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Made for Love overbearingly emphasizes, as if viewers can’t be trusted to intuit it for themselves, that Diane and Hazel are essentially the same—that their partners would rather have an inanimate object as their significant other than the emotional and intellectual challenge of a living, breathing woman.

“What are you afraid of?” Hazel asks him. “Being alone,” he responds. His fear of isolation has led him to crave the reliability of a partner who’s so governable, she’s not quite human.

In both series, characters want other people to act like computer programs, or like the sex doll (price: $6,000) that Hazel’s father happily turns into his companion.

Amid the everyday noise of ‘Actual Life’, mid-way track ‘Me (Heavy)’ quietly and sombrely details the deteriorating illness of a close friend in a hospital ICU. “I want to run in there and steal you out / Unplug the wires and kiss your mouth,” Fred intones over brooding synths, laying himself bare as a vocalist. “I think I’m still working out how I feel about singing,” he tells NME. “Often I’m hesitant, and it’s been a case of people like lovely Romy from The xx or my brother encouraging me to sing on record. But with a track like ‘Me (Heavy)’, it would be weird if I wasn’t doing the vocals because it’s such a personal song.”

Just discovered this track today. It is superb! Eager to soak in the rest of the album.

https://youtu.be/JJ0ktJY6UOY

From him I have learned that there are optimal ways to be inside your own body and mind, though my own seems to reject all attempts at amelioration.

He wants the intimacy of a relationship but without ceding control, or having to actually think or care about the other person. Giving me a key to his apartment is throwing a curveball into how I understand our situation. I try to remain neutral; I can’t process this right now, so I won’t.

I am the eternal waiting nude.

Good stuff. Relates both to marriage and non-marriage, methinks, imho.

The 7th Heaven tv theme song is playing in my head now.

🧐😇🌤🎰

https://youtu.be/kilo6iqi6Pg

The first three episodes of WandaVision are so annoying that I nearly gave up (though in hindsight I see their necessary purpose)...I am glad I didn’t and stuck it out. This eighth episode had me bawling.

“ WandaVision broke the hearts of millions of Marvel fans when Agatha took Wanda Maximoff on a whistle-stop tour of all her most traumatic moments, revealing just what made a young Sokovian girl into the Scarlet Witch — and why she’s so drawn to everything that makes up Westview.

👌The Incredible Quote Vision says to Wanda 👌:

“But what is Grief if not Love Persevering?”

🏵 Gold 🎗

the shoes are crafted from “Unleather,” a material made from the root structure of mushrooms

Also, Mylo helped me realize I am overdue for a re-visit of this classic Dance album: Destroy Rock and Roll -

https://youtu.be/5NGbq5p8aOU

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nthyGjv8mWUt2z4JL5AyM9N-3fSWYQyaU

But the police responsible for the area have, ahem, hopped on the case, appealing for those with information about the theft to come forward.

described Darius, a type of domestic rabbit known as a Continental Giant that was historically bred for its meat and fur, as “an old man” who “can be a bit grumpy.” Still, she added, “he hasn’t lost his sparkle.”

Ms. Edwards, who often appeared with him dressed as the cartoon character Jessica Rabbit.

Woooooow! Excellent Creepy Macabre Gothic Horror short story. A bit of a monster romance story with the beastly family man narrator delving into an incredibly aware/observant psyche and centered humanity.

Reminds me of Penny Dreadful meshed with Venom.

I roll, I sluice, I embrace, I yearn, I quiver, I release. It enters me, it leaves me, I dive in it like a sporting seal, a dolphin rollicking in a sea of muck and filth. Now a shark, I burrow after and catch a fleeing rat in my teeth and crunch down, and at its squeals its fellows all disperse, leaving me to swallow down their comrade, my jaws unhinging to take it in fur and bones and tail and all. Turned milk, rancid salad, the stench of a billion farting bacteria released as I aerate the pile with my body.

It is my delight. My pleasure and my fulfilment. I have come across a treasure trove, an Aladdin’s cave. I chew, suck, squelch, swallow, snort, breathe, imbibe. The liquids, the crusts, remnants, spoils, pools, paps, bubbles, spills. The broken down, the degenerating, and all that lives on it, the pupae and eggs and worms and burrowers. The soft and the crunchy, the mush and the cracking.

That is why I do not hear them as they approach. Why I do not notice as they stand over me.

