Another Vine Mess

For those of you who won't be getting a total eclipse today (like we are in my part of Texas) it seems only fair to share something else that you probably shouldn't look at without eye protection. In this case, another collection of questionable products from Amazon Vine - the service that lets a lucky few select free items in return for honest reviews. Some of those products are actually great. Others...not so much. 

GENERAL UPDATES

I haven't been able to post much lately owing to some oddities with my health which are almost certainly due to my recent (or ongoing?) bout of the Fauci Flu. Something is rather dramatically robbing my muscles of energy after the shortest of exertions, forcing me to use a walker much of the time, and I still have wracking coughs despite recent x-rays showing my chest clear. Blood tests and heart scans have been done and nothing has been discovered so far. 

I don't feel bad most of the time, but a trip to the mailbox can feel like a marathon. We may have to look at more obscure conditions to figure this out. Covid can cause "micro-clotting" which sends little clots throughout the body to block capillaries and cut the flow of oxygen and nutrients to cells. And the laughably-named "vaccine" can stimulate the ongoing production of so much spike protein in the body that your tissues become suffused with it...and your immune system starts attacking your own muscles and organs. Hopefully I've got neither (let alone both) of those conditions, but it's an odd time. And big baby that I am, it hurts not to have Kathy here to take care of me or, more likely, tell me to quit whining and do something useful.

Like taxes, for instance. I haven't done mine yet and will be sending a request for an extension tomorrow. In hilariously typical IRS fashion, you can request an automatic extension just by asking for it, with the codicil that if you owe any taxes you still have to pay them by April 15. Well, if I KNEW I had taxes to pay and how much they were, my return would already be done, wouldn't it?!  Bah.

But on a lighter note, I've continued experimenting with AI music and now AI video generation. So just for the fun of it, I thought I'd share some recent works. The first being "Ten-in-One" which is my salute to the oldtime freak shows that fascinate me. The lyrics are mine and I've seen most of the human oddities mentioned in the song personally. Stars in my somewhat unusual pantheon.

On a more upbeat note, here's a fun rocker that is a reworking of a song played by a band I helped create, The Nukes, with my twin brother about 45 years ago. We performed in white lab coats and strange eyewear. These are my original lyrics (and the band's theme song) but the melody, music, and vocals are generated entirely with AI as were all of the visuals - there's nothing "real" in here at all. I edited the clips into a mostly coherent form but the credit (?) goes to artificial intelligence here. These are crazy times, my friends!

JARLSBERG REPORT

(Click picture above to make it larger!)

I can't resist posting on the 1st of April, but it's pretty hard to come up with news stories that are more ludicrous than the ones we're routinely told are "real." Still, it's fun to try. Best wishes to all for a happy (and cautious) April Fool's Day!

Grandson of the Sod

Happy day-after-St. Patrick's Day! Whether you're Irish or not, I hope you enjoyed a fun day, wore green, listened to an Irish jig, and stocked up on potatoes. That's pretty much what I did, because my paternal grandfather was a red-headed musician from County Cork, so it would be blasphemy not to recognize the day somehow.

Mind you, Grandad "Red" isn't listed on my official family tree as his contribution to the family lineage was purely (or impurely) biological. He was hired to give my innocent young grandmother piano lessons but apparently threw in a free organ lesson and then skedaddled when she got pregnant.  Grandma quickly and quietly left town until she gave birth and could return. The baby, my father, was put in an orphanage for a few months to avoid scandal then legally adopted by his grandparents. He was raised believing himself to be an adopted orphan and that his mother was his sister, not discovering the deception until in his teens. All of which is my long-winded way of saying I've got plenty of Irish in me. As did Grandma, apparently.

Celebrating with other people would put my hermit status in jeopardy, so instead I decided to honor St. Patrick's Day by creating a new song to bring joy to future generations of green beer drinkers. In it, I tell the surprisingly little-known story of what the heck Saint Patrick did with all of those snakes he's so famous for getting rid of. 

I've also created a music video with large, easy-to-read lyrics so that you can sing along joyfully with your family and drunken friends. And maybe your red-headed piano teacher.