Sunday, March 28, 2004
This has nothing to do with the following.
I adopted a cute lil' ninja fetus from Fetusmart! Hooray fetus!
Thus ends another week, replete with all the insult, argument and abuse that just comes so naturally. You have no idea how hard it was to settle on something witty for that last sentence.
Not too much happening, and for a very good reason, as I'm still procrastinating. I dutifully follow the item of the Creed that states "I know the work cycle is not plan/start/finish, but wait/wait/plan" so this is just the logical extension. Watched a bunch of Good Eats, did not attempt another omelette, fenced a bit, and managed to salvage what is left of my love for You Don't Know Jack. See, once upon a time there was a company called Jellyvision that made really entertaining trivia games. They had a really great variety of questions and topics, all done very stylishly with a very sarcastic host that would make fun of you the player at every chance. They published their games under Sierra, and made quite a few of them, including movie and television flavours. Even had a lite version of the game that was played over the web. Now, however, naught remains. The sequels gradually got worse, and it was only by pure chance that I found a copy of Volume 6 - The Lost Gold. The game still kicks ass though, providing entertainment for up to 3 people and still covering the gamut of "where high culture and pop culture collide." Now I happened to think this game was one of the best trivia games period, and one of the more entertaining ones period, but this love was not shared. A friend of mine used to (perhaps still does) have the TV and movie editions, but those would be of less consequence since they would be rather dated. The general knowledge editions are certainly still applicable though, and Volume 6, while it's individual games are rather short at 6 questions plus the Jack Attack, provides me with a somewhat lacking trivia boost. I mean, where else would I get to exercise my knowledge of the colors of cartoon animals, or the musicians at Woodstock? Sure, there's Know It All over at Boxerjam, but it doesn't quite compare. I am, however, quite good at the matching questions.
But that's really neither here nor there. It might be thither, but I'm not sure. I am fairly certain, though, that I have deciphered what it takes to be a gourmet chef, and I am also fairly certain that I don't have it. I have learned this from watching so much Good Eats, and it strikes me that all one needs to do is make everything from scratch. Buy your basic ingredients fresh, and make everything from them. From stocks, to sauces, to condiments, to entrees - everything. Now I know that I am not a gourmet, since I don't, indeed can't, do this. I just don't eat enough, and would be forever plagued with leftovers, which due to not having preservatives, would spoil right quick. Also, I don't quite have enough kitchen gear to manage this, since a lot of recipes seem to need blenders or ricers or slicers or some other neat gadget that I want, but have not yet bought. I could probably afford it all, except that I will have to empty my flat in 5 months (is it really that soon?) to go home. I have made my peace with this, however, and have let the issue slide.
I've also been noticing how pessimistic people are lately. I'm no exception. As you've probably noticed, there's a lot of bitching that goes on in this space, and I'm trying to figure out why. If you listen to people talking, most discussions will eventually turn to discussing the negative. I mean, there's only so much that folk can talk about if only approaching matters from a positive aspect.
"I really liked the way that movie turned out!"
"Yeah, me too."
"..."
"..."
At some point, somebody has to mention something that was contrary to their tastes so that the discussion on the topic progresses. Either one person voices a complaint and a debate starts with participants taking opposite stances, or mutual derision commences with both parties talking about how much something sucked. If this doesn't happen, the conversation will probably change topic and the cycle repeats. As I work out theories, I'll post them. Of course, I could just forget about this whole thing and mark it up as one of those observations that have no point. I do that a lot too...
Oh, those British...
Bunny on a Stick is one of those blogs that I've discovered, found interesting, engaging and funny, and then promptly ignored. Well no longer! I shall give it the recognition it deserves! (I still probably won't read it, but at least I've given it a link now.) The blog is run by two middle-aged women, and centers on celebrities and pop culture. They do gossip on talk shows and the like, post unflattering celebrity photos and "hot beef sandwiches", and review award shows, albums and movies. At worst, check out the unflattering celebs in Features (on the right under the beef), since the majority of them are pretty entertaining.
The Americans get to research all the cool stuff. Just once, I want to see Canada come up with a way to record your dreams, or track people by the way they blink. Oh well. I suppose this is only to be expected when you don't budget 400 billion dollars towards national defence. Although how a giant zeppelin to watch over the populace could be realistically implemented without violating the privacy of citizens is beyond me.
Another Wired news-byte, another stupid attempt to foil file-sharing. Now I guess the RIAA home invasions are no longer such comedy. This is old though, so the situation might be different now. I doubt it, but there's still hope.
Lastly, I bring to your attention a happy little service called TinyURL. Basically it shortens any URL you give it to something more manageable.
