Posted on General

Support Life And Music

I was holding off on my big announcement until the day we had all our ducks in a row, but let’s face it: that’s the day that never comes. There will always be some ducks that are out of line (yes, autocorrect, I actually meant “duck” this time). I need to acknowledge that things are actually in pretty good order. So. . . no more hesitation. Duck it.

Support Life And Music is officially live.
https://www.supportlifeandmusic.org/
S.L.A.M. is a fiscally-sponsored non-profit founded by Jack Mangan to help musicians combat suicide, substance abuse, and other self-destructive behaviors. S.L.A.M. delivers information, awareness, and wisdom from veteran industry pros and musicians about how to survive and find happiness in “the life” through articles, audio podcasts, and videos. https://www.supportlifeandmusic.org/voices/

A recent study showed that in the U.S., the highest female suicide rate among all occupations is found in female musicians, while male musicians face the third highest rate. S.L.A.M. exists to tackle this problem head-on. To find solutions. To restore hope.
S.L.A.M.’s Life-Saving and Critical Services for working musicians:

♯ Lobbying for policy and fees changes to make the working musician’s career more sustainable

♯ Access to Mental Health Resources

♯ Guidance from musicians and industry professionals

♯ Access to financial survival resources

♯ Data and essays on Music’s importance for communities and individuals

So, how can you help?

Volunteer. Support Life And Music is growing fast, but still in its early days. We’re going to need help with all kinds of tasks. Contact us directly to find out more. jack@supportlifeandmusic.org

Donate. https://givebutter.com/lifeandmusic The money we raise will enable S.L.A.M. to powerfully, successfully implement our programs of musician outreach, support, access to trained professional help, awareness, and education.

Like, Follow, Subscribe, Support.

Subscribe to the S.L.A.M. YouTube channel
Follow S.L.A.M. on Facebook
Follow S.L.A.M. on Bluesky
Follow S.L.A.M. on Instagram

Support Life And Music is proud to announce its all-star Advisory Council:

Jack Mangan (Journalist, Writer, Executive Director)
Dr. Sheila Dee (Educator)
Jack Frost (Musician)
Eric Haley (Attorney)
Sarah Hyde (Entrepreneur)
Evo Terra (Podcast Strategist)

Jack Mangan has been working in music media since 2006, his non-profit background includes a VP role with the Joe Murphy Memorial Fund (2007 – 2008), content creator duties with Immunization Ambassadors (2015 – 2019), and a role with Easter Seals New Jersey (2002 – 2003, 2006 – 2007). In 2024, he founded Support Life And Music to provide resources and inspiration against the scourges of suicide, substance abuse, and self-destruction that have run rampant through the professional music community for over a century. 

If you’re a struggling musician, please know that you’re not alone, and that there are people out here who’ve been there too. We want you to persist and succeed.

We’re glad you’re here.

You and your music are special.

There are many good and caring people in the music industry (In fact, they’re the majority. No, really!). Don’t let the negatives silence your beautiful voice. 

246 thoughts on “Support Life And Music”

  7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bright_Sword

    I finished this book just a few days ago. I’ve never read any King Arthur stuff (nope, not even that one. Or that one), so prior to this, my main exposure to the mythos has been through Monty Python, Excalibur, and some kids books. It’s been decades since I watched The Sword in the Stone.

    Anyway, it’s probably the best page-turner I’ve read in years. Highly recommended.

    • I recently tried to get through one of the prime Arthurian sources “Le Morte d’Arthur” by Thomas Malory as it was free on Audible and I had just listened to a podcast on Arthurian legends (https://www.bbc.com/audio/play/m0027sx8). The podcast was great. Le Morte d’Arthur is Definitely NOT a page turner. Then again, it is not of our time and the style is not one I’m comfortable with.

      • Was listening to latest episode of that podcast today, covering the disastrous Franklin expedition to find the North West passage in the artic.

        • That one is two down on my list of podcasts. I will definitely get to it soon. I do an audio book, then catch up on built up podcasts. Rinse and repeat.

