I'm sad because one of my favorite exchanges,
wingficex, isn't getting much attention this year. If you're casting about for an exchange to join, go sign up!
The pleasure of shared appreciation
2 May 2023 06:58 amIf you like the John Wick franchise or if you have ever wondered why other people like it, this essay by
honigfrosch will delight and enlighten you. It gets at all the reasons I love the franchise and many more. (I haven't been able to come up with my own words to explain my feelings about it, the icon I chose for this post is the closest I can get.)
Action As Mythology: A John Wick Résumé
https://honigfrosch.dreamwidth.org/162051.html
(I haven't seen the fourth installment yet; my covid avoidance urge is still greater than my urge to see even this film at the earliest possible minute.)
Action As Mythology: A John Wick Résumé
https://honigfrosch.dreamwidth.org/162051.html
(I haven't seen the fourth installment yet; my covid avoidance urge is still greater than my urge to see even this film at the earliest possible minute.)
Dazed & Confused (& whiny)
13 Mar 2023 11:12 pmThe Dazed and Confused Generation by Bruce Handy in The New Yorker
I haven’t seen the movie this article covers, but the article discusses how some of us who were teens in the 1970s thought “our” decade was incredibly boring, and I remember feeling that way. The article is whiny and I want to say “OK, Boomer” in response even though I agree late Boomers are difervent from early ones. But it was interesting to re-visit that white suburban 70s kid feeling of “born too late, everything cool’s been done already.”
I haven’t seen the movie this article covers, but the article discusses how some of us who were teens in the 1970s thought “our” decade was incredibly boring, and I remember feeling that way. The article is whiny and I want to say “OK, Boomer” in response even though I agree late Boomers are difervent from early ones. But it was interesting to re-visit that white suburban 70s kid feeling of “born too late, everything cool’s been done already.”
Our generation naturally had no equivalent watershed events, no epochal gatherings worth lying about having attended. Linklater and I reminisced about what a corny, cynical dud the Bicentennial had been. “The Comet Kohoutek of holidays,” he called it.
[…]
Linklater confessed surprise at the unironic affection with which younger audiences embraced the movie and its trappings….”I was thinking, O.K., there’s no way this film will ever kick off a nostalgia for the seventies. I’m going to make a film to show how the seventies kind of sucked….It was funny to realize, Oh, shit, people like this!”
Interview with Will Shortz
16 Feb 2023 09:36 amWill Shortz’s Life in Crosswords (in The New Yorker)
This conversation with NYTimes crossword editor Will Shortz addresses the increasing diversity of vocabulary in crossword puzzles, which I’ve noticed and I appreciate. And then at the end he comes out as gay and talks about falling in love for the first time at age 70. My heart melted.
This conversation with NYTimes crossword editor Will Shortz addresses the increasing diversity of vocabulary in crossword puzzles, which I’ve noticed and I appreciate. And then at the end he comes out as gay and talks about falling in love for the first time at age 70. My heart melted.
Auld Lang Syne, anyone?
28 Dec 2022 06:14 amRecycling an old post from Facebook:
"RT @ ThatEricAlper: Without revealing your actual age, what something you remember that if you told a younger person they wouldn't understand?"
Here’s my entry. I’ve heard that reading the time on an analog clock is no longer a universal skill. So I think some young people would find it hard to understand where the phrase “watch my six” comes from.
(This entry brought to you by Faith Hunter’s Shining Smith series, a post-apocalyptic story in which a woman infected by mesmerizing nanobots runs a junkyard with the help of a clowder of sentient, telepathic cats. She says it a lot in combat situations…not to the cats though.)
"RT @ ThatEricAlper: Without revealing your actual age, what something you remember that if you told a younger person they wouldn't understand?"
Here’s my entry. I’ve heard that reading the time on an analog clock is no longer a universal skill. So I think some young people would find it hard to understand where the phrase “watch my six” comes from.
(This entry brought to you by Faith Hunter’s Shining Smith series, a post-apocalyptic story in which a woman infected by mesmerizing nanobots runs a junkyard with the help of a clowder of sentient, telepathic cats. She says it a lot in combat situations…not to the cats though.)
This vodka ad starring Daniel Craig as “himself” and featuring Taika Waititi makes me absolutely gleeful. As Kitty on Lucifer didn’t quite say, it’s “like porn and my Hello Kitty blanket and a stuffed crust pizza all rolled up into one.” Includes a blooper reel.
The competition under the cut.
( Read more... )
The competition under the cut.
( Read more... )
I love cartoonist Roz Chast
8 Nov 2022 12:45 amI looked at the first 72 of 1,171 products in Condé Nast’s Roz Chast store and I feel better. They might amuse you too.
https://condenaststore.com/collections/roz+chast
https://condenaststore.com/collections/roz+chast
Kiva microloan charity
30 Aug 2008 03:22 pmThe Kiva microloan charity organization lets individuals lend money to individuals or small groups in areas like Africa and Asia via the Internet. You don't get interest on the loan, but it is repaid to you, and you can either lend it out again or withdraw it.
Kiva initially repaid lenders at the end of the loan term (typically 10 months to 18 months), but they've just changed their policy so that they repay lenders each time the loan recipient pays an installment (typically once a month). So you can get your money back faster.
