Roman ALAN

Short story writer from Aotearoa, or New Zealand, but have not looked up to see the Southern Cross for a while.

If I follow you, I'll usually explain why – and it won't be because you follow me.

Lend me your eyes: https://medium.com/@romanalanwrites

Last Notes

2025-09-28 07:28:04 UTC

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Daily Haiku Prompt for 27 September: sea bass (North)
well worth waiting for
slices from the master's blade –
soft sea bass belly
#DailyHaikuPrompt #Haiku #Poetry

2025-09-26 09:48:16 UTC

Friday 26 September 2025 on Jukebox Friday Night, and the theme is "Obsessions": an artist, a type of music, a person, a crush, a hobby, an interest, a geek thing.
Okay, obsessed with girl.
"I'm a mess without
My China girl
Wake up mornings
There's no China girl
I'd hear hearts beating
Loud as thunder
And I'd see stars crashing down …"
Iggy Pop, "China Girl" (1977; alternative mix)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a560KELrIUU
#JukeboxFridayNight #Obsessions #IggyPop

2025-09-25 04:38:09 UTC

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Agreed.
For anyone who is curious, Michael Hudson summarises his ideas in this long transcript of a 90-min interview from 2024*:
"Michael Hudson: Debt, Economic Collapse and the Ancient World", Naked Capitalism, 31 Aug 2024
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/08/michael-hudson-debt-economic-collapse-and-the-ancient-world.html
* Link to interview on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SO-qHypWlgE
This undated short review of Steve Keen's "Can We Avoid Another Financial Crisis" (2017) highlights some his ideas:
"Have we learned the lessons from the last Global Recession?"
https://fd4.co.uk/have-we-learned-the-lessons-from-the-last-global-recession
This book review of Stephanie Kelton's "The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People’s Economy " (2020) summarises the basics of MMT and public debt:
https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2020/06/22/book-review-the-deficit-myth-modern-monetary-theory-and-the-birth-of-the-peoples-economy-by-stephanie-kelton/
Cheers!

2025-09-24 22:23:36 UTC

Useless quote for 25 September:
"Debt and financial crisis tend to occur precisely when a country’s fiscal situation is already precarious, its interest rates are high, its political situation is paralyzed, and a shock catches policymakers on the back foot."
~ Kenneth S. Rogoff, in "America’s Coming Crash: Will Washington’s Debt Addiction Spark the Next Global Crisis?" (Foreign Affairs Magazine, Sep/Oct 2025)
Link to source (paywalled):
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/americas-coming-crash-rogoff
#UselessQuote #KennethSRogoff

2025-09-24 10:57:39 UTC

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Daily Haiku Prompt for 24 September: rock (South)
not far from shore stands
a bleak dark rock guardian,
ruled by teen swimmers
#DailyHaikuPrompt #Haiku #Poetry

2025-09-23 21:27:34 UTC

With nothing from the Brain DJ this morning, I feel free to choose something from the 1970s by Jeff Beck –
Jeff Beck Group, "Sugar Cane" (1972)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVOj9x7w0CM
#Music #JeffBeckGroup #JeffBeck

2025-09-23 08:35:07 UTC

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Daily Haiku Prompt for 23 September: salmon (North)
fat-flanked pink salmon
flutter through shoals, leap up falls –
courses where bears wade
#DailyHaikuPrompt #Haiku #Poetry

2025-06-05 22:40:30 UTC

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Original power ballad?
But why not either of:
a) Boston, "Can'tcha Say (You Believe in Me) / Still in Love" from 1986's "Third Stage"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myu8Y764WwE
b) Faster Pussycat, "House Of Pain" from 1989's "Wake Me When It’s Over" (maybe too far post-1986?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8z4SEbsqbw
See this list, too:
"111 Top Power Ballads: The definitive list that nobody asked for …"
https://docs.google.com/document/d/186y2HrXNyc3Frfhv-JeHRvwv9qHs_bvtaqmUggUgU3M
Cheers!

2025-01-20 12:08:41 UTC

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Cuibekka!
You are well, my friend? Are you keeping warm?
Thanks for the link to Astor Piazzolla and Mina Mazzini performing "Balada Para Mi Muerte" together in '72!
Cheers!

