@LnzyHou

😅 I first read that as "Limited S&M and fresh air walks"... and then realized that there isn't *too* much difference between Social Media and Sadism & Masochism, so it works either way. 🙃

Enjoy your aftercare!

@MLClark

indeed it is, some places more so than here.

Sartre: hell is other people. refer to X and such for proof of concept.

@holon42

To be fair to Sartre... he didn't live in an age of Twitter.

Pretty sure his definition of Hell would have expressly linked to that site if published today! 🙃

@MLClark

oh yeah‼️ i was channeling him when i wrote that🤣🤣🤣

@MLClark

LMAO 😜

@poemblaze

A great foundation on which to build! 😊

@MLClark I walk George about a mile each day. And if you mean spiritually, I try to remember things for which I'm grateful.

@poemblaze

I focus on gratitude, too. :) It's not a spiritual practice for me, but it's extremely important.

I'm glad you make time for that - and walkies! - as well.

@richquaal

Did you draw that? I love the angle you've chosen for the face - challenging, yet poignant.

Thank you for sharing!

@MLClark

Yes, and exactly the effect i was attempting

@corlin

GOOD. There is a season for every song. 👌 This one could use many of them.

@Faay

OH MY YES.

Be prepared to run into more of it next April in the weirdest places in your home. 😂

@MLClark lol
Just like Christmas tree needles and dog hair. 😅

@SaltyVeruca

Oof. I hope it's helping! 🤗

@stephen_a_allen

Oh, the best part of a visit is sometimes the rest that comes *after* it, no?

And congrats on the new poem draft! What a lovely, affirming way to start the day. :)

@LiseL

!!!

I will have to try this squinted eye approach. Last night I was on some of the internet's worst forums, looking for videos that might corroborate some rumours flying. I... probably should not have done that. (The videos didn't disturb half as much as the commentary from other beings around them.)

Otherwise... soup sounds great. 😊 A very successful strategy all around.

@MLClark

The "squinting" represents what is really a mental strategy: a way of being prepared for what you might see, and being ready to protect yourself if you do see it. It's like reading while wearing full-body armour. A PTSD coping mechanism, I suppose.

Take care of yourself. Your job requires you to look in order to witness, verify, or describe, but there are times when that task needs to be relegated to someone else. You know all of this, I know. It's just a reminder from a friend. 🧡

@LiseL

Wise words, Lise. 🤗

I did mentally prepare myself for a few of the videos I was watching last night... but it really is the strangest thing. The videos themselves didn't hurt half as much as the commentary around them. The fact that people do atrocious things to one another? Sometimes easier to accept than the spectator sport that rises around each cruel end of life.

But! We lean into empathy wherever we can, and touch grass as often as humanly possible.

It's the only way through. ❤️

@MLClark

I hear you. One of the things that hurts the most right now is hearing the way people I care about and respect are talking about world events right now. They're deeply confined by their ideologies and trapped in their media bubbles. It can be painful to hear.

And yes, I meant delegated, not relegated in that last one. I'm clearly watching too much footie. 😂

@thedisasterautist

Heck yes. Horror movie season is such a quaint way of controlling the terrors of the real world, no? 👌

@MLClark: Horror movies in general, all year. For me they're not therapeutic, just interesting, though sometimes irksome for very deeply geek reasons.

The world doesn't hold much terror for me, really. Seen too much of it, the world. I stopped trying to control or feeling as if I should control things I cannot control long ago.

@thedisasterautist

That's good.

I find horror movies fascinating, because each region's flicks unwittingly show the *actual* limits of a culture's fears. Sometimes it's through tacit coding of who on screen is allowed to be brutalized or killed; other times, through the family value lessons underpinning the story. I also love the films with atheists, because they're almost always *very* good at responding to new evidence.

For me, they're great storytelling lessons - cozy viewing to that end!

@MLClark 👍

@MLClark: I like horror, suspense, and mystery/thrillers because I find they're the most flexible and, I believe, most engaging. I find that's especially the case quite often if a fair amount of comedy is sprinkled through. It isn't just rising and falling tension so much as a sort of psychological punctuation. Also, suspense/mystery and comedy engage the intellect, even on a subconscious level, the same way. Horror engages emotions and instincts. So get all of them together, and it's a party.

@MLClark: The right balance can be highly engaging for the audience *and* as a bonus, not treat them like they're stupid. (I really hate movies that treat viewers like they're stupid... or indicate the filmmakers were stupid.)

@thedisasterautist

I haven't seen A Haunting in Venice yet, but it's supposed to be an interesting intersection of whodunnit and horror. It's always neat to see how the beats of different narrative structures play together.

Suspense is my utter favourite - real suspense, patient and building dread - but I love putting on mysteries to "hear" the story beats when I'm working on a major writing project. As you note, they're quite flexible, but in part because the "bones" are so familiar.

@thedisasterautist

What are you working through this season?

And does any of it relate to / significantly inform any of your own writing projects on the go?

@MLClark: "Working through"? In what context?

@MLClark: Interesting. I can barely even have music on if I'm actually sitting down writing, much less stories/podcasts. That said, I'm a pacer, a sit-stand-sit-stander-sitter, a talker, and fidgeter when I write. I also say things aloud to find the right cadence, tenor, words, etc., rather like how Churchill wrote his speeches.

@thedisasterautist

Oh, I can't listen to music with lyrics when I write, let alone full shows. I was referring to the pacing part - when I'm between writing stints, still chewing things over.

When I said "working through" I meant "what's on your film slate this month?".

@MLClark: Ah, okie. I get that in re: the pacing, chewing. I initially thought you meant while you were putting pen to paper. I listen to weird/cosmic horror, horror fantasy, mystery, suspense stories/novels. I also watch/rewatch films/tv and read. I also let one or two of my trains just go all over and let my imagination be all amok. I play in the story sandbox and bash things on the bench, and everything gets filed away, riffed on, etc.

As far as my WIPs go, I've got a comedy-horror that...

@MLClark: ...was pitched for development, and I'm waiting to hear back. I'm planning (*fingers crossed*) to travel for a few days to north Georgia to research geography for a longtime anthology project. Shooting got pushed back on a slasher that was delayed by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, and it's not set to shoot now until February. So I have time (and no paycheck). And I'm trying to do prose again for the first time in thirty-five years. (It's not like riding a bike, I've learned.)

@thedisasterautist

"And I'm trying to do prose again for the first time in thirty-five years."

A different rhythm for sure! It sounds like you have a dynamic range of projects at various stages of the process, but I especially love that there's some research travel involved for one of them. Changing up one's work environment, even for a little while, can be quite stimulating.

I hope you get that trip in, and that it inspires tons of surrounding work.

Thanks for sharing!

@MLClark 👍

Merci for the chat. Chats are cool. 🙂