Day: May 17, 2023

5 Things — Distractions

Fandango6 Comments

Dr. Tanya, over at Salted Caramel, has this prompt called “5 Things,” where she asks us to list five things about a particular topic. For this week’s topic, she wants to know what five things distract us from blogging.

Tanya said that she began the draft for this post way back in August 2022. And if she had posted it back then, my answers would be very different than they are today, since the first five months of 2023 have been a whole different ballgame for me personally.

Prior to this past January, the most significant injury I had was when I tore my Achilles tendon in my right ankle while playing basketball and had to have surgery to repair the tendon. I remember the pain of the injury and having my leg in a cast for six weeks after the surgery and having use to crutches and even a few weeks of physical therapy after the cast was removed. But even with all that, I was back at work and doing fine within a week of the surgery.

Of course, I was 30 years younger then than I am now, but five months ago I fractured my hip and had emergency partial hip replacement surgery. I was shocked at how that drained my energy. I continued to post a little, but way less than usual because I just didn’t have the energy. And even today, I still don’t have the same energy I had before the accident.

So distraction number 1 is a lack of energy.

Distraction number 2 is going to physical therapy three times a week and spending at least two hours each day at home doing my rehab exercises.

Distraction number 3 is watching TV, especially when we watch a streaming channel like Netflix, which often releases a whole series season on a single date. I’ll start out watch the first episode and eight hours later I realize that I watched the entire season in one sitting. Now I have wait 18 to 24 months for season two. And by the time that comes out I will have completely forgotten what happened in the first season and have to binge watch that all over again.

Distraction number 4 is sleeping. If I didn’t have to sleep at night and occasionally take a nap or two during the day, I’d be able to have more time to dedicate to blogging.

Distraction number 5 is spending quality time with our dog, who hates to be ignored and demands a lot of attention.

WDP — Tooty Fruity

Fandango3 Comments
Daily writing prompt
List your top 5 favorite fruits.
View all responses

I like my cold cereal in the morning with bananas and raisins. That’s two, right? Bananas and raisins.

I like to snack on clementines or mandarine oranges.

I find melons of all types — cantaloupe, honeydew, and watermelon — to be very refreshing.

I like peaches and nectarines. I’m counting them as one fruit because they’re the same, except one is fuzzy and one is not.

I’d say seedless grapes, but I already said raisins, which are essentially shriveled up grapes, so I don’t know if I’m double counting.

And strawberries because they are so good.

That’s five, give or take.

Fandango’s Provocative Question #214

Fandango15 Comments
FPQ

Welcome once again to Fandango’s Provocative Question. Each week I will pose what I think is a provocative question for your consideration.

By provocative, I don’t mean a question that will cause annoyance or anger. Nor do I mean a question intended to arouse sexual desire or interest.

What I do mean is a question that is likely to get you to think, to be creative, and to provoke a response. Hopefully a positive response.

In September of 2020, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that movies must meet certain criteria in terms of representation in order to be eligible for the Academy Award for best picture beginning in 2024. The goal was to “encourage equitable representation on and off screen in order to better reflect the diversity of the movie-going audience.”

It means that in order to considered for an Oscar, films must meet certain benchmarks. They include that films should feature actors from under-represented groups in significant roles or accounting for at least 30% of the cast, and that the same 30% criteria should be applied for the crew working on the film behind the scenes.

Apparently, Oscar-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss is not a fan of the Academy Awards’ new diversity guidelines. In a recent interview on the PBS series “Firing Line,” Dreyfuss said that such rules “make me vomit.” He said that he feels that way because film is an art form. “It’s also a form of commerce and it makes money,” the actor said. “But it’s art. And no one should be telling me as an artist that I have to give in to the latest, most current idea of what morality is.”

Dreyfuss went on to say during the interview, “I don’t think that there is a minority or a majority in this country that has to be catered to like that.”

And that leads me to today’s provocative question.

Do you think that the metrics the Academy Awards will start applying in 2024 regarding composition of at least 30% of the cast and crew by under-represented groups in order for a film to even qualify for a Best Picture Oscar nomination is appropriate? Or, do you share Richard Dreyfuss’ opinion that because filmmaking is an art form, imposing such criteria in order for a film to even be considered for an Oscar is inappropriate?

If you choose to participate in Fandango’s Provocative Question, you may respond with a comment or write your own post in response to the question. Once you are done, tag your post with #FPQ 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. But remember to check to confirm that your pingback or your link shows up in the comments.

FOWC with Fandango — Skulduggery

Fandango15 Comments
FOWC

Welcome to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (U.S.).

Today’s word is “skulduggery.”

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. Show them some love.