Because YOU demanded it (no, not you, YOU!), here is yet another adventure in thread-killing!
The following rules were established by Kent at the start of the first 24-hour version, adapted from the original rules by EDE:
The rules:
1. The Basic Idea: Post to this thread, if no one posts after you for 24 hours, you win!
2. Posts that are not direct responses to one of the five preceding posts are ineligible to win. The topic can drift, but no complete non-sequitors. Posts that are responses to non-sequitors are also ineligible to win. Posts that are responses to responses to non-sequitors, and responses to those posts, etc., become eligible, however.
3. In the event that this thread is locked, there shall be no winner unless a new thread is started for the contest. Furthermore, any post that results in the banning of the poster shall also be ineligible to win.
4. So, more precisely, one wins if one makes a post, and then no one makes another post that's eligible to win for 24 hours.
Got that? Good! Now, kill this thread!
Surely everyone is out enjoying the summer weather this weekend and won't bother to post in this almost-dead thread.
What we are expected to go out and play in the rain and thunder...Nay I say, the thread shall live!!
I kind of miss the one-week version.
How cruel to let a thread languish a whole week before it died!
"Enjoying the summer weather", Tracker? Not here in Houston. It's hot, humid with chance of thunderstorms every day between now and late September. Yucch!
The next poster who will post will be invited over here to the Philippines. It's also hot, humid, but with a chance of thunderstorms every day from now until November - and you get four-hour traffic jams too!
What would be the point, Ibby? That's too much like home!
I wouldn't mind getting to meet you and Blaze in person though. Or you guys could come here and the Boyfriend and I can double date with you!
We would love to. We're just waiting for the day when we can be set loose on the US of A and live our lives like there's no tomorrow
And I would love to meet your Boyfriend and get to know the guy who's making you very happy
Of course, the four of us together would be cuteness overload.
That would be a boon to the people whoa re tired of the terrible weather
Hmmm.
"Oh, this heat is unbearable! Wait ! There are four really, really cute guys! I feel so much better! It's like air conditioning!"
"Looking at these four really cute bguys makes me not notice the terrible heat, and gives me an excuse for all the sweat I'm generating!"
This thread will be dead of cuteness in less than 24 hours.
That would be a record. If I must die, let it be Death by Cuteness!
I can think of many worse ways to die. Like smothered by tons of wildebeest dung!
Would that be dung from cute little wildebeests?
Wildebeest are not particularly cute.
Are you saying Legion Tracker has bad taste in considering them cute?
No, I'm merely stating that cute wildebeest would be hard to find.
What do you think of the Titans' Baby Wildebeest? isn't he kinda cute?
Now that I've Googled it, I've seen him. No. Not cute in the least.
He's ideal though if you like hairy guys.
There's hairy and then there's hairy.
So he's an overachiever!
A friend of mine went to a school that was (at the time) called the (Whatever-the-Name-Was) School for Underachievers. Not surprisingly, they dropped that part of the name.
Bart Simpson is very proud of being an underachiever. I suppose it takes quite a bit of effort too!
I remember when the Simpsons were just that weird family in the cartoons on The Tracy Ullman Show. Gadzooks, I'm getting old!
Aww, thanks, Ibby.
I rarely get called "handsome" or "beautiful" or "sexy", but I do get "cute" a lot. I'll take it!
Cute is timeless, so they say
We have a lot of cute people here on LW. Besides Ibby and Peebz, Fat Cramer is awfully cute.
And delightfully fluffy, too!
I had the honor of meeting her in person in Sandy Eggo back in '08. She is awesome!
You got sand on your Eggo?
That city got its name when someone dropped his waffle on the beach.
One of my favorite coffee shops serves waffles!
My last morning in Sandy Eggo in '08, I went to breakfast with Suddenly Seymour. He had a waffle. I had an egg white omelet.
I've never had an egg white omelet, but I used to enjoy the regular omelets quite often.
Years ago, a couple I knew told me that one morning they decided to recreate the food from their little daughter's favorite Dr. Seuss book and serve her green eggs and ham for breakfast. The little girl took one look at the food-coloring-dyed green eggs and ham and started crying.
I don't blame her. I'd cry, too.
Heck,green is my favorite color but I'd cry too!
Aw, guys, don't cry. Let's sing a happy song instead!
Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens,
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens,
Brown paper packages tied up with strings,
These are a few of my favorite things.
Cream colored ponies and crisp apple streudels,
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles,
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings,
These are a few of my favorite things.
Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes,
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes,
Silver white winters that melt into springs,
These are a few of my favorite things.
When the dog bites.
When the bee stings.
When I'm feeling sad.
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad.
Aw, Peebz, don't try to fight it. Embrace the Rodgersandhammersteinitude!
GAHAHHAHHAHHHHHHHHHHHHH !!!!!!!!!
<FALLS DOWN FACE FIRST>
tisk tisk
Peebs is face down again
Face.
Down.
Is that the makings of exotic and rare bed linens?
Julie Andrews can make me lie face down anytime.
I'm not sure whether that's good or bad, He Who.
I, of course, love Julie Andrews.
I think she is brilliant.
the Sound of Music .... is another matter.
Kid Gravity loves the sound of music. loves .... we have sound of music paraphenlia ....
mmmm I just had a huge greasy falafel and fries/chips for lunch ...
mmmmmmm what a treat!
Did you have the falafel and fries/chips while watching the Sound of Music?
I've been to Sing-Along Sound of Music twice. That was awesome!
Nobody sang along out of key, I hope. Some people are terribly good at doing that.
What would you do if I sang out of key? Would you get up and walk out on me?
Nah, I'd get you a new key.
Would you give him the keys to your own house too?
And a pair of roller skates*?
*semi-obscure musical reference.
Get your own brand new pair of roller skates. I'll get a brand new key.
Ah, good! Somebody who remembers Melanie.
Can you sing that for us. HWW and LT?
She's quite amazing! Thanks for sharing with us.
I made a reference to that song in the original "Amalgame" thread once. It was very clever, but very convoluted. Unfortunately, the search function is being uncooperative, so I couldn't find it.
Melanie Safka: the secret goddess of Legion World!
I think we have a new character to add to the next mega-LMB crossover event!
Every brand new key she hits causes a random, hilarious, funny effect!
The key of C major has no sharps or flats. Its relative minor key is A minor.
The Genesis song "Abacab" was named for the chords in the song: A-B-A-C-A-B.
"Abakada" is the alphabet of the Tagalog language of the Philippines.
When I was about seven, I created a new language called "Abbakanese" (I originally called it Abbakookoo).
When I was in elementary school we had to learn to use an abacus.
Some older folks around here still use an abacus until now.
My mom still uses AOL, which I tell her stands for "All Old Ladies". She retorts with "I am an old lady!"
I still use AOL, and I am *not* an old lady.
I still have an AOL email account, but I only check it once or twice a year maybe. I remember when those sign-up discs were EVERYwhere!
I never had AOL. I remember visiting my mom and borrowing her computer and being totally confused by all the boxes and things that were popping up.
I remember the dial-up days. I was hesitant to join LW then because I was afraid my folks would freak out at our phone bill.
When I moved into my condo, I still used dial-up. I had a land line installed just for that purpose. I never used it as a phone. Six months later, I got a cable modem and haven't had a land line since.
Blaze doesn't own a land line either. Says he won't have a use for it anyway. We do most of our talking online (for reasons that I've told you about before :p)
I haven't had a land line in eight years. It just seemed silly to pay for two telephones. My mother doesn't have a land line either. Actually, she has an iPhone (she inherited my 4 when I upgraded to 5). She loves it. She plays Words With Friends and listens to Elvis Presley on it.
My parents are glued to their IPods as well. So are my aunts and uncles. I'm probably the last one in the family who doesn't play Candy Crush or Words with Friends.
<==Still don't have an iPod or iPhone or iAnything.
Let's start slowly. We'll teach you how to use Microsoft Excel first
I still have an AOL email account, but I only check it once or twice a year maybe. I remember when those sign-up discs were EVERYwhere!
I remember when the sign-up discs were floppy discs!
First one I got had the password "unsafe-unwell".
I passed.
Let's start slowly. We'll teach you how to nuse Microsoft Excel first
"Nuse"? Is that Internetspeak for something nasty?
It means I have to change my keyboard
(yes, I am blaming the keyboard for my spelling mistakes!)
It's a secret trap the Society of Error-Filled-Postmakers uses to identify who mentions such things. You're now on the list.
On the list of society members, or on the list of society enemies?
I was going to say that you posted while I was typing and so if refers to the poster before you.
BUT as it's a secret list for secret purposes I shan't.
Don't worry, Ibby. A certain legendary poster (who shall remain nameless) has
a thread devoted to his inability to spell.
Where I grew up in Tennessee, when we got tired we'd sit and rest for a spell.
There was a Bewitched episode where Samantha gets sent back to Reconstruction-era New Orleans with amnesia. It's called "Samantha Goes South for a Spell".
Spelling as a means of relaxation? I'd rather count.
Where I grew up in Tennessee, somebody who was always relaxing wasn't no 'count.
I'd rather be an earl than a count.
I had lunch with a friend named Earl today.
I had lunch with a friend named Ex yesterday.
Good. Now let this thread lie in peace.
While meeting Ex is an awesome thing, it doesn't kill the thread.
No, but killing this thread would also be awesome.
To be humane, I hope someone kills it softly.
And we shall let it pass slowly into the eternal night?
How do you kill a thread again?
More the Roberta Flack original than the Fugees' cover, I should hope.
Would one be more effective at killing this thread than the other?
Some covers just aren't as good as the original. I'll take Dolly Parton's heartfelt original version of "I Will Always Love You" over Whitney Houston's overdone wailing.
I read that Jolene is the most covered song. It certainly deserves it but ... Dolly's original ... is the best!
So who won all these Kill threads? Did Abin ever win one with his auto response message?
Why'd you have to ask that, Cobie?
Warning! The above response has triggered the auto-response feature on Abin's computer!
DIE YOU BASTICH THREAD! DIE! DIE! DIE!
This message paid for by The Committee to Kill This Thread
We now return you to your regular posting.
I think I've killed two or three of them.
Cobie, were you "ack"-ing at my comment or at Whitney's cover?
Ack.
Ack ack a dack, dack dack a ack.
In Robert McCloskey's Make Way for Ducklings, the ducklings are called Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack and Quack.
Certainly not mutually exclusive, as I always say.
Why not include that in your signature, so you will really always say that?
In the Brady Bunch episode "Confessions", Bobby states that their mother "always says don't play ball in the house." In fact, at no time during the series does Carol Brady say this.
Kind of like how they say Sherlock Holmes never actually said "Elementary, My Dear Watson" in the original novels.
The Bradys, of course, were a durable concept: two sitcoms, a Saturday morning cartoon, a (gak) variety show, a "dramedy", two made-for TV movies and two feature films! Not to mention a reality series and a touring stage play!
What an expert you are! Have you watched all of those?
Ain't this thread dead yet?
C'mon, die already!
DIE!
DIE!
DIE!
Ain't this thread dead yet?
C'mon, die already!
DIE!
DIE!
DIE!
Ladies, Gentlemen, and Other Sentients:
Tonight, the part of Abin Quank will be played by He Who Wanders.
Enjoy the show.
Sure to be an Oscar-winning performance.
Here is a catchy little ditty that never won an Oscar, but...
Why not include that in your signature, so you will really always say that?
Doubting that was a serious suggestion but I'll answer it anyway:
1) I generally don't do sigs
2) If I depended on the sig to make it "always" what if I eventually want to change the sig?
3) I "always" say it
when appropriate but surely it wouldn't be for every post
Yes, it was a tongue-in-cheek statement.
Fun Fact: The 1939 film Beau Geste is the only movie starring as many as four Academy Award winners for Best Actor or Best Actress in a Leading Role (Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, Susan Hayward, Broderick Crawford) prior to any of the actors receiving the Best Actor Award.
Beau Geste has been filmed three times: in 1926, 1939 and 1966. The Last Remake of Beau Geste was made in 1977.
Ack.
(The Ack wasn't in response to Rocky last time--it was my attempt at breaking the rules to incur someones wrath ;)).
Wouldn't "Awp!" be a more appropriate response?
Isn't "awp" in danger of getting overused?
Isn't overuse par for the course around here?
Only when it comes to our sex organs
Why'd you have to say that, Cobie?
Warning! The above response has triggered the auto-response feature on Abin's computer!
DIE YOU BASTICH THREAD! DIE! DIE! DIE!
This message paid for by The Committee to Kill This Thread
We now return you to your regular posting.
I think I'm actually a member of The Committee to Kill This Thread
Do they still serve Aunt Ida's Iced Tea at the meetings?
I'm chairperson of
The Committee to HUMP This Thread, but we're reluctant to have our necrophilia become public knowledge.
This thread has really gone down the toilet. It must die!
I think I'm actually a member of The Committee to Kill This Thread
Do they still serve Aunt Ida's Iced Tea at the meetings?
Yep, Long Island Style!
You know who had a crappy job? The
Ty-D-Bol Man. Not only was he just a few inches tall, he had to sail that little boat in and out of toilet tanks.
Yes, and there's no place to go inside those tanks.
Except down the drain.
I've been linking to a lot of old commercials, but "drain" reminds me of
this famous jingle.
The vintage commercial I remember most fondly is
"Spicy Meatball"
That's my parents favorite, and by default, my favorite as well!
The problem with that commercial, which is brilliant in almost every way, is what people remember about it is "spicy meatball" comment rather than the product it advertises.
Sometimes advertising does its job too well.
Almost every time I reference a funny commercial, I end up saying, "I can't remember the product, which gives you some idea how effective it is".
I've also said "Quick, 'ring-around-the-collar', what's the product?" and very few can answer in under ten seconds. If ever.
But I've since realized that you don't need to be able to name the product from the commercial, you only need to recognize the name in the store.
And if I said "Wisk" to you, you'd know what it's for, even if you couldn't think of the name two paragraphs ago.
Damn, that was too thoughtful a post for a killthread wasn't it? Well this is the first killthread I've contributed to, so I'm new.
(Did I just invent the term "killthread"?)
Another good example is the old Chiffon Margarine commercials with Dena Dietrich playng Mother Nature. Everyone remembered Mother Nature, but no one remembered what it was that kept fooling her. Eventually, Chiffon was discontinued.
Yes, I recognize Chiffon instantly, but wouldn't have been able to name it.
I would however have been able to name Dena Dietrich.
Recall and recognition are two different things. With recall, you need to be able to remember the name o the object. With recognition, you merely need to know that you've encountered a certain object before.
In my university, the tougher professors consciously make their tests all about recall rather than about recognition.
I didn't see the "Total Recall" remake a year or two ago. I wonder if it was any good?
The original with Ahnold was cheesy and ultra-violent but pretty fun. It hasn't aged well, though. The remake, I hear, kept the essential ingredient of the three-boobed mutant woman, though!
I enjoyed the original Total Recall, but have no particular desire to see it again - original or remake.
Kent! Two words: "three" & "boobs"!
C'MON!
I've never seen it. I'm not crazy about the ultra-violent blow-'em-up genre, though I make exceptions if super-heroes or Starfleet are involved.
Then I bet you enjoyed Man of Steel despite all the destroyed buildings in the movie?
I didn't like that aspect of it, but I enjoyed the movie very much overall.
Same here. Too many movies these days are like video games: just blow things up and call it a plot.
I'm surprised at how many people and critics I'm hearing agree on the collateral damage issue. Happy too.
If only we could have gotten THIS DAMN THREAD into one of those buildings.
With our luck, this thread would have neatly survived all the explosions. Oh Superman, you careless hero you.
Dammit, this thread is the sequel's villain.
Man of Steel's star, Henry Cavill, is probably the best casting of the character ever, in my opinion, even better (barely) than Chris Reeve. Superman is very hard to cast. Brandon Routh didn't work too well. Tom Welling, Dean Cain, Kirk Allyn, George Reeves and Gerard Christopher were all decent. I will always have a very special spot in my heart for John Haymes Newton who played the role in the Superboy TV series in the late '80s. He had played the role with just a bit of cockiness. Except for Cavill, I would say Newton was the sexiest Kal-El.
I agree, I think Henry Cavill got Superman perfectly especially in the scenes where he deals with Earth's authorities. He has that sort of "I'm just indulging you but don't for one second think you can control me, you silly and stubborn man" attitude.
While I can see why you didn't care for Routh, he worked for me (perhaps more on subsequent viewings when it comes on cable so often). Even then though I like him better in other roles, so I've decided it wasn't his fault, but the director's.
That's it exactly, Ibby. Superman has to be a little bit cocky. He's Superman, for cryin' out loud. Cavill had it down. Newton, who was not the best actor, did cocky well. Dean Cain had his moments. Tom Welling was there occasionally, but there was too much WB/CW angst in that show. Chris Reeve was awesome, but his portrayal was just a little too self-effacing.
Maybe the director can kill this thread too.
