At this moment, what is your favorite...
1. ...song?
Song? This I know from nothing. (I'm not a music-listening person. I know, it's pathetic, and I'll have to have my Gen X permit revoked.)
2. ...food?
Can I say "cocktails made with Grand Marnier"? Not that I, you know, drink an awful lot, and don't always eat dinner before or after...
3. ...tv show?
Daily Show Daily Show Daily Show! (That should all be one long uninterrupted string, to indicate how I actually say it when I leap from the couch to change the channel at 7 p.m., when the previous night's show comes on; but I couldn't figure out a way to punctuate/not punctuate/capitalize/not capitalize it that didn't look stupid.)
4. ...scent?
The lack thereof. (When buying soap and laundry detergent and dryer sheets, I'm always on the lookout for "stink-free" products. When I absolutely couldn't find fragrance-free fabric softener, I kept muttering "I reek of mountain-fresh scent.")
5. ...quote?
Argh. I did quotes last week. Go read those.
Friday, January 23, 2004
Hollywood minute half-second or so
For some reason, it's news that Jen & Ben, or Bennifer, or Jenjamin, or Loffleck, or Affpez [and why isn't there a Jennifer Lopez Pez dispenser?], have Really and Truly Broken Up. [Yawn.] Excuse me, Jen & Ben breaking up is like Michael Jordan retiring from sports or Cher going on a farewell tour; or, hell, the boy crying wolf. After a few times, nobody believes it, or cares; and when it finally happens, it's not even interesting. (Well, the boy getting eaten by the wolf would be interesting, if you like bloody messes.)
Thursday, January 22, 2004
State, for the record
When Bush, in the State of the Union address*, misread the Designated Cute Letter-Writing Child's age as "Two...ten" (in digits, "2...10"), I had enough mathematical conversion on the brain to think, "Hey, maybe he was reading it in binary." (J.: "That's an extremely charitable way to put it.")
*That's a link to whitehouse.gov's official transcript, so presumably it won't expire. The bit about the ten-year-old child is the fourth paragraph from the bottom, but the transcript doesn't have the misreading. (I guess if White House transcripts included all the misreadings, they'd be an awful lot longer.)
*That's a link to whitehouse.gov's official transcript, so presumably it won't expire. The bit about the ten-year-old child is the fourth paragraph from the bottom, but the transcript doesn't have the misreading. (I guess if White House transcripts included all the misreadings, they'd be an awful lot longer.)
Wednesday, January 21, 2004
"Today in History" fact o' the day
Today is the 80th anniversary of the death of Vladimir Lenin. (Scroll down to the second item of that link.) His embalmed corpse doesn't look a day over 79...
Friday, January 16, 2004
Friday Five
1. What does it say in the signature line of your emails?
My work e-mail has, go figure, my name, title, and company information. My personal e-mail has a line of Perl poetry that's over a year old; I keep meaning to change it, but I don't know what to.
2. Did you have a senior quote in your high school yearbook? What was it? If you haven't graduated yet, what would you like your quote to be?
My high school was a) tiny and b) well-funded, so the seniors each got a whole page to themselves. I don't have my yearbook on me, but I did my page as an illuminated manuscript, and my quotes included:
"Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit—Vergil" ("Perhaps someday we will look back on even this and be happy"—high school in a nutshell; I didn't translate it in the actual yearbook, though.)
"Sine pluvia nullus arcus—Me" ("No rainbow without the rain"—well, I was an untreated bipolar at the time.)
I only got one quote in my college yearbook:
"If I am not for myself, then who is for me?—Hillel"
I submitted a few others, but that was the only one that made it. I suspect they chose it because Hillel is a noted Jewish sage, and they thought I might be quoting him because I was Jewish, and therefore it would be religiously insensitive not to use it. (I'm not Jewish; but it is one of the quotes I keep coming back to, to remind myself how to deal with life...)
3. If you had vanity plates on your car, what would they read? If you already have them, what do they say?
No car. I think I wouldn't want a vanity plate, because it would make it easier for people to remember and track down...um, not that I'd be trying to escape from the law; but you don't want to give road-ragers or possible stalkers any help, do you?
4. Have you received any gifts with messages engraved upon them? What did the inscription say?
Nup. J. and I did get a cross-stitch wedding sampler from his sister with an alphabet with the letters "I DO" enlarged, and our initials and the date. Which is as much information as a wedding sampler needs, I think; never mind the hearts and doves and inspirational quotes from the Bible and Hallmark Cards writers...
5. What would you like your epitaph to be?
Um...something having to do with having a long, happy, successful life? I don't know. I think it's bad mojo to think that far ahead...
My work e-mail has, go figure, my name, title, and company information. My personal e-mail has a line of Perl poetry that's over a year old; I keep meaning to change it, but I don't know what to.
2. Did you have a senior quote in your high school yearbook? What was it? If you haven't graduated yet, what would you like your quote to be?
My high school was a) tiny and b) well-funded, so the seniors each got a whole page to themselves. I don't have my yearbook on me, but I did my page as an illuminated manuscript, and my quotes included:
"Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit—Vergil" ("Perhaps someday we will look back on even this and be happy"—high school in a nutshell; I didn't translate it in the actual yearbook, though.)
"Sine pluvia nullus arcus—Me" ("No rainbow without the rain"—well, I was an untreated bipolar at the time.)
