Audiography Volume Six: Guilty Pleasures (Patreon)

Hi everyone!

I do apologize for some essays being delayed--as far as deadlines go, August-October 2021 is pretty much the most intense period of my whole career. I am pretty much drowning in pressure and while that's not an excuse, it is rough to do everything all at once--and on top of that, I injured my dumb back about two dumb weeks ago by having the audacity to sleep after 40 like a dummy. It has not yet come right, because the toddler do not give a fuck (not true, he has "kissed it better" many times and I don't have the heart to show him peer-reviewed studies on the efficacy of that treatment) and I can basically either stand for short periods or lie on my back and everything else is a constant scream of 8 out of 10 pain. IT'S REAL GREAT.

I am currently propped up with no less than seven pillows and two heatpads trying desperately to make up for the time I lost and we'll...see how that goes. I've been writing on my phone, doing research, naming aliens, any progress I could make while flat on my back. You should see my note file right now! (I was actually thinking of a fun little extra: posting a selection of my search history every month. It gets SO WEIRD up in my Google box, thought it might be a laugh, let me know what you think!)

But the Star Trek and essays ARE COMING. I'm just mostly broken at the moment and scrambling to do my best. Once I turn Space Oddity in in October, everything will get normal again. So so sorry! Thanks for sticking with me!

IN THE MEANTIME!

Our sixth audiography theme is...Guilty Pleasures!

I want the songs you rock the eff out to in the car...as long as no one else is riding with you. The songs you love but don't want to admit to loving because they're not exactly high art. Maybe you loved it as a kid and never got cool enough to hate it, maybe it reminds you of a moment and that memory redeems it. (For example, words cannot fully express how much I loathe the song Shut Up and Dance, oh my fuck I hate it, but I once told one of my best friends I hate it when it started playing at the Worldcon geek prom and she jumped up, ran out on the dancefloor, and started doing the dorkiest sexy dance to get me to dance with her and make a dumb memory, and now, well...I still hate it, but it makes me smile and think of how much I love her so I allow it to live.) Maybe you crushed it at a choir recital or danced to it at a really good wedding.

I want the good shit; the good that is shit. I'm not afraid to confess I have a collection of covers of Hit Me Baby One More Time. Or that I actually really like MacArthur Park wtf is everyone's problem? Call Me Mother by RuPaul is a cringey banger. I have a straight-up S Club 7 song on my hard drive and I bought it. The musical equivalent of Top Gun: I know Top Gun isn't good, is problematic, is propaganda, is weird on a lot of levels, but I love it and I won't hear any discussion. 

No limits on genre, artist, or era, just stuff you have a soft spot for even though it's not cool by any definition. 

Go!