Irritable sky
then a classy big blues run
because of the greens
Lolling in her seat,
right hand hung out the window
like a wilted leaf.
– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2022)
Note
Everything wilts in this seemingly endless summer heat.
Find out in this extended ghost story for a young audience by Anne Adeney (illustrations by Yannick Robert, Pocket Chillers series by Harcourt Education)
Some programmer got
busy – made a box smaller,
saving room for adz.
– Leonard Blumfed (© 2022)
Note
The ugly truth and nothing but. Now that the Congrats box has been shrunk, Microsoft can not only display one ad but two at the same time! Pure genius! Just as we were getting undersugared from too few adz.
Terminology explanation
What are adz? Same as ads (advertisements), only much cheaper! It's like the difference between music and muzak.
Tamil thriller series (season 1, 8 episodes), released in June 2022 on Amazon Prime Video. Written, produced and created by Pushkar-Gayathri, directed by Bramma G. and Anucharan Murugaiyan. The stars are Kathir, Aishwarya Rajesh, R. Parthiban and Sriya Reddy.
Set in the fictitious town of Sembaloor in Tamil Nadu, the series revolves around a police investigation in a missing person case as well as a fire at the local cement factory. All against the backdrop of a Hindu goddess festival, in the course of which the case gets solved.
Suspenseful, good acting, decent plot and dialogues. What more could you want?
if I sound naive,
but is baited breath like bad
breath? Would like to know.
– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2022)
Photo by Anne Nygård on Unsplash
Dear Melinda, stop
putting your label on all
the apples you sell.
– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2022)
Note
Melinda is probably Italy’s best known producer of apples and pears. Its products can be found in most supermarkets throughout the country. And each fruit comes with its own little sticky plastic Melinda label. The company’s website goes on and on about sustainability, bio, etc. How about really doing something good and leaving off the damn labels? Not only are they a nuisance to remove but they also create waste. How important can fruit branding really be?
Most mornings I wake up with music going around in my head. Sometimes it's a piece I've heard the day before, but mostly these songs crop up out of the blue. Like many of the dreams I have, which are mostly weird and inexplicable.
The song this morning was Luxury Liner, written by Gram Parsons and performed by Emmylou Harris, and I have no explanation why this particular song and the particular line from it came to me. She and the Hot Band performed it during the 1977 concert of hers I attended in Munich, Germany. Well, that was a long time ago, no recent association there!
You think I'm lonesome?
So do I, so do I.
- Gram Parsons, Luxury Liner
Of this aerial view
Almost nothing remains
The ghost of the steeple
No longer smiles
Gliding over the ancient hills
Again and again
You meet nothing
But worn-out straw hats
The glasses are empty
But no one notices
The glasses are empty
And no one notices.
And you
What will you do tomorrow
And you
What will you do tomorrow
Of this season gone I won't forget anything
Unless September insists
On erasing it
Talking again and again
About what has just been
I unwillingly wipe the salt
Off my hands
The glasses were full
And someone emptied them
The glasses were full
But someone emptied them
Now I know
What you'll do tomorrow
Now I know
What you'll do tomorrow
– Gianmaria Testa (1958-2016)
Title of Italian original: Veduta aerea. Translated by Johannes Beilharz (© 2022). The song is from the album Altre Latitudini of 2003.
The following video shows Gianmaria Test performing the song at another venue in the same area of Germany (Baden-Württemberg), the Franz K. in Reutlingen (May 4, 2010).
Silver horseshoe
– Leonard Blumfeld (© 2022)
Note
I occasionally wonder whether there is a practical reason for this facial jewelry...