  8. So today finished the Emily Wilson translation of The Odyssey by Homer.

    My first impression is how sparse it is compared to modern fantasy, I mean it’s a poem so ok, but the bits covering the cyclops encounter or sailing past the sirens all feel very barebones.

    So that’s me consigned to literary hell….

  9. Great post, Jack, and congrats. As a sometime musician and singer and a person who values music, this cause really appeals to me. (Also, I started humming “First of May” when you mentioned the Joe Murphy Memorial Fund. Good times, good times.)

    It was a nice warm day in Omaha today, and I accomplished the last of my pre-trip shopping. Now waiting for laundry to finish so I can pack.

    • Amy, I was just noticing that the long response I typed up about my Norway trip, somehow never got posted.
      So I’ll try again.
      No wait, I’ll summarize.

      This was a Viking cruise billed as “In search of the northern lights“. We were supposed to sail out of Bergen and then travel to the very north of Norway with a stop in Alta than Tromso the Narvik and since they can’t guarantee, you’ll see the northern lights there are fun adventure things to do at those ports such as dog sled rides, and snowmobile rides and reindeer sleigh rides and cultural educational things like visiting with the indigenous people of the area.
      Viking is really good about these things, doing a lot of research before hand (often helping smaller businesses upgrade their infrastructure to handle a bus load of visitors) and they hire local people to be your guides.

      However, has any sailor who had a tour of duty in the North Sea might say “A vacation cruise in the North Sea, in the winter… ARE YOU NUTS!“
      So the night we left our first port (Bergen) they informed us that due to a storm in the North Sea, they were going to have to change the entire itinerary and we were sailing south instead of North. They did their best to make other interesting ports of call, but none of the new activities were anything I would have signed up to do if I wasn’t already onboard ship with nothing else to do.
      The saving grace of all this is that first night at sea we saw a spectacular and rare light show. I highly recommend if you’ve never seen the northern lights you add it to your bucket list. It’s just stunning and all of that. So where we did end up going was Stavanger, Trondheim, Eidfjord where we had a nice train excursion ride up into the mountains and then Oslo where we toured the fjord by excursion, boat (electric- no sharks were injured) and the National and Munch museums (The Scream).
      I really liked Norway and the people there. Striking scenery and as a functional country they really have their act together.

      We also stopped in Amsterdam for a few hours and we took a canal Boat cruise.
      Then we disembarked in London and were there for three nights and saw theater shows every night, went up to greenwich and saw the Royal Observatory and walked basically all over the place and that was great fun.

      I will say this about ship cruising:
      Turns out, over 4 years of selling this particular cruise, Viking’s failure rate is like 70% They rarely make it to the north of Norway due to weather but they don’t advertise this. Ships are just to susceptible to the whims of nature so if you have a destination you really want to get to, fly as close as you can and take ground transportation.
      However if you like taking cruises, they will make the trip very pleasant, no matter the destination. We like Viking because the ships can be smaller only (1000 people on this one) and the passengers tend to be more about the adventure of seeing the world and less about “woo hoo paaaarty”. Also, there are no children on board.

      Believe it or not this was the shorter version.

  12. Another parent in our crew is some sort of former chess grandmaster. I have never played chess at that level, but I actually did fairly well against him – it came down to the last few pieces on the board.

    and then he checkmated me.

    • It seemed like Richard Chamberlain was on primetime TV every single night when we were kids. And while I strongly prefer the newer Shogun miniseries, Richard Chamberlain was the better Blackthorne. RIP

    • He had some incredible roles. Jim Morrison and Doc Holliday are his best, I think, but he was also great in Top Secret! and Real Genius. I was not a fan of the latest Top Gun movie, but I appreciated his appearance.
      His documentary was eye-opening. It’s a shame his life was cut short.

  22. Crap joke for the day:

    A man walks into a café, and browses the menu above the counter. Amongst the various choices the man finds:

    Ham Roll -50p
    Cheese Roll -50p
    Beef Roll -50p
    Wanks -£1
    He then sees there is a beautiful woman serving behind the counter.

    “Excuse me love” he says.