That's it exactly, Ibby. Superman has to be a little bit cocky. He's Superman, for cryin' out loud. Cavill had it down. Newton, who was not the best actor, did cocky well. Dean Cain had his moments. Tom Welling was there occasionally, but there was too much WB/CW angst in that show. Chris Reeve was awesome, but his portrayal was just a little too self-effacing.
Just a little bit, I agree Rocky. it's a very nice mix between cockiness, self-confidence and humility because of his Smallville roots.
One reason I didn't like Smallville was because of all the angst. It just seemed like the bad parts of life greatly outweighed the good. Sadly, like a lot of other shows out there.
You know what just might kill this thread? Putting all this fine Man of Steel commentary in the Man of Steel thread instead.
I just know I'm going to want to check back and see "what was the brilliant comment Rocky made?" and won't find it because it's not actually under the subject.
But then I suspect this is a long-standing Legion World tradition.
"Kill This Thread" usually drifts into all sorts of crazy directions. That's the fun of it.
It might best be under a different thread, but it's stll on-topic for this particular thread
You mean via the wanton killing?
I always thought the word "wanton" sounded like "wonton". Why would you want to kill a wonton?
No Rocky, I'm afraid it's the wonton that kills you.
The Attack of the Killer Wontons. That may be an upcoming LMB story.
Way past time, I would say.
It's probably not the first time we've had a problem with sentient food.
Well we do have members who are sentient walls and whatnot. Food seems less of a stretch. Perhaps at the academy I missed the part of LMB history with villainous food?
I hate it when food goes bad.
The Legion of Spoiled Milk Products.
Ugh.
Milk, it does a body good.
Unless it's spoiled.
The aliens from "Alien Nation" would beg to differ!
And a series of comic books.
One of my favorite moments of the show was when George gives birth. It was odd, but very sweet.
I'm only passingly familiar with "Alien Nation" in its various forms, but that sounds vaguely reminiscent of "Enemy Mine" (of which I'm also only passingly familiar
).
Sadly, my knowledge of similar shows/films is limited to Men in Black, Star Trek and Star Wars.
I've never warmed to Star Wars. I don't know why. Star Trek, on the other hand is one of my very favorites.
Could it be because Star Wars originally started out as a finite series with a defined end? Or perhaps Star Trek is more "technological" and explores the new worlds and technology more?
I think it was because all the kids in my second and then third grade class were always going on and on about the original movie when it came out. It made me not want to see it. When I finally did, it was like "Oh. This is okay."
Reverse peer pressure
I'm a huge Star Trek fan but only mildly interested in Star Wars. I suppose it comes down to vicarious living: If I had to be a part of either universe, I'd rather be an officer in Starfleet than a rebel on the run.
Agreed, He Who. Trek, kind of like the Legion, gives hope for the future.
Speaking of, Star Wars is supposedly going to have sequels in the forms of Episodes 7, 8 and 9. I wonder how bright and shiny THAT future will be.
I liked AlienNation a lot. Strange that it's one of the SF shows that I don't hear anybody talk about anymore.
I have two cousins with whom I can discuss shows like Justice League. Sadly, the other one quotes entire conversations and scenes verbatim, so I avoid talking to him unless I've seen the episodes in question already.
Wow, family members that actually share an interest with you. Must be a luxury at holidays.
One holiday for which I never traveled as an adult is Thanksgiving Day. I traveled for Christmas most years, but never Thanksgiving. When my mom moved here a few years ago, it was the first time we spent Thanksgiving together for 20 years.
I usually only get to see my family once a year due to the distance and cost involved. We celebrate holidays with my wifes family.
My family has never travelled for Thanksgiving from when I was a child to adulthood. Christmas was an every year thing, though. Always going to NC to see my grands and the rest of the family. Since mom moved back there, I usually visit her right before or right after Christmas. Working in retail makes it super-tough to actually be there right at.
My Christmas travels were kind of unusual. Our choir sings at the 11 p.m. service on Christmas Eve, so I would stay up all night long and leave for Florida on the first flight out Christmas morning. I'd get to my folks' place in time for Christmas dinner and we would exchange gifts afterwards. This tradition, of course, ended when Mother moved here.
Do you call your mother "Mother", Rocks? I only bring this up because other characters on the new "Bates Motel" show often point out to Norman how odd it is that he calls Norma that.
I do.
I've called her that since I was about twelve. I don't remember deciding to call her that, but it just sort of works. I do know several other men who call their mothers "Mother", all of whom happen to be gay.
I've always been a "momma's" boy, myself!
The Boyfriend calls his mother "momma".
He also calls her "Bug", but that's quite another story.
It's amazing how we learn so much about each other while we're trying to kill a thread.
That's one of the reasons I love these. They're conversations that twist and turn in all sorts of directions.
Whereas we still don't know where the hell Ibby and Blaze want to vacation in the Know your Legion Worlders" thread!
I haven't done "Know Your Legion Worlders" in a long time. I guess there are some threads that just don't appeal to me.
I participate in that thread now and then.
I generally don't either, because if I get something right then I would have to ask a question about myself.
But lately, though not just in that thread mind you, the questions are of the "here's 20 _____, which three are ____" variety, so there's not really much danger of getting the answer right if you're just guessing.
And they do take time. It's like guessing a combination lock.
But some days you find yourself with nothing else to do.
I participate often. How could I not? I was the one who started the original thread way, way back!
I participated in the "Where am I?" thread a lot at the beginning, but it's hard to join that one when it's deep in progress. I especially don't like guessing the right answer after the other players have done all the real work. It's a fun thread , though. I'll have to catch it right after a round starts.
I suppose the "I'm Thinking Of An Animal" and "I'm Thinking of a Legion character" threads are much the same. Often those threads end up with only two players trading answers.
I have a few Spaceopoly threads I like and some I move in and out of. And there are two I used to participate in but dropped out of for personal reasons. But I still prticipate in more of them than Malvolio does.
I'm liking to 2 true 1 lie thread most lately on Spaceopoly, it moves pretty quick most of the time.
I pretty much like anything that has to do with wordplay or trivia. We have a lot of people who are great with words.
I think that is because so many of us read quite a bit
I suspect many posters here are ghost writers for Penthouse Forum. *cough* Pov *cough*
I am bizarrely bad at Scrabble.
you would think I would be good, considering how much I read, but my brain just dosn't work for Scrabble. I mean I am awful.
I've become fairly addicted to Words With Friends. I've played against a few Legion Worlders. I have a game going with Suddenly Seymour right now. He says he must be a "glutton for punishment" for playing me.
Pretty much all my older relatives play that. Sometimes we'll have a family reunion and all my aunts and uncles will be screaming and yelling while playing one another.
I'm rarely in the same room as the person I'm playing. I can only think of that happening once and it was odd enough that someone remarked on it.
My family can be a bit odd at times
I'd never have guessed.
I think Power Boy's arch nemesis will be named "Scrabble" ... something ..
"Sir Scrabble"
"Sire Scrabble"
"Supreme Scrabble Sorcerer"
"the Scrabbler"
Urban Dictionary gives that name a whole new meaning.
I had to use Urban Dictionary to look up some words Lardy and Virdie used in the "Completely Random" thread yesterday. As I said over there, better I learn these things on LW than on the streets. Or Facebook.
Yep, now Rocks is well-versed and prepared for convos about queefs and pearl necklaces!
I probably would have been fine not knowing.
Or finding out first hand....
Or having this conversation:
"Hey cute dude. I'm gonna give you a pearl necklace.
"Oh, cool thanks!"
I still would think of jewelry first.
In many ways, I'm very old-fashioned.
Nothing wrong with that, Rocky. Nothing wrong at all.
To make an Old Fashioned:
Place sugar cube in old fashioned glass and saturate with bitters, add a dash of plain water.
Muddle until dissolved.
Fill the glass with ice cubes and add whiskey.
Garnish with orange slice, and a cocktail cherry.
With the exception of a good margarita, I tend not to like sweet cocktails. I prefer my margaritas on the dry side.
I haven't had a margarita in years. I did have a martini recently (thanks, Ex) and loved it.
The secret to a good margarita i've found (beside fresh lime) is adding 1 part triple sec for every two parts tequila
I give up on margaritas because I can't find my lost shaker of salt.
There's a Mexican restaurant near me that makes incredible margaritas. Of course, they also make a lovely mole.
I miss making nachos and tacos. Mmmmmm.
As I think I've said in the nachos thread, I can't remember the last time I had nachos, but chili con queso (always called just "queso") is a staple with chips in these here parts.
No real staples here, besides the cheese. But I always like my nachos with yogurt, pickle relish, homemade taco beef, and homemade salsa (tomatoes and onions in a lemon-lime mixture).
A former colleague of mine from Canada told me that before moving to Texas, she had always called tortilla chips "taco chips". We all thought that was cute.
I sometimes get confused with tortillas. Some people use them to refer to the hard crunchy corn chips, while others use it to refer to the "soft" wrappers.
The chips are tortilla chips. They are made of fried tortillas, but shouldn't really be called tortillas on their own. Tortillas can be made of wheat flour (called "flour tortillas") or corn. They are soft when they are made, but can be fried to be crisp. Traditionally the corn tortillas are the ones that get fried. Some of my Mexican friends and colleagues could probably tell you a lot more.
I prefer corn tortillas as a rule. Flour tortillas don't have much flavor.
Ah, thanks for the explanation, Rocky. It's similar to wanton wrappers - they can be fried or steamed, but when they're fried it's more appropriate to call them wanton chips or fried wanton.
And I agree, corn over flour!
One of my first roommates was a chef and made his own corn tortillas (then deep fried to made chips) ALL the time.
Needless to say, but it was awesome!
When I worked in LA, I cooked for my housemates from time to time. The biggest hit was my fried chicken. I used a sweet mix for the breading.
My grandmother, who was born in Italy, made very good fried chicken, which she called "sutha fry chick".
...and then we have Kenyucky Fried Chicken
Fried chicken in the Philippines is usually eaten drowned in gravy.
I've never been much of a gravy person. I just never much cared for it.
I like it a lot, but my favorite condiment is ketchup. I'd eat potato chips dipped in ketchup!
When I was a teenager, my mom and I would park ourselves in front of Dr. Who every Saturday affernoon. We'd always have potato chips with clam dip. I haven't had (or, for that matter, seen) clam dip in years.
My favorite dip has always been cheese dip. I'm crazy for the taste of cheese.
Oh, gosh! The thing's I've forgotten from my childhood . . . and sometimes with good reason.
"Timer" was in a series of very annoying animated PSAs on ABC in the '70s.
I remember.
Funny how some kiddie educational things are remembered more fondly than others like, say, Schoolhouse Rock.
Ah, Schoolhouse Rock! Is it sad to say I learned more from
this clip than I did in Social Studies?
Thanks to Schoolhouse Rock, an entire generation of Americans can recite the Preamble to the Constitution--or at least sing it!
I also learned a lot from watching Captain Planet and the Planeteers! Certainly made me more conscious of the waste I was generating.
I like
this take on Captain Planet. There are four in the series, but I don't like the fourth installment particularly. The language in this gets a bit salty in these vids.
It's pretty awesome that some of the episodes are now available online. Ah, nostalgia's biting!
Captain Planet?
The problem with Captain Planet for me was that he was incredibly powerful, but the writers didn't have enough imagination with it. Now
this guy knows how to be omnipotent!
I always preferred the five separate kids ... except for the weird *heart* kid.
Captain Planet was better when it was called
Psi-Force!
The 5 Planeteers were exactly why I was watching the show. Agree with having them over Captain Planet. I never got into those old Japanese anime with the kids piloting giant mechas and then fusing them into one big robot.
The Wheeler/Linka relationship was kind of cute. The other three were kind of annoying.
What I didn't like was how they always treated Wheeler as the dumb useless kid, at least towards the beginning. He didn't have as much formal education as some of the others, so that was understandable. And his heart was in the right place, and his street smarts saved the group quite a few times.
Wheeler was supposed to be the character American kids could relate to, as they say. Some conservative groups protested because the American was the "dumb" one.
The problem with that was they only had one of the five be unfamiliar with all those concepts. It was like they implied that only the American kids would be out of their depth. Thankfully, he got more development in later seasons.
Yeah, when Hanna-Barbera took over the show, it changed to a lighter tone. The villains became less evil.
That's Hanna-Barbera for you. Although the rebooted Scooby-Doo franchise is decidedly darker in tone.
I don't get the appeal of Scooby-Doo. The original was okay, but it got progressively worse. The less said about Scrappy the better. Now, it's just overplayed.
It just has that inexplicable x-factor that makes it succeed where a Speed Buggy or a Hong Kong Phooey ultimately fail. I really can't explain it, especially how it endured after crappier versions of it were rolled out.
Neither can I. Maybe the 5 original cast members were just more memorable than those of similar cartoon series (Scooby preceded Josie and the Pussycats, Speed Buggy, Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels...)
I have a soft spot for The New Scooy-Doo movies, each of which was an hour-long episode that featured either a (then) living real-life celebrity (such as Sonny and Cher or the Three Stooges) , or guests from a different cartoon (including Batman and Robin, and Josie and the Pussycats!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Scooby-Doo_MoviesMaybe it's because the Sonny and Cher episode was the very first cartoon I ever remember watching.
The development of Saturday morning cartoons in the late '60s and early '70s is really interesting.
In 1966, The Impossibles featured characters who were a rock band and were also super-heroes.
In 1968, The Archie Show featured characters who had a rock band, but were also just sort of normal teenagers.
In 1969, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? featured a group of teens who solved mysteries. It was originally to be called Mysteries Five in which the characters would have indeed been a rock band.
In 1970, Josie and the Pussycats featured a group of teens who solved mysteries, some of whom were in a rock band. Two years later they traveled into outer space in a rocket ship that looked like a barber pole.
Teens who solve mysteries. Don't even get me started on how many Hanna-Barbera produced!
Besides Scooby-Doo and Josie and the Pussycats, we have The Funky Phantom, The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan, Speed Buggy, Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kids, Goober and the Ghost Chasers, Clue Club, Jabberjaw, Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels and The New Shmoo.
The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan featured the voice of Keye Luke as Charlie Chan, the only actor of Chinese descent to play the role.
There would later be a series called the
Jackie Chan Adventures featuring a fitcionalized Jackie Chan as an amateur archeologist.
In the Doctor Who episode "Utopia", there is a character bamed Chantho who is from a planet where one must say the first part of one's name at the start of speaking and the last part at the end. When asked what would happen if she didn't, she replied "Chan, that would be rude, tho."
Chan is a fairly common Chinese surname. I had three classmates named Chan, none of whom were related.
My surname is so unusual that when my mother moved to Houston the number of people with it in the city doubled.
I never thought your last name was so unusual.
I mean, maybe it is where you live, but probably not, say, in New England.
There are more people with my name in Massachusetts than in any other state. I know there are also fair numbers in New Hampshire, Ohio and Virginia. I don't know if I'm related to any of those folks. Even in those places, it's not a common name.
And for those not in the know, Rocks' last name is...
"Lad", of course!
I said it was unusual. One rarely meets a Mr. or Ms. Lad.
Two Ds. Alan Ladd, too.
I'm watching Ducktales now, and Scrooge McDuck's accent is just so dang fun to listen to when he says laddie and lassie.
Scotty on Star Trek used to say "laddie," too.
Somewhere on YouTube is a video of a guy reciting the theme to Ducktales in Sir Ian McKellen's voice. It's a little bit of awesome.
The real Sir Ian is pretty awesome, too.
I remember my friends all going, "Magneto is gay in real life?!"
Yeah geniuses, and so is Barney Stinson!
When I was growing up, there were very few out LGBT people. Most of the celebrities who were gay were not really open about who they were (think Liberace). It's so good to so many now.
I'm just glad that society is slowly becoming more open - though of course different countries open up at different rates. Over here, majority of the "out" LGBT people are the ones who fit the media stereotypes - loud, promiscuous, and so on.
That's where the US was when I was coming out in the early '90s. The news reports about the pride parade always showed the leather queens, the drag queens and the lesbians in the rolling brass bed.
I barely know any lesbians here. I don't know if it's because there are only a few, or because the gay community doesn't mix with the lesbian one. For that matter, I don't generally mix with the gay community besides my posse of gay friends, so I wouldn't know.
But then, whenever Blaze and I hit the "gayest beach in the Philippines", all we see are gay dudes and hetero couples. Haven't noticed any lesbians.
It's my experience that lesbians and gay men often don't move in the same circles.
My church is a good example. We have a lot of openly gay men, but relatively few lesbians.
I'm reminded of a Modern Family episode, where the gay couple are horrified to find that the parents of a child they had antagonized for bullying their own child were lesbians. They explained why:
Gay men and straight men = have their biological sex in common
Gay men and straight women = have their sexual preference in common
Gay men and lesbian women = have nothing in common
Modern Family is one of those shows that I like but always forget about. When I got rid of cable several months ago, I watch more TV shows online than on TV.
I rarely watch series, as it can be time-consuming to have to catch every episode. I prefer either watching movies, or marathoning a particular series.
