strange radiation: the pool of radiance archive
Adventures with an unreliable narrator.
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May 25 08: estrangement
Am trying to circumvent the antimuse again; the story that seemed so full of promise a couple of weeks ago disintegrates every time I try to touch it. I need to stop trying to think the short pieces through start-to-finish before I sit down to write them, because that way leads to an endless loop of “wait, this aspect of the plot doesn’t hold up under scrutiny; think of something else.” Until the whole damn thing is dead, vivisected into unrecognizable dog food on the table. But the ability to just sit down and go, which used to be something I could plug into so easily, has gotten tangled up in something very frightened. Sitting on the balcony this afternoon I was no more than a page into an attempt at the story in question before I found myself beset by the urge to throw the laptop over the rail, hurry hurry hurry. Because apparently smashing my computer and possibly killing some random stranger 13 stories below was preferable to tuning into the celestial radio without… without I dunno. Without the promise of something “good” in exchange, I suspect. Just to be safe, I moved into the bedroom before continuing. I am very tired of this particular neurosis.
Anyway, here’s something fierce to scare away the demons. Research suggests that it’s an Australian performer named Strykermeyer; the song he’s covering using is Laurie Anderson’s “Sharkey’s Night” (1984). Video is apparently from a documentary made to accompany a DVD release of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert; Strykermeyer did performance makeup for the film’s drag artistes.