push through" something with sheer force of will usually ends with you hitting a wall, exhausted, and then giving up.

The recommendation for those who want to form better habits is to create incentives and alternatives that are appealing to you. If you're trying to eat healthier, get rid of all the junk food in your house and replace it with something better. By creating a barrier to the bad behavior (you have to go out and buy junk food if you want it), you make it more likely that you'll make a good decision. Keep in mind though, that "better alternative" doesn't always mean you have to set unrealistic standards. If you swap our your Doritos for raw kale, you're probably still going to drive to the nearest convenience store to get Doritos when you have a craving. But if you swap out your Doritos with a healthier chip or similar snack, it's more likely you'll say, "Ugh, I'd have to drive all the way to the store to get Doritos... I guess these veggie sticks or mixed nuts will give me that crunch I'm looking for..."

The other option is to create incentives so you want to do the new habit. If you hate going to the gym, is there other exercise that you do enjoy? Maybe a hike or a bike ride outdoors? What about swimming instead of huffing away on a treadmill? Or what if you gave yourself an incentive to go to the gym... like if you manage to go every day for a week, you'll allow yourself to have a reward.

The optimal solution is to combine both (which is called "habit stacking"), where you create multiple incentives at the same time. Let's say you want to lose weight and get in shape. You could replace the bad snacks at home with healthier options, and sign up for a gym. You could set an incentive where, if you can go five days without slipping (i.e., missing a gym day or eating a bad snack) then on the weekend you can treat yourself to a dessert with dinner. Or have a small serving of that snack you've been craving all week.

Maybe the trick is to not make any definitive resolutions at all, because resolutions by definition imply achievement by willpower. Maybe the key to achieving your goals is less resolving to change and more building habits that naturally facilitate the change you seek.

(499 words)

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January 10, 2024 at 2:22am

#1062144

Gained and lost

"Invalid Item"
Andre's Fractured Resolutions
Week 1 | Prompt 2 ▼

I resolve to finally sell the house. Is Andre selling the bar, whose house is he selling? Is your Muse raising money? What's going on?

The Muse looked over the contract Andre slid in front of him.

"You're selling the Banana Bar?"

"Thinking about it," Andre replied.

"But... why?" The Muse asked.

Andre pointed to and tapped the paragraph that included the sale price. The Muse's eyes went wide.

"I had no idea it was worth that much."

"Neither did I," Andre said. "But it's certainly worth considering with an offer like that."

"Did you read the rest of the fine print?"

"Pfft," Andre scoffed. "What for? I'm going to be rich. I can afford to not sweat the small stuff now."

"This isn't really small stuff," The Muse muttered, scanning the rest of the contract. "It says here that they reserve the right to use the land however they please, up to and including demolishing the Banana Bar and reselling the empty lot to a company called BLP for conversion into a parking garage."

Andre grabbed the contract back and skimmed it.

"Wait, they want to bulldoze the Banana Bar?"

"Probably to charge the hotels and other restaurants on this street $10 every fifteen minutes to valet their customers' rides."

Andre sagged his shoulders behind the bar.

"I can't let them do this to the Banana Bar," he lamented. "I was only thinking about selling when I could come back to the bar and enjoy a drink that someone else was going to make for me. I don't want it to go away completely."

The Muse watched as Andre tore up the contract and tossed it into the trash behind the bar.

"At least now you'll still get those free drinks as part of your for-profit public good company restructure," The Muse said. "Speaking of which, I'll have a Banana Alexander."

Andre pulled out two glasses from behind the bar, along with the cognac from the top shelf.

"You're trying to make me feel better with one of my favorite drinks."

"It's the least I could do," The Muse said, "I'd feel awful if I passed up that much money on a deal."

Andre glared at The Muse and subtly reached for the cheaper cognac on the bottom shelf.

(355 words)

1 Like • Comment

January 6, 2024 at 7:40pm

#1061985

Failure to launch

"Invalid Item"
Andre's Fractured Resolutions
Week 1 | Prompt 1 ▼

I resolve to restore my writing habit of at least 300 words/day. What does Andre or your Muse think about that?

"Three hundred words a day?" The Muse scoffed. "That's a piece of cake. I can crank out three hundred words in, like, twenty to thirty minutes tops."

"So why aren't you already doing it?" Andre asked, putting the finishing touches on a trio of RumChata Banana Cream Pie cocktails for a pair of patrons in the corner of the Banana Bar.

"I'm just saying," The Muse replied, "That twenty to thirty minutes is, what, the time it takes to put in a quick workout at the gym? It's an easily accomplishable daily goal."

"Speaking of the gym, how's that resolution going? I know that's not specifically your purview as a Muse, but still a similar 'easy' resolution that's not being carried out by your charge, right?"