What did we do before DVD and net streaming?
I watched a whole lot less tv!
I lived on cassette tapes. Not that I had much time to watch TV when I was younger. School, school, school. I spent my summers memorizing the dictionary.
I VHS-recorded a LOT! It was the only way I could keep up with my shows working in retail. Lots more options now!
I wish we'd been able to move our favorite shows on VHS to digital. The nostalgia bug's biting me hard.
I have a bunch of VHS tapes with a bunch of shows on them. I haven't used my VCR in at least seven years.
I can't even find my old VCR anymore! Boy, technology sure changes fast.
I took a couple video editing classes in high school and college ...
ha!
Philosophy is seeming pretty damn useful now isn't it!!!!!!!
Philosophy is always useful. Lucrative, no. Useful, yes.
PhD = Piled higher and Deeper.
Same with the MBA. A lot of MBA fairs offer guides on how to ensure you'll get a good ROI from the MBA tuition and costs.
My master's is an MLIS. I love (and by love, I mean hate) when people ask "Do you really need a master's degree for that?".
People just don't appreciate that other fields of study can require years of training and experience.
My master's hood has lemon velvet and green and gold satin. It looks like some sort of advertisement for Sprite.
Maybe they can put you in a commercial that goes, "Sprite makes you smarter."
My master's is an MLIS. I love (and by love, I mean hate) when people ask "Do you really need a master's degree for that?".
By the hoary hosts of hogath ...
yes! I was filing recently and had to use the dewey decimal system.
it is great once you get used to it but ... i have trouble when something could be in two places ... like "British History" ....
so I just find wherever has more room.
My master's is an MLIS. I love (and by love, I mean hate) when people ask "Do you really need a master's degree for that?".
H8ERS GONNA H8
like their jobs or degrees are so important. (shows how little they know about the subject)
someone asked me recently about my degree and said he didnt even know there was such a thing. i almost said "that dosnt surprise me" or "should you?" or something horribly pithy because he was a stump.
there are PhDs in library science too, most librarians at university (i think) have them and have to do research and publish the same way a professor does.
omg dont get me started library science is so great!
frankly, i think every academic needs a strong back ground in library science ..... mmm hmmm ...
Same with the MBA. A lot of MBA fairs offer guides on how to ensure you'll get a good ROI from the MBA tuition and costs.
bleh! this makes more sense with an MBA but i still find it gross.
everything dosnt have a monetary value and economics isnt the most important thing. great programs that contribute to ... human knowledge and culture .. have to waste time with beuracratic marketing ...
grrr!
Glad to see you're a library fan, Peebz.
PhDs in library science are kind of rare. Most often folks who have them teach in library science programs or are directors of large library systems.
Speaking of libraries, my wife often borrows digital books from the local library to read on her Kindle. Often (especially with popular books like the Song of Ice and Fire series), she has to go on waiting lists until she can get those books. My question, Rocks, is: if they're digital, why would there be ANY waiting list at all? Couldn't the library lend as many copies as a digital book as it wanted to, theoretically?
My theory is that this is to keep the basic library tenet of loaning out one copy at a time (unless there are multiples) and possibly a deal they have with digital booksellers to insure that limited copies available will still encourage people to buy their own. I figure there's something in the digital book-lending program that allows it to be loaned to one reader at a time that can't be overridden.
Any insight Rocks can give regarding this would be interesting to me!
It's actually a licensing issue. The library only owns so many licenses for the electronic texts and so only a certain number of patrons may access a given e-book at a time. It's all part of an evil plot from publishers to make more money.
Money makes the world go round... the only reason my family wants me to get an MBA is so I can get higher-ranking jobs with higher salaries. Not that it's a bad thing, but if I do get a Master's I'd want it to be in something that really interests me.
My father told me I had a choice of two careers: doctor or lawyer. I told him I didn't want either.
I don't think "librarian" crossed his mind.
Rocks are you a crazy organizer in your daily life?
'cause I am!
I once organized all my comics by title and issue number ... but not subject ....
I'm an example of organized chaos. I write things down, but my notes are ordered such that only I can understand them!
I organized my cookbooks last weekend.
The papers on my desk, on the other hand...
Perhaps we're the type, LT, who only organize the things that are truly meaningful to us?
I don't often buy books. I usually check them out of the library. Cookbooks, on the other hand, I buy because I use them again and again. My current favorite is Peg Bracken's I Hate to Cook Book. It's held up remarkably well for a cookbook from the early '60s.
My go to is Betty Crocker's ... damn that is some stable s&^t!
I do a lot of my cooking from Cooking Light magazine. I've been subscribing for over 14 years and there have been some great recipes in there, and every month, here come some new ones.
Lately I've been organizing "out" the older issues.
Betty Crocker was not a real person. She was invented by General Mills (also not a real person).
Duncan Hines, on the other hand, was a real person.
I either just download recipes onto my IPOD, or make/customize from scratch. My favorite part of cooking is taste-testing as I go along.
I know someone who refuses to taste while he's cooking. He doesn't believe it's necessary. While he's not a bad cook, his food is often very bland.
I usually follow the recipe, but I prefer tasting it every so often just to be sure. My idea of tasty food may be different from that of whomever wrote the recipe.
Some of the dishes my family and friends liked the most were the result of me experimenting with my own mixes.
That one person is very much the exception. Every other good cook I know tastes food while cooking as appropriate.
my grandma dosn't really measure ... and people always ask her for her recipes and she has to make something up because she does it all according the moment when she is cooking.
I kind of am starting to do the same, adapting recipes to what I like, or just learning to cook with what I have in my cupboards and mixing it all together. I think I am getting pretty good!
I often write down my recipes after the fact - if my family clamors for me to make it again, then I'll write it down. But good luck getting me to follow the recipe exactly the next time!
Although I like to experiment, I also like following recipes. I think that's one of the reasons why I like baking.
Baking! Now that's something where you have to be extremely precise. Adding just 1/8 of a teaspoon too much of an ingredient can have disastrous effects on your product.
two apple pies are baking in the oven.
One turns to the other and says, 'is it hot in here, or is it me?'
The other one replies, "holy ----! A talking apple pie!'
"Pi r squared"
"Pie are not squared. Pie are round."
Who says pie can't be square? I'll bake em that way if I want to!
Round,
Like a circle in a spiral,
Like a wheel within a wheel,
Never ending or beginning,
On an ever spinning reel,
Like a snowball down a mountain,
Or a carnival balloon,
Like a carousel that's turning,
Running rings around the moon.
Like a clock whose hands are sweeping
Past the minutes of its face
And the world is like an apple
Whirling silently in space
Like the circles that you find
In the windmills of your mind !
"I am in shape. Round is a shape."
"The Windmills of Your Mind" from The Thomas Crowne Affair won the 1968 Academy Award for best song.
That award was first given to "The Continental" from 1934's The Gay Divorcee, the second movie to feature Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
It's time for us to get smart and use the windmills in our minds as renewable energy sources.
Would that be Alanis Morisette's sequel to "Ironic"? Do you think she'd do this concept better justice than she did Irony?
I think the music from
Man of La Mancha got the concept of "quixotic" best.
can you sing us an example?
I wonder what a musical about Quis ("Quisotic"?) would entail.....
I just had a visual of Belinda singing "Memory" from
Cats.
Why don't you join her in a duet? Come on, sing for us!
When will we see a musical about Penguins?
Perhaps...we could do one musical starring Quis & Belinda and Rocks & Hyvvie!
With Blok the pet rock making a special appearance!
The Hyvster and I could probably do a great rendition of "Suppertime" from You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.
I like Hywie better than Snoopy! Hywie's more heroic!
B-but Snoopy took on the Red Baron!
Hyvvie's name might have been Snoopy, had I not casually said "Hyfrydol" to a friend who said "You should name your dog that." She knew I was planning to adopt a dog. "Hyfrydol" is a Welsh hymn tune. In Welsh, a single F is pronounced V. Anyway, when it became obvious that the name needed to be shorter, "Hyvvie" (rhymes with "divvy" or "privy", not with "ivy") won out.
^ And Rowland Prichard would be proud!
When Anglicans Online published a
list of their readers' favorite hymns last year, Hyvvie's picture was featured. He's on number three, all the way to the right.
Haven't heard of any of those hymns. I guess your church's repertoire is a lot different from those of southern Baptists! Don't recognize any of them from my years in HS and college choirs either.
Yes, the Episcopal Church has a lot of its own hymnody, most of which is English in origin. Of course, it shares a lot with other churches. Baptists have a lot of their own as well. I expect Tracker could speak to it better than I.
Yes, the Episcopal Church has a lot of its own hymnody, most of which is English in origin. Of course, it shares a lot with other churches. Baptists have a lot of their own as well. I expect Tracker could speak to it better than I.
Six of the hymns from the 2012 list have been in my Baptist repertoire most of my life, and we sing them in my church now. I'm familiar with the rest, but then church music has been my education and career.
Six more songs from the 2003 list are staples in my congregation. We'll sing "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind" this Sunday. We rarely sing it, but I love the text.
When I was a kid, a Southern Baptist could visit almost any Southern Baptist church anywhere and would know the songs used in worship. Not so true today. Some churches use classic hymns (like Rocky's church), others use Southern Gospel, some use Christian rock music, jazz, country--almost any style. And with a growing ethnic diversity we have those flavors too.
We like to mix it up in my congregation.
"Dear Lord and Father of Mankind" is one of my favorites, sung to "Repton", of course. The last verse is listed on my favorite quotes on Facebook.
Rocky, we sing "Dear Lord and Father" to REST (ELTON). I'd never heard REPTON. Checked it out on YouTube; nice tune!
From my days as a young lad, I recall "At the Cross" and "Softly and Tenderly" among others.
Neither of those are in our hymnal, Lardy. They're both pretty songs, though.
We've reached our choir's summer hiatus (four Sundays off). I keep thinking "What's tomorrow's anthem?" and then I remember there isn't one.
Hope you don't forget to show up when choir hiatus ends!
I shan't, though today I'm heathing, also known as offering the Office of Supine at the Parish Church of St. Mattress and the Recliner.
I was so exhausted this weekend that I just napped almost all day Sunday myself.
I did get up this afternoon to do fifty minutes on the elliptical at the YMCA.
I hope to sleep in Tuesday and Wednesday--2 days off in a row! YEAH!
I used up all but one of my vacation leaves already
Although 8 of those were filed for 2014, and 7 of those I will use in November 2013.
I'll be taking some time off in August. The Boyfriend and I have a weekend away planned. After that, my grandniece is coming for a visit. She'll be staying with my mother (her great-grandmother), but I'll be chauffeur. Also, I'll be getting a visit from a certain Legion Worlder. I have a fiftieth wedding anniversary party for some church friends to attend. My birthday is also in August.
Talk about eventful. I got nothing in August except for some long weekends where I have nothing planned yet!
Want to be my grandniece's chauffeur?
If you'll spring for my airfare, why not?
And after she's done visitng I might as well stay a couple more weeks and hit SanFo, Vegas and NYC!
Umm...you know that I don't live particularly close to any of those places, right?
I know, but since I'm already gonna be on the mainland USA might as well make the most of it!
I've been to 29 of the 50 states. The last one I added to the list was Minnesota in 2008.
I've only been to 3, plus Washington DC. And even then, I was only in the 3rd state for half a day.
Very often when people make their lists they say not to count a state if you've only been to the airport. I disagree; however, there are no such states currently on my list.
MO and MN are my two airport-only states. In MN I did get outside of the terminal, but did not leave the grounds.
Arizona is the state I have spent the least amount of time in, even less than MO. STU and I drove down from Vegas to the Hoover Dam in Abin's rental minivan. We drove to the AZ side, parked, walked back into NV across the dam to the visitors' center, returned, took some picks, and drove back to Vegas. 20-30 minutes tops in AZ.
I don't count states I've only flown over (that would add Vermont, Missouri, New Mexico, Arizona and, I believe, Iowa). There are a few I've only been through on the way somewhere else. I don't think I actually got out of the vehicle in New Jersey (multiple times), Mississippi, Indiana or Delaware. Delaware is interesting, because that vehicle was a train.
Our discussion of states makes me realize even more just how MASSIVE the USA is compared to, say, the Philippines or even mainland Southeast Asia. Of course, Southeast Asia has several islands which make travel more costly and time-consuming.
I've never been to Asia. I've been to Europe twice. I don't see any international travel in my near future, alas.
I haven't been to Europe yet, so that makes us even
Hoping to get there in a couple of years though, once air connections from here improve.
And after that, South America.
Most South American countries are Spanish-speaking. The main exceptions are Brazil (Official language: Portuguese), Guyana (English) and Suriname (Dutch). French Guiana, which is not actually a country, but rather an overseas region of France, of course, has French as its official language.
Guyana is the only South American country without a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Guyana was once British Guiana. Suriname was Dutch Guiana. French Guiana was French Guiana, oddly enough.
Venezuela also has a Guayana region, and Portuguese Guiana is now Brazilian Guiana.
Time for a musical break!
Enjoy this toe-tapper from
Sergio Mendes and Brasil '66. 
Oh, Brazil. I want to go to Brazil and Peru within the next five years. I'm already saving up. Hopefully two weeks will be enough.
To save up? You'll probably need longer.
Not if I set up a Michael Fitt-like website featuring myself and Blaze
Seriously though, with Brazil being such a big country, and considering how difficult it is to get to Machu Picchu in Peru, I'm wondering if I can squeeze everything I want to do into just two weeks. (Just flying there and back would take almost 2 days!)
Hmm. Ibby Fitt. Blaze Fitt. I can totally see it.
sounds like a lot for two weeks, Ibby. Peru and Chile might be a better combo for that timeframe.
Thanks, Kent. I'd love to see Chile as well. I'm off to search for flights then, though I think Brazil might be easier to get to from the Philippines. On the other hand, my main destinations for Brazil would be on the eastern side (Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro)... hmm, maybe a Chile-Peru would side trips to the Amazon and Salar de Uyuni (in Bolivia) trip would be more doable. Expand to 3-4 weeks... I have a lot of reading up to do to see if that's viable
Hmm. Ibby Fitt. Blaze Fitt. I can totally see it.
Someone's getting a free membership for that compliment
I tried to do Brazil and Peru ... but I liked Brazil so much I extended my stay skipped Peru.
You can skip SP, It is incredible but takes a friend to show you around or a long time to get to know.
You could spend your whole life exploring the rest though. I like Rio a lot and it was easy. I've heard Salvador is cool too.
I didn't make the Amazon ... but I assume that is about a week.
I think Machu Pichu in Peru takes some time too.
If you are on a time constraint ... I would just hit Rio or somewhere during carnavale and hit the amazon. There are some nice smaller towns on the coast too.
I have an Amazon Prime account. I order enough stuff that it pays for itself with the free shipping.
Thanks Peebz! Machu Picchu can take 3-4 days I've read. Ruins themselves are just a day, it's getting there that takes time.
Sigh. I'm starting to get the money but I don't know how I'll get the time to stay there for that long.
Actually, Machu Picchu is my #1 priority in South America. So any trip to that continent will center around getting me to that lost city!
Rocky: only thing I've ever bought online was a set of portable luggage weighting scales for my extended family. Many of us travel a lot (though hardly any of us have been to South America) so it was useful.
I bought my luggage at Target several years ago. Before that, what I had was some mismatched hand-me-downs.
My wife and I do quite a bit of shopping online
My wife and I do quite a bit of shopping online
I mostly shop for plane tickets online.
I think it's been at least ten years since I bought a plane ticket any other way.
I only purchase when budget airlines hold sales. Otherwise the tickets would eat up more than half my monthly income.
Alas, it's expensive everywhere. I'd love to travel more, but I'm trying not to spend money.
Saving up for something in particular, or just saving up? I'm actually just saving up now, though I allot a portion of my income towards travel.
Nothing in particular. I'm just trying to be more frugal. "Frugal" is such a cool word.
Not as cool as "frogurt"!
The frogurt is also cursed!
Have you seen any frogurt ghosts recently?
I had to look that up. I like The Simpsons, but I've missed a lot of episodes.
Every time I see a blue sky with a few clouds, I think of The Simpson's intro.
I love that Simpsons frogurt quote for some reason! Such a goofy send-up of Gremlins in a way.
Now I'm reminded of the various Treehouse of Horror specials! Those were quite a hoot.
I remember when the Simpsons were just those cute cartoons shown on The Tracy Ullman Show. Just hand me my cane and my Geritol and start playing some Lawrence Welk. I feel old.
I remember when the Simpsons were just those cute cartoons shown on The Tracy Ullman Show. Just hand me my cane and my Geritol and start playing some Lawrence Welk. I feel old.
I remember, too! Pretty sure the Simpsons are older than Ibby!
I look at my youngest cousins now, some of whom are two decades younger than me, and I feel old too.
I mentioned Lawrence Welk to some folks in their mid-20s. They'd never heard of him.
I'm sorry, I've never heard of him either (although I am in my mid-20s too!)
Look him up on Wikipedia.