I only got one quote in my college yearbook:
"If I am not for myself, then who is for me?—Hillel"
I submitted a few others, but that was the only one that made it. I suspect they chose it because Hillel is a noted Jewish sage, and they thought I might be quoting him because I was Jewish, and therefore it would be religiously insensitive not to use it. (I'm not Jewish; but it is one of the quotes I keep coming back to, to remind myself how to deal with life...)
3. If you had vanity plates on your car, what would they read? If you already have them, what do they say?
No car. I think I wouldn't want a vanity plate, because it would make it easier for people to remember and track down...um, not that I'd be trying to escape from the law; but you don't want to give road-ragers or possible stalkers any help, do you?
4. Have you received any gifts with messages engraved upon them? What did the inscription say?
Nup. J. and I did get a cross-stitch wedding sampler from his sister with an alphabet with the letters "I DO" enlarged, and our initials and the date. Which is as much information as a wedding sampler needs, I think; never mind the hearts and doves and inspirational quotes from the Bible and Hallmark Cards writers...
5. What would you like your epitaph to be?
Um...something having to do with having a long, happy, successful life? I don't know. I think it's bad mojo to think that far ahead...
Wednesday, January 14, 2004
Still here
I haven't disappeared from the face of the blogosphere; it's just been totally crazy at work. For one thing, our office was supposed to have moved last week. Much of our furniture actually has moved, as well as our DSL and phone accounts. Unfortunately, the tenant of our new office hasn't actually moved out. So we're stuck here with one working Internet connection that's painfully slow and which we're only supposed to use for business or very brief e-mail and news checking, and one working phone line that only rings on one phone. Oh, it's a joy.
And then there was the interval last week when my computer spontaneously and completely died, and my boss had to actually borrow someone's Leatherman and physically take the computer apart to get it working again. (As soon as it was working again, I tried to do a backup of all my data, in case the stupid thing died again; this is when we realized the supply cabinet and all the blank CD-ROMs were in the other office.)
Also, I'm in the middle of one of those Hell Projects that was due last Wednesday, although I didn't know it was due last Wednesday until getting back from the winter break last Monday, and moreover I had somehow failed to observe that half of the project was actually part of the project. (The files were in a different format and the hard copies were bound differently and I somehow just didn't think they counted.) I've hardly been taking breaks to eat, let alone amuse myself online.
So anyway. I'm still around, and I have plenty o' things I want to post about...just no time, and hardly any Internet capability. Maybe I'll write up some of the stuff I've been thinking about and do some backdated posts this weekend. But now, back to work, insofar as is possible...
And then there was the interval last week when my computer spontaneously and completely died, and my boss had to actually borrow someone's Leatherman and physically take the computer apart to get it working again. (As soon as it was working again, I tried to do a backup of all my data, in case the stupid thing died again; this is when we realized the supply cabinet and all the blank CD-ROMs were in the other office.)
Also, I'm in the middle of one of those Hell Projects that was due last Wednesday, although I didn't know it was due last Wednesday until getting back from the winter break last Monday, and moreover I had somehow failed to observe that half of the project was actually part of the project. (The files were in a different format and the hard copies were bound differently and I somehow just didn't think they counted.) I've hardly been taking breaks to eat, let alone amuse myself online.
So anyway. I'm still around, and I have plenty o' things I want to post about...just no time, and hardly any Internet capability. Maybe I'll write up some of the stuff I've been thinking about and do some backdated posts this weekend. But now, back to work, insofar as is possible...
Wednesday, January 7, 2004
Production values and the value of productions
J. and I have commented wistfully on this possibility, and at last it's coming true: there's a plan to make a movie out of the musical of "The Producers." I suppose it might seem like unnecessary overkill; but the movie, however brilliant and hilarious, is also hopelessly stuck in the 60's (Max says he's going to buy a "toy" and returns with a blonde Swedish secretary, the guy who wins the role of Hitler is a fur-boot-wearing hippie named LSD); the musical is brilliant, hilarious, and more palatable. No one's going to top Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder, and Kenneth Mars; but I think the Broadway cast can be just as un-toppable in their own way. (Like "Chicago" backwards: I don't think there's anyone in Hollywood today who could top Gwen Verdon, Chita Rivera, and Jerry Orbach on Broadway, but Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and, of all people, Richard Gere were perfect movie incarnations.)
Besides, the Broadway show is a) expensive and b) almost impossible to get tickets for, and even if you do get tickets, there's no telling who's going to be playing the lead roles by the time you actually see it. (And also c) in New York, requiring considerable travel time and expense for anyone who doesn't live on the mid-Atlantic East Coast.) So filming the two original stars, with the original Broadway director directing, and enabling everyone who can get to a movie theater to see it for $8 or so, is actually—I'm running out of superlatives—well, it's a great idea, and a valuable service to that part of humanity that loves movies, musicals, Broadway, and the intersections thereof.
Besides, the Broadway show is a) expensive and b) almost impossible to get tickets for, and even if you do get tickets, there's no telling who's going to be playing the lead roles by the time you actually see it. (And also c) in New York, requiring considerable travel time and expense for anyone who doesn't live on the mid-Atlantic East Coast.) So filming the two original stars, with the original Broadway director directing, and enabling everyone who can get to a movie theater to see it for $8 or so, is actually—I'm running out of superlatives—well, it's a great idea, and a valuable service to that part of humanity that loves movies, musicals, Broadway, and the intersections thereof.
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