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Altimexis

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Posts posted by Altimexis

  1. inherited my brother's AF set. He's 10 years older than me but autistic. I think my parents bought it for him, thinking the circular motion would calm him. Unfortunately, as was the practice in the fifties, he was institutionalized when he was 5. His story's outlined in my story, Hiking Clifty Falls with Cliff. The reason I'm bringing this up is that a model train set can be a real black hole for anyone who has the interest and the resources to invest in more than a basic setup. My parents didn't have the resources to buy more than a circular track with some fancy platforms and the like, so I ended up amusing myself by using the tools that came with my erector set to completely disassemble the locomotive, and then put it back together again, at the age of 7.

    Growing up, my next door neighbor's oldest kid had a very elaborate model train set that was everything I could've ever wanted, but he was a few years older than me and not interested in playing with a little kid. Later, he took up the drums and practiced with his band, right outside my bedroom window, keeping me up at all hours. Then he got a very low draft number and seeing the writing on the wall, enlisted. I know he made it back from Vietnam, but I long ago lost track of him.

    I don't think model trains are much of a hobby for kids anymore, although there are plenty of adults who attend conventions and shows, and collect rare items. I gather that Freddie's dad was one of those enthusiasts and he shared his hobby with his son. However, a model train addiction is hardly the way for an introverted kid to make friends.

    I once tried counting sheep to get to sleep. I gave up when I reached a hundred.

  2. The ebook suggestion has come up before and everyone thinks it's a great idea, but no one has ever stepped up to the plate to make it happen.

    I do read online stories on the go on my smartphone all the time, and even write portions of some of my stories that way, so having an ebook format isn't relevant to me. I know for a fact that serialization started because most authors posted chapters as they wrote them - and it showed. Very often, they forgot things they wrote in earlier chapters and the result was something I can't stand - inconsistencies. Chris James did that all the time and even lost entire years out of his characters' lives. Even when I pointed it out to him, he refused to correct his mistakes. I know it was his prerogative, but how was I supposed to care about his writing if he didn't care? I long ago decided to write the first draft of my stories in their entirety before posting the first chapter, but serialization allowed me to post them while my editors were fixing my typos.

  3. It seemed pretty obvious from the beginning that some of Ross' friends are full of themselves and not worth having as friends. It's unfortunate for Ross that the rest of them went along with the trouble-makers in lockstep, rather than at least listening to Ross' arguments. Of course they had a history before Ross came along, and this is high school, we're talking about. I just wish Ross had pointed out that sexual harassment isn't just between a man and a woman. There have been plenty of lawsuits brought by men against other men, regardless of sexual orientation.

    Sometimes it's hard to do the right thing when it involves losing friends. That said, true friends will respect that, even if they don't feel they can be as outwardly supportive as they'd like to be. I have a feeling that in helping Perry, Ross will realize far greater rewards than sitting with a table of snobs.

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  4. 2 hours ago, Cole Parker said:

    Beethoven's 7th is an amazing piece.  It truly shows the man's greatness.  The second movent is one of the few pieces in the genre that is all rhythm with basically no melody.  How could he do that and still make the movement hypnotizing?  Astounding.

    C

    Richard Dreyfus played the second movement to his music appreciation class in the movie, Mr. Holland's Opus. It was just after his character had learned his son was deaf, so it had particular meaning to him. I love that piece. I love all of Beethoven's music, as well as music by Tchaikovsky, Greig and Rachmaninov. Although Bach's music is more mechanical and less emotional, I enjoy it nevertheless. He was, after all, a Baroque composer, as opposed to the Classical and Romantic composers that followed him. Beyond a doubt, Mozart was a genius and very prolific, but I find his music to be a bit formulaic. If you like Debussy, another great French composer worth mentioning is Saint-Saëns. Gustav Mahler is another composer whose music has received more attention in recent years.

    Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F is a particular favorite of mine, but it's generally played only in pops concerts, whereas it's a true classical piece. Leonard Bernstein wrote some symphonies that I'm not all that fond of, but his musicals, particularly West Side Story, are memorable. Philip Glass is worthy of mention as a great 20th century composer, but his music treads a fine line between minimalist and monotonous.

    The music of the 50's was before my time, although I do have an Essential Elvis album in my collection. I didn't care for him or understand people's obsession with him, but he did perform some memorable songs such as Love Me Tender. I have all of the Beatle's albums in high-res audio. The originals have some of the worst stereo mixing possible, with the voices coming from one speaker and the instruments from the other. Imagine that - playing guitars on the left side and singing on the right? The recent remasters are much better. I'm not sure how I feel about the use of AI to recreate John Lennon's voice from an original recording though. The use of AI is a very slippery slope.

