...and still wanting to revive my blog. Not sure what happened to my writing voice. Did the creativity just get siphoned off into other places? Work? Getting the kid out of high school and onto college? Other hobbies (i.e. birding & photography)? Or did I just run out of things to say for a while?
Still trying to figure that one out, but, for the first time in a very long time (2 years if blogger.com is accurate), that voice is monologuing in the back of my head again. I know from a lifetime of experiences this means if I don't write down what it's saying, it won't shut up and let me go to sleep tonight.
So...what brought the voice out of its coma, you ask? Something that's likely not important to anyone else, but apparently, my inner voice feels quite strongly about it.
It all started a few months ago when my bedroom TV set died. Now, this may not sound like a big deal, but what you have to know is that this TV set dates back to about 1991. My brother and I split the cost of purchasing it when we were furnishing our first post-college apartment. Yes, I lived with my brother...because I am THAT cool! And, being that old, it pre-dated the Internet, Cell Phones, Smart TVs and streaming services. Again, check out the coolness factor.
I probably should have replaced it long ago just based on a needed technology update, but it was a really nice Mitsubishi TV with great color/picture and I just didn't get all this "streaming service" stuff anyway (especially since I'm already paying through the nose for cable, but that's another rant blog entry). Then, a family member gave us an older Smart TV and my son set it up downstairs for his use (it was too small for my bedroom and I didn't want to give up my nice bigger screen Mitsubishi). So, it's his fault I got dragged into "The Mandalorian" and "Wanda Vision", etc.
When the Mitsu finally died (insert "TAPS" here), I rushed right out and bought myself an brand-spanking-new Smart TV and added a few more streaming services and have been thoroughly enjoying joining the modern age.
Which is how I started looking at YouTube videos on my TV (and yes, I already knew about them from my computer & phone, but didn't use it that often due to the small screen size). What a difference the big screen made! Now I can watch the West End Catalina Bald Eagles or the Cornell Labs Feeder cams any time I want! And because scarily accurate algorithms, YouTube also decided I'm a fantasy/sci fi fan and started throwing me all these recommendations on that topic.
SIDE NOTE: Okay, yes, creepy, but also, this would've been soooo helpful when I was growing up. Look...there ARE other people like you who like this stuff and you don't have to put brown paper covers on your books so people at school won't think you're weird.
Most of them looked too off-topic or rant-y even for me, but there's one guy who does some funny stuff and great reviews of books, TV shows, other media, etc. that I've been quite enjoying. One of the things he does fairly often is rate/rank his favorites: series overall, sci fi only, fantasy only, etc.
And here's where my inner voice got a tad annoyed...I mean I get this kid is all of 6 months old (okay, he's 25-ish, but compared to me...he's a baby) and while he does have SOME grasp of the classics, there's so much that is being left out, overlooked, etc. that I can't stand it. Now, I get it, there's a LOT of material out there now...WAY more than when I was limited to 2 shelves at the old B. Dalton to make my reading picks. Not only are there all the other media types, but now there's the whole self-publishing trend as well. It'd be impossible to take a look at everything...or even at most things...especially from prior eras.
SIDE NOTE #2: I like to think I'm not a snob, but so far, I've been woefully underwhelmed by the self-published items I've tried out. The one exception (although it's not REALLY an exception because these were well-established authors who were just "between" publishers at the time) are the Lee & Miller books "Fledgling" & "Saltation" which were originally self-pub'd on-line, but have since been picked up by Baen. However, if anyone has any fabulous recommendation on a self-published sci-fi or fantasy book/series...I'm open.
Anyway, all of this prompted me to think about what MY list(s) would be like. After all, I've been reading/watching/consuming this stuff since the early 70's...and these kids need to know that "The Wheel of Time" and "A Song of Ice & Fire" (aka "Game of Thrones") are not the be-all and end-all of these genres.
Soooo...I'm puttin' a list together. One to start, I think, unless it makes more sense to split up the genres but I probably won't know that until after I start building it.
Stay tuned...
KJ
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