    “Can I help you?” she answers, walking over to serve him.

    “Is it you that gives the wanks?” asks the man, pointing to the menu.

    “Yes, it is” says the woman.

    “Well, here’s £1” the man says, placing the coin on the counter.

    “But wash your hands please, I’d like two cheese rolls”

  28. This has been a busy week.
    The husband went in for a bone density scan earlier this week and found out he has osteoporosis.
    We were suppose to game yesterday but it was cancelled.
    Today we bought a new washer and dryer to be delivered on Saturday.
    We’re also going to get a new air fryer.
    D & D with friends on Sunday
    What happened to relaxing on your holidays?

  30. We’re on episode 6 of Skeleton Crew, and I have to say, this is one of the very best Star Wars D+ shows. I think I’d enjoy it even if I wasn’t watching with a 7-year-old.

  31. The Lemmy rubber ducky I received as a DPSS gift has been co-opted to play with four of the smaller rubber ducks in the house. And he’s been identified as the parent of the little ones.

    The Lemmy rubber ducky has a JD bottle attached to his wing. I can’t say I approve of this while parenting, but I try not to judge.

  32. So… 9/11 was a surprise attack with 3000 innocent people murdered. Today was not the same.
    But.
    The aftermath permanently changed the country’s relationship with itself and with the rest of the world, and mostly for the negative. More fearfulness, more distrust, more broken faith.
    I hope we don’t look back on today, “Liberation Day,” with the same awful feeling.

    “Worst day for our economy since Covid, except this time, he’s the disease.” -Stephen Colbert

    • It must be new washer/dryer season. We just replaced ours as well. Old washer was well over 20 years old. It’s like going from a landline to an iPhone. Although, honestly, we don’t use the app or deviate from the normal setting. We still just throw in clothes and hit start.

        • Is he a shit stain because he sent used condoms to his Suicide Squad castmates? (Which is incredibly uncool, don’t get me wrong). Or did he do something really heinous?

          Yes, I can search….

          • For me it’s just that I don’t like him as an actor. Even movies that I really like otherwise (like Blade Runner 2049) are nearly ruined by his performances.

          • His actions on Suicide Squad don’t help but for me he’s one of those actors who spoils any movies he is in.

  39. Pandora (the dog) been sick for about a week now, eating very little, spiking low-grade fevers, and looking pretty weak, overall. We already spent about a grand at the vet, we’re maxed out – – and they didn’t seem to have any answers anyway.
    So we’re just giving her skritches and gentle encouragements to eat, but we’re starting to get concerned.

  40. So a random memory surfaced today.

    There used to be a tv programme about all sorts of modelling. There was one bit about people making very light weight model aeroplanes that used bubble films on the wings. These moved very slowly but could stay a loft for quite aw while.

    Wondering if that is still done.

  41. Another milestone achieved. We showed Leeloo The Princess Bride for the first time today. Another all-time favorite for me. I think it went over well. Now I can unleash the Princess Bride references.

    Interesting reactions. . . She was a little bothered by the violence, not bothered by the R.O.U.S.es, not too overtly disturbed by Westley’s scenes on The Machine. She laughed at many of the expected parts, but not for “Mawwiage,” which I thought would have her on the floor.

  42. Well this punchline from an old beer advert for a brewery that no longer exists is running through my brain today:

    “If you want good beer make the V sign, cos V’s the sign you want a pint of Vaux.”

  47. Why do delivery people have so much trouble with my address? Why do they always deliver to my address in Calgary, not Airdrie? Since my address doesn’t actually exist in Calgary, they make their best guests and drop it off at random places as close to that address as possible.
    Just lost another package today.
    Strangely, Amazon never seems to have this problem. Just other delivery people.

  48. A pastor, a priest, and a rabbi walk into a bar. The bartender glances up, nods toward a sign that reads **“NO JOKES ALLOWED”**, and says, “Sorry, folks, you’ll have to leave.”
    They shrug and walk out.
    The next day, a horse trots in. The bartender sighs, points to the sign, and the horse lets out a snort before turning around and clopping away.
    On the third day, a chicken struts through the door. Before it can say a word, the bartender gestures toward the sign and says, “Sorry, no jokes here.”
    Frustrated, the chicken flaps its wings and squawks, “Fine! But where can I get a drink around here?”
    The bartender smirks and replies, “Try the place across the road.”