    I'm partial to the music of the 70s, which is when I came of age. Carole King's Tapestry is one of the all-time greats. I didn't appreciate Steely Dan as much then as I do now. The 80s brought us The Police / Sting and Tears for Fears… and then Rap and Hip-Hop came along. Even so, the alternative music scene has always had some memorable artists. I don't care for Rap, but I have to admit that I enjoy the music from Lin Manuel Miranda's Hamilton and In The Heights. 

    So, yeah, I have very broad musical tastes and have spent more money than I care to think about purchasing enough high-res downloads to listen continuously for nearly half a year. Even the best streaming services don't come close. At least I'm not as crazy as the fanatics who scour record stores and the internet and spend $500 on original pristine copies in vinyl. With narrower tastes, think of how much money you've saved, Cole.

    Perhaps someday I'll be able to download a French horn duet by Freddy and James.

    A.

  5. How in the world did Frank and his wife produce such a wonderful kid? Of course great parents produce horrible kids all the time, in spite of good parenting. I'm sure we all have friends and colleagues who hate their parents. It goes both ways. Frank's father apparently was someone of importance, yet Frank failed to acquire even a milligram of the drive that made his father a successful businessman. However, being a successful businessman doesn't make one a great father. I suspect that Frank grew up getting everything he wanted and he never had to work for anything himself until he got to college - and then he flunked out.

    Somewhere in Frank's DNA were the recessive genes for musical talent, and that will be James ticket out of Hell.

    A quick question about interests in music, and then I'll cease and desist. Cole, you obviously have great breadth and depth in appreciation of a wide repertoire of classical music, but the other genre I mentioned other than popular music was jazz, which is equally broad in its scope. Even a century (literally) after it was first performed, Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue remains one of the most beloved pieces of all time. I'll grant you that jazz improvisations may be hard to categorize as music, but you can't tell me that Miles Davis' Kinda Blue is not.

  6. 19 hours ago, Cole Parker said:

    Music, yes.  That stuff?  No.

    Wow, that’s pretty judgmental. Just remember that some of the greatest classical musicians record popular music too. I’m sure the folks who shell out major bucks to attend a pops concert don’t consider it ‘that stuff’.

  7. 44 minutes ago, Alien Son said:

    You just don't have an ear for music!

    I was in the third grade when the Beatles made their first appearance on Ed Sullivan. I didn’t much care for their music at first, but then I was just a little kid. Besides which, I Wanna Hold Your Hand and She Loves You didn’t exactly represent their best songs. It’s funny to look back at those first appearances, as their hair wasn’t all that long and they were well-dressed. It wasn’t really until I was an adult that I appreciated just how profoundly the Beatles changed the course of popular music - at least until rap / hip-hop wrecked it. Actually, there have been many fine musicians in every decade, including now. If you get past all the Swift mania, Taylor Swift is an exceptionally talented singer-songwriter, which gives me hope for the future of music.

  8. Sorry, Cole. I just assumed the story was contemporary, given Ms. Ford’s sexual attitudes. Her attitude about losing her virginity could have been in the early sixties, or even in the 1920s. Assuming the $75k figure was in the 70s, that would be the equivalent of $300k today. People in that bracket consider themselves middle class, but most people would consider that rich.

    I’ll be the first to admit my knowledge of classical music is limited. My parents’ tastes were frankly plebeian and I grew up with a very limited exposure to classical composers. I had even less exposure to jazz. Now, both are passions of mine. I have a 6TB collection of high-res digital music, but my knowledge is far from encyclopedic. I’m still learning and appreciate your recommendations.

  9. I’d have to draw exception to the notion that earning well over $75k is enough to make one wealthy, even in the 1990s in Cleveland or Chicago. Both cities have renowned symphonies though, with a succession of some of the best conductors in the world. An assembly line worker in Detroit could make more than that, even then.

    I’m curious about the demand for soloist horn players. People pay good money for a live performance by a renowned pianist, cellist or violinist. The same can be said for trumpet, trombone and saxophone players if you include the realm of jazz. I can name several top players for all of those, and have seen several myself. However, I couldn’t name a single renowned horn player if my life depended on it.

    Getting back to the issue of money, $75k in 1990s Chicago might be enough to afford a condo in a high rise with a partial view of the lake on the North Loop, but nothing extravagant. That’s barely affluent and certainly not wealthy.  In NYC, that was barely enough to be considered middle class and not nearly enough to live in Manhattan. From what I’ve heard, Boston isn’t much better.

    Having a husband who’s an attorney in a top law firm, on the other hand, is another story. 

