Another Big Random Post
May. 7th, 2006 06:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
newnumber6Haven't done one of these in a while. Random post! Segues limited or absent!
Rants:
1) Nestle Speciality Ice Cream. See, it's been on sale at the local store for almost half price for the past month or so, so I've been gradually trying them out. (There were also a few I tried at an Easter celebration that my stepmom bought). So far I've tried Oreo cookie, Turtles flavour, Rolo flavour, Kit Kat Flavour, and Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. And I've noticed something. With the exception of Oreo (which tastes pretty much like any Cookies and Cream flavour), all the ones I've tried taste pretty well like chocolate ice cream with a few additives. Now, granted, the additives are really good (I particularly like the mini rolos)... but come on, you can do better, can't you? I like chocolate. I like ice cream. But when you put the two together, I go 'ehh'. Chocolate chips or chunks in other kinds of icecream = awesome, but when you just mix the two, it's 'ehh'. It's like the laziest thing they can do. I object to the specialty flavours being that expensive (regular price that is) for that unimaginitiveness. I'm particularly annoyed at the Toll House Cookie Dough. I've had cookie dough ice cream. It is awesome. But this did not taste like cookie dough ice cream. It tasted like chocolate ice cream that had some bits of brownie in it. Which is pretty much what it was. Okay, sure, it's a minor rant, but I was expecting so much more.
2) Links that open in new windows. You know, I'm perfectly capable of deciding if I want a link to open a new window or not. I do not want you to decide for me. In fact, the ONLY reason anyone should attempt to force a new window opening is if there's something there that you will need to refer back to the originating window. Otherwise let me decide. Sometimes I do want to open a new window because it might lead me to a new little subseries of links that I want to follow. For other things I just want to peek and then go back to my page. I don't want to open a new window that I'm just going to have to close again. I'm particularly annoyed when it's something like an imageshack link on one of the scansites, since usually I'm just looking at the page and then going back to the list to look at the next.
3)
There are a few commercials lately that have been annoying me: I'm afraid I must disagree. If you were the last man on Earth, it wouldn't matter all that much if you stank... you'd get at least _some_ action - even if it the person decided to make you shower first. But scarcity trumps stinkiness.
The guy on the Kellogs Two Scoops commercial is a demon. The one where they get people to say the slogan-ingredients and they get all tongue twisted. The host guy is a demon. Look at him. He seems happy, but look at his eyes and the sharp points of his upper teeth, he is a demon and he wants to eat your SOUL.
Some stupid 'coal awareness' type thing on some of the US cable channels is really ticking me off lately. Basically they use kids to spout off things about how we have a 250 year supply of coal, and so on and so forth. I dunno, it just annoys me to see them so blatantly use kids like that. It's not even that I have anything particularly against coal (aside of course from the environmental impacts and such), it just strikes me as the kind of thing that if they want to get their side out, just have an average person do it. Don't use kids for it.
ANY commercial that does not clearly indicate what the product is and what it's for. They should be banned, although it'd be dreadfully hard to define 'clearly'. But still, I will never buy a product that has a commercial where they don't tell what the product is. No, I don't want to go to your website to find out. No, I don't want to ask my doctor if I'm a candidate for your medication. And no, I don't want to look into the store for your product. You've had your chance, and you've wasted my time. DIE. On a lesser note, I also think food companies should be required to list the prices of their deals on any ads. I'm sick of seeing a commercial for a new food product and it looks really good but I have no idea what it costs so I can't judge if its worth it without going in the store. So I usually don't wind up going at all.
Non Ranty Randomness:
Forgot to add this in my Book Foo post, but one other thing about Deepness in the Sky that kinda amused me. I think it'd be cool to make a movie of it. Except, for most of the movie, have people play the Spiders, except when they're actually being directly viewed by the humans.
But that's not all. For every scene with the spiders in it, ALSO create a version of the scene with CGI (or whatever is used) spiders. Then, include it on the DVD, so when you're watching the movie, you can switch between watching Spiders as humans versions or watching Spiders as Spiders version (and both with and without voiceover translations, although I can't imagine hearing the spiders talk in their own language would be very appealing, it'd just be cool).
I dunno, it'll probably never happen, I just think it'd be a cool idea anyway.
Hidden Secret Icons only for people who peek behind the cut!