  50. I find it difficult now, to detect if an on-line article was written by AI or just someone who is trying to pad their word count.

    About 10 years ago I knew a guy who was really good at padding 2 paragraphs of information into a much longer piece to sell to web sites who had a “word count” minimum.

    Either way. It is annoying.

    • I feel that same frustration when looking for recipes. I don’t need your grandmother’s life story along with definitions and pictures of every ingredient. Just give me the stinking recipe.

  53. We finished White Lotus season 3 (blecch)* and started The Residence. I haven’t spent much time with “Shondaland” shows, but this doesn’t seem to too much like a Grey’s Anatomy soap.

    I don’t know how much more mileage we can get out of the “eccentric world’s greatest detective” trope, but it was a stellar first episode.

    • *Tiffany enjoyed White Lotus S1, said the seasons were each independent, so we could watch S3 as a standalone.

      People are loving this show, so I’m not going to spend a lot of time hating on it. But. I hated it. I could write 2000 words of my complaints.

      I will say: the characters were interesting, and it’s the kind of show you find yourself thinking about afterwards.

    • I’ve watched the first half of this now and will have to say it is finally an account that fills in some gaps I’ve always wondered about.
      And while her tone on this comes across to me as “sure, but wink wink nudge nudge we all know he was a Nazi“ The data she presents shows it pretty clear he didn’t support Nazi policies or ideals,
      he continued to try to steer research towards space travel and away from weapons,
      and he was clearly given the choice by the SS to join or go to a work camp.
      Although she glosses over that fact with just a short single sentence before concluding that he finally chose to join the SS “to keep his funding” as opposed to the obvious conclusion – he joined in order to keep breathing.
      She also talks about the prison labor at the missile base. While she does point out, he had nothing to do with that branch of the project and was directed by the SS. She seems to indicate that somehow he could have put an end to it without any comment on how. She also completely deleted the fact that nearly 1000 prisoners were killed when America bombed the factory barracks.

      Still, I appreciate finally having someone filling in the circumstances of how and (probably why) he joined maga instead of telling them no and being liable a traitor to the murderous reich.

    • I know I’m in the minority here but I read one Murderbot book and went “meh” and haven’t read another one. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a bad book, I just don’t think it was worth all the fawning it seems to get.
      That being said, I’ll probably still give the show a chance. Not because it’s a Murderbot series but because it’s scifi.

    • listened to the first book on Audible. I really like it, I can’t say it was mind blowing, but looking forward to the series. Not looking at the preview, I assume Murderbot has an inner monologue. The monologue would be necessary for the series to translate.

  58. There is a company I ordered from once but am on their mailing list. Earlier this week (before the over 100% China tariff), they sent out an email saying that (paraphrasing), since many of their products are made in China they are adding a line to their billing called “Trump Tariff Surcharge”. They are doing that so you know how much is added on by the tariff.
    I thought it was an interesting email.

    • Without exaggeration, I’d estimate that 80% of the world sees what a dangerously incompetent tyrant we have in the Oval. And 95% of history will see him for what he is, no matter how much they try to control the narrative.

      • Yep, we’re kind of like an abuser in a bad relationship. Our partners only stick around as long as they have to, but are actively looking for an escape, never to return. It was only two years ago that Republicans really objected to executive orders and circumventing Congress. They seem fine with it lately.

  61. I tried a “Theory of Everything” documentary on Kanopy.

    It turned out to be a lecture, not a Nova-style show. The speaker is really dry, but he’s not the problem. He’s actually great. The problem is me.

  64. For reasons I can’t even begin to guess, the husband is looking at orc romance books on Amazon. He keeps showing me steamy orc covers (and some not so steamy). I feel like I’m being punished

  66. I know he revealed himself to be a piece of shit, but I just picked up Ilium and Olympos by Dan Simmons in an Audible sale.