  10. Oh no! I feel like crap for saying that. I don’t remember exactly what Mike posted but I was under the impression that he was feeding several neighborhood cats, against the will of others in the neighborhood. Obviously, I drew the wrong conclusion and feel awful for posting that.

    Thanks, John, for clearing that up.

  11. Feral cats, I’m afraid. Mike loved the cats in his neighborhood and named them. He also fed them and I dared not share my opinion of that. Don’t get me wrong - I love cats. My family adopted several when I was a kid, including a couple from the neighborhood. Unfortunately, feeding feral cats ends up doing them no favors and it decimates the bird population. Unless coupled with sterilization, feeding the cats results in an explosion in their numbers, leading to even more starvation and suffering.

    Mike, God love him, saw things differently, so I didn’t ever bring it up. He alluded to hearing from some of his neighbors who didn’t approve. If I’d said anything, it would have only gotten me kicked off the site. Sorry to go off topic, but I can finally say that this is one aspect of Mike’s generosity that shouldn’t be emulated.

  12. On 2/24/2024 at 10:04 PM, JamesSavik said:

    I finally finished this story and loved Ren's character arc. He went from humiliated and beaten in Mississippi to triumphant in Texas. Maybe I should move.

    If you're going to move, I can think of hundreds of places that would be better than Texas. I'm partial to NYC, but it's definitely not everyone's cup of tea. Boulder was recently featured as the most livable city in America, and I'd wager it's gay-friendly.

  13. And how about aiding and abetting the spread of measles in Florida? It's insane!

    It's hard to counter fundamentalism when logic and science are seen as nothing more than sorcery. How do you counter such idiocy when politicians are more than willing to indulge such nonsense for personal gain?

    I'd like to counter with, "There are some 7000 religions on earth. How many of them did you explore before you decided that the one you were born into was indeed better than all the rest?" The trouble is that people have to be willing to listen, and that willingness isn't something that can be forced.

  14. I grew up in Indiana, which has open primaries, and when I came of age, voted in the Republican primaries because they represented the real election. I’ve since lived in California, briefly in Texas, in the Maryland suburbs of DC, in Detroit (yes, in the city itself) and in Upstate and Downstate New York. I used to work in New Jersey, where my colleagues thought I was a radical leftist. Here in NYC, I’ve been accused of being a closet Republican. What ever happened to the political center?

    Some New Yorkers fantasize about succeeding from the US and joining with Canada, but of course that will never happen. As you can imagine, most of us are petrified by Trump’s rhetoric and the rise of Christian nationalism. For those of us who are Jewish, Netanyahu has only fanned the flames of antisemitism with his actions in Gaza. New York won’t go down without a fight, but Trump has made it clear how he’ll handle the massive protests that will erupt in major cities. He’ll send in the National Guard.

    Of course none of that will matter when the glaciers in Antarctica and Greenland suddenly slide into the sea, causing a several meter rise of ocean levels. My apartment building will be one of the first to flood. Then again, perhaps I’m being optimistic.

  15. Yes, WBMS was one of my editors and a rather opinionated one at that. He was a bit strange and didn’t want me to call him Wibby, for some reason. He was a very private person and didn’t hesitate to say things with shock value. The first time I sent him a chapter of LiaC to edit, he replied to me with my real name and pointed out that that and more could be gleaned from opening the MS Word file in a text editor. Subsequently, Microsoft caught a lot of flak over their inclusion of random pieces of one’s hard drive in Word files.

    I was a regular reader and contributor to The Raccoon’s Den. I remember that he thought that Driver was the best gay author on the Net, and that Cole Parker’s story Duck Duck Goose was the best story on AD.

    WBMS had major health problems and was in constant pain. He often threatened to simply disappear and when I asked if by that he meant suicide, he assured me he didn’t mean that. Then one day he really did disappear without a trace. His entire presence was removed from AD, including his forum, and he didn’t respond to my emails. Mike undoubtedly played a role in removing all of the content, but the rest of us will never know what happened or of WBMS is even still alive.

    WBMS undoubtedly had his reasons for ghosting us. My vote would be to honor his wishes by leaving his residual content alone.

  16. I remember reading Some Day Out of the Blue many years ago, but I read it at GayAuthors.org, where he was the equivalent of what they call a Signature Author today. He's now a Classic Author at GA, as am I, but he hasn't contributed any content since 2011. It seems he last visited the site in 2014.

    Like many of the best authors from the early days of gay fiction on the Internet, he just disappeared. It's a shame that so many talented authors stopped writing. Perhaps for them, it was a phase of discovering themselves at a time when being gay was just gaining acceptance. As is becoming more obvious by the day, however, we can't take anything for granted. We need to stick together as a community.

    I'm so glad you've taken this on, R. It's nice to see old content being resurrected.

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