Oh yes, and Book Foo! Finished: On The Beach, by Nevil Shute
Started: The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle. Thoughts on OTB behind the cut. It wasn't bad, but it's not one of my favorite post-apocalyptic novels. I've heard people describe it as one of the more depressing ones, but I don't really get that vibe. In fact, although the events are certainly tragic and more pessimistic than most Post-Apoc books, the tone of it seems almost charmingly upbeat. Like 'Oh well, we're all going to die in a few months, but we're going to keep on living our lives right to the end.'. I also couldn't really get into that portrayal of mass reaction... certainly some people would react that way but I think there'd be a lot more chaos with people deciding only to live for the moment or try things they'd never get away with if the world weren't ending. It's not one of those books that I know I'm going to read again (I might, but I don't have the instant impression that I will at some point). Though it did get my mind in a post-apocalyptic mindset again, I find myself longing for the life of a noble drifter in a post-apocalyptic wasteland and imagining my life after 99.9% of the world has died.
Chose TLU as my next book because I always loved the movie but I've never read the book. Recently read about Beagle's struggles to get his share of profits from the movie and that inspired me to go back to the source. Don't usually read too much straight fantasy anymore, but I'll make an exception for this.
Friending Memes! Participated in a multifandom friending meme and a Firefly friending meme, got a couple new friends out of them I think, so hey new friends!
Oh, and again nothing much to report on the social interaction front today, quiet day as again none of the people I tend to talk to before work were there. Overheard that the girl I semi-regularly talked to before work switched shifts with someone else, though I don't know if it was permanent or temporary. Hopefully the latter cause it was pleasant enough and it'd be annoying to have to start again from not talking to anybody unless talked to first. Actually this week was a little quieter even in talking to people that I directly worked with and thus talking's easier.
Survey Memes and such!
The survey of fives (and a ten), stolen from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
redlantern2051...
What were you doing ten years ago?
Lessee, I guess I'd just about graduated from high school. So, as little as possible.
Five Songs Which You Know All The Lyrics Right Off Your Head Now?
I'm not sure there are song I know _all_ the words to, but the
following are closest...
1) Crash Test Dummies, Superman's Song
2) Eve of Destruction
3) Going Through The Motions (Buffy musical)
4) Rest In Peace (Buffy musical)
5) Firefly theme song
Five Things You Would Do If You Were A Millionaire
1. Get my own (small) place (and one for the people I live with now)
2. Help out my immediate relatives.
3. Buy a lot more books and comics
4. Keep working my job if possible (for the social interaction)
5. Keep as much as possible in the bank and live off the interest.
Five Bad Habits
1. Shyness/avoidance of any confrontation
2. Whining about my lot in life online. Yeah, I know I do it too much and am trying to cut down.
3. Chew on my lip and the inside of my cheek.
4. I tend to forget to cut my nails till they're noticeably long.
5. Sometimes I completely fugue out and run on autopilot when I probably shouldn't. If someone talks to me then I typically have only a vague idea that some conversation happened and what it was about, and often what I answer isn't in any way related to the truth.
Five Things You Like Doing
1. Reading, comics and SFish books
2. Watching SFish TV
3. Writing
4. Imagining myself in various impossible situations (which actually includes some writing, RPGing, and just daydreaming)
5. Finding stuff out online.
Five Things You Will Never Wear, Buy Or Get New Again?
1. I'll never buy any clothing with an obvious label on it. No thanks, if you want me to advertise for you, you'd damn well better pay me.
2. I'll never wear a baseball cap again. I just don't like them and I can't stop fiddling with the adjustable size thingie.
I'm having trouble filling the rest of this out. I mean, there's bunches of stuff I don't like to wear/buy/get new, but I wouldn't say never. Hell, I wouldn't even say never for the first 2 (though #1 is closest to being ironclad). So for the rest of these I'll just do 'things I don't like to wear, buy, or get new'
3. Get New: Books: I like buying my books used, for the most part. Occasionally there's stuff I'm really excited about and I can't wait to find used, but I like the thrill of the hunt and discovery of finding something I want in a used bookstore. Plus, it's cheaper.
4. Wear: Shorts: I don't like wearing shorts. I dunno. Probably body image related, there's nothing that I consciously am aware of that's wrong with my legs, I just prefer to keep them covered.
5. Buy: Socks. Because I get enough of them as gifts at Xmas to last me the whole year.
Five Favourite Toys/Things
1. My computer
2. My comics
3. My books
4. Serenity/Firefly DVD (Firefly boxed set signed by Sean Maher)
5. My TV I guess?
You’re IT! (Five People To Do This)
I choose the five people who most want to do this.
