Day: August 19, 2018

Sunday Photo Fiction — The Hills Are Alive

Fandango14 Comments

img_2203“Dad,” Bonnie called out to her father, “Come see what I made.”

Dave stepped out and saw his fourteen-year-old daughter standing in front of her creation. He looked at what she had made and then looked at her. “A scarecrow?” he said. “It’s very nice, honey, but I’m not sure we need a scarecrow in the flower garden.”

“Dad, she’s not a scarecrow,” Bonnie said. “Don’t you recognize her?”

Dave scrutinized the scarecrow. “Oh sure,” he said. “I bet she’s the wife of the scarecrow from ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ right?”

“No, Dad.” Bonnie said, hands on her hips, giving him her famous stink eye. “What’s my very favorite movie?”

“Um,” he said. “Is it ‘The Sound of Music?’” he asked, knowing that it was.

“Ding, ding, ding,” Bonnie said, smiling broadly.

“I don’t remember there being any scarecrows in that movie,” Dave said.

“Dad, I already told you that she’s not a scarecrow,” Bonnie said, feigning annoyance. “Pretend that this isn’t a garden, but a hilltop surrounded by tall mountains. Now do you know who she is?”

“Maria?” he asked.

“Yes!” She said. She pulled a folded paper from her pocket and handed it to him. “See?”64C7580A-7B69-4C47-9E86-8961786A85FD

(199 words)

Written for this week’s Sunday Photo Fiction prompt from Susan Spaulding. Photo credit: Anurag Bakhshi.

Sycophants Kissing Up

Fandango16 Comments

F02D5240-4B54-4F74-9EB5-54F3360E0A08“I’m so tired of how those sycophants on Fox News kowtow to Donald Trump all the time,” Alan complained to his coworker, Zeke. “They’re always kissing his ass.

“You still can’t cope with the fact that Trump won the election, can you?” Zeke said.

“No, that’s not it at all,” Alan objected. “It’s just that they are overly zealous in their support for him. They ignore the basic truth and are reticent to say anything negative about the guy.”

“So turn off Fox News and watch something else,” Zeke suggested.

“I would,” Alan said. “but you know how the boss is. He won’t allow us to tune the TV to anything other than Fox News.”

“That’s what happens when you take a job in the Trump administration,” Zeke replied.

Okay, I promise that this is my last post about Donald Trump. Well, last post about DonaldTrump today, anyway.

Written for the following prompts:

  • Word of the Day Challenge, zealous
  • Your Daily Word Prompt, basic
  • Ragtag Daily Prompt, reticent
  • Daily Addictions, cope
  • Fandango’s One Word Challenge, kowtow

“Truth Isn’t Truth”

Fandango8 Comments

Rudy GiulianiWhen asked on “Meet the Press” today about whether Donald Trump would agree to meet with Robert Mueller, Trump’s TV lawyer, Rudy Guilinai, said, “Look, I am not going to be rushed into having him testify so that he gets trapped into perjury. And when you tell me that, you know, he should testify because he’s going to tell the truth and he shouldn’t worry, well that’s so silly because it’s somebody’s version of the truth. Not the truth.”

“Truth is truth,” Chuck Todd, host of “Meet the Press,” responded.

“No, it isn’t truth,” Giuliani said. “Truth isn’t truth.”

Wow. “Truth isn’t truth” has got to be the best sound bite since Kellyanne Conway’s “alternative facts” comment, which she also let fly during an interview with Chuck Todd on “Meet the Press.”

“Truth isn’t truth?” Todd replied, adding, “This is going to become a bad meme.”

Song Lyric Sunday —Blue Öyster Cult

Fandango20 Comments

The obvious choice for me when I saw that Helen Vahdati had chosen “fear” as the theme for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday was “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” by Blue Öyster Cult.

The song was written and sung by Blue Öyster Cult‘s lead guitarist, Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser, and it appeared on the band’s 1976 album, Agents of Fortune. “(Don’t Frear) The Reaper” was Blue Öyster Cult’s highest charting single, reaching number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late 1976.

As to the meaning of the song, Roeser said, “I was thinking about my own mortality. I wrote the guitar riff, the first two lines of lyric sprung into my head, then the rest of it came as I formed a story about a love affair that transcends death. I was thinking about my wife, and that maybe we’d get together after I was gone.”

There was some controversy around the song because some thought it promoted suicide. Lyrics such as “Romeo and Juliet are together in eternity” led many listeners to interpret the song to be about a murder-suicide pact, but Roeser insists it was about eternal love and not suicide.

The song coupled the group’s mysticism with a beautiful melody, lush harmonies, and what some have called “one of the coolest guitar riffs of the ‘70s.”

Here are the song’s lyrics.

All our times have come
Here but now they’re gone
Seasons don’t fear the reaper
Nor do the wind, the sun or the rain, we can be like they are

Come on baby, don’t fear the reaper
Baby take my hand, don’t fear the reaper
We’ll be able to fly, don’t fear the reaper
Baby I’m your man

La, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la

Valentine is done
Here but now they’re gone
Romeo and Juliet
Are together in eternity, Romeo and Juliet
40,000 men and women everyday, Like Romeo and Juliet
40,000 men and women everyday, Redefine happiness
Another 40,000 coming everyday, We can be like they are

Come on baby, don’t fear the reaper
Baby take my hand, don’t fear the reaper
We’ll be able to fly, don’t fear the reaper
Baby I’m your man

La, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la

Love of two is one
Here but now they’re gone
Came the last night of sadness
And it was clear she couldn’t go on

Then the door was open and the wind appeared
The candles blew then disappeared
The curtains flew then he appeared, saying don’t be afraid

Come on baby, and she had no fear
And she ran to him, then they started to fly
They looked backward and said goodby, she had become like they are
She had taken his hand, she had become like they are
Come on baby, don’t fear the reaper

FOWC with Fandango — Kowtow

Fandango22 Comments

FOWCWelcome to August 19, 2018 and to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). It’s designed to fill the void after WordPress bailed on its daily one-word prompt.

I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (US).

Today’s word is “kowtow.”

Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Or you can simply include a link to your post in the comments.

And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. You will marvel at their creativity.