    I have them in trade paperback but always wanted to do a reread.

    • Art ——————————— artists.

      Did you like them, or are you just trying to rediscover them?
      I recall finding those books incredibly disappointing after the amazing Hyperion series.

      • Yeah I liked them, even though they followed the old ACC rule about advanced tech being indistinguishable from magic.

        Although all I really remember are the intelligent robots roaming Saturn’s moons, aliens who die after communicating and a goddess who enjoys fucking Odysseus in alternative timelines where nuclear war breaks out.

  67. Sometimes when I’m having trouble deciding what film I’m going to watch I have a root around the ‘titles expiring in the next 30 days’ section on Amazon Prime.

    Tonight it was The Majestic, Jim Carey’s first non comedic film role.

  69. I’d never properly watched Frozen 2, so we did that one tonight. Weird movie. . . But I’m not the target audience. And the kids seem to like it!

  73. I finally started the first Dungeon Crawler Carl book. The premise is Snowpiercer levels of ridiculous, but it’s a fun read.

    I have had to pause because the little one assigned me the Frozen: Polar Nights novel after she finished it.

    • I do hope you’re taking in DCC as an audiobook. Jeff Hayes makes that whole story and all the characters something far beyond the mere text.

      • That’s how my eldest daughter has been doing the series, but I’ve been doing it the old-fashioned way.

        I guess I need to check out the audio, if nothing else, to hear Princess Donut.

      • I keep seeing it advertised on Audible. I might check it out based on recommendations here. I was leery because I just listened to a free book on Audible called “The Mayor of Noobtown” by Ryan Rimmel and the ‘dungeon crawler’ part of the title had me afraid it would be similar. MON was like listening to Twitch. It took a concept that I’ve seen done before (a person from our regular world thrown into a fantasy game environment) and was insanely overburdened by listing out the same person’s character sheet about 1000 times as he advances in level, listing out text descriptions that the character sees despite having seen that description at least 3 times before, and describing out every single stat and interface even during the middle of battle scenes. The story wasn’t bad, it just really wasn’t meant for audio.

        • I think what sets DCC far an above the rest of the “LitRPG” genre (and I’ve not read anything else in that group myself) is that the author doesn’t get bogged down in that. Certianly, there are heavier descriptions the first time something comes up, but as the story progresses it fades into the background. In fact, in the newest book, there are only a couple of mentions of certain stats and that’s because they hit some extraordinary levels.

          DCC emphasizes the characters and story like you would expect an actual novel to do, as opposed to some guy giving you a live play by play of a DnD campaign.

          • DCC is the first LitRPG I’ve ever done. My enjoyment of this still doesn’t change my leeriness of the subgenre. I’ll reserve the rest of my comments until I finish the book.

  76. I finally watched “The Electric State”.
    I thought it was really well done, given it’s constraining parameters as a YA film.

    I suppose another way to look at it is it shows how many films for adults lean on sex and gore to prop up otherwise weak scripts.

    This film also avoided the YA trap of living in “the pit of teen angst/dispare.”
    While “teen with no parental love” was one of the pillars of the plot… it didn’t wallow in it. IMHO It established it and moved on.

      • The Kindle giveaways are only US. I’m not sure of why the restriction. Print books are US and Canada but the author has to foot the printing and shipping, unlike Kindle giveaways.
        I have no idea why it’s country limited

  82. I really enjoyed this latest Daredevil season. The allegory was spot-on.

    Teeny-tiny non-specific spoiler: I just wish there had been more resolution in the finale. It was pretty much all set up for the next season. It’s almost like this stuff is based on comic books.

  83. Things I didn’t like:
    Less atmospheric music. Villains in marriage counseling. Forgettable new characters (with a few exceptions). The move to Panavision. Trying to ape CSI.

    Things I liked:
    Having more Daredevil. Every scene with the Punisher. Every scene with Bullseye. The character of the White Tiger.