I just went online to lend out my accumulated "Kiva credit." A lot of other people were doing the same thing, presumably because of this change in policy. I was refreshing the pages of several loan requests and watching the "amount still needed" drop every minute.
It is cool to watch people trying to help other people.
My lender page: http://www.kiva.org/lender/firecatstef
Kiva initially repaid lenders at the end of the loan term (typically 10 months to 18 months), but they've just changed their policy so that they repay lenders each time the loan recipient pays an installment (typically once a month). So you can get your money back faster.
I just went online to lend out my accumulated "Kiva credit." A lot of other people were doing the same thing, presumably because of this change in policy. I was refreshing the pages of several loan requests and watching the "amount still needed" drop every minute.
It is cool to watch people trying to help other people.
My lender page: http://www.kiva.org/lender/firecatstef
One for the fat activists
23 Aug 2008 04:21 pmGet yourself a free copy of the new 'zine Big Bums here:
http://obesitytimebomb.blogspot.com/2008/08/big-bums.html
Highlights:
Heads drawn back onto headless fatty photos
Positive Fattributes comic
Obesity Epidemic random story generator
Make your own Ticking Time Bomb of Obesity costume
http://obesitytimebomb.blogspot.com/2008/08/big-bums.html
Highlights:
Heads drawn back onto headless fatty photos
Positive Fattributes comic
Obesity Epidemic random story generator
Make your own Ticking Time Bomb of Obesity costume
....go to http://www.bethelstreetgallery.com/index_flash.html, click artists, click Chris Campbell, and enjoy.
Since I like all four, I'm enjoying a lot. Some of my favorites: "Summer Heat," "Cat Fight," "Floating Flower"
(via BBW Art: The Broad Band http://francesca.net/broadband.html via
liveavatar)
Since I like all four, I'm enjoying a lot. Some of my favorites: "Summer Heat," "Cat Fight," "Floating Flower"
(via BBW Art: The Broad Band http://francesca.net/broadband.html via
http://www.colossalclothing.com/aa.html
Colossal Clothing is proud to be affiliated with American Apparel, the largest and finest clothing maker in North America. All of our garments are made under special arrangement in the American Apparel sweatshop-free facilities, utilizing fair labor practices.They offer T-shirts, tank tops, polo shirts, hoodies, and jackets to men's size 5XL. They have photos of most sizes on a model of that size.
Bacon brittle
Bacon baklava
I would make them, but bacon has a tendency to go from the draining and cooling stage directly into my mouth.
Bacon baklava
I would make them, but bacon has a tendency to go from the draining and cooling stage directly into my mouth.
I pass on (from
kyubi, who has the good fortune to look at these things as part of her line of work) the blog http://www.kittyhell.com/
The first entry at the moment is for the "Hello Kitty Etch-A-Sketch Purse."
The author of this blog taunts his ambivalent readers by refusing to reveal where to buy the products he blogs about.
The first entry at the moment is for the "Hello Kitty Etch-A-Sketch Purse."
The author of this blog taunts his ambivalent readers by refusing to reveal where to buy the products he blogs about.
cute overload overload
28 Jun 2007 03:04 pmI really liked today's Cute Overload photo of a cream tabby kitten. Here are lots lots more: http://www.tigers-deluxe.de/
fred & ginger
18 Jun 2007 09:54 pmThe OH loves Fred Astaire movies and I generally find them irritating in one way or another, except for the dancing. But tonight's movie, Roberta, was an exception. It had great songs, several strong women characters, and even a couple of charming, non-buffoonish fat characters. It had some great geeky dialogue. It even qualifies under the Bechdel Rule.
The leading man was played by Randolph Scott, who I gather usually played in Westerns, but he was especially cute and charming in this movie - he had an open face that most of the romantic leads of the era didn't have, and a great "gee, you're swell!" gaze.
Even the OH had never heard of the movie before (it came in his Fred & Ginger collection). There are a lot of rave reviews on IMDB. We were speculating why it never became as popular as other Fred & Ginger movies. Maybe because ( spoilers )
The leading man was played by Randolph Scott, who I gather usually played in Westerns, but he was especially cute and charming in this movie - he had an open face that most of the romantic leads of the era didn't have, and a great "gee, you're swell!" gaze.
Even the OH had never heard of the movie before (it came in his Fred & Ginger collection). There are a lot of rave reviews on IMDB. We were speculating why it never became as popular as other Fred & Ginger movies. Maybe because ( spoilers )
I LOLz, RLY LOLz
31 May 2007 09:48 pmI don't remember which person on my friends list posted the link to the Making Light thread in which LOLCatz (and other Internet phenomena such as 1337) meet literature, but thanks to whoever it was. I haven't laughed this hard in months.
http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/009050.html
http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/009050.html
calling Mystery Case File fans
22 Mar 2007 01:04 pmFor those of you who are fans of the Mystery Case Files game genre (where you locate objects hidden in an image), they've come out with a new type of game in the same genre, called Travelogue 360 Paris. One difference is that the image is larger and scrolls (so you can't see all the objects you need at once).
I haven't played it yet; I just got a notice about it from one of the sites that carries it, BigFishGames.
I haven't played it yet; I just got a notice about it from one of the sites that carries it, BigFishGames.