Virtual Brush Box

Writer: Hello, Muse.

Muse: Hello. What do you have for us now?

Writer: Spider movie. Specifically Spiders on the Subway.

Muse: So you need to spin a tale.

Writer: Oh good, spider jokes.

Muse: 🙂

Writer: Anyway. Remember a while back there was that art installation in a subway station? [Dark Journal]

Muse: Someone definitely listened to their muse on that one.

Writer: … and that led to rumors of giant spiders? [Spiders In The Subway]

Muse: Creepy. Gotta say, horror is not my jam.

Writer: I thought you were the ineffable spirit of inspiration. [Muse and the Missing Halloween Movie]

Muse: I am that part of the ineffable spirit of inspiration that does not include the horror genre. What? I can’t have opinions? But to get back on task, the spiders were big, so to speak.

Writer: You got that right. It became a pop-culture phenomenon. The memes were all over the web. Now they want to make a movie.

Muse: I caught that.

Writer: 🙂

Muse: You could do something indirect.

Writer: You mean hint at the existence of the spiders but never actually show them? That would certainly save on CGI. We could even go existential. Do the spiders actually exist or are the a symbol of the condition of mankind?

Muse: You mean personkind?

Writer: Well, yes, excusing the awkward construction. Spiders as symbol for the state of condition-to-be-named-later.

Muse: Mystic symbology works for Magical Realism.

Writer: Remember that thought. The marketing for the movie has been green-lighted. One of the big marketing campaigns is going to be decals of giant spider arms coming through the doors of the subway car. So, somewhere in the movie, that has to happen.

Muse: So you are designing a creative endeavor around a commercial proposition?

Writer: Yes.

Muse: As an observer of humanity, I am appalled. As a muse, I see it as an added challenge.

Writer: As a writer for hire in the 21st century, I say welcome to post-modern capitalism.

Muse: So, big-budget horror. (Shudders.)

Writer: I’m with you on horror. I like to sleep at night. But, needs must.

Muse: Mpppf. Does it have to be horror?

Writer: What else can you do with giant spiders?

Muse: The spider as protagonist. Sympathy for nature in all her forms?

Writer: Been done. King Kong. Godzilla. I feel like every thing’s been done.

Muse: Horror parody?

Writer: I could redo Night of the Lepus, Gotta respect a movie that can score 0 on the Tomato-meter. Rotten Tomatoes: NOTL

Muse: Social commentary?

Writer: That could work. Movies never examine the secondary effects to society. The subway system losing money. Over-crowded buses. People who have no choice but to ride a spider-infested subway system. People who do so on a dare.

Muse: You’ve thought about this.

Writer: I’ve thought about parts of this. I know it will end. The last shot will be a spiderweb, hidden in an unseen corner. Dun-dun-dun.

Muse: I know. Make it a comedy.

Writer: A comedy. Involving giant spiders.

Muse: Yup. You have to admit, it would not be expected.

Writer: I don’t have the faintest idea how to begin.

Muse: Good thing I’m here.

~~~ fin ~~~

Awareness of the outside world. MPRNews/North Star Journey: Inside Hmong Cornhole, the largest cornhole club in Minnesota, Cipolle, May 23, 2024.

~~~

Liberty Day 5K
Columbiana, AL USA
29 June 2024

52 minutes
Overall – 214th out of 218 finishers & 1 DQ
Age group – 8th of 9

Revisiting Fitness Friday because this may be my one IRL race this year. Races(walks) are on Saturday mornings. Would rather do horses. This one was not all the way into downtown Birmingham and therefore wouldn’t take up the entire morning. Or at least the race wouldn’t. The post-race nap was a different story.

Logistics

It was small race, so they didn’t close the roads. Instead they had a rolling blockade. Car in front. Car at end. Cars temporarily blocking major roads.

Guys from the local high school track team – it was all guys – manned the turns. Most were well marked, both the turns and the track team. I had to ask for directions once when we turned onto the main drag where vendors where setting up. After that I was able to follow a woman in orange shirt off in the distance. When I finally lost her, I was near the start and almost at three miles so I was able to guess.

Of course, cars came in from side roads, and drove alongside the racers because cars always have priority. What? You can’t – IDK – turn around and take another route through town? Or maybe wait a few minutes? I fussed about this more than I should have during the race but it is so symptomatic of this country’s car culture.

