I’m a bit behind again on my posting, and I wanted to write about a bunch of stuff that I have been “enjoying” partly as a distraction and partly just because I enjoy serialized storytelling.

I’ve mentioned this before that each fall I try to watch every new show that comes out that has any chance of garnering my interest, and some that aren’t even close, just to review the premieres. I’ve seen 29 premieres since January, and that is split pretty evenly between last spring and this fall. I’ve reviewed them all, but very few have made it through that gauntlet to make my “watch” list. So that leaves me with my “comfort” food.

Sunday night is limited to two shows currently, the animated show The Great North and the procedural The Rookie. Neither are great art, TGN is mildly amusing, and The Rookie is diverting enough with Nathan Filion in it.

Monday night adds another two shows so far, the new faux reality show called The Big Leap and the long-running NCIS. I find NCIS highly predictable, I generally know who the killer is and why before we reach the half-way point, and sometimes inside of 5m, but well, I’ve binged it to this point, I’ll likely stick with it. For the Big Leap, Andrea and I are watching it together which is pretty rare. She doesn’t watch much TV at all, and when she does, it isn’t very common that we both like the same show. Again, neither are high art, but they’re diverting enough.

Tuesday night has Supergirl (which is ending, thankfully, their writing has been TERRIBLE the last few episodes as they try to win an Emmy) and StarGirl (which I’m behind on, but is mildly diverting as well, and I pretty much watch all the DC hero shows). The one that bothers me that I’m still watching though is New Amsterdam. I loved it when it started, but now it feels like I’m watching a soap opera and the writers are out of ideas. Is it still comfort food if it doesn’t comfort?

Wednesday night has two more CW shows, DC Legends of Tomorrow and Batwoman, and I watch them for continuity, not because they offer great writing. But if I am embarrassed by New Amsterdam, I don’t know what you call my feelings towards A Million Little Things. The show started REALLY strong in season 1, and they have had a bunch of issues that are playing out differently in each season. But if NA was the soap opera, that would make AMLT more like a tele-novela without the bad acting. They’re all really good, even when the writing isn’t, and I would watch a couple of them in spinoffs (hint to the writers).

Thursday is when my comfort really takes off. Bull for legacy but the writing has gone downhill; B-Positive, one of the few comedies I watch, although it really is a B-level show; Legacies, yep, the vampire hold-over; and the Blacklist without Keen, and EP1 of the new season was ridiculous for plotting. I was enjoying the action of Titans, but its season has already wrapped, which leaves me with SWAT doing some ripoff of Pale Rider this season. I wish they would get back to the Stephen J. Cannell approach of bad guys and guns every week. The one really bright side of the night is the new comedy, Ghosts. I wasn’t expecting much from it, a bit like Beetlejuice perhaps (although apparently it’s ripping off a British production), but I’ve been looking for something for Jacob to expand his repertoire out of the Flash and Supergirl. It’s PG-level entertainment, some amusing lines, and it seems to be working. Andrea and I watch it too, so it’s one of two or three shows in the week we can watch together.

Friday is my real night for TV though, even if I time-shift them to other nights. Blue Bloods has the four storylines for the Commissioner father, the two cop sons Danny and Jamie, and the DA sister Erin. I sometimes wish that there was a bit more time for one of the stories in a week, rather than shared across all four, but I’m still enjoying the show. Foundation is a new scifi show, and it’s quirky enough to challenge me to follow it. It has decent world-building, and I’m enjoying it so far (I just finished EP03) but it’s not an easily-accessible show. Magnum PI is a terrible show, I admit, even though it’s improved with each season. I can still predict the killer 3 or 4 times out of 6 or so, but still, I like the actors in the four main roles. But the one for Friday that blows me away how much I like is Nancy Drew. It’s a lot like Buffy without the action of staking things, and a bit more mature on the kids’ lives, and added family drama, but I really enjoy it. Every week, if I have it available, I’m watching.

Beyond that, I’m streaming a lot of stuff. I’m currently watching Lucifer, Into the Badlands, Alias, Sex Education, and Voyager.

All American hasn’t restarted yet, nor Flash or Discovery, but I’ll watch those. Same with Witcher when it finally drops in December. But I’m also looking forward to the ST: Prodigy animated show, as I’ve been watching Lower Decks recently too. Yet the two big ones I’m looking forward to are Hawkeye on Disney and The Wheel of Time on Amazon.

