Day: August 2, 2020

The Parole Board

Fandango7 Comments

E45FE12B-F5A4-46A7-A98D-05BEB52F6FBB“Your final interrogation with the parole board is coming up. Be sur to maintain eye contact with the head honcho, who will be seated in the middle,” the lawyer told Sam. “Remember to tout your cooperation and good behavior so far and to do it with some pizzazz.”

“What do you mean by that?” Sam asked.

“You know,” the lawyer said,” put a little zing in it, a little flair. But don’t exaggerate or lie, and be respectful. And, finally, save the best for last.”

“You mean tell him everything I know?” Sam asked. “Do you think that will work?”

“Of course it will,” the lawyer said with confidence. “Soon you’ll be walking out of here a free man.”

“That’s great. I can’t thank you enough,” Sam said.

“You can thank me by paying my bill promptly,” the lawyer said.

Written for these daily prompts: Ragtag Daily Prompt (honcho), Your Daily Word Prompt (tout), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (pizzazz), Word of the Day Challenge (respectful), Jibber Jabber (save), and The Daily Spur (bill).

Who Won The Week? 08/02/2020

Fandango36 Comments

10CC3057-4EEA-4C80-B8C1-700C0FC6C906It’s time for another Who Won the Week prompt. The idea behind Who Won the Week is for you to select who (or what) you think “won” this past week. Your selection can be anyone or anything — politicians, celebrities, athletes, authors, bloggers, your friends or family members, books, movies, TV shows, businesses, organizations, whatever.

I will be posting this prompt on Sunday mornings (my time). If you want to participate, write your own post designating who you think won the week and why you think they deserve your nod. Then link back to this post and tag you post with FWWTW.

This week I am designating seriously flawed TV detectives as my winners of the week. You see, I am making a big effort to escape the awful reality of the daily news each day by cutting back on watching cable news channels, reading the newspapers, and constantly checking my iPhone’s newsfeed. It’s all part of my effort to stay blissfully uninformed. It’s too angering, frustrating, and depressing for me to keep abreast of the insanity that is swirling around us.

Instead, I’ve taken to binge watching streaming detective shows on Netflix and Amazon prime. And what I’ve found are a number of shows highlighting the exploits of some seriously flawed, yet remarkably compelling TV detectives.4D472274-BEA3-4CD9-8FBC-4EA852262980I started with “Bosch” on Amazon Prime. Harry Bosch is a gruff, irreverent LAPD homicide detective who has problems with authority, follows his gut, and bends a few rules while achieving the best solved case rate in all of California.1ACE437B-69CC-4798-B9DD-FBB128CFE5D7Next was “Marcella” on Netflix. Set in London, British Metropolitan Police Officer Marcella Backland, a detective in her late 30s, gave up her fast-tracked role to marry and devote her life to starting a family. With the abrupt end to her marriage, and isolated from her daughter at boarding school, Marcella returns to work while attempting to make sense of what’s happened in her life.

Then there are two Finnish detective series, “Borderland” and “Deadwind,” which grabbed me.

Unless you speak Finnish, you’ll have to deal with subtitles, but it’s well worth it.

“Bordertown” is about a quirky detective from the capital city of Finland who moves to a small town nearby the Russian border in order to work less and spend more time with his family. He soon realizes that the bordertown isn’t the peaceful town he thought it was and he delves into his mind palace to solve despicable crimes.

Deadwind, which I just started watching yesterday, is another tale of a female detective in her 30s who is trying to get over her husband’s death. She ends up triggering a chain of events that threatens to destroy her life again. Deadwind is a highly thrilling series from Finland mixing crime investigation and personal drama.

So if you want an escape from reality, and enjoy watching quirky tales of flawed detectives, I think you might want to give these a look-see.

Now it’s your turn, folks. Who (or what) do you think won the week?

Fandango’s Dog Days of August #2

Fandango17 Comments

Fandango’s Dog Days of AugustDo you need a muse to get your creative juices flowing during these hot, sultry days of August? Try a dose of Fandango’s Dog Days of August prompt.

At 6:00 am Pacific time each day this month, I will be posting a new theme. Today’s theme is “blog.” Share a story, a poem, a photo, a drawing, some music, or whatever you wish to about your blog. Why you started it, for example, what your blogging goals are, what you like to blog about, why you did or did not choose a niche for your blog. It’s up to you.

If you wish to participate, please write your post, use the tag #FDDA, and create a pingback to this post or manually add your link in the comments.

And, of course, take some time to read the other responses to this prompt. See how other bloggers are coping with the dog days of August.

Song Lyric Sunday — Handyman

Fandango17 Comments

For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday theme, Jim Adams is giving us “Acquire,” “Collect,” “Gather,” and “Secure.” So come on folks and gather around while I tell you the story of the “Handyman.”

Jimmy Jones and Otis Blackwell wrote “Handy Man” in 1955, and the group Sparks of Rhythm, which did not include Jones, recorded it in 1956. Then in 1959, Jones and Blackwell re-worked and recorded the song. Their version went to number 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 1960 and earned a gold record. There have been numerous covers since, including those by Del Shannon in 1964 and James Taylor in 1977.

“Handyman” is a catchy, lightweight, and by today’s standards, a someone sexist song with a very simple message. The gist of the song is that the singer is a handyman, only not in the sense of a home repairman, but as someone who has the knack to “fix broken hearts.” He invites women who’ve had their hearts broken to come see him and he’ll fix them right up.

Here are the lyrics to “Handyman.”

Comma, comma, comma, comma, come, come, comma
Yeah, yeah, yeah

Hey girls, gather round
Listen to what I’m putting down
Hey babe, I’m your handy man

I’m not the kind to use a pencil or rule
I’m handy with love and I’m no fool
I fix broken hearts, I know that I truly can

If your broken heart should need repair
Then I’m the man to see
I whisper sweet things, you tell all your friends
They’ll come runnin’ to me

Here is the main thing I want to say
I’m busy 24 hours a day
I fix broken hearts, I know that I truly can

Come, come, come
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Come, come, come
Yeah, yeah, yeah
They’ll come runnin’ to me

That’s me
I’m your handy man

FOWC with Fandango — Pizzazz

Fandango25 Comments

FOWCWelcome to August 2, 2020 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 “pizzazz.”

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. Please check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

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