20. October 2009 by Samldanach.

So, I’m working on a post-apoc kitchen sink setting (a la Rifts), and I want to justify a lot of the setting elements, but preferably in ways that haven’t been done before.  I was thinking about vampires, and how to make them work.  I like the whole concept of “vampirism as a disease” (seen in numerous works, but I first found it Barbara Hambly’s excellent “Those Who Hunt the Night”).  Then, I happened to read a couple articles (I don’t recall why, it was one of those “click on one too many links in Wikipedia” things).  The mythology of vampires may have arisen from a particularly virulent outbreak of rabies in Eastern Europe.  A lot of the symptoms line up, including aversion to sunlight and strong smells (like, say, garlic).  The peasants saw one of their own suddenly exhibit a terrifying and violent alter ego, which later reports would embellish with some nice poetic elements.  Then the Church would add a nice layer of demonic presence to, in addition to the idea that the Church is capable of protecting you from such evils.

Interestingly enough, only a few minutes later, I followed a link to a justification of rabies as the source of werewolf myths.  Normal guy gets bit by a strange-acting wolf, then starts lashing out in a bestial rage.  But, hey, I’m already thinking about making vampirism a disease, they shouldn’t both be diseases.  That just looks cheesy.

This starts percolating, and I go see Zombieland this weekend.   Zombies as a disease.  Sure, been done to death.  But something upstairs clicks, and the mind gnomes present their collage.

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17. October 2009 by Samldanach.

Jack sensed his faux pas even before Don Garibaldi did himself.  He rose slowly to his feet while the boss worked through what had just been said.  It was only two steps towards the door, but, for Jack, that was enough.  By the time Garibaldi was shouting an order to his goons to grab the grifter, Jack’s long legs had already taken him past them and into the storefront of the tannery.  Jack thanked the ancient merlanes once again for making orks just bright enough to follow orders, but not bright enough to anticipate them.

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14. October 2009 by Samldanach.

I just recently completed a grand tour of my iPod.  That’s just shy of 8000 songs.  I listened to them one album at a time., in alphabetical order by album title.

(In the interest of full disclosure, I did skip a few country albums my wife likes, a few albums of Italian tenors, and most of our Christmas collection.  I intend to catch up on the Christmas albums in, oh, December, like a decent person.)

I discovered a few albums I had no idea we had.  I discovered that I really liked some of those albums, and was iffy about others.  Crash Test Dummies is much better than I remember.  I can’t really seem to get into Tegan and Sara, and can’t put my finger on why.  75 songs in a row of many bands is just too much (from a couple multi-CD box sets).  I also discovered albums that I’d forgotten how much I really liked.  Starfish by The Church is still a fantastic album.

During that time, I also discovered some other new music.  I discovered Abney Park right about the beginning of the project.  I went ahead and bought a Cruxshadows album shortly after, as many of my friends seem to like them.  About a month ago, I discovered the glory of Enter the Haggis.

Seriously, go find an Enter the Haggis album.  They are nominally Celtic rock, but with more emphasis on the “rock.”  They are phenomenal.  I wish I knew how to review albums, so I could express just how incredible these guys are.

I’ve also been thinking about other music from my life.  I realized that all of my Violent Femmes albums are actually still on cassettes.  I really need to fix that.  I also need to replace all my Heart albums that are still on cassette.

It’s kind of funny.  I don’t associate much music with particular events in my life.  However, I have a whole lot of ’80’s music that I associate with various things I’ve read.  I will always think of Spider-Man when I hear George Michael’s “Father Figure.”  Billy Joel’s  “This is the Time” is associated with romance novels (I had a stack that a friend gave me to schlep to donate to the library, and read through them in the space of couple months).

I do love music, despite a maddening inability to produce it.  And, I have to confess that I don’t entirely understand it.  I can’t ever tell what separates a good song from a bad song.  I don’t know art, but I know what I like.  It comes down to what touches me.

I also do know that lyrics are extremely important to me.  There are huge swaths of music that I can’t get into because there are no lyrics for me to follow.  I can’t listen to most opera for that reason.  And, yet, I still like Rammstein.  They are the exception that proves the rule, I guess.

I think I’m going to go back to shuffle.  I may actually get around to hijacking the wife’s computer and assembling a few playlists.  Maybe.

Meantime, if music be the food of life, then variety is its spice.  Or something like that.

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