.diminished discords (xiv)

this week on Laeth's mind

jazz is the art of conversation in music.

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in the lusitanian dialect, to say something is funny, we say it has grace ('engraced', as in the opposite of 'disgraced'). we take our humor seriously, think it's heavenly. thus the Virgin Mary is hilarious, according to us.

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first crack
grass roots
in on the ground floor

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there's a lusitianian expression mothers use when their children keep saying 'mom mom mom' which translates to 'you're wasting my name'. i think God probably feels this, and perhaps he anticipated the problem, hence the commandment to avoid using his name in vain. he should have anticipated people would ignore it too.

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an author doesn't want people talking about him, but about his work. thus, those who speak about creation and less about the creator probably appeal more to God.

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the first gift i gave my wife, more than twenty years ago, was a book called Love and Friendship (an epistolary novel by Jane Austen, still one of, if not her favorite author today). we were just friends then, but i knew i had to lock that down, and wanted to be poignant.

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the machines are only dangerously powerful in the sense that they can make everything dangerously stupid and ugly.

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there will never be machine vomit autobiography. by definition, it can't happen. something to ponder.

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a lot has changed since i decided to stay the same. and vice versa.

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i don't agree with hating the game and not the player. except for curling. not sure why that is.

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soon i'll have to start lying to my boss about using 'ai'. sure man, i used it, no way i could do this thing i used to do by myself by myself.

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movies probably watch people on television.

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pop country is so bad it almost makes rap and punk theoretically listenable.

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you see it when you know it.

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if you have no freedom, none of your qualities are really yours. freedom is so fundamental that it’s easy to forget it exists and we have it. one asks what’s the most important thing, and some say love (like saint Paul), others courage, others honor. etc etc. but without freedom none of this means anything, it isn’t even real. what courage is there if you're not free to be a coward. what honor if you're not free to be a scoundrel. what love, if you have no option to hate. and on and on with everything.

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did you know it's called a novelette because it's like an omelette, except made with the cosmic eggs where creativity is born. want to write a novelette, gotta break some cosmic eggs.

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wife found this and sent it to me. it’s like they’re asking for my books. all that’s missing is the constant smoking.

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such a tasty exciting surprising mystery, romantic love.

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the artistic process of trial and error and practice is the actual enjoyable part. to want the product without the process is surely some kind of mental illness. the joy of sharing and having other people connect with the final product only makes sense after the arduous process of creation, that’s when and how one’s soul becomes enmeshed with the creation. without the process, there is no soul in it at all. i suppose people do it for money too, but it seems like that is a minority.

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i've had ground beef. it's ok. but i imagine sky beef is much better. probably very expensive.

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some decisions will haunt you for life. like being born.

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weird eclipse shadows:

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an eclipse is when the sun and the moon make love. that's why you can't look at it. it's not proper.

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musical portion for today is a piece by Messiaen for piano and ondes martenot (an early electronic keyboard synthesizer thingy). it’s very haunting and beautiful.

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oh hi, you’re still here, cool. did you know i released a novelette. it’s a coming of age portrait of the artist as a young woman, called Myself When I Am Real. you can get it for free here: https://ko-fi.com/s/cddfce754a

it’s also the first chapter of my upcoming novel, and it functions much like the first chapter of Alice, which i also published separately first. it's a self contained story but in the larger context becomes a catalyst for the larger arc. it also starts right after the events of powerless, with some of the same characters. if you liked Diana and want to see more of the film kids’ shenanigans, here’s your chance.