Day: June 11, 2024

Horny Tarantulas

Fandango14 Comments

These two tarantulas are each hoving near the tops of their respective spidey holes in my backyard. Their burrows are only about twenty feet apart, so they are virtually neighbors.

Usually it’s hard to see the tarantulas because they don’t often spend time near the surface of their spidey holes. But these two seem to be champing at the bit for tarantula mating season to start in about two months. Or maybe, due to climate change, the mating season will be starting earlier and these two are ready to come out of the gate (or the spidey hole) sooner.

By the way, I don’t know if one of these is male and one is female. They could both be males preparing to go on the prowl for a female. I’m not sure why they are so eager, though. It seems that the female tarantula often make a post-coital snack out of the male.

And just for full disclosure, I did have to do some post-processing enhancements to these photos in order to more clearly show the tarantulas in their burrows. But they are legit photos, not deep fakes or AI generated.

MFFFC — That’s Some Nerve!

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Blackie stopped in his tracks. He looked up at me gave a little whimper.

“Blackie, what’s the matter, boy?” I asked, patting his head.

“Will you look a that wall?” Blackie said. “That’s some nerve of whoever put that mural up. Why would anybody do such a thing? Why would anyone want to pay homage to a scavenger like a raccoon? They are dirty, filthy creatures who tip over trash cans and forage through everyone’s garbage, making a mess on the streets of our beautiful city. And they are scared little pussies, running away from me when I bark and chase after them, climbing up trees into the branches above and just out of my reach. And then they stare down at me with an air of unwarranted superiority. I piss on them.”

Blackie walked over to the barrier that separated the sidewalk and the wall upon which the mural was constructed. He lifted up his right rear leg and let out a long stream of urine.

“Come on, Blackie, don’t focus on that,” I said. “It’s not worth getting your back hairs up over a stupid raccoon mural. Now let’s go home because Mommy and I have a surprise for you.”

Blackie started wagging his tail, having forgotten all about the offensive mural. As we were walking back home I texted my wife and told her to be ready for us. When we walked through the door, my wife had everything ready and waiting. She set the watercolor painting on a small wood tripod that would be at Blackie’s eye level.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about!” Blackie barked, as he ran up to my wife and started licking her face.

Written for Melissa’s Fandango Flash Fiction Challenge. Raccoon photo credit: Frankie Hatton on Pexels. Blackie image credit: Fandango photo processed with Waterbrush.

Truthful Tuesday — Books, Movies, and TV Series

Fandango10 Comments

Frank, aka PCGuyIV, is back with another episode of Truthful Tuesday. The idea behind Truthful Tuesday is for us to respond to the question (or questions) Frank asks and to be 100% truthful in our responses. No glib answers, no funny business, no fibs. Just raw honesty.

For this week’s Truthful Tuesday, Frank wants to know…

Some producer just got the rights to your favorite book. Would you rather they make a movie of it (e.g., Dune, Jurassic Park, Pride & Prejudice), or a TV series (e.g., Game of Thrones, Shōgun)? Why?

First, let me say that before the pandemic hit in 2020, I used to love going to the movies. We went out to movie theaters at least weekly. Since late 2019, however, we have gone to a movie theater just once, and that was last summer. So whether it’s a movie or a TV series, we will likely be watching it on TV from the comfort of our family room.

Second, let me say that movies adapted from books are rarely as good as the source books. Why do I say that? I’m glad you asked. When I read a well-written book, the words on the pages paint pictures inside my head. What do the characters look like? How do they carry themselves? What do they sound like? In my mind’s eye, I visualize the scenes in which the action takes place. But then I watch the movie and nothing bothers me more than if the main characters are miscast. The actor doesn’t look like, sound like, or act like the character my mind’s eye created.

There are exceptions, of course, where the actor who portrays an iconic character is effective enough in his or her role to supplant the character I envisioned in my head when I read the book. Or there may be cases where I read the book so long ago before seeing the movie that the image of the character in my head has faded enough that the actor can more easily fit the role.

Now to answer Frank’s question. If it’s a relatively short book and its adaptation can be fit into two to two-and-a-half hours without sacrificing any salient parts of the book, then I suppose a movie is okay. But with all of the streaming services available, why sacrifice portions of the book to fit within a single movie timeframe? Why not spread it out over three, four, six, or even eight episodes?

So my vote is for a TV series where I can binge-watch the whole thing in one or two or even three sittings from the comfort of my recliner.

Fandango’s Story Starter #153

Fandango8 Comments

It’s time for my weekly Story Starter prompt. Here’s how it works. Every Tuesday morning (my time), I’m going to give you a “teaser” sentence or sentence fragment and your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to build a story (prose or poetry) around that sentence/fragment. It doesn’t have to be the first sentence in your story, and you don’t even have to use it in your post at all if you don’t want to. The purpose of the teaser is simply to spark your imagination and to get your storytelling juices flowing.

This week’s Story Starter teaser is:

With tears in his eyes, Jason turned around and began to walk away.

If you care to write and post a story built from this teaser, be sure to link back to this post and tag your post with #FSS. I would also encourage you to read and enjoy what your fellow bloggers do with their stories.

And most of all, have fun.

FOWC with Fandango — Unfurl

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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 “unfurl.”

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, ÿplease 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.