  84. A few scattered thoughts, RE: the all-female celebrity space flight, some celebratory, some critical. Correct me on any of these where I’m wrong.

    They’re passengers, not crew.
    Why was Shatner’s launch celebrated, but this one booed? Both were celebrity publicity stunts.
    I would absolutely have accepted the invitation, if I were in their shoes. (Their $100,000 designer shoes.) Seriously, it must have been an amazing experience.
    A lot of unnaturally puffy lips and surgical sculpting in those publicity photos. They certainly aren’t representing the common everyday women of the world.
    I don’t think it’s appropriate to frame this as a feminist victory. I see it as another great event in the charmed lives of 7 famous people.
    Sending famous people on high-profile space missions is not inherently bad. It’s a big step forward to a day when spaceflight can be available for everyone.
    It is, however, a bit of a tone-deaf stunt to pull right now, with so many havenots on earth fighting for their rights and lives while authoritarians take over the US government and burn everyone’s finances.
    It’s a bit tone-deaf to celebrate this flight “for women” when the gubmint and NASA just purged thousands of brilliant women – – and men – – from their jobs in the name of some bogus bullshit “efficiency” quotient.

    From Pitchfork, of all places: “For Perry’s class of people, nothing is at stake and nothing ever has to change, so concepts like empowerment, hope, and resilience have no material reality. They are words for an Instagram caption, lyrics to a song. “

    • I am not following this.
      It’s noise at the edge of my awareness but I haven’t looked into it because right now my bandwidth is FULL with the US Constitutional Crises that is an President who says he doesn’t have to follow any laws and that interpretation of the constitution is up to a President.
      … and if the Judicial branch does NOT re-assert the authority that was clearly given to them by the constitution and do it this week, we will see American citizens being disappeared by mid May.

      That being said-
      A) “Yea” for anyone getting to go into space.
      I would go (though maybe not on SpaceX).

      B) The people on this Blue Origin flight were what my NASA pal would lable as
      “Self Loading Carbon Payload” and nothing else. Which is fine.

  85. Concluding my recommendation way up there ^^^^

    We finished The Residence (another “endearingly eccentric world’s greatest detective” murder mystery series) and it was a blast. Clever and fun.

  87. I just did a SLAM panel with a big-name author, focused on grief and coping, and wow, the emotions were flying. I’m a little verklempt.

  90. An author friend on Facebook just retrieved her son from FSU, after today’s mass shooting on campus.

    We’ve become too desensitized to this shit.

  99. This is the eldest daughter’s current Spotify obsession: EPIC: The Musical
    It’s a Hamilton-esque/Disney Descendants-esque 9-part series of concept albums telling the full story of the Odyssey. There is no visual performance anywhere (AFAIK), but it sure sounds like it wants one.
    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvayv7u6HrpENlleXekJ2fg

    I’m listening now, at her insistence, and I think many of you fine folks here will enjoy it.

    Full disclosure: To me, there are many cringe moments, but I appreciate this for what it is, and I enjoy lots of parts of these songs. And what a cool, ambitious, admirable project to take on. The storytelling is fantastic.

    I do recommend you click through, although I’m not really sure of the best place to start.

    • Wow. He said and did some crappy things (as I’m sure the internet will remind us all in the days to come), but I think overall he was a force for good. I hope his successor is as strong or stronger against tyranny.

      RIP.

      • He finished out his innings by publicly dressing down the Trump administration to their face (JD Vance) for their horrific lack of humanity. I’d say that’s a win.

      • Just found this. From the Pope’s Easter Sermon –
        “How much contempt is stirred up at times towards the vulnerable, the marginalized and migrants…I appeal to all those in positions of political responsibility in our world not to yield to the logic of fear which only leads to isolation from others.”

        It has been pointed out that this cannot be repeated in schools or Universities in the U.S. as it violates several of his recent EO’s.
        Seems pretty “anti christ” to me.

  108. Due to fatigue, we only made it through episode 1 of Andor. We didn’t do a recap, so I spent the whole episode going, “Wait, what’s their deal again?” every time a new character appeared onscreen.