Exceptional effective writing.

"I loved learning about who or what Tim used for models. For example, the various cars he mashed up for The Haunted Car or how he set up a real person on a stool in his backyard to get the image of a floating swimmer for Deep Trouble," she says. "The most fun part for me was getting to use my Art History knowledge to look at the covers from an artistic perspective. As a kid, you don't notice that Tim's moodily mixed purples and reds were the reason the sky looked unsettling. You just accept that the sky looks creepy. As an adult, I can peer at the art techniques he used and understand why they worked."

"Working on this book brought back the memories of the many Goosebumps novels I picked up solely for the cool covers...and then had to read through in terror because I don't like horror. I think I started with The Beast from the East, and moved on to The Haunted Mask series and a few of the Slappy books before getting too creeped out to continue!"

Lol.

Tom, as he always did, blessed the foresight that had put them there. Each one of his children had been allotted his or her weekly hour on the grass and a chance to play near the tree. There was even a zoo on each level, not the kind of elaborate one they had in Washington and London and Moscow, of course, but at least it had a cat and a dog and a really large tank of goldfish. When you came down to it, luxuries like that almost made up for the crowds and the noise and tiny rooms and feeling that there was never quite enough air to breathe.

So much well-executed claustrophobia down to the way society promotes introversion over extroversion. A life without wild edges. 👎 Nope 👎 Let’s not go there.

I have imported The Tunnel Ahead. Will search for the others mentioned above later (have read The Tell-Tale Heart though always up for a re-visit)...

This one is So Incredibly Memorable.

Wow. Creative narrative story-telling. Emotional twists and turns from laughter to horror to tears and there and back again.

Will never forget this read. For any newbie ReadUp Readers it is def worth going through the Best Ever reads.

The final conversation with the author’s mother brought to mind 30 minutes of the Best Television Storytelling I have ever experienced:

The Internet from Season 1 HBO anthology Room 104. Sadly the series does not always deliver this caliber and the final season is a complete waste of time. Karan Soni and the mother voice actress on the phone are 💯. Track the episode down if you can. Brilliant, funny and ultimately deeply moving.

Very weird.

When it starts off the reader imagines the story is set in the past and then technology is slowly introduced. The beginning is very disorienting in style and dialogue - takes a bit of slow and steady to grasp the foundation of the narrative as names come fast and quick occurrences.

Overall a very disturbing take on Truth and/or Grief (the bow) and how it is manipulated/exaggerated for desired results (in this case retribution for a child’s death and for the safety of the community). Also, the eerie nature of conformity and herd mentality.

Definitely a Black Mirror-esque read for what we have been thru/are going thru with co-vid.

An odd dog. This read.

The question of crowdedness needed a formal answer as well as a linguistic one. Multitude is the most obvious fact about the subcontinent. Everywhere you go, there’s a throng of humanity. How could a novel embrace the idea of such multitude? My answer was to tell a crowd of stories, deliberately to overcrowd the narrative, so that “my” story, the main thrust of the novel, would need to push its way, so to speak, through a crowd of other stories.

Was not familiar with this novel before reading.

Really cool to get the author’s insight on characters and why he chose certain aspects for the novel.

Out of place, she was hard to miss. She has reminded me that all of us can find ourselves lost. Winds don’t only carry songbirds to sea.

Spectacular!

The version of the Jedi in this book, they are sure of purpose, they know what is right. They understand the galaxy is complicated but feel they bring justice — they bring light. Which also means they don’t worry about trade disputes, or hyperspace routes, or negotiating treaties.

Along with Dune (about 100 pages left) and The Overstory (just beginning and in awe; soaking it in satisfyingly sloooow) I am moving quite briskly through this “apocalyptic speculative thriller” and so far, it’s a lot of fun with lol moments of dialogue.

Clever premise and as of 2018 this was being made into a tv series. Not sure if this is still happening or not. Definitely getting Mr. Robot vibes with its own unique story designs.

Sam Esmail would be ideal for helming this tv translation.

I am Thrilled this song from her stellar pop album is getting a Proper Release!!! Easily my favorite song from the album last year...had it On Repeat a lot.

This is a special tune, for sure.