Lawrence Welk's show is remembered by a lot of people as something their grandparents liked. I didn't mind the music so much as I minded that the show looked thrown together.
When I was a young'un, on Saturday nights my family watched Lawrence Welk, followed by Hee Haw. What an odd juxtaposition that was. Perhaps it explains why neither of the musical genres from those shows are my favorites.
I feel like killing SOMETHING. Good thing this thread is conveniently located here.
p.s. LT ... Those shows sound like torture. Better double check the statute of limitations on torture ... otherwise your fam might be in trouble.
One thing I did pick up from reading about Lawrence Welk was he always picked top quality musicians to play.
I remember having trouble sleeping as a kid because my folks would listen to musiclas like Les Miserables or Phantom of the Opera, or artists like Patti... Patti... I forgot her name. Some of those songs were very sad and dramatic, hence the difficulty.
The last time I saw an episode of The Lawrence Welk Show was in 2002. The year before, a friend of mine who always had a party on Kentucky Derby day had moved away. I had another friend over to watch the Derby and, as our friend had done, we made mint juleps. Mint juleps go down so smoothly, you don't really notice when you're getting drunk. Then the Derby came on and, two minutes later, was over. There it was, Saturday afternoon at about 5:30 and my friend and I are both totally plastered with nothing to do and nowhere to go. So, we start channel surfing and find the Welk show on our local PBS station. The show never made so much sense in my life!
And you remember all the details with such clarity! I'd be hard-pressed to do the same for anything that happened a decade ago!
I remember that friend moving in 2001. It was the next year, so that part was easy. The mint juleps were awfully good, though. We had a pizza delivered because neither of us could drive. I forget what we did later, but my friend may have crashed on my couch that night.
My folks don't like it when I crash on the couch overnight. They say my sweat soaks into the cushions.
That was my old Futon couch. I now have one from Ikea. I often go to Ikea to see my furniture in its natural habitat.
I went to IKEA Sunday afternoon. Didn't buy a thing.
For those who've been to IKEA, are the meatballs really al that?
I don't eat beef or pork, but my friends who have eaten the meatballs all like them. Ikea does have very good coffee. I've gone there just to get a cup.
Thanks Rocky!
I love meatballs. Whenever we make spaghetti and meatballs I eat the sauce and cheese and leave off the spaghetti.
I've never had an IKEA meatball, which seems to be the only product they have with an English name.
And the only product they have that doesn't come with instructions (or do they actually have instructions for how to eat a meatball?)
That reminds me of the part in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books where someone goes insane because of the instructions on a toothpick packet.
But they have to put those instructions there! Otherwise someone who stabs their gums by accident might sue!
In the Narnia books, when Susan is called by a nickname, it's spelled "Su" rather than the more usual "Sue".
I'm a fan of the Narnia books.
I liked Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series, which is basically an atheist's version of Narnia (ironic since I'm not an atheist).
Aslan is the only character who appears in all seven Narnia books.
Lucy and Edmund Pevensie both appear in five.
Caspian appears in four.
Peter and Susan Pevensie, Eustace Scrubb and Digory Kirke appear in three each.
I love how most of the main characters from previous books who are from the "real world" appear in the finale. It's a very interesting twist.
The Last Battle is my favorite ... I have read it several times.
I liked Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series, which is basically an atheist's version of Narnia (ironic since I'm not an atheist).
I didn't find the CS Lewis books that churchy.
like ... at all. but I know his other books are.
Oh, I'm not saying Lewis's books were churchy. I have no idea if they are or not. I watched the first Narnia movie and parts of the second, and they do seem to reflect a very strong Christian and conservative worldview. Aslan is clearly a Christ-like figure. Also, the child heroes seem to reflect an idealized version of kids with few if any negative traits. (I'm recalling these points from memory, so I don't have any examples to support them.)
Lyra Belacqua, the young hero of Pullman's books, would have been out of place in Lewis's world. She's clever and resourceful, but can also lie and manipulate. (She eventually acquires the name Lyra Silvertongue.) The use of daemon familiars in her world seems drawn from pagan concepts.
None of this means that Pullman's stories are better or worse than Lewis's or that one series is more churchy than the other. But they approach their imagined worlds from very different perspectives.
I don't think "churchy" is a word I would apply to Narnia, either.
There are few overt references to Christianity at all. There are a few places where it's implied, such as when the Pevensies are told they will not return to Narnia and Aslan tells them they need to know him by his other name in their world. Another is at the very end of the final book where Aslan "no longer looks like a Lion."
The only real direct reference to Jesus (whom Aslan represents) is in The Last Battle when Lucy comments about the world within the stable, saying “In our world too, a Stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world,” referring to the Nativity.
I think HWW would enjoy reading the Narnia books. Recommend!
The best part is they're generally stand-alone. You can read Book 1 and stop there, and not feel compelled to finish the next 6 books.
Narnia fans usually have an opinion on which order the books are presented. The current U.S. publisher, HarperCollins, is under the impression that the books should be read in order of the series' internal chronology, which puts The Magician's Nephew first. I personally feel that The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, having been written first and having been written for the reader who had no knowledge of Narnia and Aslan, is a better starting point.
I agree with you, Rocky. Reading the books in that order gives one a lot of nice A-HA moments. When I was reading the Magician's Nephew I thrilled at all the references to books which were published earlier.
When they started making the movies, some American readers were confused as to why LWW was first. The drama of the books is lost by placing The Magician's Nephew first, I think.
Oh I am completely the opposite ... I have to read them in the internal chronological order. I feel like they really give the sense of their different time periods .. the Magician's Nephew is more abstract, more mysterious and develops the time period it is set in much more ... which I really like.
The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe could almost be from any point in history. As could the Last Battle.
^ Agree with Rocky and Ibby!
You are all welcome to read them in the wrong order!
The current publisher bases its numbering according to internal chronology on a letter CS Lewis wrote to a young reader, telling him he could read them in that order if he wanted. Whether Lewis actually wanted them to be read in one order or another is up for debate.
Of course, one of the favorite topics of conversation among Narnia fans is what happens to Susan in The Last Battle? Neil Gaiman wrote a short story that addresses it, but I didn't care much for his take on it.
My wife bought a set of the Narnia books several years ago. I intended to read them all as well to, I suppose, fill that Harry Potter void. I read The Magician's Nephew first (as per the order indicated by the set) and was completely unimpressed, so much so that I didn't continue reading the series.
I'm fairly certain I read LWW when I was a kid and enjoyed it. But I found the writing style, plot and characters of TMN so terrible that I was turned off reading further.
I realize that those books were written for children and that you have to take that into account when you read these. But as it is, I'm surprised I even managed to finish TMN. It even turned me off of an inkling I had to read the Oz books.
I don't know that if I had chosen to read LWW first that I would have felt differently. I kind of doubt it because all of those elements of TMN were such a complete misfire for me.
I feel the same way about LOTR. I realize that it was groundbreaking in terms of plot for its time, but once I reached the Tom Bombadil part I found the writing style so cumbersome that I didn't bother finishing the book.
I was watching trailers when I went to see a movie in the theater recently ...
and I thought ... I wish this movie was a Harry Potter movie.
I'm with Ibby on LOTR. It just never lived up to the hype for me.
Although the Harry Potter movies left a lot of scenes out, I find they kept most of the essentials. I have few complaints of the pacing in the movies.
I read the LotR trilogy between the first and second films. Wasn't in love with them but didn't hate them either. I'd say I moderately enjoyed them. Couldn't BELIEVE how long it took for the four hobbits to reach "The Prancing Pony" in FotR after they left the Shire! It was only a few minutes screen-time!
Overall, the HP movies were adapted rather well. I initially had lots of problems with the cuts in PoA-on, but I'm mostly okay with them now. EXCEPT for the decision to leave out the significance of Harry's patronus being a stag! It's the single most unforgiveable cut in all those films, imo, because it robs the book of what I feel was its defining moment!!!
I was especially pleased by the 2-part adaptation of Deathly Hallows, though, and find myself enjoying each re-watch of them tremendously. This is despite the fact that it bugs me that Pettigrew's fate is mysteriously missing.
The final fate of Pettigrew is a very important part of his character, IMO. It shows that he's not all THAT bad and gives some insight into why he originally joined You-Know-Who; maybe if he'd been shown more kindness as a child he wouldn't have turned. Who knows.
I also preferred the two-part Deathly Hallows movie to the preceding ones. Splitting Deathly Hallows into two allowed for better pacing!
The Potter series was great fun. Of course, the kids at one library I managed called me "Voldemort" because I'm bald and they thought I was mean because I enforced the rules.
If only they realized how cute you are! Too cute to be Voldemort, for sure.
Aww, thanks, Ibby, but Ralph Fiennes is certainly cute too.
Do you get all weak in the knees when you see him, Rocky?
Not exactly, but he certainly is cute and he played Voldemort.
I'm watching Jason Isaacs in Awake now! Also a Harry Potter alum.
The Potter series was great fun. Of course, the kids at one library I managed called me "Voldemort" because I'm bald and they thought I was mean because I enforced the rules.
HA HA! smart ass kids!!! I would have Avada Kedavra'd them all!!!!
muahahahahahahaha!
So it is YOU who is the real Voldemort!
The Potter series was great fun. Of course, the kids at one library I managed called me "Voldemort" because I'm bald and they thought I was mean because I enforced the rules.
HA HA! smart ass kids!!! I would have Avada Kedavra'd them all!!!!
muahahahahahahaha!
How do you know I didn't?
*surreptitiously unfriends Rocky on Facebook, so Rocky can't track me down to Avada Kedavra ME!*
I see there will be some friendly competition for the title of Voldemort!
*surreptitiously unfriends Rocky on Facebook ...
now that's evil.
*surreptitiously unfriends Rocky on Facebook, so Rocky can't track me down to Avada Kedavra ME!*
Or so you think...
*gasp* why do I hear something moving in the next room?!
And I'm not kidding around!
![[Linked Image]](http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5476/9449379019_207015e8e5.jpg)
My, what a big wand you have!
It's only as big as it needs to be.
That particular wand also has sound effects.
I wish I had a wand. Last time I took a "Harry Potter" pic I had to use a pen.
Of course I come in and you all are talking about wands in a way that makes them sound like vibrators.
I did see a vibrating pen once. I have no idea why anyone would want a pen that vibrates though.
Years ago, a library colleague was attempting to tell patrons to turn their cell phones on vibrate, but instead said (loudly) "please turn on your..." , well, you figure it out.
Like my friend who went up to call a colleague to come down from his room for lunch; and when she came back down she innocently said loudly, "Oh, he'll be down as soon as he's done jerking off!"
She honestly had no idea.
That reminds me of the time my grandmother said that my cousins' cat had been "knocked up". She didn't realize what they had said was not a polite term.
On the rare occasions I set my cell phone on vibrate, it always startles me when it goes off in my pocket.
Children's author Richard Scarry wrote a little story about two brothers "Pig Will and Pig Won't", a sort of porcine version of "Goofus and Gallant". At the end of the story, Pig Won't has a change of heart and becomes known as Pig Me Too.
Pig Me Too.
Sounds like a euphemisim for forcefeeding.
Richard Scarry's surname, I believe, is pronounced as "scarry" (as in "covered with scars"). Some sources rhyme it with "tarry". As far as I know, it is not pronounced "scary."
Unlike Casper's friend
Hairy Scary, whose name is definitely pronounced "Scary".
Hairy Scary was made up for the late '70s cartoon. He wasn't in the Famous Studios shorts nor in Harvey Comics.
Hairy Scary was made up for the late '70s cartoon. He wasn't in the Famous Studios shorts nor in Harvey Comics.
[wondering if Rocky just knows this stuff, or if he's using his librarian super-powers.]
I know all sorts of things.
Including some things which I think would surprise us!
There are some things one knows about, but does not discuss.
Like who the heck left the toilet seat up!
I wasn't going to discuss it.
Oh, Nam'Lor.
I went away for the weekend. The toilet where I'm staying is lower than my toilet at home.
Have you tried a squat toilet before? You'd need plenty of tissue paper and leg muscle stamina.
I'll take your word for it.
This thread has gone to the toilet. It should die.
For some reason, I hate when people call the toilet the "john".
Can we kill the thread for reminding you that people do call toilets "johns"?
I don't think I'd let a poor thread die just for that.
Man! People who are named "John" have to live with their names being associated with toilets, hooker clientele and breakups-by-mail! Good thing no one here has that name!
Only those who live in the tony parts of town!
Tony--now there's a name with some unfortunate associations: Tony Orlando, Tony Danza . . .
The Florida State Prison is located just outside Starke.
In the Game of Thrones, House Stark is severely decimated following the Red Wedding.
I've never seen Game of Thrones. I'm not sure I have the time to invest in watching it from the beginning.
Neither do I. Most of what I know, I got from Blaze or other people who do watch.
There are a lot of shows on now that I'd probably enjoy, but I just don't have time for. Since I ditched cable (and my DVR) several months ago, I do most of my TV-watching online.
I myself prefer shows with generally stand-alone episodes, so I don't feel the pressure of having to catch each and every episode.
I prefer the short high quality series. 6 great episodes and a story resolved in a season.
Brevity is the soul of wit... though long-running series that are well-written can be fun too. But sometimes it's painful to watch writers struggling while they are visibly running out of ideas.
Of course, I was a fan of Guiding Light, which, when it went off the air four years ago had, between radio and television, been in production for 72 years.
I am a big fan of the Wheel of Time series, which took 14 books and almost two decades to complete.
Wheel of Fortune first aired in 1975. Neither Pat nor Vanna were on it yet.
Of course, I was a fan of Guiding Light, which, when it went off the air four years ago had, between radio and television, been in production for 72 years.
Did you listen/watch it from the beginning?
No, but my great-grandmother did. I was a fourth-generation fan.
My grandma likes watching anime. We used to watch Samurai X together. She was about 60 at the time.
I've never quite warmed to anime. I think those big eyes just creep me out.
The spiky hair isn't much better, either.
I always wanted to have spiky hair. Unfortunately, it started to thin before I could try it. Now I just don't have hair.
You could try a wig instead.
Why cover up perfection?
Some people might not be able to handle it!
That's their problem.
Oh Rocky, you're so heartless!
I've heard of bald eagles, but bald penguins...?
I'm sure Rocky still has some nice feathers elsewhere.
The LMBer Rockhopper Lad is covered completely with feathers. The real-life Rockhopper Lad shaves his head and has a goatee.
One out of two ain't bad.
A girl I knew in middle school would often say "I'm ain't dumb." She never convinced me.
Maybe English wasn't her first language
(I'm an apologist!) A lot of international beauty pageants have that issue. Some contestants argue that they're just as intelligent as their English-speaking counterparts and shouldn't be penalized for needing an interpreter.
Everyone knows the correct phrase is, "I ain't as dumb as you think I are."
Tsk!
Acording to Wikipedia:
"Ain't was used freely by educated speakers in some geographical areas as late as the turn of the twentieth century. For Victorian English novelists William Makepeace Thackeray and Anthony Trollope the educated and upper classes in 19th century England could use ain't freely, but in familiar speech only. It continues to be in conversational use among well-educated speakers of various English dialects including Southern American English.
So there, durn it! I like it, I'm gonna use it.
It wasn't using "ain't" as such that was the problem. It was the phrase "I'm ain't", which would mean "I am am not".
She just needs a good speaking editor.
She also had a crush on me and was rather obvious about it. No wonder I'm gay!
Oh, how things might have turned out if she'd been an eloquent genius!
I expect I'd still be gay, but would have remembered her more fondly.
Think of me, think of me fondly...
Rocky coulda' been mine back then if only I hadn't accidentally enrolled him in the Steak-Of-The-Month Club.
Them's the breaks.
The I'm Ain't Girl should have tried plying me with gifts. It wouldn't have gotten her anywhere, but gifts are always nice.
Gifts are just good manners. jeez.
Really? Then, what would you give me?
A big hug!
One of these days we all should have a big group hug!
It's been a long time since I've hugged a Legion Worlder in person. Rumor has it I may get a chance to do so next week.
But... will there be a big musical number, too?
One never knows. I honestly think life would be much better if we had regular musical numbers.
[wonders if those old tap shoes still fit]
Really, this is why one of the few TV series I watch regularly is Glee. I love the idea that any character may suddenly burst into song and dance. Of course, that's one of the reasons why I love musicals in general.
There's just something about SINGING a conversation instead of saying it!
And it doesn't hurt that
Glee features some rather fetching young men who spend an appropriate amount of time scantily clad.
I was on a movie board recently where somebody who normally dislikes musicals praised Victor/Victoria because the musical numbers are actually legitimate parts of the storyline.
Perhaps Rocky would watch Victor/Victoria if Victor spent a significant amount of time without his shirt on!
While I generally am not a
huge fan of musicals (though I confess a certain amount of ignorance), I love how the bursting into song generally has zero explanation. No character says, "shit, dude! Whydja just SING me yer life story?" In a way that makes musicals just as absurd as comic books, I suppose!