They’re not all winners, that’s for sure. But comfort TV gives me #MoreJoy.

If my brain is going a mile a minute, I can frequently break the cycle with music. But it has to be more than simple background music, I need something almost “meta” about the song that pulls me out of the song and makes me think about the writing, or admire the lyricist’s choice of phrasing.

Harry Chapin’s songs from the 70s are almost all stories, from Cats in the Cradle to Taxi, so there’s lots of things in them that get me thinking about the backstory or the “other” elements that you could fill in if you were to flesh them out into a novel, for example. My favourite is probably A Better Place To Be, about “a little midnight watchman, a rotund waitress, and a woman he picked up one night” (the description he gives in his live album). It is also one of the few “LIVE” albums I like, other than Bob Seger. Most of the time I hate them, but his live album has a great feel to it.

This past week, I’ve been pulling songs that have the ability to distract me and pull me out of whatever funk I’m in. And they’re eclectic.

First up, Follow Me by Uncle Kracker. It’s likely the only song I would like of his, and the only one I can name. It’s a song about adultery, which you would think would automatically go nowhere good. But it’s presented as a completely up-tempo song with lyrics that are compelling:

I’m not worried about the ring you wear,
‘Cause as long as no one knows, then nobody can care.
You’re feeling guilty and I’m well aware,
But you don’t look ashamed and baby I’m not scared.

I’m singin’

Follow me, everything is all right
I’ll be the one to tuck you in at night
And if you want to leave I can guarantee
You won’t find nobody else like me

It is a perfect picture, even if not salutary. You can picture the “addiction” in the song, a perfect representation of just about every “cheating” scene in TV or movies, people who are too afraid / disrespectful to end their marriage and go with the person they actually love. Every time I hear it, I start thinking of scenes I could write in fiction.

The next one is a slight nudge to the left of that above far-right position, but still harsh, and it is a double-version release. CeeLo Green has two versions of the same song, one explicit and one PG — F*** you and Forget You. I first heard the song on Glee, even though I wasn’t a regular viewer. I only tuned in for Gwyneth Paltrow’s visit, and when one of the students suggests she’s too old to be cool, i.e., “like 40 or something”, she replies, “Top 40 maybe”. Then she sings Forget You. I liked it enough to look up the original, partly because I love the beat. It has some amusing lyrics of course.

Yeah I’m sorry, I can’t afford a Ferrari
But that don’t mean I can’t get you there

I guess he’s an X-box, and I’m more Atari
But the way you play your game ain’t fair

While the song is average, I love multiple things about this song. First, the lyric above — an XBox and Atari metaphor? Cool. Second, they throw in some background responses to the lead that have some killer lines, particularly in the explicit version.

I pity the fool that falls in love with you oh (Oh ssh she’s a gold digger)
Well (Just thought you should know n*****)

In the explicit version, the song drops those lines like they’re natural conversation. Hard to believe, I know, but it WORKS perfectly. The imagery of the person saying them is clear, as is where they’re coming from in the “conversation”. A verboten word, correctly and expertly used in the only semi-acceptable version possible.

But the third reason, the part that blows me away, is that BOTH versions work. Explicit and raw or PG and pop-py, they both are viable songs that did well.

The next one in my list goes way over to the pop lists. Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen. I won’t try to convince you that it’s the greatest song ever or anything, but there are two lines I love:

You took your time with the call, I took no time with the fall

***

Before you came into my life, I missed you so bad

The next two are from the country realm, and I like them both for the same reason — they take a phrase from pop culture or common language, twist it a bit, and give us a whole new picture. The first is Single White Female by Chely Wright. In it, she takes the SWF language from personal ads and turns it into her refrain.

Single white female
Looking for that special lover
To put it in a nutshell
A one women man who doesn’t want no other
Oh, you never can tell
She just might be your dream come true
A single white female
Is looking for a man like you

The second is from Bonnie Raitt, Something To Talk About. Before I get to the refrain, let’s talk for a moment about the song itself. It’s basically about one friend wondering if they shouldn’t have put someone else in the Friend Zone and missed out on something great. In movies and TV, the scenario is often portrayed as the shy, retiring librarian or nerd type longing for their best friend, who is chasing the latest hot guy/chick to walk by. Almost always, the person being longed for has seemingly NO IDEA of the other’s feelings. I find it unlikely that the thought NEVER occurs to two single people who regularly spend time together as best friends, but hey, no angst/no story. This one is a bit different. There’s no obvious longing, it is basically the girl being surprised that there’s a rumour about them, and it knocks her out of her innocent view of her friend enough to consider, “What if…?”.