I am thankful both my parents are still living and I have experienced a lot of closure with them on past loose ends. That said, in many ways I have cut ties with my “home” state for good and This Is Where I Live Now...I am setting down Roots and Homebase in NM. Incredibly grateful for my Chosen Family Here. Bill & KingTaos - thank you both for being members. 🌈💗True~True💗🌈

https://youtu.be/GTDRg5G77x4

Whoa. Going into this read it was really cool to start off and then as it unfolds realize it is associated with a New York Times bestselling author and his latest novel. I definitely need to read this book.

Today on this cold and snowy two-steps-back-from-spring weather day (flurries as I type) I was awed to go outside earlier with a bowl full of water for birds and suddenly hear the Ecstatic buzz of the first hummingbird visit of the season! My body became electric with Joy!

Today has been spectacularly bird themed and to experience a first hummingbird visit of the season is the cherry on top.

Last year one of my friend’s gifted a beautiful pink hummingbird feeder from a company called So Real and so now I have it on the counter. Ready. Just gotta go buy some Sugah.

Fantastic Read! 10. 10. 10.

hummingverbs.wordpress.com

Where I Am and What I Am Working to Elevate in the gooey realm of healthy emotional expressions and processing:

consumed by pride, envy and scorn,

the feeble veil of my heart is torn,

one which no golden needle and silver thread can mend,

one which only the agape love from persons can tend,

salving all wounds from dusk till dawn.

https://youtu.be/3HKMFmPsZ2g

Fuuuuuuuuck, this is Epic!

Wow!

Undeniably a re-visit.

Moist eyes during the finale.

🔥💎💍💍💍💎🔥

Yet Spring’s promise compels me.

Those wiser than I am remind me again and again, “Be patient. It is not yet time.”

🦜zz Thank you zz🦜

There is a well-executed fog of depression and realism which permeates this short story from start to finish. Begins from within and then stems out into the communication with a poor boy and a visiting family. The fog is only briefly parted for the tiniest glimpses of resilient light such as:

I put on what I wore last night, the clothes still smelled of hope, something I needed. To make this an entirely dismal morning, I topped it off with some espresso, and it was good to go through my day feeling like shit.

I did have something to drown myself in, a social gathering at my aunt’s place and the drive was over 30kms, though I cannot say I don’t love it. It is something that puts me at ease, it is dynamic, the experience is never the same, every time it is different. You can drive through the same route for over 30 years of your life, wearing the same attire as you step into your office every day, but the people you see on the road will always be different. It’s change, the one thing associated with fear, but the one thing true to life.

Hmmmmm....I am surprised by my reaction to this read. I read the comments first and went into this expecting a heartless, callous millionaire account. In the after moments I sense this person is sussing out the temptation aspect of the lifestyle (15 dollar cheese is a bit extreme) and the reality of giving some, the reality of having landed into ladyluck with this rather than hard work, and more.

To read this from as objective a space of non-judgement as possible is the best way. This individual feels open to eventually becoming a balanced steward with the funds rather than just a selfish hoarder. Perhaps after a few chapters of extravagance allowance experiences will shape them into doing so less.

My deepest gratitude with this read is that it should provoke each of us to really sit down and focus on a plan for such a lifestyle of funds on whatever level we find ourselves.

I have people in my life who have a clear vision for where they wish to cap their living expenses (once successful) and giving the rest away. I have admirable people in my life who legitimately see nothing they own as truly theirs. I find such individuals inspiring.

Vulnerably speaking, if I lucked into this kind of lifestyle I Know My Ego would be tempted towards more spending; however, I pray that my experiences with poverty and homelessness would quickly override the ego and my Heart Will Remember what it is like to go without. Give, give, give.

We need more willing to give to eradicate hunger, homelessness etc.

I saw a sign recently in a park that made me go woah! It spoke to the pretty staggering reality of how we can spend soooo much money in the wake of a pandemic on vaccines and stimulus’, etc.... but we haven’t been able to do the same with the crisis of starving and homeless.

I ain’t mad that I read this. I feel inspired to set more focused financial intentions in meditative sits.

This individual is self-aware and processing and adjusting.

Melody Chen is the poet.

Wooooow. One of the best poems I have read in a looooong time.

So many impacting lines:

the “sos/untouched lands” line the “kaleidoscope” line the “violin concerto” line the “hammer in teeth” line the “tongue cocoon” line the “honey” line

Ace discovery

💌 This is a Love Letter poem 💌

This is an Outstanding Read! Highly Recommend. A day/heart/soul Elevator.