Dress

I did not get the dress memo.

T-shirts. I had one of the few garden variety cotton t-shirts. Racing tank tops were the order of the day.

Shorts. Ditto garden variety shorts. Most had the scalloped running shorts.

Non-technical sneakers. I was the only one.

Glasses. Again, only one. (Hanging on collar in photo.)

Red white & blue. Totes forgot.

My Race

Started at the end per usual. Stayed more in touch with the sag wagon but it was hot & I was strolling.

I did not have the gear change from a one-mile walk to a three-mile walk that I often have. [Moseying to the Music]

Halfway through the race, my joints wanted to point out that all my walking lately has been in the pasture, on dirt. I haven’t been walking on hard surfaces. Just pointing this out. Make sure you know. Don’t want you to forget.

No medal. Sniff. At the finish, someone handed me a bottle of water, which was probably better for my health and my packrat house. Do I really need another medal? You might as well ask if I need another horse show ribbon and that’s just absurd.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. ESPN: A day in the life of Beacon, the therapy dog at U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials, Roenigk, Jun 29, 2024. Hat tip to T.

~~~

Dogs are fine. Status remains quo. No dog update in June because I lost track of the weeks.

Rose is still a weird little dog, who prefers to sit quietly in her chair – yes, she has a chair – and stay out of everybody’s way. She will woof very occasionally if the dinner schedule is extremely out of whack. Or, she will comment if there is a something horribly wrong with the turnout schedule, i.e. she has been out longer than it takes to do her business and have a sniff.

Jas, on the other hand, holds court in the center of things and speaks her mind at every opportunity.

Dog posts [archive]

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Birmingham made the NYT Connections puzzle, 23 June 2024. Bham Wiki: The Magic City. Also Miami, HistoryMiami: Miami, The Magic City, and a strip club in Atlanta. [The Next Step]

~~~

Oooooh, she fine.

Andre is watching a little paint mare in the covered ring. Note the nose smooshed against the stall front.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Boston.com: Here’s looking at you, kid: MBTA adds googly eyes to several trains following grassroots campaign, Patkin June 26, 2024. On one hand, I’m all for the element of levity in urban life. On the other hand, fast, clean trains that ran on time would be my favorite rider experience. Both?

~~~

Done!

Virtual Tevis Cup 2024
100 Miles in 100 Days
10 April to 21 July

Rodney
Finished last week. Technically. [Line By Line]

Milton
7 miles this week, 100 miles total
7 outings – 2 handwalk, 1 ride, 4 drive

All outings one mile in pasture.

Tuesday 25 June to Monday 1 July

Logistics

Milton. Monday, drive. Tues & Wed, handwalk. Fri to Sun, drive. Mon, rode over finish line together.

Rodney. Back to regular schedule of morning walks.

Commentary

Milton is really getting into the habit of getting his steps in each morning. Halter. Cart. Saddle. Whichever. ‘I walk,’ says Milton. He worked 4 days in a row without a hint of commentary. Go Milton!

Virtual Tevis Posts [Archives]

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Recently I learned that there are many reasons a person might not want to give pronouns. The person is not out to everyone. None of the options are the mot juste. The person does not want to get drawn into the inevitable discussion. I had no idea a simple act could be so fraught. Hat tip to online friends.

~~~

Branch on barn roof.

Impromptu skylight.

Tarp as temporary fix until roof is dry enough to patch permanently.

RealFeel of 104o and I am shoveling out flooded muck.

Remind me why I am so adamant about keeping my horses at home?

This is rhetorical.

I jest.

I have not changed my mind.

But it sure was hot.

Previous Posts
[Why Not Rack Off Into The Sunset?]
[This Is Why I Don’t Board My Horse]
[Split Personality]

Update. If you read this early on the 1st, you are not imagining things, I adjusted the bottom half to better fit what I was going for. While I try to avoid changing past posts, a little tweaking on the day is within acceptable parameters. But I digress.

Onwards!
Katherine

Awareness of the outside world. Tasting Table: Kazari-Zushi Is The Gorgeous, Decorative Sushi You Should Know About, Martinez 2023.

~~~

Tan & Teal

[Fractal Alphabet]

Onwards!
Katherine