6 Weird Habits About Myself (stolen fromnardasarmy..
1. Number 3 and 5 from the 'bad habits' part of the above meme. I'm just counting them as one because I already used them.
2. I don't listen to music typically. Most on my friends list have probably already heard it. Dunno what it is, I remember reading long ago in a science magazine something that said people with a certain condition (can't recall what it is) typically are unable to be moved by music, and that sounds about right. I can be moved by lyrics, and sometimes music evokes the lyrics in my mind or I think the music is particularly effective, but it doesn't move me so I feel no desire to listen to it on my own time.
Of late, my tolerance of music has gotten a little lower too. I can still handle it most of the time in small doses, but if, say, someone's playing music and I can hear it and the music is more or less of the same 'type' even if they change songs, it starts to irritate me after a while.
At some times last month I've actually changed the TV to a dead channel and put up the volume because I'd literally rather listen to static than music.
Although oddly enough, even though I don't typically willingly listen to music, I do sometimes find it fun to do song parodies/filk for one reason or another. I dunno why. I think it's because working within a pattern of syllables and rhyming appeals to some part of my brain.
3. I try to eat at least one bite of food before I get to the table. I don't know why, I just do.
4. At work if I have a while to wait I often climb up to the top of a tall shelf and do some reading, or even some relaxing. I always do this on Wednesday with my new comics.
5. I'm a huge packrat. I tend to not throw stuff away if there's even the slightest chance it'll be of use to me. This is both in terms of physical stuff, and information - I have files on my computers that date back to at least the early 90s, that I've copied over to new computers. And not even important files. Somewhere I have directions to a party my brother went to in 1993.
6. Every time I do a survey of numbered questions and I realize they've skipped a number, I create a question to fill in the gap.
Now you know the drill, if you're on my friendlist post this in your journal and post 6 weird habits about yourself. Or not.
Today I had a banana for a snack after lunch. I don't eat bananas too often. Once in a while I get a craving. Anyway, the point of it is that this is the first time since I read this article on BoingBoing that I've had to peel a banana. So, thinking of it, I tried it the monkey's way, pinching the 'end' and then peeling it from there, using the stem to help hold it. OMG it's so much easier.
Random question: Why are sails usually white? Is it just because the best material to make them is usually white? Is there tradition associated to the color? Is there a functional reason? Am I completely wrong about them being usually white in the first place?
Rants:
1) Nestle Speciality Ice Cream. See, it's been on sale at the local store for almost half price for the past month or so, so I've been gradually trying them out. (There were also a few I tried at an Easter celebration that my stepmom bought). So far I've tried Oreo cookie, Turtles flavour, Rolo flavour, Kit Kat Flavour, and Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. And I've noticed something. With the exception of Oreo (which tastes pretty much like any Cookies and Cream flavour), all the ones I've tried taste pretty well like chocolate ice cream with a few additives. Now, granted, the additives are really good (I particularly like the mini rolos)... but come on, you can do better, can't you? I like chocolate. I like ice cream. But when you put the two together, I go 'ehh'. Chocolate chips or chunks in other kinds of icecream = awesome, but when you just mix the two, it's 'ehh'. It's like the laziest thing they can do. I object to the specialty flavours being that expensive (regular price that is) for that unimaginitiveness. I'm particularly annoyed at the Toll House Cookie Dough. I've had cookie dough ice cream. It is awesome. But this did not taste like cookie dough ice cream. It tasted like chocolate ice cream that had some bits of brownie in it. Which is pretty much what it was. Okay, sure, it's a minor rant, but I was expecting so much more.
2) Links that open in new windows. You know, I'm perfectly capable of deciding if I want a link to open a new window or not. I do not want you to decide for me. In fact, the ONLY reason anyone should attempt to force a new window opening is if there's something there that you will need to refer back to the originating window. Otherwise let me decide. Sometimes I do want to open a new window because it might lead me to a new little subseries of links that I want to follow. For other things I just want to peek and then go back to my page. I don't want to open a new window that I'm just going to have to close again. I'm particularly annoyed when it's something like an imageshack link on one of the scansites, since usually I'm just looking at the page and then going back to the list to look at the next.
3)
There are a few commercials lately that have been annoying me: I'm afraid I must disagree. If you were the last man on Earth, it wouldn't matter all that much if you stank... you'd get at least _some_ action - even if it the person decided to make you shower first. But scarcity trumps stinkiness.
