"'The time has come,' the Walrus said,
'To talk of many things,
'Of shoes and ships and sealing wax...' "
--Lewis Carroll
And the very hashtag you may be noticing right now, effectively taking the place of the generic "#thoughts" as of today. (Just as I personally anticipated for weeks.)
Planned to get this going yesterday, but the motivation was barely there. Furthermore, this feed turned seven last month (June 28)--and once again, no one noticed. Now, without further ado...
First up, the revised procedure for Veritas--the gift map dedicated to my Plus contacts from yesteryear--has undergone a few rewrites this month. I have figured out more than 80 confirmed steps in the latest attempt--with a bit of trouble as to exactly how I should continue. In a week or two, I'll deliver your first look at the new Bastion of Truth (if all goes well); by step 100, back to Rogatia (with downtown Weymouth, Elmshire); with #200, those first 1,000 words of Unspooled #1. (As always, stay tuned as I revive my Patreon for all of this.)
Speaking of Plus contacts (in this month's "404 Files"), what remained of fondly recalled but much misunderstood G+ transitioned to out-of-beta successor Currents earlier this month. (Still exclusive to GSuite like last April--no public accounts.) As went my r/GooglePlus commentary:
By all accounts, Google's noble social experiment has already come to an end--but not that it really mattered a lot anymore after Plus successor Shoelace wound down its ten-month New York test run in May.(Unless...) Still, RIP to one of the most promising and underrated social services around, 2011-2019/2020. (This coming from a user whose tenure there lasted almost seven years, and has since moved on to STM/Hive.) Not to mention we've got almost nowhere else to go these days...
As always, let the stories--and memories--begin. (While I say hello to u/dredmorbius of the now dormant r/plexodus, and any other refugees reading this who switched over to Reddit last year.)
Speaking of Rogatia: 'Twas a close call when Tropical Storm Gonzalo passed south of the Bulwark last week, en route to the Windwards (and dissipation) on Saturday 25th. Nothing but choppy seas and a few gusts close to the coast of Trouvaille and Nosten in Shropshire. (I say "close call", because it could've been a repeat of Dorian from last August...)
And speaking of Unspooled (and the anthro scene):
Last Friday night, I promised over the phone to entrust those first 1,000 words to an aunt of mine (now living in the Tri-City upstate), while she was speaking to my younger sister and her children. Once I draft up that segment, I'll e-mail it over to her--and in the days thereafter, I'll make it public here and on Reddit, Inkbunny, plus a third outlet I've yet to make up my mind on. (Forget FurAffinity and [for now] DeviantArt.com: The former's doc-upload standards are a bit intimidating compared to IB, and as for the latter? Eclipse happened--and a good deal of bugs along with it.)
- And...did I just mention DeviantArt.com? You bet--because, as I remarked on a Maple Town fan piece's comment pane, "comment signatures--and the long-established category scheme--are now gone." (Furthermore, my profile/bio pic--the yellow-and-brown flag of Rogatia--has been tossed aside thanks to Eclipse.) No wonder longtimers there are reserving a lot of vitriol towards the site devs...but that's for another venue.
- And...did I just mention Maple Town too? Sure enough: The adventures of Patty Rabbit remain one of our long-gestating pet project's influences (a cult favourite from Japan's Toei Animation), and if I hadn't tried to give my nephew something new to discover, I wouldn't have returned to its second installment (1987's Palm Town) this month via YouTube on our new monitor's Fire Stick. YT, together with the long-gone-but-not-forgotten Megaupload, once had a wide assortment of episodes and clips in English, Spanish, French, Dutch, Hungarian, Italian, Finnish, Arabic, and the original Japanese. At this writing, some (but definitely not all) of them have resurfaced/remained--mainly Palm Town material from the looks of things--and most of them have been likely "copystruck". Perhaps because of the long-belated DVD box sets Toei put out in 2013?
- You'll never believe I was a Troper once, since I was actually responsible for starting that show's Tropes overview back in the early 2010s--and now you know! (Although the earliest edits have been lost to time and possibly server constraints. Was my handle "dcjc" or "Routhwick" or whatever else? Can't quite recall.) Even so, I'm unlikely ever to return thanks to the CC-BY-NC-SA license they adopted around the middle of that decade--which is counter to my "free as possible" mandate. (Back when I tried it out, it was CC-BY-SA.) Sad that I never got to reveal that during the Plus days--although my disclosure on the authorship of Cinema Treasures' Carib Theatre (Roseau, Dominica) entry kind of made up for it in retrospect. (The Carib reopened late last May as Emerald Movies, switching their 35 mm equipment to digital.)
- Maple Town has also started to figure into my just-initiated sessions of what I call "nightflighting": overnighting with the Tube as I delve into whatever nostalgic, novelty, and news-relevant highlights are on my mind. (In honour of--you guessed it--Night Flight, a late-night institution in the early days of cable's USA, now airing as a short-form revival on IFC.) Another more prominent Toei franchise, Sailor Moon, has landed alongside the likes of Nu, pogodi! (Soyuzmultfilm), Bosco Adventure (Nippon Animation), Tamagotchi (Bandai/OLM/TV Tokyo), and various sneak peeks and obscure Disney extras in my unwritten queues. Helps that the name of our heroine, Usagi, is Japanese for "rabbit" after all. You can even spot a Patty doll in a couple of episodes--blink and you'll miss it! Even better: Junichi Sato was series director on both.