Andre carried two of the drinks to the patrons in the corner, then returned to his place behind the bar, picking up the third drink and eyeing it thirstily.

"Why did you make three drinks if there are only two customers?" The Muse asked.

"We just restructured the Banana Bar into one of those public-benefit corporation things. You know, the for profit company with a mission thingies? Like how TOMS gives away a pair of shoes for every pair sold? Or how Warby Parker gives away a pair of eyeglasses each time they sell one to a paying customer? Well, whenever a customer buys a drink here from now on, we also give one away."

"It actually looks delicious. Can I have it?"

"Sorry," Andre said, throwing back the drink. "The only member of the public the Banana Bar benefits is Andre. It's in the bylaws."

"You're a menace."

"And you're getting off-topic," Andre observed. "In fact, after all this, you didn't even meet your quota today."

"One stinking word..." The Muse grumbled.

(299 words)1

Footnotes
1 This blog entry is intentionally one word less than the minimum because it is, after all, a fractured resolution about a 300 word-per-day writing habit.

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January 2, 2024 at 11:04pm

#1061779

December 2023 Watch List

To qualify for my Watch List every month, the following has to be something that I've watched that's new to me. It doesn't necessarily have to be a current show, but it can't be reruns or rewatches of something I've already seen. So if I'm including it in this list, it means this month is the first time I've watched it. I'll put "DNF" (Did Not Finish) next to anything that I stopped watching and have no immediate plans to finish.

Movies
Lion King II: Simba's Pride
Migration

Television
The Continental (Season 1)
Halo (Season 1)
Reacher (Season 2)

I didn't watch a lot of new stuff this month. Lots of Christmas movies that I've seen a bunch of times (National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation will always be a classic, and we've been really enjoying the animated movies Klaus and Scrooge: A Christmas Carol on Netflix in recent years). We've also been rewatching some favorite shows like the Newsroom, so there's just a few things I watched this month that are new to me. I enjoyed Migration (Illumination's newest movie) but I didn't think it was as good as the Sing or Minion/Despicable Me franchises.

The Continental was an interesting show... it was three 90-minute episodes, so essentially a trilogy of prequel movies to the John Wick franchise more than a television series. It was pretty good but I don't see myself rewatching it or anything. I'm five episodes in on the new season of Reacher which has been really great so far. It takes everything that was good about the first season and doubles down on it. As a fan of the book series, I was always going to be a fan of the show, but I'm really happy with how well they're adapting it for television.

TOP PICK: Reacher (Season 2)

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January 1, 2024 at 4:42pm

#1061708

2023 Reading List

It's the end of 2023, which means it's time to review all the reading and listening I've done over the past calendar year. Here's how this past year broke down in terms of titles and numbers:

= favorite

= also really enjoyed

Books (click to expand full list) ▼

After eight straight years of reading over 100 books a year, I intentionally scaled back this year and set a goal of 50 books. Overall, I enjoyed the much slower pace this year; I definitely was able to enjoy and appreciate books more than when I was powering through them at a rate of two a week. I didn't end up writing much more than in previous years or picking up any additional habits, but it was nice to take a more relaxed approach to the things I read this year. I'm looking forward to doing the same in 2024.

Podcasts (click to expand full list) ▼

Last year, I wondered if the 900-ish podcasts I've listened to annually over the past few years would be some kind of equilibrium and it seems like it very much is. I listened to about 100 more than last year, but that's probably owed to the fact that there are a few new shorter-length podcasts that I've found and really enjoyed this year, including The Economics of Everyday Things (which are usually only 15-20 minutes long), as well as the fact that Scriptnotes did a series of about 50 mini episodes during the WGA writers' strike this year.

Comics (click to expand full list) ▼

I read fewer comics than last year. For some reason, it just never occurs to me to open my comic book app (probably because I have a long list of books I want to read), but like last year, I'm going to resolve to read more comics in 2024 because I really do love the medium and want to get more familiar with what's being released.

Scripts (click to expand full list) ▼

I only read about twenty scripts this year, same as last year. I still haven't quite gotten my mojo back when it comes to screenwriting, so it makes sense that I haven't been reading a lot of screenplays lately. I'd like to change that in 2024, but I'm also hesitant to be too prescriptive about what I'm trying to read. If scripts pop up that I want to read, I'll read them.

TOTALS: 50 books, 971 podcasts, 13 comics, 18 scripts

According to Goodreads, my book reading resulted in the following stats:

Total Pages Read: 16,828
Average Pages Per Book: 336
Shortest Book: 78 pages
Longest Book: 1,152 pages

That's it for my 2023 reading... time to see what 2024 has in store!

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