Hello, all:
It’s the day before October, which absolutely thrills me seeing as that means winter and Christmas are nearly here. In other news, I understand that Usher will be performing at the next Super Bowl halftime show. I’m not overly familiar with his work, but did you know that he was once in a made-for-TV musical with Drew Carey and Brent Spiner? That’s right, folks, before the live-action remake of Pinocchio, there was Geppetto!
The premise is that unlike the Disney movie, this one focuses on Geppetto and the problem of parenting a kid who’s a wooden puppet magically brought to life. It’s not bad, actually, with great songs (I always like Brent Spiner’s “Bravo, Stromboli!” myself as the villain song of the movie). And, as mentioned, there’s Usher as the Ringmaster at Pleasure Island where naughty little boys are turned into donkeys.
It’s really catchy, actually.
Shame he probably won’t sing this at the Super Bowl, though. Like I said, catchy.
Anyhow, moving on:
Writing Update
As mentioned in a recent Note on the ‘Stack, I’ve officially begun putting older posts behind a paywall, specifically January through March. I figured this is a good time as we’re nearing the end of the Gaseous Girl serial, which will also go behind a paywall upon conclusion. Paid subscribers will henceforth (which incidentally is a nice word, no?) get access to every post in the Archive, plus the serial after conclusion, plus a signed copy of my latest novel, Who Killed Ron Raven?. (Also a personal shoutout in the next Weekly Muse!). All ongoing serials will remain free, as well as all other posts for 180 days/six months.
A final note: I’m not wild myself about reading into a post, getting interested, and finding a paywall halfway through, so I figure I wouldn’t want you to go through that either. So it’s an all or nothing deal; if you’re a paid subscriber, you get full access to everything on my ‘Stack and behind the paywall; if not, you have access to everything else but that. Cool beans? Cool beans.
Closing Time
And now for something slightly different, here’s a song I wish that would be performed live at the Super Bowl: a Weird Al polka medley!
Until next time,
Michael