2025-01-20 10:26:09 UTC

Monday, Monday, here again at Symphonic Monday for a sonic hop-skip-jump through the 1970s.
Astor Piazzolla, "Invierno Porteño" (1970)
Performed by Quinteto Astor Piazzolla (Astor Piazzolla Quintet) in Ravenna, Italy, 15 July 2021
bandoneón: Pablo Mainetti
violin: Serdar Geldymuradov
guitar: Armando De La Vega
double bass: Daniel Falasca
piano: Barbara Varassi Pega
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CX4jTdEQus
#Music #SymphonicMonday #NuevoTango #AstorPiazzolla #AstorPiazzollaQuintet

2025-01-15 22:47:42 UTC

My fifteenth FANuary boost for a person or account on Mastodon that makes my Mastodon experience a little better goes to –
Gavin Shoebridge (@npub1a3g…0u7n) who posts about electric vehicles and solar in a humourous, self-deprecating, and ultimately charming manner.
Follow the saga of a hands-on EV conversion! Memes are also a plus!!
A recent example (potatoes and EVs):
https://mastodon.nz/@KiwiEV/113818894012782782
#FANuary #EVs #Solar #Potatoes

2025-01-05 22:28:13 UTC

Useless quote for 6 Jan:
"I had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue: 'No good in a bed, but fine against a wall'."
~ Eleanor Roosevelt, in a speech given at the White Shrine Club, Fresno, CA, c. 1960–1962 (quoted in "The Event Makers I’ve Known" by Elvin C. Bell, p. 161 (iUniverse, Inc., 2012))
#UselessQuote #Roses #EleanorRoosevelt

2024-09-29 00:37:12 UTC

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I post a daily "Useless Quote", and often start on Wikiquote for inspiration. Wikiquote usually lists a source. From there, I go to the source, Internet Archive, or Project Gutenberg to verify it.
"Quote Investigator" (1) is a nice resource on quote origins, and "LibQuotes" (2) provides a source under the "i" button.
(From now on, I'm going to add the source details to the daily "Useless Quote".)
Links
1) https://quoteinvestigator.com/about/
3) https://libquotes.com/
Cheers!
#UselessQuote

2024-09-12 11:12:40 UTC

Look up now; look up now.
Tomorrow, Fri 13 Sep, is "Cloud Appreciation Day" by the Cloud Appreciation Society (not me).
Join them by contributing a photograph of the sky above you to their Memory Cloud Atlas this Friday!
Contributors to the Atlas can include some words about how the sky makes them feel.
Links to more details:
Cloud Appreciation Day 2024 homepage: https://cloudappreciationsociety.org/cloud-appreciation-day/
Memory Cloud Atlas: https://www.memorycloudatlas.org/explore.php
#Clouds #CloudAppreciationDay

2024-09-09 12:28:55 UTC

Monday September 9, just a few days after Herbie Flowers put his bass back in its case.
Here's how this works:
Herbie Flowers plays bass on this 9-minute track that has a lot of synthesizer work to produce a big symphonic sound –
Jeff Wayne, "The Eve Of The War" (1978)
Richard Burton (yes, the actor) narrates parts of H. G. Wells' story, and Justin Hayward carries the vocals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YwFvmnbj3E
#SymphonicMonday
#ProgRock #ProgressiveRock #JeffWayne

2024-09-01 22:33:10 UTC

The Brain DJ has drifted back to the late seventies –
Japan, "Alien" (1979)
This is from when Japan started working with John Punter, who had produced Roxy Music's 1974 "Country Life", and David Sylvian started singing low and slow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdVzXjXsjwU
#Music #SynthPop #Japan

2024-08-26 10:06:00 UTC

And some more "orchestral sounding keyboards" for this Symphonic Monday, from Poland –
Riverside, "Age of Anger" (2023)
Riverside are –
drums: Piotr Kozieradzki
electric guitar, bass: Mariusz Duda
keyboards, synthesizer, Rhodes electric piano, Hammond organ: Michał Łapaj
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRpNcjMV3Xc
#SymphonicMonday
#Riverside #ProgressiveRock #ProgRock