Ie. http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,62637,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_2 becomes http://tinyurl.com/yuq6b
Nifty, no? ¶ 7:58 p.m.
Thus ends another week, replete with all the insult, argument and abuse that just comes so naturally. You have no idea how hard it was to settle on something witty for that last sentence.
Not too much happening, and for a very good reason, as I'm still procrastinating. I dutifully follow the item of the Creed that states "I know the work cycle is not plan/start/finish, but wait/wait/plan" so this is just the logical extension. Watched a bunch of Good Eats, did not attempt another omelette, fenced a bit, and managed to salvage what is left of my love for You Don't Know Jack. See, once upon a time there was a company called Jellyvision that made really entertaining trivia games. They had a really great variety of questions and topics, all done very stylishly with a very sarcastic host that would make fun of you the player at every chance. They published their games under Sierra, and made quite a few of them, including movie and television flavours. Even had a lite version of the game that was played over the web. Now, however, naught remains. The sequels gradually got worse, and it was only by pure chance that I found a copy of Volume 6 - The Lost Gold. The game still kicks ass though, providing entertainment for up to 3 people and still covering the gamut of "where high culture and pop culture collide." Now I happened to think this game was one of the best trivia games period, and one of the more entertaining ones period, but this love was not shared. A friend of mine used to (perhaps still does) have the TV and movie editions, but those would be of less consequence since they would be rather dated. The general knowledge editions are certainly still applicable though, and Volume 6, while it's individual games are rather short at 6 questions plus the Jack Attack, provides me with a somewhat lacking trivia boost. I mean, where else would I get to exercise my knowledge of the colors of cartoon animals, or the musicians at Woodstock? Sure, there's Know It All over at Boxerjam, but it doesn't quite compare. I am, however, quite good at the matching questions.
But that's really neither here nor there. It might be thither, but I'm not sure. I am fairly certain, though, that I have deciphered what it takes to be a gourmet chef, and I am also fairly certain that I don't have it. I have learned this from watching so much Good Eats, and it strikes me that all one needs to do is make everything from scratch. Buy your basic ingredients fresh, and make everything from them. From stocks, to sauces, to condiments, to entrees - everything. Now I know that I am not a gourmet, since I don't, indeed can't, do this. I just don't eat enough, and would be forever plagued with leftovers, which due to not having preservatives, would spoil right quick. Also, I don't quite have enough kitchen gear to manage this, since a lot of recipes seem to need blenders or ricers or slicers or some other neat gadget that I want, but have not yet bought. I could probably afford it all, except that I will have to empty my flat in 5 months (is it really that soon?) to go home. I have made my peace with this, however, and have let the issue slide.
I've also been noticing how pessimistic people are lately. I'm no exception. As you've probably noticed, there's a lot of bitching that goes on in this space, and I'm trying to figure out why. If you listen to people talking, most discussions will eventually turn to discussing the negative. I mean, there's only so much that folk can talk about if only approaching matters from a positive aspect.
"I really liked the way that movie turned out!"
"Yeah, me too."
"..."
"..."
At some point, somebody has to mention something that was contrary to their tastes so that the discussion on the topic progresses. Either one person voices a complaint and a debate starts with participants taking opposite stances, or mutual derision commences with both parties talking about how much something sucked. If this doesn't happen, the conversation will probably change topic and the cycle repeats. As I work out theories, I'll post them. Of course, I could just forget about this whole thing and mark it up as one of those observations that have no point. I do that a lot too...
Oh, those British...
Bunny on a Stick is one of those blogs that I've discovered, found interesting, engaging and funny, and then promptly ignored. Well no longer! I shall give it the recognition it deserves! (I still probably won't read it, but at least I've given it a link now.) The blog is run by two middle-aged women, and centers on celebrities and pop culture. They do gossip on talk shows and the like, post unflattering celebrity photos and "hot beef sandwiches", and review award shows, albums and movies. At worst, check out the unflattering celebs in Features (on the right under the beef), since the majority of them are pretty entertaining.
The Americans get to research all the cool stuff. Just once, I want to see Canada come up with a way to record your dreams, or track people by the way they blink. Oh well. I suppose this is only to be expected when you don't budget 400 billion dollars towards national defence. Although how a giant zeppelin to watch over the populace could be realistically implemented without violating the privacy of citizens is beyond me.
Another Wired news-byte, another stupid attempt to foil file-sharing. Now I guess the RIAA home invasions are no longer such comedy. This is old though, so the situation might be different now. I doubt it, but there's still hope.
Lastly, I bring to your attention a happy little service called TinyURL. Basically it shortens any URL you give it to something more manageable.
Ie. http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,62637,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_2 becomes http://tinyurl.com/yuq6b
Nifty, no? ¶ 7:58 p.m.
