Readers Love Torture Scenes

[mallorys_camera]

The little Prius’s air-conditioning has decided to give up the ghost. I haven’t gotten it repaired yet because (1) money and (2) air-conditioning systems in hybrid cars must be worked upon by hybrid car air-conditioning specialists, which means I would have to sit for four hours in the weird-smelling Toyota dealership in Kingston since I’d have no way to go home.

Anyway, around noon yesterday, I decided I had to go thrifting.

We were in the fifth straight day of a massive heat wave, & it was 96° out.

I don’t actually mind driving with the windows open, though I sweated off all my mascara.

I’ve been wearing lots of makeup recently.

I am one of those people who looks very different with makeup. With makeup: sassy, appealing! Without makeup: gaunt, haggard, pale.

###

New Paltz turns out to be not great for thrifting—weird because students, no?

But my peregrinations took me right by the dispensary, so I bought some gummies.

I am kinda reluctant to do gummies outside my winter SAD window because I have strong addictive tendencies, and cannabis is not my drug of choice. Why risk becoming addicted to something you don’t actually like all that much??

But then I figured, Why the hell not? What’s so wrong with being addicted so long as you don’t drive or operate heavy machinery? You can learn to love cannabis.

###

Almost as soon as I got home, there was a massive thunderstorm. Severe weather! It knocked out the electricity.

Central Hudson was prophesying eight hours before restoration, so I gummied up, restaked Iggy’s cucumbers, and sat down to read The Emperor of Ocean Park—which is not very good but is interesting as a means of discovering what rich black people really think about white people, rich, poor, & middle class. (Barack Obama, white courtesy telephone!)

When the electricity blinked back on just an hour later, I was too stoned to do any useful work. So, I was forced to watch endless episodes of Wire in the Blood, which is a very good show, though decidedly kinky. Think Hannibal meets Monk: the ever-appealing Robson Green plays Dr. Tony Hill, a psychologist/profiler with no social skills whatsoever though possessed of considerable emotional intelligence.

Wire in the Blood was one of my fallbacks during those awful Cement Bungalow days, but those are now so long ago that I can’t remember anything about the show. Except that I liked it.

It’s pretty graphically violent. Tony gets tortured on camera by the Eeee-vil Serial Killer (who defies present-day standards of Political Correctness by being a trans woman.)

Somewhere in my digital collection, I have a recording of a conversation between Raymond Chandler & Ian Fleming discussing the art of writing thrillers.

Raymond Chandler has a trilling, high-pitched voice. Well, of course, you have to have a torture scene, he sing-songs to Fleming. Readers love torture scenes.

Then he and Fleming chortle.

I guess that’s still true!

Comments

It me?

[bb_lurks_here_too]

"no social skills whatsoever though possessed of considerable emotional intelligence."

This seems self-contradictory. How would you have emotional intelligence that had no effect on social interaction?

Is the idea that the "emotional intelligence" is entirely analytical? That is, the character can read emotions in others very well, but can't actually be emotionally present with them?

Re: It me?

[mallorys_camera]

You nailed it. 😀 That's exactly how the character presents. Dr. Tony Hill is a really interesting character.

[asakiyume]

Ay, would NOT want to see someone tortured on screen or on page--sorry, Mr. Chandler.

Your rainbow is amazingly clear and bright. When we were driving home from my dad's last Saturday, we got to witness several rainbows, but none as bright as that one. (However, we did have the experience/illusion of a rainbow coming down directly on US as we were driving--we are the pot of gold, wohoo!)

[mallorys_camera]

Chandler was speaking of readers who like noir, I suspect. 😀

How's your dad doing?

[asakiyume]

He's seeing somewhat better out of the one eye (though we're still talking blob levels), and he's been able to reduce the frequency at which he has to take eyedrops, which makes things a whole lot better for him, because it means he doesn't have to interrupt his day so often. His mood seems much better, too.

Thanks for asking!

[mallorys_camera]

I'm a fan of your dad! 😀

[asakiyume]

I'll have to bring you two together another time (except he's so TERMINALLY VAIN it'll have to be after he's feeling even more himself)!

[smokingboot]

That's a glorious photo!

Re make up, the only time I look good without it is when I am straight out of the shower. I look fresh and gorgeous... and 5 minutes after, it's all gone.

[mallorys_camera]

Your makeup is really subtle. 😀

[adoptedwriter]

Nice rainbow pic!

[mallorys_camera]

It was a very bright rainbow. 😀