One musical film I unconditionally love is
Across the Universe. Doesn't hurt that I'm a huge Beatles fan, certainly.
And as a boy, I dearly was smitten by certain Disney kid-friendly musical movies, especially
Mary Poppins and
Pete's Dragon. Still am, actually!
Perhaps Rocky would watch Victor/Victoria if Victor spent a significant amount of time without his shirt on!
No, that was
S.O.B. Honestly, I love Julie Andrews no matter what she's in. I was at a party earlier and we were playing a game where we had to figure out which two celebrities could be one's parents. Apparently, I'm Julie Andrews and David Tennant's love child.
That's an interesting combination! I love Julie Andrews myself. Even when she's speaking, she has this wonderful melodious voice.
Musicals are a mixed bag for me. I'm still trying to figure out why I love certain ones; I think it really has to do with the songs. i prefer mine upbeat and emotional and just bursting with life, and they better be fun to sing along to as well!
I've been to Sing-A-Long Sound of Music twice. I'd also very much enjoy a My Fair Lady sing-along. My grandniece is visiting and she and my mother went to a Grease sing-along the other night.
I like Avenue Q songs, but they're a bit hard to sing. Les Miserables has a handful of gems, but I wouldn't bother singing the rest.
I like to serenade the cats with jingles I make up for them, but those are not intended for public consumption.
My grandniece and I were making up little recitatives and singing them to each other while we were going back to the car after vising a museum today.
I sing to Blaze from time to time, especially when he's tired. Says it helps him sleep better.
One of the best (and most underrated) Marx Brothers numbers is Groucho's "Sing While You Sell" from the (also underrated) The Big Store.
I have to confess, before you posted this I didn't know the Marx brothers sang!
I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Zeppo. The Marx Brothers movies after he left the act just aren't as enjoyable to me.
I always confused Zeppo for zippo. Tsk. I really need to watch some of those Marx Brothers movies.
I only figured out that Karl Marx wasn't a Marx Brother when I was 8 years old.
That is amazing. I am not a fan of Marx so I find that really funny.
Karl Marx IS required reading for some of our classes, but the Marx Brothers never were. I only knew about them from some novels I read, or from the odd Looney Tunes cartoon.
A certain
popular T-shirt has caused similar confusion all over the world, I'm sure.
some marx brothers are funnier than others.
I'm glad I'm not alone, cleome
I've read (just now) that Zeppo and Gummo weren't really that funny at all.
Actually, Zeppo was incredibly funny, but his portrayal of the ridiculously wooden pretty boy was overwhelmed by the sheer zaniness of his brother's characters. In vaudeville, he was Groucho's understudy and, according to Groucho himself, he was funnier in the role.
In real life, he loved practical jokes. It's said that he left the act (to become the Brothers' agent) because he was dissatisfied that he was not allowed to be more overtly funny on film.
Zeppo did well for himself. I read that his role as agent also allowed him to branch into engineering, from which he made his multi-million dollar fortune.
Several members of the Marx family have had show business careers. In the 1980s, when I was a teenager, I had a crush on Gregg Marx, a grandson of Gummo's, who appeared on Days of Our Lives and As the World Turns.
Some gay friends of mine have a crush on Gregory Gao, who they feel is an example of a very hot Asian man.
I haven't been able to find Gregory Gao online, but I'll take your word for it.
Here in the US, there are a lot of gay men who strongly identify as liking only men of a certain ethnic group. There is a group here in Houston called "Asians and Friends" which bills itself as "a social group for gay and lesbian Asians and any one interested in furthering their understanding of the gay and lesbian cultures of Asia". In practice, it has a lot of rich white guys who have a thing for Asian guys.
I have always just seen attractive men as attractive men, regardless of ethnicity. I haven't dated very many men in my lifetime, but I think I've covered every major ethnic group.
I didn't get to date much while I was in LA, and the only one I did date was a Chinese-American. Oh well.
Rich white guys with a thing for Asians, hu? Where can I sign up?
When you and Blaze come to visit The Boyfriend and me, we'll take you.
One of the local free LGBT papers used to have a column by an Asian Bear dude who of course called himself "Panda." His writing was pretty good, but unfortunately I think the paper's gone kaput and I can't recall his name.
I'll admit, I've never understood the whole "bear" community. Physically, I could be part of it, I suppose, but I don't like the idea of classifying myself like that. While I applaud the goal of celebrating that people who do not fit the Hollywood image can indeed be attractive, I find the idea of associating with people solely based on a physical type to be just as shallow. Your mileage may vary.
Some people just have a certain "type", I suppose. Being attracted to that type is alright, as long as a) you do not associate with people ONLY of that type, and b) you judge carefully each person of said type to determine whether you should continue associating with them.
I'm certainly more attracted to some body types than others, but physical attraction is only a small part of building a relationship with someone.
Of course, not everyone is looking for a relationship. When I was first coming out when I was in my early 20s, a friend, who was about 40 at the time, was explaining to me about the "hanky code". He explained that they would carry different colored bandanas depending on what they were "looking for". I innocently asked "What color is commitment?"
Fast forward about 20 years: The Boyfriend and I decided that commitment was green-and-purple argyle.
Argyle bandanas?!Truly, the End Times must be nigh...
Maybe the pale horse was supposed to be green-and-purple argyle.
I don't know nothing about coded bandanas, but I do like argyle...even green-and-purple.
By the way, a certain rickshaw1 was seen wearing argyle socks recently.
I used to have a green-and-purple argyle sweater and coordinating socks. I miss them.
I bet that was an impostor, LT. Everyone knows that the real rickshaw1 stopped wearing socks for good almost thirty years ago-- after his first viewing of Miami Vice.
Oh dear. I always thought... then why... why are his feet in that color?!
I've never been able to go sockless. I actually like socks a lot. I don't like wearing shoes all that much, but I don't like to be barefoot either. I go around the house in my stocking feet (I love that expression).
I prefer wearing socks outdoors as well, just to keep my feet clean. We usually wear slippers here at home, so keeping feet clean is a must.
Oh dear. I always thought... then why... why are his feet in that color?!
Swampland is repository for all kinds of unpleasant substances. Take it from somebody who's originally from New Jersey.
Is rickshaw the new Solomon Grundy?
Hm, would wearing socks in swampland protect your feet?
Just don't encourage him to explain why they call him "Man Thing."
Perhaps Mrs. rickshaw will explain for us!
I always joked that Solomon Grundy was the long-lost brother of Miss Grundy from Archie Comics. The Tiny Titans/Little Archie crossover said they were secretly married. I like my theory better.
As long as only one theory is true in each universe, it's all good.
I wonder how Mr. Weatherbee would react to having a giant undead brother-in-law. Hey, some "future" Archie stories have the Bee marrying Ms. Grundy!
In one of those "future" stories, Miss Grundy dies. Maybe she also rises undead from the swamp.
Solomon Grundy and Miss Grundy. Quite a scary combination! I bet she hits as hard with a ruler as he does with his fists.
Somebody on scans_daily posted sections of the Archie story where all the characters (except Sabrina, the source of the spell) ended up switching gender. It was adorable, except of course that they copped out by making Moose (aka "Mouse") a small, adorable little waif instead of a big jock girl.
Then they could have had male Midge go around beating people up instead!
The sad thing is the only comics I truly enjoy these days are the Archie comics I pick up for my mom.
I wonder. Some people describe a portion of the Postboot Legion run as the "Archie Legion" because of the bright shiny future, perceived lack of depth and drama and happy characters. But is that really so bad? I quite liked the halcyon days.
I pretty much missed the Reboot Legion. I was not buying comics from about 1994-1995 to about 2002. I came back to the Legion, a childhood favorite with the first Threeboot issue. A few month later, I joined Legion World.
Have you been able to read any of the Postboot Legion issues at all, Rocky? There are some good moments (Legion Lost, the Mordru battle, the take on the Fatal Five/Suneater conspiracy, the White Triangle) and some good characters (a much better R.J. Brande, Gates, XS, Kinetix, strengthened depictions of Luornu and Lyle) that you MIGHT like.
I've read some of it and liked it. It's not the Legion I grew up with, but it's still good.
to you for saying that!
One thing I love about LW, is that most posters here are able to appreciate the good parts of the different versions and eras of the Legion.
It's really sad that DC has so many great characters and the two greatest super-hero teams in the history of the genre (The Justice Society and the Legion) and it prefers to treat them so badly. The JSA, the Legion and all the affiliated characters deserve so much better!
I like how the JSA had a "family" vibe during the 2000s relaunch. Throwing in a wide spectrum of characters of all generations was a good move, IMO. And I like how heroes rarely died in that book - they were treated with respect.
Yeah. I really miss that book. Earth 2 is probably the best book on my dwindling DC pull list. It's actually not bad, but it's just not the same.
DC has managed to make me feel numbness and apathy for its current offerings. Sad, really. I remember how excited I used to be whenever a new issue would come out.
And that was just a few short years ago. I miss it. I really do. So many of my favorite characters have been relegated to oblivion.
We're loyal to comics for decades--and in my case almost completely loyal to one company--and this is they treat us. It makes me feel very bitter and angry.
Maybe it's time to march on them!
I take a look at the new 52 and I remember how many of our characters are now out of reach and cast into limbo. sigh.
And what they've done to the characters who remain! Earlier, I saw the new version of Lobo. He looks like a skinny Emo kid. Either that or the love child of Dream and I, Vampire!
DC is really missing the point! We also have a snotty Captain Marvel and a Superman who is way too arrogant, and from what I've read of Wonder Woman she's no longer an "ambassador of peace" either.
Agreed. The Crisis on Infinite Earths made a huge mess, but the characters all stayed true to their concepts and, despite the retcons and confusion, the JSA and LSH were left mostly intact.
I know I've said it before, but I don't see the point in wasting any loyalty on DC. A person's time and money ought to go to somebody who's willing to earn it. If they're not willing to do that, forget 'em.
I don't see the point in my caring about DC's long-term health more than the people
at DC actually do. The comics-verse seems to mean little to them these days beyond being a place where they can keep an iron grip on copyrights and grow future blockbuster film fodder. Fine. If that's what they want, I'll just be somewhere faaaaaaar away, reading and paying for books I actually enjoy that are written and drawn by people I actually respect.
I think for me the loyalty hasn't so much been to DC itself as it has been to the characters. For many years, I considered my loyalty to DC's second-string characters. My teams were, of course, the Legion and the JSA and their affiliated groups. My solo heroes were Flash, Green Lantern (who was second string back then), Hawkman, Dr. Fate and the Spectre.
If I give up on DC, the only comics I would read would not be in the super-hero genre at all. I'll read the Archies I pick up for my mom, as I said earlier, and some of the others that come up by Kaboom, such as their Peanuts series.
No way out but through though.
The only way to support characters without supporting the people who own them is via fanart and fanfiction. At least when it comes to money. Time is another story, she said as if she'd never written or drawn anything fan-ish.
The last comic I really cared about was/is
Stuff of Legend, which isn't superheroes but definitely has heroic elements. I haven't been able to keep up on that one over the last year either, though.
My first attempts at writing anything were fan fiction. When I was eight, I wrote and drew a comic book story involving my sisters, me, and the Wonder Twins.
Tiny Team Rockhopper!
I can so picture this drawn by Art Baltazar!
One problem I had with those characters was I wasn't exactly sure how to spell "Jayna". I think the first story featured "Jaina".
Hey, I had to look up Art Baltazar's name to make sure I didn't misspell it.
It wasn't till I got my hands on a copy of Super Friends #12 that summer that I learned the correct spelling of Jayna's name. Back in the dark ages of the late 1970s, stores were inconsistent in which comics they carried.
When I was 7, I still had a hard time figuring out who was who in comics. I thought Dr. Light in her black costume and Dr. Light in her yellow costume were two different people (partly because they acted so differently!). I also thought Guy Gardner with a green lantern ring was from a different reality as Guy Gardner with Sinestro's ring.
I've been slowly phasing out DCFU over the past year. When Legion and Dial H were announced as being cancelled, those two were my final holdouts. Of those two, only Dial H was really worth buying. LSH was just out of loyalty, the only book I would do that for. So this week was it for me for the DC characters I grew up for as it was the final LSH (Dial H having concluded earlier this month).
I'll never say "never", but it would take a real sea change for me to return. I do still buy things from the Vertigo line and am overall very satisfied with those titles. But I feel that's a whole different animal.
As for Marvel, which I also grew up on, I'm down to four books: Hawkeye, Daredevil, Young Avengers and Superior Spider-man. Those four are holding steady. It helps that they are all pretty insular, meaning you don't have to buy five crossovers every other month to understand the story.
Otherwise, it's a wealth of great books from Image, Dark Horse, Dynamite and a handful of others.
To be completely honest, though, I've been slowly drifting away from Big Two superheroes long before the DCFU came along.
I was thinking of re-re-rereading Alex Robinson's
Box Office Poison just so I could write a review of it. The problem is that once I start reading it I'll need to keep going until the end. Which doesn't work when I have a yard to till, food to cook, a job to go to, etc.
Short review from cleome:
Box Office Poison is a rockin' graphic novel. It's teeming with comics meta and tons of terrific art and amazing characters. It's absolutely the book I'd hand to anyone who never cared for superheroes and who can't understand why anyone over the age of twelve ever would care.
Everyone needs to read if they haven't done so yet. So there.
P.S. - The same review would apply to Dylan Horrocks'
Hicksville. I didn't even find out until a couple of years ago that most fans know Horrocks because he wrote some Batman stories some time after the graphic novel was completed.
I got my hands on a copy of local Philippine comic book mini-series
The Mythology Class, about a group of college students gathered together by time-traveling heroes straight out of legend to capture mystical creatures loose in the modern day. I'd been looking for it for years ever since I browsed through, but failed to buy, a copy in a bookstore.
When I was a kid I was fascinated by the idea of time travel. One of my favorite shows was Voyagers!, the story of a man and a boy who traveled through time to make sure history went the right way. Sadly, it lasted only one season (1982-3). The show's star, Jon-Erik Hexum, was quite the hunk and to a thirteen-year-old gay boy was just a dream come true. Tragically, he died in 1984 after he accidentally shot himself on the set of his next series, Cover Up.
My favorite series involving time travel was Quantum Leap. The time travel was always secondary to the great ability to essentially tell a new story every week. Very humanistic sci-fi.
One that could have been great was a show that was cancelled before it had a whole season, Journeyman. This show was on about 6 years or so ago and had a premise similar to a movie I like (based on a book) that was released a couple years ago and people might be more familiar with called The Time Traveler's Wife. Similar to that film, Journeyman featured a family man who time-travelled uncontrollably and had to somehow maintain a normal life while correcting some wrinkles in time.
In a way Journeyman is basically Quantum Leap meets The Time Traveler's Wife. The latter may have had an influence since it was published as a book in 2003, six years before the film adaptation was released. I sure wish Journeyman would have found an audience. But that's true of many promising shows cut down before they really had a chance.
Quantum Leap was a favorite of mine also. It had great stories and great acting. It managed to introduce new characters every week that viewers could care about. I also had quite the crush on Scott Bakula.
I read that as Scott Blacula, for some reason
The penguin and the vampire bat!
I always did have a fondness for vampires.
Not into vampires... not into zombies... I feel so out of it.
I liked vampires before it was cool. My favorite Saturday morning cartoon when I was eleven was a rather obscure show called Drak Pack. It actually displaced Super Friends for my top spot.
I haven't seen "Drak Pack" since watching reruns in the late 80s, but I remember it quite fondly. I remember the first few episodes had a great mix of fun and frights, but the later episodes toned down the frights a bit. Still one of the best Saturday morning cartoons of its time. I especially liked the villainess Vampira, who was voiced by Julie McWhirter, who was a really talented voice-over actress but who, sadly, ended her career after marrying...Rick "Disco Duck" Dees.
I recall a fondness for The Count from
Sesame Street. Oh, and I thought Storm vs. Dracula in the pre-indecipherable days of
The X-Men was pretty cool. That's about it.
I don't like Storm vs. Dracula, because in that story Claremont killed off Rachel Van Helsing, my favorite character from the "Tomb of Dracula" comic.
It's comics. I'm surprised she wasn't back three weeks/months/years later.
This was the early 80s, before death in comics turned into a revolving door.
Actually, it's all Kurt Busiek's fault, because he's the one who came up with the idea of how to bring back Jean Grey.
I remember that was around the same time that they pretended to kill Kazar, changing the name of his book for a single issue.
I guess deaths that are meant to be fake-outs from the start are a category unto themselves. Well, kind of.
Kazar has got to be one of the most annoying characters in comics. First he was a poor man's Tarzan, which in itself was offensive as the Tarzan concept is offensive, but then he became a pseudo-hip, colloquial smartass and became even more annoying!
For the record, the writer responsible for the latter was Bruce Jones, the same writer who wrote that horribly pretentious pseudo-X-Files run of Hulk which ended up going nowhere.
