s n a p p e r h e a d: Make a Version (Squat Over This Fire) - Day 1

This is important. Do Not Let News-Company-Fear-Porn Infect You to the extent that you begin to dream about the escalating numbers, the calamity, the CCP virus, and the briefings (unless you are so-very-curious about how self-induced depression or a mental breakdown might feel going-in).

Knowing we are instinctively wired to slow down and gawk at the horrible traffic accident surrounded by emergency vehicles—while also being aware that every other motorist on this jam-packed roadway is also no longer looking where they are driving—requires you to exert control over your impulse. Force your attention exclusively on the car in front of you. No matter how loud the sirens. No matter how frantic the firemen and paramedics. No matter how bright the lights.

This is a great time to do a version of this (again). I re-post this thirty-day challenge of a video-a-day for you to either be entertained by (or to participate in). Nine years ago, I did this challenge (archives for March and for April) with days 1 thru 8 in March of that year, and days 9 thru 30 in April. Some of the videos have been eaten by google. If you want to make your own list or just read them all-in-one-go, here is the master: MySoLiMo - My Song List Month

Day 1 topic: My Favorite Song

Like a Version*: Squatting over someone else's fire

          There are some high-quality writers I eagerly look forward to reading. ~~Andrew Vachss, Dean Koontz~~ (some things have changed) and Malcolm Gladwell are ~~three~~ one (off the tip of my temporal cortex) who've sufficiently proven themselves that I spring for their hardback.

          There are other writers who I feel the same way about. Ginny is one. Because she posts infrequently, I normally check monthly for new articles on her site, Praying to Darwin. Today, I discovered she just lit a self-inflicted fire under her own ass. The intent of Ginny's post a video-a-day for a month self-challenge, in her own words: Who knows what kind of stuff that’ll make me write about?

          If I'd not checked on Praying to Darwin until after April Fools Day—and she was already a couple posts into this challenge (I say this because I can't completely avoid commenting on the funny flying pink elephant in the corner)—I wouldn't think about joining hands in solidarity or in emulation or in an icky meme-like fashion. But. This is her day one. That's a sign. A SIGN, I SAY. So. I'm in.

          I enjoy spurring myself towards discovery, research, and the crystallization of ideas (both new-to-me and new). This was why I compiled Like a Version: My Alpha-vile Autopsy. Creating the pics and mining for just the right words in order to identify an alphabet of things I dislike was an extremely self-informative challenge.

          Back to Ginny's Day 1 topic: My Favorite Song. Her's is Everlong by the Foo Fighters. I hadn't seen the video in a decade and didn't remember it. It contains overlapping dream sequences.

          I have an aversion to dream sequences. It's not strong enough to call dislike, but I recognize my avoidance urge. I'm bothered by them (which my little sister once called dream sequins and then got mad when I wouldn't tell her what I was laughing about) because when a story uses a dream to explain what a character is thinking I can't stay in the story. Flashback's are fine; story within a story—also fine; jumps in time, yup, still fine...but when a character says, "I had this dream..." Nope. As I read (or watch) my mind keeps reminding: this is just a dream.

          I feel the same avoidance urge when reading fiction and the main character is a writer; or watching a TV show, play, or film about an actor; or listening to a song about music; or when the poem is about poetry; or the artwork is about the medium; or the joke is about being funny.

          There are exceptions, but most creative people don't have what it takes to craft a convincingly successful multiple reflection in a mirror. Or a dream.

          Following in the shadow of Ginny's footprints—my favorite song...anchoring me in time. The instrumentals of Starship Trooper by Yes are as important (if not more) than the lyrics.

...take what I say in a different way and it's easy to see that this is all confusion...

* I'm always surprised when other people are "late to the pun" (because I am the KING of Never-get-it Land). The title, in case you are also a resident of this land, is a pun on Madonna's song Like a Virgin with a wink and nudge because this is my version of someone else's list. get it? get it? Huh?

Day 2 - A Song You Fucking Hate