Josh’s Comments (group member since Jun 17, 2010)

Josh’s comments from the Q&A with Josh Lanyon group.

1 - SPRING

I'm SO in the mood for spring this year. The garden that I put into my sister's backyard last year got COMPLETELY WIPED OUT when we had to replace the fence with a concrete wall. That was heartbreaking, but I've got new plants and enlisted my nephews and we're going to try to replant everything on Wednesday. If nothing else, I'll have a great day with the kidlings (who are no longer kidlings)

And I'm very excited about everything budding and blooming in my own yard. I think it's going to be a gorgeous spring.

2 - Spenser and Marlowe. My dear little pals come hell or high water.

3 - A hair curling device even I can use successfully! https://www.amazon.com/CHI-Spin-Curl-...

4 - Celebrating my nephew's college graduation at a restaurant last night with the entire family. The first time in three years we have all gone out to dinner together.

(I have to say, post-pandemic, I do find myself super tired super fast in social situations. Is that just me? Or do some of you also experience this?)

5 - Tiny green-yellow birds hopping around the yard. I don't know what they are, but they're so lovely.

Jordan wrote: "I’ll be sure to keep you updated! I’m hoping to set it up this weekend."

Any word, Jordan?

The last three weeks have basically been a writing marathon. I have not read, watched, listened to anything that didn't have to do with my writing. I am DESPERATE for something fun and entertaining.

Antonella wrote: "I've just heard an interview to the Chassidic Australian writer, living in the US, Goldie Goldbloom about her book On Division. From the blurb: «Surie is pregnant. ..."

Oh my gosh. A happy story. What do you know!

Antonella wrote: "I saw «Everyone Everywhere All At Once», and I wasn't particularly impressed.

Still, this video review (18') resonated with me:
Everyone Everywhere Needs Waymond Wang (and Ke Huy Quan)
https://www..."

I enjoyed it a lot. The SO not so much. In particular I rejoiced at seeing Michelle Yeoh again. She was my idol back in the day when I was training in marital arts.

Lillian wrote: "Josh wrote: "Lillian wrote: "Josh wrote: "Watched the Season Finale of Poker Face last night. I've really come to enjoy that show. I hope it's coming back!

Tonight the SO and I are going to watch ..."

It wasn't just you. The SO and I couldn't stop bitching the entire way through. Beautiful cinematography, however.

Here's a cool little art mystery

https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2023/...

Karen wrote: "Haldis wrote: "....on a happier, speculative note, I want Skylar and Rory to go on a double date with Sam and Jason. Skylar and Jason will become friends and meet up while their boyfriends are on t..."

:-D Come to think of it, that's a coda Haldis could write VERY well.

Jordan wrote: "I am in DESPERATE need of a vacation. Like, beyond desperate. But we’ve been short staffed and someone had Covid so I couldn’t do it for awhile. Mid-April I have a week off. Not sure if I will stay..."

Oh! How exciting! Fingers crossed you're the one in the new position.

Lillian wrote: "Josh wrote: "Watched the Season Finale of Poker Face last night. I've really come to enjoy that show. I hope it's coming back!

Tonight the SO and I are going to watch Marlowe. I'm preparing by rea..."

Well, we got halfway through before I fell asleep. LN is definitely too old for the part (as was Mitchum, by the time they got around to using him in the Big Sleep). They introduced a weird Irish angle--not that I object to weird Irish angles, having several genetically programmmed into me. ;-D The set, the mood, were beautiful and bang on. BUT IT WAS SO FREAKING CONVOLUTED.

I mean, managing to out convolute Chandler is going a ways.

And because it was so convoluted, the pacing went off and the plot began to founder in a never-ending stream of "eccentric" character intros.

Maybe I'll feel differently after watching the second half.

Karen wrote: "We've been watching Slow Horses, a MI5 spy series with Gary Oldman, Jack Lowden, and other wonderful actors. We just finished episode 4 of 6 in Season 2. It's not often that the end of every episod..."

Everyone I know has recced that to me. I DEFINITELY have to find the time to watch.

One thing about watching a lot of true crime. Much like any real life cop, you begin to see a sad sameness to these things. That's probably the most depressing thing about it.

Karen wrote: "Also, I think I posted before in another topic (General News/Let's Chat) that last November I served on the jury for a murder trial. It was a sad and sordid crime, but seeing/hearing how evidence i..."

I bet!

I never get murder trials. I always get traffic violations. :-D

MY SKILZ ARE BEING WASTED!!!!

Karen wrote: "Josh wrote: "My question is did anyone decide to jump down the rabbit hole of Maura Murray's disappearance?"

I've always avoided true crime media, but I understand how others, especially mystery w..."

I do completely understand that. There are a lot of things that are simply too depressing, too grisly for me to watch. I've learned not to watch any true crime before bed and to limit how much of it I watch overall.

And I'd probably watch even less, if I wasn't always on the hunt for things I can use in fiction.

Antonella wrote: "Pity the Nation (After Khalil Gibran) by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Pity the nation whose people are sheep,
and whose shepherds mislead them.
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars, who..."

Ah. The sad truth is this is every nation at some time or another. I believe the goal has to be keeping the fascism phases to a minimum.

Antonella wrote: "This by Hermann Hesse is not a poem, but almost:

«Trees have long thoughts, long-breathing and restful, just as they have longer lives than ours. They are wiser than we are, as lo..."

I like that so much!

Antonella wrote: "The Poet’s Occasional Alternative by Grace Paley

I was going to write a poem
I made a pie instead it took
about the same amount of time
of course the pie was a final
draft a poem wo..."

What an interesting take on what it means to create--and what it means to share a creation with an audience.

I always say, we write for ourselves. We publish for others. They're actually two very different things.

Which is why I can't imagine not writing. But I can imagine not publishing.

Karen wrote: "I hope that more readers find a time to read or reread this story. I appreciate its mix of humor and poignancy.

The two MC's book titles are hilarious, albeit reflecting a time when certain cultu..."

This is the truth. Even though my first love is mystery, even though my books are first and foremost mystery, the relationships--particularly the romantic relationships--are ultimately the most important thing.

Averin wrote: "Maybe:(. But now I wonder if you did something ala The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, hmmm."

:-D :-D :-D

I brought my kindle on vacation, but I never even opened it!

We ended up streaming everything we could on the Murdaugh trial and murders. My youngest sister has turned into a fellow true crime junkie. :-D

That story has the makings of a fantastic novel. Not a novel, I'd write, but an excellent Southern Gothic tale.