  111. Crap joke for the day:

    A very distinguished lady was on a plane arriving from Switzerland.

    She found herself seated next to a nice priest whom she asked: “Excuse me Father, could I ask a favor?”

    “Of course my child, What can I do for you?”

    “Here is the problem, I bought myself a new sophisticated hair remover gadget for which I paid an enormous sum of money. I have really gone over the declaration limits and I am worried that they will confiscate it at customs.

    Do you think you could hide it under your cassock?”

    “Of course I could, my child, but you must realize that I can not lie.”

    “You have such an honest face Father, I am sure they will not ask you any questions”, and she gave him the ‘hair remover’.

    The aircraft arrived at its destination. When the priest presented himself to customs he was asked, “Father, do you have anything to declare?”

    “From the top of my head to my sash, I have
    nothing to declare, my son”, he replied.

    Finding this reply strange, the customs officer asked, “And from the sash down, what do you have?”

    The priest replied, “I have there a marvelous
    little instrument designed for use by women, but which has never been used.”
    Breaking out in laughter, the customs officer said, “Go ahead Father. Next!”

  112. I posted about it on the FB – – yesterday was the eldest daughter’s 21st birthday.

    Many of you met her when she was a tiny person. Now she’s more grownup than many adults I know.

    • It’s been one of my favorite Pink Floyd albums since I first heard it as a teenager. I’ve definitely had to defend that choice on several occasions. Glad to hear from someone else on the same side. My defense is typically that no other Pink Floyd album has as many songs (like The Gunner’s Dream and Southampton Dock) that evoke such powerful emotions from me.

      • I find TFC better than its reputation, but I still don’t hold it in the same esteem as their classics. It is always a thrill when Brit Floyd or Aussie Floyd trucks out a Final Cut song in their sets.

  119. My kitchen counters can be annoying sometimes. I can clean and scrub them completely, which I just did, but they have the kind of texture in which, although they look clean, if you run your fingers over them, they still feel gritty as if they’re not

  120. Funny exchange (well it made me laugh) on Bluesky this morning.
    This was in response to an article about how little Petey, having an office where cell phones can’t be used because it is specifically secured from the outside world, installed an insecure messaging app on his computer to reach the outside world.

    Person 1 – “Somewhere Hilary is screaming into a pillow.”

    Person 2 – “problem is that somewhere we ALL screaming into our pillows”

    Person 3 -“The Abyss ™ is really getting overloaded with screams it was never meant to handle. The phone line is off the hook and we can’t transfer the screams to The Void ™ fast enough.”

  122. We got caught up on Andor today. Watched the first two episodes Tuesday and the third tonight. I was feeling a little unsure after the first two, but the third one resolved the first arc nicely.
    I think the plan to essentially give us four mini-series (each batch of three will cover a short time frame and then jump one year) is a smart plan, especially knowing ahead of time that this is the “final” season and will lead into Rogue One.
    Can’t wait to see what the “new year” brings.

    • One theory I saw on Twitter, was that Cassian will lose more friends that turn him in to cold calculating rebel seen in Rogue One.

      • After seeing the “inside look” extra for the first three episodes, I could buy that hypothesis. Diego Luna mentioned that there’s still work to do for Cassian to become who he is at Rogue One.

  123. When ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ was released in 1981, it was set 45 years in the past in 1936.
    If it was to be remade next year with the same 45 year gap, it would be set in 1981.

  127. There’s apparently some controversy right now with Cemetery Dance Publishing. If what I’ve read is true, they’re refusing to pay authors and mocking them on social media when they demand what’s owed.

    This isn’t all the facts, so let’s keep the torches and pitchforks on standby. But – – writer beware.

  128. So reread of Ilium done.

    Enjoyed it but the Moravecs are the best characters in it, the humans, post humans and Gods and are all pretty shitty,

  130. I just finished the game Robocop Rogue City and the husband has just started it. Because he is who he is, apparently we’re watching the original Robocop tonight and the remake tomorrow.

    • The first film I love but all I remember of the sequel
      is that it was better than R3 which is an example of damning with faint praise.

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