I loved Bruce Jones' Kazar. Especially when he worked with Anderson and later Gil. Of course, in retrospect a lot of the rom-com tropes in the stories are kind of creepy and off-putting, but that's true in every medium. Not just comics.
He was also responsible for some of the better Pacific Comics' EC knockoffs from around the same time.
Of course, in retrospect a lot of the rom-com tropes in the stories are kind of creepy and off-putting, but that's true in every medium. Not just comics.
I agree with you on that. I haven't watched a rom-com movie in years, and can't remember the last one I liked.
I generally don't care much for modern rom-coms either. I kind of enjoyed Crazy, Stupid Love, but I think it was mostly for Ryan Gosling's shirtless scene ("What are you? Photoshopped?").
Now, the ancestors of modern rom-com, such as Tracy and Hepburn films, are something I enjoy very much.
I wonder...were Ryan Gosling's parents named Mr. & Mrs. Goose?
I wonder...were Ryan Gosling's parents named Mr. & Mrs. Goose?
"Deep Thoughts" by Fanfic Lady....
I used to love the "Deep Thoughts" feature on "Saturday Night Live."
I regret to admit I haven't watched an episode since the first Scarlett Johansson episode back in...2005, was it?
I used to love the "Deep Thoughts" feature on "Saturday Night Live."
Somehow, I knew you'd get the ref!
My favorite SNL alum would have to be Jan Hooks -- she was so versatile!
Although it might be argued that her bit part in "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" as the know-it-all tour guide is the funniest thing she ever did.
I'm not sure who my fave SNL alum is--there are too many I love! But the era with the cast that Jan Hooks was a part of is unquestionably my favorite. Jan, Phil Hartman, Dana Carvey, Mike Myers, Jon Lovitz, Chris Farley and the rest--it's no contest for this dude, at least!
That was a great era, and it holds up better than era with the original 70s cast -- the latter were a bit too impressed with themselves, in my opinion.
The original cast, to be sure, had it share of egos. Chevy Chase, it is said, did not get along with anyone else.
The one I never liked was John Belushi. I know a lot of people hail him as a comic genius. I just find him obnoxious.
My favorite of that cast is Jane Curtin. She understood subtlety and the importance of a deadpan delivery.
I have a soft spot for Kenan Thompson. I enjoyed his work back in his Nickelodeon days (Kenan and Kel, All That) and I think he has a great ability to exaggerate juuuuuuuust enough when he's acting to get the laughs going.
I generally don't care much for modern rom-coms either. I kind of enjoyed Crazy, Stupid Love, but I think it was mostly for Ryan Gosling's shirtless scene ("What are you? Photoshopped?").
Ryan Gosling admitted that his abs
were, indeed, photoshopped. Though I'm sure they still look very good in real life
For me, it was the Eddie Murphy/Joe Piscopo/Mary Gross era all the way.
Mary's rants were always such an inspiration to me.
Oh, and Tim Kazurinsky's guru character. ("How do we know that the light really goes off when we shut the refrigerator door? We cannot tell because we eat the only witnesses.")
I have to admit to liking Mad TV quite a lot, particularly some of their music video spoofs, like
L.O.S.E.R., a spoof of Ashlee Simpson's L.O.V.E..
I'll admit I actually liked "L.O.V.E." for a while. A lot.
That says a lot about the state of pop music in the mid-2000s.
It also, I fear, says a lot about my taste in pop music.
For me, it was the Eddie Murphy/Joe Piscopo/Mary Gross era all the way.
Mary's rants were always such an inspiration to me.
Oh, and Tim Kazurinsky's guru character. ("How do we know that the light really goes off when we shut the refrigerator door? We cannot tell because we eat the only witnesses.")
I have a fondness for that era also. It was the first cast that I remember other than just catching occasional glimpses when I was up past my bedtime. I had almost forgotten about Mary Gross's rants. That was always hilarious.
I'm not a regular watcher of SNL or of MadTV, so I can't really compare. But I do have a vague impression that SNL's humor was more refined and witty.
I'll admit I actually liked "L.O.V.E." for a while. A lot.
That says a lot about the state of pop music in the mid-2000s.
It also, I fear, says a lot about my taste in pop music.
People change! I used to listen almost exclusively to Britney Spears and boy bands myself.
Ibby, I think it would be more accurate to say that MadTV pushed the envelope of good taste more.
I'll take your word for it Rocky, as I'm hardly an expert in either show.
I haven't been a regular viewer of SNL in years. As for MadTV, I remember seeing a few episodes and found it, for the most part, gratuitously raunchy and tasteless (though amusing at times).
Sometimes the best comedy is subtle, yes. In our anthropology and sociology classes way back, we learned that the best jokes are the ones where you have to think a little to get the punchline. It becomes more rewarding that way.
Maybe it's time to resurrect the Jokes thread. First I'll have to think up one that I haven't already told, though.
Resurrecting old threads can be fun. From time to time, I like reviving the Victorian Flirting Thread.
If we're going to revive old threads, I'm buying the next round at SHAKES!
Do I dare revive my Ann Hebistand alt ID and the thread that's all about her?
Yes, you do dare.
I'll be watching out for all these revived old threads!
Abin, I'm waiting for your round of drinks at
SHAKES!...
I've popped into SHAKES, Ib, and I started something I've been meaning to start for a while now.
Oh Rocky! I can't wait to see the in-story meeting of Rocky and Jorj! (Is it the start of something new?!)
We'll see. We'll see.
And who would be the third point of this triangle? (hey Peebz, if you say me Blaze is gonna burn your favorite shirt!)
my favorite shirt ... says something derogatory about mental illness. sad but true. it so comfy. it is cute too ... it has a mousehole on it.
come to think of it i think i threw it away recently ... the armpits had holes in them ...
i still have my lucky tshirt though. completely different item. it has a double helix on it.
.... a comfy tshirt cant ever hurt!
Especially for those times when you don't want to go completely naked. Cause it's cold and all.
No one is going to complain if you boys are shirtless.
my favorite shirt ... says something derogatory about mental illness. sad but true. it so comfy. it is cute too ... it has a mousehole on it.
come to think of it i think i threw it away recently ... the armpits had holes in them ...
i still have my lucky tshirt though. completely different item. it has a double helix on it.
.... a comfy tshirt cant ever hurt!
My favorite t-shirt says, "It's Hard Work Being a Princess."
Most of my fave shirts don't have statements. But I do have one which goes, "68: You Owe Me One"
No one is going to complain if you boys are shirtless.
Blaze and I have a tendency to heat things up when we're shirtless, though
I have a T-shirt that says "I hit Weezer Boudreaux". Of course the correct spelling and quote from Steel Magnolias is "We'll sell T-shirts: 'I slapped Ouiser Boudreaux'."
In my high school, the drama club did Steel Magnolias. I didn't appear in it, but it was great to be in the audience, and a far more enjoyable experience than the movie.
I've never seen
Steel Magnolias nor
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. But I'm a HUGE fan of musician Ann Savoy, so I own several tracks from the latter. I seriously hope the movie made her a bundle, or at least enough to release another Magnolia Sisters disc. She's so damn terrific.
I've seen the original Steel Magnolias movie more times than I could count. My name isn't Mark, Rick or Steve, but I do indeed have track lighting.
Favorite line from Steel Magnolias: "Pink is mah SIGNATURE color."
[studies cat sleeping atop laundry basket full of unfolded laundry]
I think my signature color is "Cathair."
I love kitties, especially when they love me back, because God knows, I'm just so lovable!
I once had a dream where a friend said to me "Your colors are black and black", to which I replied "My colors are obsidian and licorice!"
One of my father-in-law's cats is named Licorice.
After some complaints from the neighbors, he managed to get two of the outdoor strays he was feeding captured by a "TNR" group that then took them to a local farm to live as "working cats."
About three weeks later, a new stray showed up and left three kittens by his garage.
Sometimes, you just can't win.
My mother has a mischievous kitten named Elvis.
On a semi-related note, I used to have an artist pal whose little gray tabby loved bananas. This cat would follow you around the house if you were peeling/eating one and whine nonstop until you broke off a piece for her to eat.
On the uncommon occasions when I have ice cream, my cat gets to lick the spoon from the last scrape around the bowl. And she knows that. So whenever the bowl (that bowl) appears, she politely perches on the side table next to my seat and patiently waits. She can tell from the sound of the spoon on the bowl when it's time, and she rises, plants her front paws on the sofa arm and focuses that prey-stalking gaze into the bowl. She'll advance a paw but won't touch. And then, when the spoon moves toward her, she stretches her head forward and lap-lap-lap.
Ah, sweet kitty.
My mother and I took my grandniece to tour the Blue Bell Ice Cream factory while she was visiting. Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla is the best-selling single flavor of ice cream in the United States and Blue Bell is the third best-selling brand, even though it is only available in 22 states.
That must be some good vanilla.
I prefer chocolate myself, but my favorite is when I have a scoop of chocolate and a scoop of vanilla and a scoop of mocha on top.
Vanilla really is my favorite. You can hide a lot of faults in a flavored ice cream, but a good vanilla is the true test of a good ice cream. Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla receives the Rockhopper Lad Seal of Approval as a good vanilla.
I'll have to see if my cat likes Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla.
That's so thoughtful of you, LT. I can just imagine you taking your cat shopping and letting her taste everything before you decide what to buy.
I haven't met anyone yet who doesn't like it, Tracker!
*heads to the shop to see if any of that Blue Bell ice cream has made its way to the Philippines*
I think their intent is to get to at least the other 26 contiguous states before expanding to other countries.
Being in 22 states is already pretty good! Awesome for them.
Until about 25 years ago, it was only available in Texas. Before I moved here they had a famous commercial with a "singing" cow.
my favorite flavor is vanilla .. in the US the one i like is usually called "french vanilla".
A cow? Not as cute as little woodland creatures, but effective.
followed by
cookies and cream
pistachio
lemon ... i really like sour frozen yogurt and sorbet
rainbow sherbert
rocky road
mint chip ...
i like a lot of ice cream
A cow? Not as cute as little woodland creatures, but effective.
cows are cute! they have floppy ears!
I didn't say they weren't cute, just that they weren't AS cute
Now I can't stop thinking about the Man-Eating Cow from
The Tick.
Old Dutch the Super-Cow is one character I created whom I thought would be endlessly funny. Sort of Aunt Clara from Bewitched in bovine form. I don't think she has worked as well as I thought she would. Rockhopper Lass, on the other hand, was more or less created as an afterthought and has become very popular.
Well, there weren't that many female characters in The Tick. Maybe there were none to spare.
Sometimes the best characters were once throwaways. When I created Petty Officer Marvin I never thought he'd appear again, but to my surprise he was picked up in one of the tag team threads and would be revived by me in the Dark Oval novella.
Have we forgotten the awesome American Maid??
Is she related to Minute Maid?
Well, there weren't that many female characters in The Tick. Maybe there were none to spare.
i thought the cow was female?
I remember her and Arthur's long-suffering sister. Oh, and Oedipus. Other than that I'm drawing a blank.
Well, there weren't that many female characters in The Tick. Maybe there were none to spare.
i thought the cow was female?
Yes, but she couldn't devour
herself. Even for a Tick villain that would've been wayyyyy too weird.
Is she related to Minute Maid?
The Minute Maids were the Rule 63! versions of the Minutemen from
Watchmen.
They played at Minute Maid Park, no doubt.
I should Google all those references some time. I'm vaguely familiar with The Tick (I know he's a big dumb superhero who's intended as a parody) but that's all I know.
Minute Maid Park is where the Houston Astros play.
I never did enjoy watching sports. I get bored watching other people have all the action
I'm not a sports fan either. I do like watching the Olympics. Very occasionally, I'll go with a group to a baseball or basketball game, but I don't go out of my way for it.
I'm not into sports, but I like those old Disney cartoons where Goofy tries to play different sports and does them all very badly.
I'll have to see if my cat likes Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla.
I succumbed to the persuasive powers of Legion World and bought some today. Now to see what the cat thinks.
If the cat likes it too much, maybe you'll wake up tomorrow and find the tub empty!
I'm not into sports, but I like those old Disney cartoons where Goofy tries to play different sports and does them all very badly.
I remember those. I had no idea there were so many ways to injure yourself with a frisbee.
I used to enjoy reading Goofy's superheroic "Super Goof" adventures when I was little.
I prefered Ducktales to Goof Troop myself. There was an excellent movie,
Ducktales: Treasure of the Lost Lamp. It was easily Disney quality.
If we're talking
DuckTales, then we have to mention
this fellow.
Video won't play for me, but from the looks of the comments it sounds like gold.
^Cleome just referred to what may be my favorite episode of "Fawlty Towers."
What a strange coincidence! That may ALSO be MY favorite episode of "Fawlty Towers!"
Suddenly, a flamewar unprecedented in the entire history of Legion World breaks out when it turns out that FL likes duck with cherries, but Ann likes duck with orange.
Fawlty Towers is good, but I haven't seen it enough to have a favorite.
My favorite British sitcoms are Keeping Up Appearances and The Vicar of Dibley. I could watch either one on an endless loop for the rest of my life.
I haven't had the pleasure of watching a single episode of any of those three. What sticks out in my mind most are the Simpsons. I always did love how each episode manages to present such a complex chain of events.
The Simpsons is great, though it's not British.
One of my favorite Simpson's eps is the "Flowers For Algernon" pastiche, in which Homer learns that it's unbearably lonely being the only smart person (aside from his own daughter) in a town full of idiots.
Another classic is the Halloween ep in which Marge has an alien baby-Maggie and goes on the Springer show.
I once saw Julie Kavner on a talk show, and the host asked her to do the Marge Simpson voice. She did, but with her head turned away from the audience, so as not to ruin it for anyone.
I remember Julie Kavner when she played Brenda on Rhoda.
According to
this, she grew tired of being cast as the nice person and looked forward to finally playing an unlikable character.
Well, she does play Patty and Selma.
Maybe she wanted to play an unlikable MAIN character
The Simpsons really has become an institution. Eventually, I think the entire population of the Earth will have been a guest voice on that show.
Drat. When will it be my turn?!
I expect you'll be getting the call any decade now.
"Decade" is the title of a Duran Duran greatest hits compilation.
Dekada 70 is a novel about a Filipino family during the martial law era.
"Marshall Law" is probably the most anti-superhero comic ever published.
On Sesame Street, Grover had a cowboy character called Marshal Grover. He rode Wonder Horse Fred.
Fred and Daphne really had a thing going on in Scooby-Doo, huh?
I always figured Daphne's true love was Velma.
And Fred figured out his true love was Shaggy, too
I've seen pics to prove it!
I think I might be the only person in my entire demographic who can't stand Scooby Doo. Though I did enjoy seeing it get mocked in the Animaniacs cartoon "Back In Style."
True story: when the voice roles for Scooby Doo were being cast, Frank Welker wanted to play Shaggy and Casey Kasem wanted to play Fred. Instead, they got the opposite roles. But eventually their characters grew on them.
I'm forty six. Scooby Doo is still better than 90% of the crap on mainstream tv.
Plus, Daphne and Velma are hotter'n pistols!
The original
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? is okay, but has been overplayed. The
New Scooby-Doo Movies are kind of surreal and campy. I just wonder why the company that owns Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, the Flintstones, the Jetsons and Yogi Bear puts all their eggs in the Scooby-Doo basket. Of course, the same company owns DC Comics.
I think I might be the only person in my entire demographic who can't stand Scooby Doo.
cleome, I don't know how many demographic points you and I share, but I've never been a Scooby fan either.
I liked Scooby-Doo when I was a kid, especially the Movies where various fictional and real-life celebrities guest-sttarred.
I've largely outgrown the cartoons now. If I had started watching Scooby-Doo this year, I doubt I would have ended up a fan.
As Scooby went on, the show just got weirder and weirder.
It started off as an amusing kiddie cartoon with some not-so-subtle reference to cannabis.
It then evolved into a showcase for Hanna-Barbera's other characters as well as some contemporary celebrities (of whom I think only Cher, Sandy Duncan and Dick Van Dyke are still living).
This was followed by cartoons featuring Dyno-Mutt and Scooby-Dum, two canines who were possibly even dumber than Scooby.
Then we had the Laff-A-Lympics, which was mildly amusing in a poor person's
Mad Magazine way.
Then came Scrappy.
This was followed by cartoons featuring Dyno-Mutt and Scooby-Dum, two canines who were possibly even dumber than Scooby.
I've always had a sentimental spot for Dyno-Mutt. It wasn't that much better written than the typical Hanna-Barbera cartoon, but Frank Welker (as Dyno-Mutt) and Gary Owens (as Blue Falcon) seemed to be having so much fun with their roles, I found it infectious.
I think I might be the only person in my entire demographic who can't stand Scooby Doo.
cleome, I don't know many demographic points you and I share, but I've never been a Scooby fan either.
Ain't nobody here but us spring chickens, LT!
[kicks Ensure™ can and
Modern Maturity lapel pin under the table]
The only HB cartoons I ever really liked were the ones with Dick Dastardly and Mutley. The only upside of my occasional severe bronchitis attacks were that they allowed me to duplicate Mutley's laugh.