The guy on the Kellogs Two Scoops commercial is a demon. The one where they get people to say the slogan-ingredients and they get all tongue twisted. The host guy is a demon. Look at him. He seems happy, but look at his eyes and the sharp points of his upper teeth, he is a demon and he wants to eat your SOUL.
Some stupid 'coal awareness' type thing on some of the US cable channels is really ticking me off lately. Basically they use kids to spout off things about how we have a 250 year supply of coal, and so on and so forth. I dunno, it just annoys me to see them so blatantly use kids like that. It's not even that I have anything particularly against coal (aside of course from the environmental impacts and such), it just strikes me as the kind of thing that if they want to get their side out, just have an average person do it. Don't use kids for it.
ANY commercial that does not clearly indicate what the product is and what it's for. They should be banned, although it'd be dreadfully hard to define 'clearly'. But still, I will never buy a product that has a commercial where they don't tell what the product is. No, I don't want to go to your website to find out. No, I don't want to ask my doctor if I'm a candidate for your medication. And no, I don't want to look into the store for your product. You've had your chance, and you've wasted my time. DIE. On a lesser note, I also think food companies should be required to list the prices of their deals on any ads. I'm sick of seeing a commercial for a new food product and it looks really good but I have no idea what it costs so I can't judge if its worth it without going in the store. So I usually don't wind up going at all.
Non Ranty Randomness:
Forgot to add this in my Book Foo post, but one other thing about Deepness in the Sky that kinda amused me. I think it'd be cool to make a movie of it. Except, for most of the movie, have people play the Spiders, except when they're actually being directly viewed by the humans.
But that's not all. For every scene with the spiders in it, ALSO create a version of the scene with CGI (or whatever is used) spiders. Then, include it on the DVD, so when you're watching the movie, you can switch between watching Spiders as humans versions or watching Spiders as Spiders version (and both with and without voiceover translations, although I can't imagine hearing the spiders talk in their own language would be very appealing, it'd just be cool).
I dunno, it'll probably never happen, I just think it'd be a cool idea anyway.
Hidden Secret Icons only for people who peek behind the cut!
Oh yes, and Book Foo! Finished: On The Beach, by Nevil Shute
Started: The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle. Thoughts on OTB behind the cut. It wasn't bad, but it's not one of my favorite post-apocalyptic novels. I've heard people describe it as one of the more depressing ones, but I don't really get that vibe. In fact, although the events are certainly tragic and more pessimistic than most Post-Apoc books, the tone of it seems almost charmingly upbeat. Like 'Oh well, we're all going to die in a few months, but we're going to keep on living our lives right to the end.'. I also couldn't really get into that portrayal of mass reaction... certainly some people would react that way but I think there'd be a lot more chaos with people deciding only to live for the moment or try things they'd never get away with if the world weren't ending. It's not one of those books that I know I'm going to read again (I might, but I don't have the instant impression that I will at some point). Though it did get my mind in a post-apocalyptic mindset again, I find myself longing for the life of a noble drifter in a post-apocalyptic wasteland and imagining my life after 99.9% of the world has died.
Chose TLU as my next book because I always loved the movie but I've never read the book. Recently read about Beagle's struggles to get his share of profits from the movie and that inspired me to go back to the source. Don't usually read too much straight fantasy anymore, but I'll make an exception for this.
Friending Memes! Participated in a multifandom friending meme and a Firefly friending meme, got a couple new friends out of them I think, so hey new friends!
Oh, and again nothing much to report on the social interaction front today, quiet day as again none of the people I tend to talk to before work were there. Overheard that the girl I semi-regularly talked to before work switched shifts with someone else, though I don't know if it was permanent or temporary. Hopefully the latter cause it was pleasant enough and it'd be annoying to have to start again from not talking to anybody unless talked to first. Actually this week was a little quieter even in talking to people that I directly worked with and thus talking's easier.
Survey Memes and such!
The survey of fives (and a ten), stolen from
redlantern2051...What were you doing ten years ago?
Lessee, I guess I'd just about graduated from high school. So, as little as possible.
Five Songs Which You Know All The Lyrics Right Off Your Head Now?
I'm not sure there are song I know _all_ the words to, but the
following are closest...
