A while ago I found out about a market soliciting short stories on a particular theme. Tonight I finished―blessedly―the first draft. It's about 1,000 words over the upper word limit. This isn't as huge a problem as you might think. In fact it's good. The whole thing needs to be overhauled, and I expect to lose more verbiage than I make up, even though I'll be doing both. So it's kind of a lucky break.
Of course the real lucky break is the fact that the deadline isn't until the end of October.
I just watched Carrie tonight. Pretty enjoyable, on a scary movie level. While high school settings may have gotten more common as time went on, and teenage protagonists in horror movies are certainly a popular thing, having a horror movie largely take place at prom is a pretty unusual movie. De Palma, to his credit, embraces the idea, showing it in all its tacky mid-seventies glory.
Maybe the weirdest thing is the "based on the novel by" credit. Because when this movie came out, no one knew or really cared who Stephen King was. Just another name from the paperback racks.
Probably the last on this theme for a while, but that doesn't mean forever.
An author named Michael Penkas wrote a story called "Coffee with Count Presto". It's probably hard to find because Penkas is a newish, mostly uncollected author. But anyway, it's about a man who receives an invitation to a private show with a magician named...well, you can guess. Presto is persona non grata among his colleagues because he's revealed his secrets. In fact, the other magicians track him to his coffee shop sit-down with the narrator and wreak terrible vengeance.
The story is funny and maybe a little creepy. But it's very much fiction. Magicians don't want some snot jumping in front of the stage and pointing out where they hide the rabbits, but in principle they're not bothered by you understanding how they do what they do.
This has become clearer to me recently as I've been reading Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals About Our Everyday Deceptions by Stephen L. Macknik and Susana Martinez-Conde. The book breaks down some common stage illusions and explains how they relate to our senses and perception. The short version is that in most cases, the "secrets of magic" come down to the limits of the human nervous system and the fact that you can't pay attention to absolutely everything.
As to why magicians―and a lot of them talk to the authors―don't mind their secrets being revealed, it's a matter of personal pride. They don't need or want to hide behind a cloak of mysticism. They're not court wizards. The thrill is in getting past the guard. They want you to understand the rules, to know that a trick is coming, and still be fooled.
Today was a primary day, so I went out and voted. It was my first time this year voting in person. For the Presidential primary I got a mail in ballot because in 2016 there was some kind of venue change in the primary vote and I had to go looking for the place, which I didn't want to deal with again. COVID was a minor consideration, except for the obvious fact that it wind up pushing the primary back by two months.
I can attest that the the page we used to sign has gone paperless, which seems counterproductive since it just gives them a screen they have to keep wiping off. And there's a pen you use for that which you use the other end of for actual voting. This you throw in a plastic bag at the end of the process. Said process looks like it has become more awkward and less friendly, which sadly you learn to expect.
Here's a fun little read. In two parts, it's an X-ray examination of Roxy Music's "For Your Pleasure", the song, with a little about For Your Pleasure, the album. Rich topics, both.
The song is the final track on the album, and For Your Pleasure, the album is one of only two RM albums to feature Brian Eno, the other being their self-titled debut. That means this is the very dramatic end of Eno's tenure.
Why did he leave? Or alternately, why did Ferry fire him? The anonymous author cites the theory that "Eno’s super-hyped sex life" was responsible, but he rejects it himself. And rightly so. That seems like it would only be an issue for Ferry if Eno hit on Ferry's girlfriend, successfully or not. And do you think everyone could have kept dish like that to themselves for all these years?
No, the divorce was more likely caused by the parties no longer seeing eye to eye. Roxy had started as a certain kind of band, one that Eno could claim involvement in despite his rawness as a musician. (If a good musician is defined by what he can do and a great one by what he's willing to try, Eno was great a long time before he was good.) But the band changed, and he changed, becoming less the wild showman of Roxy and his solo debut Here Come the Warm Jets. If it's a sad ending, it might be a necessary one for both.
Now what's not addressed in these essays at all is the role of Judi Dench, whose voice is the last one heard on the song and the album. When the album was recorded she was mostly known as a TV and theatre actress, although a few years earlier she had played Titania in Peter Hall's film of A Midsummer Night's Dream, as seen here.
In terms of the reservoir and in terms of healthy plant life we've been in need of rain, and a lot of it. We got some today. Enough to help.
Better for me that it wasn't too hard or too long. Today was my laundry day, and it's never fun to take clothes out of the drier and head out into cold, bitter rain. And my timing was okay, as I just had to go across the street and wait a couple of minutes for the bus.
So, a balance.