It then evolved into a showcase for Hanna-Barbera's other characters as well as some contemporary celebrities (of whom I think only Cher, Sandy Duncan and Dick Van Dyke are still living).
Some celeb guests were even dead at the time! (See Laurel and Hardy, for example).
True enough. It's a little creepy to see an animated Cass Elliot on her episode, made not even two years before her untimely death. I wish she had lived long enough to become a nostalgia act.
I didn't even know any of the real-life persons who guest-starred, except for the Three Stooges.
Dyno-Mutt was dumb, but he and Scooby-Doo were lovable somehow. Scooby-Dum was just irritating.
It's not true that women don't like the Three Stooges. I love the Three Stooges, and so does my mother.
I confess to not being all that familiar with them. I only remember watching them as part of the Scooby-Doo movies. I was at an age where my entertainment should be animation, or none at all.
I've never been a particular fan of the Stooges, but they do have a very loyal following. As a kid in Massachusetts, I remember one of the local channels, WSBK, channel 38, played them every day. I read somewhere that WSBK's devotion to the Stooges helped revive their popularity.
I find that a little of The Three Stooges goes a long, long way.
I can still remember at least half the lyrics from "The Curly Shuffle," however.
I've never really cared for the Stooges, myself. Love the Marx Brothers, like Abbot and Costello, like Laurel and Hardy, but the Stooges I could pretty much do without.
I agree with your list, Eryk. As I stated a few pages back, I always thought Zeppo Marx was overlooked and underrated.
^^Agree completely about Zeppo!
And I'll third the sentiment. Zeppo was wonderful.
True story: during their stage days, Zeppo stood in for a hospitalized Groucho. Zeppo appreciated getting the laughs, but he also got sick from Groucho's cigars.
With the occasional exception of skits like "Who's on first," I didn't care for the vaudeville type acts, yet I liked Martin and Lewis. Odd. I also like Rowen and Martin, not so odd.
I prefer Filipino humor myself. There's a popular comic strip called Pugad Baboy which is highly satirical in nature, and is brimming with (for lack of a better term) teasing and oneupmanship. I'd share it with you, but the jokes don't translate well into English.
But I'll share with y'all anyway
Pugad Baboy on wikipedia
Pugad Baboy on Internet news site Rappler
Although I love much about American humor, I think I'll always prefer the dryness and wit of British humour (spelt with a "U", of course).
I love British humour, British music, British comic books...even British food (sausage rolls, mmmmm...)
Most comedies I enjoy are British as well.
My all time favourite is still Red Dwarf
I recently finished showing The Boyfriend the entire run of Keeping Up Appearances. Now we're working on The Vicar of Dibley. I have their entire runs as well as Monty Python's Flying Circus and The Koomars at Number 42 on DVD. I have about half of Red Dwarf. I also have the entire run of the 1970s Tomorrow People.
I have heard good things about Monty Python myself, and many from friends over here too.
Oh, Ibby, you owe it to yourself to see some!
I shall look for some posthaste!
I'm sure you can find them easily enough. When we all finally meet up, I'll expect you to know all the words to the "Lumberjack Song".
Would you be disappointed if I have a cheatsheet with me?
Something else else tells me you won't need it.
I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay.
I sleep all night and I work all day.
He's a lumberjack and he's okay.
He sleeps all night and he works all day.
I cut down trees, I eat my lunch,
I go to the lavatory.
On Wednesdays I go shopping
And have buttered scones for tea.
He cuts down trees, he eats his lunch,
He goes to the lavatory.
On Wednesdays he goes shopping
And has buttered scones for tea.
I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay.
(He's a lumberjack and he's okay).
I sleep all night and I work all day.
(He sleeps all night and he works all day).
I cut down trees, I skip and jump.
I like to press wildflowers.
I put on women's clothing
And hang around in bars.
He cuts down trees, he skips and jumps.
He likes to press wildflowers.
He puts on women's clothing
And hangs around in bars?
I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay.
(He's a lumberjack and he's okay).
I sleep all night and I work all day.
(He sleeps all night and he works all day).
I cut down trees, I wear high heels,
Suspenders and a bra.
I wish I'd been a girlie,
Just like my dear papa.
He cuts down trees, he wears high heels,
Suspenders and a bra?
He's a lumberjack and he's okay.
He sleeps all night and he works all day.
He's a lumberjack and he's okay.
He sleeps all night and he works all day.
Watched the video for the first time ever just a while ago, and boy was it hilarious!
Personally, I would like to hear Ibby belt out a stirring rendition of "Every Sperm is Sacred"
I think Blaze would love that song. We really do think every sperm is sacred. The ones we produce, anyway
That particular song is about the Roman Catholic Church's ban on birth control. It features a family with about a hundred children.
The way things are going now with the Reproductive Health Bill in our country, I sing that song in public and half the people will try to lynch me while the other half will want to carry me on their shoulders.
Here is a link to that song, Ibby. Warning to the younger and more sensitive folks out there: This contains some adult themes and crude language.
I got to know the song from the Meaning Of Life soundtrack years before I ever saw the film.
I played the board game "Life" once. It can be kind of depressing.
I played Life once, but don't really remember it that well. It was one of the few really classic board games my family didn't own.
We used to play Monopoly a lot. Besides chess and checkers, it was pretty much the only classic board game we did own.
One of my favorite board games was Solar Quest, which was kind of like Monopoly in space. The property cards were full of all sorts of fun data on the various planets and satellites of our solar system, much of which I ended up memorizing. At one time, I could have told you, for example, the rough diameter of pretty much every significant body in the system.
The Mad! magazine board game was a lot of fun. The object was to lose all your money. They had the craziest conditions too, like asking you to cluck like a chicken.
I played Life with some friends a few years back. We made some adaptations to game play. My car had two blue pegs in it.
My friends prefer Monopoly Deal. It's a relatively shorter game and you can pack it in your pocket, unlike with the traditional Monopoly Board or other board games.
But nothing beats a deck of playing cards, IMO.
I love Scrabble and Boggle. Now I play Words With Friends and Scramble With Friends, which are basically the same things.
I never got into those games played via social media. I think I'd enjoy them, but I consciously avoid them because I don't want to get addicted.
Those are pretty much the only ones I play. I never got Farmville or whatever and I don't understand the fascination of that candy game people play. If games don't have to do with words or trivia, I don't usually like them.
I like fast-paced games that really challenge your thinking. My favorites are Taboo and a card game called Pusoy Dos, in which you have to get rid of all your card - but you can only play cards or card combinations higher than what the preceding player has put down.
One of my favorite sites is Sporcle. It's all trivia quizzes. I've even contributed a few.
Ooh, I bet you contributed Word quizzes, Rocky.
I saw a quiz contributed by CMK as well.
One was word-related. It was U.S. daytime soap opera titles translated into French.
The other three included one about the Episcopal Church, one about hymn tunes and one about bordering U.S. states with the longest time between their admissions to the union. The last is by far my most popular quiz.
Geography is quite a popular category on Sporcle, though I haven't encountered your quiz yet. I usually avoid the US-centric ones and play only the Country or Continent ones.
The Sporcle quiz I mentioned is
here! You have to name the pairs of bordering US states that have the longest time between their admissions to the Union.
I'll try it later, but I doubt I'll get many of those pairs
My geographical knowledge is broad but not so deep; I typically know just a little bit about each country.
To be fair, my knowledge of the geography of the Philippines is pretty rudimentary.
some people pride themselves on knowing a multitude of facts; I believe it's more important to know HOW to find out the information you need to know, rather than knowing it already.
As a librarian, I agree; however, there is something to be said for memory.
I'm just thankful that everyone here has a built-in nametag, so I don't have to remember all your names.
I suppose it's more if - instead of knowing everything now, know how to find out new stuff, and don't forget it once you've learned it!
I'm just thankful that everyone here has a built-in nametag, so I don't have to remember all your names.
True, but then there's all the alt-IDs to consider...
But we're all alt IDs of the same person, so it's all good
Of course then there are also our real-life names, our characters' nicknames, our characters' "real" names (such as Rockhopper Lad's given name being "Eudyptes"), among other things, to remember. Some of these can be answered using the
LMB Wiki (plug, plug).
Don't forget our characters' romantic histories, powers, political leanings, special skills and enemies for life!
If you never learn all that stuff, you never have to remember it. Nor forget it.
How many characters really have politicsl beliefs? Rocky is obviously a monarchist, but he is also quite possibly a socialist. We've never seen any sign of private industry in the Pyngwyn Colonies.
My main character would fit the definition of "Hollywood liberal", being insanely wealthy and privileged but also wants to help the less fortunate and supports what she thinks are worthy causes. Her boyfriend is currently center-right; he's a business owner who earned his money through competing in Tournaments.
Power Boy ain't got time for that. He would be sort of an anarchist ... his tribe are few and far between and they go their own ways ... or fight it out through fisticuffs or political intrigue.
... but now he is learning to be an elected official. He's more of an FDR ... or TR ... an elected official with a big stick.
he's not one for debate or public process. Which is just what the galaxy needs after the Dark Oval War, I think he's insanely popular for his heavy handed leadership style.
It's kind of interesting that Peebz with his "big stick" leadership is elected LMB leader after the Dark Oval, while Rocky was leader during the Oval war. Rocky is all about diplomacy and nonviolence until he's provoked to become Big Daddy Rockhopper.
two great leaders during a dark time for the LoMBPers.
Invisible Brainiac is heavily based on what I am like in real life. Very idealistic, and gets enraged at injustice.
I guess Rocky is a lot like me, though in some ways, he is who I would like to be. Time-Teller Lad also represents a facet of my personality.
Lardy's pretty much not political at all. He has a history, though, of doing whatever it takes to protect his home, Legion World, and those extreme measures eventually netted him some jail time. I suppose, then, that if Lardy were here in the 21st century he'd probably be a hardcore conservative as far as advocating the right to own firearms and such.
He's like a super-alpha version of me. Kind of the Superman to my Clark Kent. I'm a moderate liberal with mild manners and an aversion to confrontation of any sort. No one would describe Lardy that way!
Maybe we should give Lardy a secret identity
Would Ann Hebistand be happy playing Lois Lane?
One of the nice things a lot of us find with having these characters is having an idealized version of ourselves to play with.
Of course, not everyone's main character is quite that.
It CAN be fun to play the villain sometimes. As long as it's all pretend, of course.
If you want real evil, I'll just post a bunch of my High School poetry.
Aw cleome. If your poetry's anything like your collages I'm sure I'll love it!
I took a basic poetry-writing class in college. There was a whole lotta angst from my classmates. Mine tended to be kind of on the cute side.
Happiness is good! WIth so much going on in the world, we need more uplifting poetry!
I don't about uplifting, but I just sort of drift into "cute" an awful lot.
Cute is a good thing. A very good thing.
I always thought it was cute in the past "KTT" threads when Abin would show up and yell for the thread to die.
Abin, you're letting me down! [taps foot impatiently]
DIE THREAD!!!
(Okay, I'm not quite as funny as Abin, but...)
So did Everyday Girl and Sam Pureheart not get married? If so, my grandfather would be interested in a match for one of my cousins.
um... perhaps they're married now and their wedding will be one of the untold stories of the LMB!
(PS - this thread still won't die!
But, it IS cute!)
Of course this thread is cute!
I started it!
Everything Rocky touches becomes cute! Which is why Hywie is simply adorable!
"Everything's coming up beagles?..."
Beagles and roses are equally cute.
In all fairness, Hyvvie was cute when I met him.
He smiled at me when I went to the Humane Society shelter.
Dogs are such masters of manipulation. Mine play me like a fiddle.
We got our big dog from a shelter and we had a play date but he was so attached to the handler and concerned about her he didnt want to play with us ... I knew he would be a good dog.
Power Pooch is way over protective though, he just loves us so much!!!!
I remember seeing a pic of Peebz and his dog.
He was so cute!
The dog wasn't bad either!
Hey, this isn't the flirting thread!
This is Legion World.
Every thread is the Flirting Thread!
Oh Rocky, you're so cute when you wink!
Flattery will get you everywhere, Ibby. Except maybe killing this thread.
Drat. How many lives does this thread have now?
I remember seeing a pic of Peebz and his dog.
He was so cute!
The dog wasn't bad either!
I like this better than the other way the joke goes!
(Thread STILL won't die!!!)
Rocky's turning on the flirtiness
Nothing wrong with flirtiness, cutie.
*tee hee*
Oh Rocky, you always say the nicest things to me.
In all honesty, in real life, I'm not at all flirty and, in fact, am quite shy. The Boyfriend and I knew each other for two years before we started dating. He had an internship out of state last summer and he and I began chatting online, during which time we both came clean about our mutual attraction. Thursday will mark one year since our first date.
Somehow I have the feeling you can still narrate that conversation verbatim
Even if I couldn't, it's preserved for posterity in FB chat.
kick this thread! HI YAH!
That random karate kick reminded me of
this crazy video. Warning: There is some adult language.
On my bus ride home ... some "lady" started cussing out the bus driver for hitting some pot holes.
"OW" "Damn ... watch for fracking pot holes!!!"
she didn't use the word fracking.
If she uses that kind of language, then she's no lady!
she certainly wasn't.
no no.
she would be thrown out of Rockhopper's court!
She certainly would! Silly human!
That reminds me, there was a song that was a big hit in Latin America when when I was nine or ten. It went,
Lady, lady, lady,
Se pinta los ojos de azul
For some reason, just about any song that was big on the radio when I was in grade school through junior high makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
It's hard for me to get the warm fuzzies about some of the winners [sic] from my early years. I mean, "Run, Joey Run" or "Oh, What A Lonely Boy" just don't stand the test of time all that well. Mostly, I feel profound shame that I ever thought this type of bilge was worth listening to.
Of course, every era has its crappy music. Also, at least I can say that my age was only in the single digits back then.
My mom used to listen to all these funny things when I was a kid ... AC DC ... Lover Boy ... Supertramp ....
I still like some of them.
They did a hilarious version of "Run, Joey, Run" during the first season of Glee.
My mom used to listen to all these funny things when I was a kid ... AC DC ... Lover Boy ... Supertramp ....
I still like some of them.
Loverboy, now they had some super-catchy tunes. Who can forget Mike Reno hitting that disco-diva high note during the middle eight of "Take Me to the Top?"
And, of course, we did a thread on the lyrics of "Lovin' Every Minute of It" here in the MMB recently.
My mother's music of choice when I was growing up was (and still is) Elvis Presley. She also likes Neil Diamond and Tom Jones.
My folks and I have never really seen eye to eye on music. When I was a kid into bubblegum pop and the like, they scoffed at that. Now that I'm largely a jazz/Blues/R&B fiend, my mother still scoffs.
One reason I'm glad that I never had kids. I used to hate when my folks went out of their way to mock stuff I liked, and I'd probably do the same thing to my own kids. You know, the ability of heredity to overpower common sense...
My mom and I actually have a fair amount of overlap in musical tastes, although a lot of what I like is actually older than what she prefers.
My go-to playlist on my iPhone is sacred choral music, which I actually find wonderful background music for working out. I think that's just me.
My go-to playlist on my iPhone is sacred choral music, which I actually find wonderful background music for working out.
I'm a choral music director, and I think Rocky has out-nerded me.
So there'll be no "Showdown at the OK Chorale" then?
[ducks]
My go-to playlist on my iPhone is sacred choral music, which I actually find wonderful background music for working out.
I'm a choral music director, and I think Rocky has out-nerded me.
I think this is a vocation vs. avocation thing. My own organist/choirmaster was surprised when I told her that I listened to that music on the elliptical.
So there'll be no "Showdown at the OK Chorale" then?
[ducks]
Any chorale group that has either Tracker or me in it would be a whole lot better than just "OK"!
There was a band in the 80s named Oh OK. Never heard any of their music, but I like their name.
Okeh was the legendary "race records" label that gave so many jazz and Blues pioneers their start in the biz.
I generally prefer to spell out the word as "okay", but I use "OK" sometimes. Some people use the spelling "okeh", but that looks odd out of context.
And then, of course, there's "okey-dokey", which I think has a certain charm all its own.
I would love to see a sing off between Rocky and LT!
... DON'T FORGET TO INCLUDE CHOREOGRAPHED DANCE MOVES!
I'm sure Tracker would win easily. He's a pro and I'm an amateur.
I still wanna' see you guys sing in matching pirate costumes. Or Rocky could dress as his avian alter-ego and Tracker could dress up as Polar Boy.
[dreamy sigh]
I actually own three or four pirate shirts. I couldn't tell you why. I just do.
I wonder if Rocky's home planet shouldn't have a pirate theme?
boats that sail or float across the ice ... lots of pirate dressed sailors ...
I wonder if Rocky's home planet would be similar to Denmark? It was the leader of Scandinavia for centuries.
So long as the Pyngwyn royal dynasty doesn't end up like the finale of
Hamlet.
Perhaps the Pyngwyn royal dynasty could come back as zombies!