1) Crash Test Dummies, Superman's Song
2) Eve of Destruction
3) Going Through The Motions (Buffy musical)
4) Rest In Peace (Buffy musical)
5) Firefly theme song
Five Things You Would Do If You Were A Millionaire
1. Get my own (small) place (and one for the people I live with now)
2. Help out my immediate relatives.
3. Buy a lot more books and comics
4. Keep working my job if possible (for the social interaction)
5. Keep as much as possible in the bank and live off the interest.
Five Bad Habits
1. Shyness/avoidance of any confrontation
2. Whining about my lot in life online. Yeah, I know I do it too much and am trying to cut down.
3. Chew on my lip and the inside of my cheek.
4. I tend to forget to cut my nails till they're noticeably long.
5. Sometimes I completely fugue out and run on autopilot when I probably shouldn't. If someone talks to me then I typically have only a vague idea that some conversation happened and what it was about, and often what I answer isn't in any way related to the truth.
Five Things You Like Doing
1. Reading, comics and SFish books
2. Watching SFish TV
3. Writing
4. Imagining myself in various impossible situations (which actually includes some writing, RPGing, and just daydreaming)
5. Finding stuff out online.
Five Things You Will Never Wear, Buy Or Get New Again?
1. I'll never buy any clothing with an obvious label on it. No thanks, if you want me to advertise for you, you'd damn well better pay me.
2. I'll never wear a baseball cap again. I just don't like them and I can't stop fiddling with the adjustable size thingie.
I'm having trouble filling the rest of this out. I mean, there's bunches of stuff I don't like to wear/buy/get new, but I wouldn't say never. Hell, I wouldn't even say never for the first 2 (though #1 is closest to being ironclad). So for the rest of these I'll just do 'things I don't like to wear, buy, or get new'
3. Get New: Books: I like buying my books used, for the most part. Occasionally there's stuff I'm really excited about and I can't wait to find used, but I like the thrill of the hunt and discovery of finding something I want in a used bookstore. Plus, it's cheaper.
4. Wear: Shorts: I don't like wearing shorts. I dunno. Probably body image related, there's nothing that I consciously am aware of that's wrong with my legs, I just prefer to keep them covered.
5. Buy: Socks. Because I get enough of them as gifts at Xmas to last me the whole year.
Five Favourite Toys/Things
1. My computer
2. My comics
3. My books
4. Serenity/Firefly DVD (Firefly boxed set signed by Sean Maher)
5. My TV I guess?
You’re IT! (Five People To Do This)
I choose the five people who most want to do this.
6 Weird Habits About Myself (stolen from
nardasarmy.. 1. Number 3 and 5 from the 'bad habits' part of the above meme. I'm just counting them as one because I already used them.
2. I don't listen to music typically. Most on my friends list have probably already heard it. Dunno what it is, I remember reading long ago in a science magazine something that said people with a certain condition (can't recall what it is) typically are unable to be moved by music, and that sounds about right. I can be moved by lyrics, and sometimes music evokes the lyrics in my mind or I think the music is particularly effective, but it doesn't move me so I feel no desire to listen to it on my own time.
Of late, my tolerance of music has gotten a little lower too. I can still handle it most of the time in small doses, but if, say, someone's playing music and I can hear it and the music is more or less of the same 'type' even if they change songs, it starts to irritate me after a while.
At some times last month I've actually changed the TV to a dead channel and put up the volume because I'd literally rather listen to static than music.
Although oddly enough, even though I don't typically willingly listen to music, I do sometimes find it fun to do song parodies/filk for one reason or another. I dunno why. I think it's because working within a pattern of syllables and rhyming appeals to some part of my brain.
3. I try to eat at least one bite of food before I get to the table. I don't know why, I just do.
4. At work if I have a while to wait I often climb up to the top of a tall shelf and do some reading, or even some relaxing. I always do this on Wednesday with my new comics.
5. I'm a huge packrat. I tend to not throw stuff away if there's even the slightest chance it'll be of use to me. This is both in terms of physical stuff, and information - I have files on my computers that date back to at least the early 90s, that I've copied over to new computers. And not even important files. Somewhere I have directions to a party my brother went to in 1993.
6. Every time I do a survey of numbered questions and I realize they've skipped a number, I create a question to fill in the gap.
Now you know the drill, if you're on my friendlist post this in your journal and post 6 weird habits about yourself. Or not.
Today I had a banana for a snack after lunch. I don't eat bananas too often. Once in a while I get a craving. Anyway, the point of it is that this is the first time since I read this article on BoingBoing that I've had to peel a banana. So, thinking of it, I tried it the monkey's way, pinching the 'end' and then peeling it from there, using the stem to help hold it. OMG it's so much easier.
Random question: Why are sails usually white? Is it just because the best material to make them is usually white? Is there tradition associated to the color? Is there a functional reason? Am I completely wrong about them being usually white in the first place?