- In the "nightflighting" process, I can but only work with anime/TV episodes, the aforementioned previews, and the occasional short film until you-know-what gets written. Then we can deal with our long-in-waiting New Year's marathon (eight months late!), and what-have-you.
- And...did I just mention Maple Town too? Sure enough: The adventures of Patty Rabbit remain one of our long-gestating pet project's influences (a cult favourite from Japan's Toei Animation), and if I hadn't tried to give my nephew something new to discover, I wouldn't have returned to its second installment (1987's Palm Town) this month via YouTube on our new monitor's Fire Stick. YT, together with the long-gone-but-not-forgotten Megaupload, once had a wide assortment of episodes and clips in English, Spanish, French, Dutch, Hungarian, Italian, Finnish, Arabic, and the original Japanese. At this writing, some (but definitely not all) of them have resurfaced/remained--mainly Palm Town material from the looks of things--and most of them have been likely "copystruck". Perhaps because of the long-belated DVD box sets Toei put out in 2013?
- And...did I just mention DeviantArt.com? You bet--because, as I remarked on a Maple Town fan piece's comment pane, "comment signatures--and the long-established category scheme--are now gone." (Furthermore, my profile/bio pic--the yellow-and-brown flag of Rogatia--has been tossed aside thanks to Eclipse.) No wonder longtimers there are reserving a lot of vitriol towards the site devs...but that's for another venue.
Although an entire Notebook entry has been effectively in the can for days, all that remains is a portrait request of Sam the series mascot--for which I've recently asked a few over at r/furry. Specified a one-week deadline et al. (you'll know why as I sign-off)--but it'll have to wait a while as well. (Which reminds me: Over on FA early last year, I was in the midst of uploading a concept-to-completion series involving Sam's cousin, Alfred [by "TheFuzzyBeast"; you'll meet him again soon in those first 1,000 words], but progress tapered off after G+'s closure + our move from Brandon to Dover, FL. Once I reunite with the Takeout archive, I'll see if I can move back, finish the job, and port it over into a one-page IB gallery.)
Thanks to a session of the aforementioned "nightflighting" early this week, the 1960s soft R&B standard "Don't Make Me Over" is heading for the Adanson Jukebox soon. A scene from the cult Vietnam War drama China Beach had a cast member synching to "Over", as featured on a "fanload" of a Live with Regis and Kathie Lee broadcast from 1990. (Watched in memory of Mr. Philbin, 88, whom everyone also knows as the American Millionaire maestro.)
- Not to mention a single from A Steady, Steady Drip--just released from a band named Sparks--will also be joining the ride as part of their upcoming visual-album showcases. (Back in 2015, "You've Got a Hold of My Heart"--a 1988 deep cut of theirs--was among the earliest [and best] tracks to surface on the Last.fm logs of the Marigot team's summer playlists.)
- And as for the Jukebox, I foolishly realised days ago that I still have enough cash on my Target gift card for a 32 GB SD auxiliary--which I'll look into after this goes to press. After I make my Amazon purchase, what else will I strive for besides a brand new TD Bank card--just so I can move on with a belated LFM resubscription (because PayPal's been bricking the Target one since early this year, although customer service on both sides tried their best)?
Also, from near the end of this morning's session, this YT recommendation (by one "Gothfrog", August 2019; found at ~7:40 a.m.) must've spared us extra hours from hunting down an obligatory pic. (Because "Everything's Better with Mice", to snowclone a trope convention.) Brings me (and Adanson) back to when 2017's Easter Ball had an animation marathon interspersed with the usual musical performances. But since then, crisis after crisis has thrown a wrench in the Nature Island critters' Paschal plans. 2018: Nicaragua. 2019: Article 13. 2020: COVID-19. 2021: Not looking any different.
Be glad it's an official video; otherwise I'd be hurting in a couple of years. (Learned the hard way as a Plusser back then.)
Last but not least: This Captain reunited with his favourite sport starting last Monday/Tuesday overnight--and badly needed it after 14 years without coming across a match on U.S. television, cable or otherwise. Again, thank the Fire Sticks--and an app with Malaysia's Astro Cricket channel among its dozens of offerings. (But as long as the legal eagles swoop by, I can't tell you which one.) For context: The West Indies team faced off against England at Manchester this summer, behind closed doors. Third and last test began on Friday; England won this Tuesday by 269 runs, leading 2 to 1. Otherwise, you would've heard "Rally Round the West Indies" by David Rudder once Adanson/Autrison got things rolling again. There's always next time, though...
And that'll do until next month; remember me as I turn 34 this Friday. Until we meet again, take care, stay connected, wipe everything down, wash your hands...and God bless.
All of us, and Mr. Floyd's family.
From the one and only #WhatLiesAground
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