Sometimes you just have to do it — We all love music. I assume that’s why you’re reading this, anyway. And, as music lovers, we appreciate great songs — songs considered classics that we just can’t get enough of, right? Well, right. But there are limits. You can only hear certain songs so many times before they go…

Read short stories from the giants — Science fiction, as you may know, is not something to just jump into. If you’re a new reader in that genre, you can get lost in space very easily. To put it bluntly — there’s a lot of garbage out there. That’s true of all genres, I suppose. Certainly, the…

Juxtaposition is a great technique — As a photographer, you want to catch your viewer’s eye. By “catch,” I mean you want to get their attention, “pique” their interest, and hold on to it for at least a few moments, if not longer. That, I think, is the mark of a powerful photograph. Subject matter can…

That is unless you’re a Dire Straits fan. — Being a Dire Straits fan in the U.S. in the early 80s made me feel … unique. None of my friends were fans. They didn’t dislike them — they just didn’t really know much about them. They had maybe heard “Sultans of Swing,” but that was it. I don’t have…

The flowers will thank you for it. — Flower photographers will tell you that their subjects, sometimes, seem like they’re posing for you. Or maybe it’s just me. I tend to anthropomorphize a lot. If you’re like me, you understand that flowers have faces; sometimes they’re smiling and happy, and sometimes they’re down and sad. Don’t get me…

You know the songs I’m talking about. — I really dislike the “shortened version” of anything. Who’s with me? I don’t like seeing my favorite movies edited for television. I don’t like reading an abridged version of a great book. And I definitely don’t like it when a great song is chopped off before its big ending. You…

They might bug you too. — We all have a lot of pet peeves. Or maybe it’s just me. I’m an irritable guy. One of my recent “peeves” is hearing people start sentences with the word “So” for no good reason. For example: “What did you do yesterday?” “So, I got up in the morning and…

Transitions between songs are key to an album’s flow. — Great albums flow well from one song to another. We all know this. The sequencing of the songs on an album is important. Presumably, the artist and producer put a lot of thought into ordering the songs in just the right way. Or at least that’s how things used to…

Also, is it “cactuses” or “cacti”? — I’ve never been a big fan of cacti. Or cactuses, for that matter. And yes, either term is correct. I looked it up. But “cacti” sounds more academic, and is just more fun to say, so let’s go with that. Cacti always seemed to be somewhat dry, a little off-putting…