And lastly, we come to a strange one for many reasons. The song is called Dragonhearted by, wait for it, TryHardNinja. This is an artist that is quite prolific in the gamer world, often adding words to what would be normal gamer background techno music.

Sometimes even shooting stars
Find wishes that miss their marks.

But when the night gets too dark
And the road home seems too far

We’ll see the sun come up again
We will climb higher than we’ve been
We got a fire that burns within

We are the Dragonhearted
We are the Dragonhearted

Jacob found them through gaming and YouTube videos, and while most of the songs he pulls out from gaming aren’t ready for mass consumption, there’s something about this one that rises above, in my view. I also like that it is a song I wouldn’t know existed if my son didn’t find and share it with me. I love listening to it while he sings along. But I do still like the upbeat message — we are the Dragonhearted!

I threw all of them into a playlist, and I’ll add others over time. They’re an eclectic mix, and I have others that will fit the bill for other reasons too. Ultimately, they’re my “anti-funk” mix, designed to pull me out of my head and embrace the light. Maybe I’ll write a story about a cheating lover who suddenly figures out she’s in love with her best friend, but has to find the courage of a dragon to give people something to talk about. Or, maybe they’ll just provide me with #morejoy.

On Day 6, I mentioned the PolyWogg Reading Challenge (#MoreJoy – Day 6 of 31 – My Reading Challenge), and it is a bit of a chicken-and-egg dilemma which one I would write about first, as they go hand-in-hand.

I like reading, first and foremost. And after reading pretty much any book, I like writing a review. Some people like doing reviews as it is like a bookmark for them…a milestone that says “I read this”, while others are content merely to add the book name to a spreadsheet or app or website to track what they’ve read. Others are more interested in the next book than keeping track of other books. And others keep a list, but not for any milestone purpose other than to prevent themselves from buying the same book again! I feel all those desires too, but there is something different about my madness.

I like writing reviews because I like organizing my thoughts around the book. Did I like it for the style? The plot? The characters? The diversion?

Did I feel “meh” because it was simply not compelling to me on any level? Did I find myself “forcing” myself to finish it?

Yet my reviews don’t stop at books. I want to do the same with TV episodes even, movies, music, etc. I don’t feel the urge to review telescopes, so it isn’t universal, but I do like the idea of reviewing accessories like smartphone adapters. I don’t review electronics, but I might review an app or two. Or 100.

In a way, it is tightly tied to my curation desire for knowledge. I like pulling a bunch of wayward bits of information together into a framework for a more coherent whole. And so I write multiple types of reviews.

Yet therein lies part of the rub. It is easy to get BEHIND on reviews, except there’s no deadline. I have lots of books that I have read in the last 2 years that I haven’t done a review for yet, as well as movies. Or whole seasons of TV shows. I’m also somewhat unclear if there is an audience for any of the reviews. I don’t promote them widely or anything, I’m not trying to drum up a large following.

Way back when I was first starting my website, I loved the idea of doing NEW movie reviews the same weekend it was released. See it opening day, review it opening night, share my views before the hordes make their decisions. Yet I also like having a life too. Back then, I didn’t have much of one and that was one direction I considered pursuing long-term if I was single. That’s a much more complicated story than I have space or time for right here, but I considered trying to make myself into an amateur reviewer.

The significance of that time though leads directly to two other aspects that continue. First, I take my reviews seriously enough to try to do them respectfully, not some tongue-in-cheek, drive-by review. Second, I created a structure that takes some time to write. I can’t dash off a review in 30s, or even 5m. A book review can take me 20-30m to write, plus I then copy it to multiple sites for sharing, save the review in a couple of places for local backup / tracking, and then move on. I binged 35 books back in June, and that means if I review them normally, I’m looking at a minimum of 20h to review them all. That is NOT happening. I need to come up with a new format to review books that is shorter and punchier, not the full-length review that I normally do.

And I’m EXCITED by the idea of coming up with a new format.

Did I mention I LIKE writing reviews? Thinking about reviews? Thinking about how I communicate about reviews? How I share my reviews?

That I like writing ABOUT reviews, as I’m doing now?

I have a dream that when I die, I’ll be all caught up on my reviews. In the meantime, I’m going to enJOY the writing.