I'm so tired of zombies. These last few years, the media has given us ZOMBIE OVERKILL!!
Which, come to think of it, would make a cool title for a zombie movie.
Except I wouldn't go see it, cause it would have a $200 million dollar budget and a lot of bad CGI.
In my day, they knew how to make zombie movies.
Zombies. Perhaps the overkill is due to their versatility (comedy, horror, adventure), as partially demonstrated
]by this list of Top 10 Best Zombie Movies of all time! I'm pretty sure there's even been a zombie romance movie earlier this year.
"Zombie Overkill" would be a really cool title for an LMB story.
Or it would be an album in which Urge Overkill covered a bunch of songs by The Zombies.
Urge Overkill, the awful 90s band Cleome reluctantly admits to owning an album by.
I must admit that I haven't the slightest idea who Urge Overkill are, but they have a cool name.
Rocky, I think the name is derrived from an oldie by the Funkadelics, but I'd have to look it up to be sure.
You'd probably hate 'em, but at least we'll always have Vaughan Williams.
As for FL, she can live in denial about that time when we bought 2-for-1 pleather pants at The Gap and got down to the strains of "Nite and Grey" in the Starbucks parking lot. But it won't do her any good, because I still have all the negatives.
Can you find some place to develop the negatives?
I think my buddy Rond Vidar might let you use his time machine!
That is an unmitigated fabrication.
Why would I go to Starbucks when I've got Krispy Kreme?
Man, even moving this thread to Spaceopoly couldn't kill it.
Anyway, let me tell you about the way she looked, the way she'd act and the color of her hair. Her voice was soft and cool;
her eyes were clear and bright, but she's not there.
I prefer the Zombies spin-off group Argent. I love "Hold Your Head High."
That is an unmitigated fabrication.
Why would I go to Starbucks when I've got Krispy Kreme?
I
so miss Krispy Kreme. They pulled out of Houston about ten years ago.
Sorry that happened, Rocky. Aren't there any coffee & doughnut places of comparable quality in Houston?
Not really. The big doughnut chain here is Shipley's. The doughnuts themselves are okay, though a tad on the schlocky side. The kolache (pronounced "ka-LAH-chee") is a popular pastry in these parts. It's kind of like a pig in a blanket. Not being a meat-eater, I prefer the ones filled with cheese or spinach.
I used to think pigs got blankets to keep them warm in the colder nights. Oh, the horror...
The kolache (pronounced "ka-LAH-chee") is a popular pastry in these parts. It's kind of like a pig in a blanket. Not being a meat-eater, I prefer the ones filled with cheese or spinach.
Pastries with cheese...mmmmmmmm...I love a good cheese danish.
oooo me too. I must be going to get one now! ciao!
chausson au pomme is my favorite ... a bit like an apple turnover but with croissant like dough. yummy!
I adore crossaints when they're made right...all light and flaky and buttery...
Since I have to work straight through this weekend, I expect to be thoroughly deprived of breakfast pastries for quite some time.
UNFAIR!!
I can resist TV adverts. However, I'm just back from shopping and this thread, not my lack of willpower, this thread brutally forced me to buy two apple turnover thingies with real whipped cream in the middle.
Not the best of selections, I have to admit, but somehow I'll struggle through with those.
Just eat an extra salad at dinner.
I like the idea of eating more to compensate for previous eating. I was going to skip the salad
I made kind of an interesting tomato salad with dinner when The Boyfriend and I celebrated our first anniversary as a couple last week. The recipe called for onions, but I used shallots instead. It made a big difference.
Personally, I've always preferred getting my veggies from soups rather than salads.
And Happy First Anniversary to you and The Boyfriend, Rocky.
Personally, I've always preferred getting my veggies from soups rather than salads.
And Happy First Anniversary to you and The Boyfriend, Rocky.
ditto and
ditto
Rocky
Never mind all this huggy stuff. PB, I still need to hear about that whole green garlic thing you were talking about earlier.
[taps foot]
Green onions are one thing, but I've never heard of green garlic before!
green garlic is delicious .... when your old garlic starts to sprout ... plant it in the ground or a pot and it will grow a long stem. When they get tall enough, I think they start to fall over at about 1 foot. I chop them off and chop them up. They go great diced in pasta sauce.
I started doing it because I had a green garlic soup and it was delicious. (I think they just blended a bunch up with a broth and cream)
The green garlic part tastes like garlic still but is a softer flavor ... and also tastes a bit like butter. It is so yummy.
Once I get my plants back from my plant watching friend I am going to grow some more!
I heard the nub that connects the green garlic stem with the bulb of traditional garlic has bacteria so wash it or I always cook it, I haven't had it on a salad yet but that sounds good too!
It even made the huffington post!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/26/green-garlic-recipes-photos_n_3498690.htmlAlthough my home grown green garlic is much thinner than what they show ... and I only have used the green part.
As a garlic lover ... this was a fantastic new find for me!!!!
Certainly looks like it's worth a try. I bet it'd make a great pizza topping, with some parmesan, shrimp, basil...
I don't think I'll be trying that. If it involves planting anything, It's pretty much a sure thing that I'll kill it.
Garlic is pretty easy Rocky. I had my friend take care of my plants while I was gone, and they are all doing better.
PB is right, Rocky. I think garlic, onions, chives, et al are all part of the Allium family and once established, they're hardy and tough as nails.
Seven or eight years ago was when I first started putting edible herbs in clay pots on my (dinky) back porch. For several years before '13 I just let them go. Almost everything died for good after persistent cycles of drought followed by torrential rains-- except the chives. They just kept going. I used them pretty much every week for something or other this spring and summer. Now they're on the wane and sort of look like brown grass. But I know from experience that they'll come back next year.
My main worry about trying PB's project indoors is that my cats love to munch plants-- and Alliums are highly toxic to cats. There's not really a secure sill for me to place them on where the cats can't reach. Damn.
I've killed cactus, aloe and ivy. I'm pretty sure I could kill chives.
The Huntress Pup likes to eat the berries in our yard ... and sit on the tomato plants. She thinks the garden is her personal salad.
Rocky, my friend bought me a cactus in college. haha.
I used to wear lots of black and be very shy. The cactus and I got along great. It was my buddy. We watched the funeral of Diana together.
I've killed cactus, aloe and ivy. I'm pretty sure I could kill chives.
But that's a contest for a future thread.
"The all post if you are a plant serial killer thread"?
Speaking of I just steamed some broccoli! Now I know what Dark Phoenix was thinking when she roasted that Asparagus planet!
"I've heard the screams of the veggies..."(Hey, this song came from Canada, so you
know it's good for you!)
I was steaming broccoli last night and accidentally poured a little scalding hot water on my foot (I was wearing socks, as is my wont). I got a little burn.
My daughter calls broccoli trees.
Actually to be exact she says "Chee, ahh beby" (baby trees!!)
Hyvvie loves broccoli. I often give him broccoli florets as a treat. He also likes cauliflower, carrots, peas, green beans, asparagus and Brussels sprouts.
There's a local place that makes pan sauteed broccoli with some kind of browned garlic salt. So terrific. The last time I ordered it for my appetizer, I almost forgot all about the rest of the food I had coming.
There's a local place that makes pan sauteed broccoli with some kind of browned garlic salt. So terrific. The last time I ordered it for my appetizer, I almost forgot all about the rest of the food I had coming.
"WHAT IS THIS?? NO YOU FOOLS!!! MORE BROCCOLI!!!"
Hyvvie loves broccoli. I often give him broccoli florets as a treat. He also likes cauliflower, carrots, peas, green beans, asparagus and Brussels sprouts.
My baby huntress likes all sorts of veggies too ... and fruit, even citrus which isn't supposed to be good for them. Power Pooch is more finicky. His absolute favorite foods are almonds, chicken, and blue cheese.
Power Pooch got drunk one time, he ate some vodka infused strawberries and a cheesecake (off the table!) and was really hyper and jumped up and ripped my friends scarf. Later he peed in the house and passed out. ha!
Recently we caught him licking cheese off the coffee table, we often eat in front of the tv, and set the food on the coffee table (we thought the dogs were so good they never bothered it) ... we have no idea how long he has been licking or sneaking cheese when our backs were turned.
One time when Huntress pup was a puppy she grabbed me sandwich off the coffee table ... and it was bigger than she was ... and I caught her trying to drag it away .... haha!
There's a local place that makes pan sauteed broccoli with some kind of browned garlic salt. So terrific. The last time I ordered it for my appetizer, I almost forgot all about the rest of the food I had coming.
"WHAT IS THIS?? NO YOU FOOLS!!! MORE BROCCOLI!!!"
(I'm
so gonna' try that next time I go there... after a couple of cocktails.)
I'd guess it didn't quite look anything like
this?
No, IB. But as the youth like to say: I'd nom that, too.
(We'll have to order Rocky some other broccoli dish, though. He doesn't eat beef.)
Occasionally, I'm asked if I don't eat beef or pork for religious reasons. I'm Episcopalian. Our main dietary restriction is "Thou shalt not eat thy salad with thy dinner fork."
What fork do Episcopalians use for dessert?
don't stab me with it! *ouch!*
do you think Rocky's 'ouch' will be bigger, having come within 18 minutes of winning the thread again?
Old posters posting again could never lead to "ouch."
To answer your first question, Kent, the dessert fork, of course!
will you answer his second question?
What fun would this thread be if we didn't have a little suspense and drama ?
So... it could go either way then. I guess we're at a fork in the road.
THANK YOU!!!11
Like the fork in the road in The Muppet Movie?
Great movie that.
"Bear left!"
"Right, frog!"
I just had a delicious cheese and mustard sandwich ... I might have another!!!!
The Lannisters were on Sesame Street recently.
My money's on Cookie and Oscar!
That yellow bird will be a great target while Oscar takes them by surprise!
I had to look it up.
Game of Thrones reference. I've never seen it.
Sesame Street, on the other hand, I've seen.
I've never watched Game of Thrones either. The way my mind works, the title has connotations with sitting on the toilet.
I understand that. It's very hard for me to get through the chorus "Worthy is the Lamb" from Messiah ("Blessing, and honour, glory and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne...") without imagining a celestial bathroom.
actually there is/was a scene in game of thrones that took place on a toilet ... a very important scene ...
Toilet paper is one area where I will not skimp. Two-ply and sqeezably soft, please.
Why is it that most businesses skimp on the TP? Most places you'd be better off bringing in xerox paper over the stuff they supply
I don't even use public toilets anymore.
Public restrooms are exclusively hand-washing establishments for this lady.
Ooh ooh, bathroom stories. Travelers and campers can tell bathroom stories. But, it's only the 24-Hour version of the thread.
I will leave you with this. When doing number two out in the blue and a mozzy lands on the sensitive glands,
don't slap.
In France, public restrooms have pink toilet paper (at least they did when I was there in 2000 and 2002).
Ooh la la. That's tres cute.
Can we get this thread out of the toilet!
We did. We're back to cute.
(See my post right before yours.)
Okay,
First time experience with a bidet?
When I was about 16, I answered a phone call from an older lady who was a friend of my mother's. She was a nice lady and I would always chat with her for a moment when she would call before I handed her to Mother. I had just gone on a school trip, so when she asked what was new with me, I told her. She then told me about a trip to Europe she took once. Her hotel room had a bidet, though she couldn't remember what it was called. She told me that it was so nice to sit on it when she had her "time that ladies have." With a beet-red face, I handed mother the receiver.
First time experience with TMI?
We still talk about that call. It was epic.
"Calling Miss Khadija" is a classic Hard Bop track from drummer/bandleader Art Blakey's
Indestructible LP. It was recorded in 1964 and composed by Blakey's trumpeter, Lee Morgan.
(link)
I was unfamiliar with "Hard bop", so I looked it up. Wikipedia defines it thus:
Hard bop is a style of jazz that is an extension of bebop (or "bop") music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within jazz which incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospel music, and blues, especially in saxophone and piano playing.
The critic Whitney Balliet once dismissed Hard Bop as merely the "dull child" of Bop (the groundbreaking work of musicians like Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Mary Lou Williams).
Balliet was kind of a yutz.
And Be-bop lead to rock-n-roll then to hard rock then to metal!!
On The Golden Girls, Sophia would often describe her ex-son-in-law as a yutz. I always thought it would have been more in keeping with the character to have used something Italian.
And Be-bop lead to rock-n-roll then to hard rock then to metal!!
I do have one CD by Magnus Rosen (metal guitarist) and Biggi Vinkeloe (jazz wind player). It has some overtones of both genres. I wouldn't call it a favorite but it does have some interesting moments.
Scandium, titanium, vanadium and chromium are transition metals.
And Veridium, which is the name Doc Will Magnus took once upon a time when he was transformed into a Metal Man, is NOT a real element at all.
Seriously, as an (occasional) fan-writer, I need a comprehensive list of all the pretend metals. The RL Periodic Table by itself is not enough. How's a fan to go about inventing a fictitious element if she has to constantly worry that she's stealing one which somebody else already invented?
Ah, good ol' Wikipedia. Some of my librarian colleagues don't like it because it isn't "trustworthy", but, frankly, it's as trustworthy as anything else out there and has more coverage for popular culture topics than you'll find anywhere else.
thothkins, that's pretty cool! [bookmarks]
Rocky, I'm not above using wiki for casual research (and glorious photographic eye candy). However, I agree with whoever it was who said that it's kind of rude that they're always hitting people up for cash when millions of users already supply their content free of charge.
I find that it depends what I need to find. If you're treating it as your only source, then best of luck.
But it has been a fun jumping off point on any number of occasions, with plenty of linked information readily available for further reading.
Wikipedia would never be an appropriate source for scholarly research, but no encyclopedia would; on the other hand, for basic informational needs, it's a great resource.
The good things about (well written) wikipedia articles are they are properly sourced, so if you need more info you know where to look
One of the fun things about writing articles for the
LMB Wiki is we don't have to cite sources because we are the sources!
I should have saved that groovy picture that Sketch Lad did of me in costume. It would be perfect for my personal "cleome" Wiki page, if I ever made one.
... we don't have to cite sources because we are the sources!
You are The Source? Don't tell me I joined just in time for Darkseid's attack!
No wonder he went after the Legion. He knew The Source was something to do with them, but didn't know about the forums.
Hang on, is Darkseid's attack related to that Red Shirt you guys sent me?
Not exactly, Thothy (You now have a Rocky Nickname®!). The LMB or LMBP (Legion of Message Board Posters) is the shared universe used in role-play and storytelling on this board. In that reality Rockhopper Lad is the Crown Prince on a planet where sentient life evolved from penguins.
I evoled from an octopus...or Zoidberg
There is a Dedman entry, but not one for Viridus Lament. (Hint, hint).
I have written a bunch of LMBP wiki articles. I have recently edited my main character's article to make it more concise.
[snip]
Not exactly, Thothy (You now have a Rocky Nickname®!)...
Hmmm...
I think it needs a bit more pizzaz, though. How about:
Thoth O'Rama?
McThoth?
Thothkid?
Eh... I'll get back to you.
I suppose "Thothy" sounds a little like "saucy" said with a lithp. Still, many posters collect nicknames like they were stamps!
Kinny!
"They killed Kinny!"
"YOU BASTARDS!!!"
I hope Thothy checks in and sees these.
"Thothy" already has a nickname!
When one is being formal. ; )
Aren't we always formal here?
Great Space! It's Sunday! I'd better get these formals back to the rental place or I'll owe extra money!
I went to a wedding last night as The Boyfriend's Plus One. It was the least formal wedding I've ever attended. I think I was the only person not in the wedding party who was wearing a tie. A few people were in T-shirts and shorts. The Boyfriend's housemate came dressed as a unicorn. I'm not sure I can explain that.
People should at least make some sort of effort. It's an important day. Just the one person dressed as a unicorn borders on disrespect
I went to a wedding last night as The Boyfriend's Plus One. It was the least formal wedding I've ever attended. I think I was the only person not in the wedding party who was wearing a tie. A few people were in T-shirts and shorts. The Boyfriend's housemate came dressed as a unicorn. I'm not sure I can explain that.
This happened in Texas? I'm surprised nobody threatened to bring out a saddle.
Yes, it was in Texas. It was near a little town called Cut and Shoot.
Some of the world's best R&B musicians come from Texas. Barbara Lynn, Ruthie Foster, Z.Z. Hill...
That's our Cleome, teaching us all things R&B from A to Z.Z.
HA HA HA HA HA
How do I come up with these?
How do I come up with these?
You're witty, talented and charming?
Not to mention utterly fabulous!
Awww...thanks so much, Rocky and Ibby.
I think I should have my own show, Utterly Fabulous, an American version of Absolutely Fabulous. We'd still have "This Wheel's on Fire" as the theme song, but it would be the Siouxsie and the Banshees version.
And you would sing it! With Rocky, Legion Tracker and myself as backup.
lalalalalalalalala
I've started an artisanal dairy company. Udderly Fabulous.
Oh, Tracker! You have to milk that pun for all it's worth!
I dunno, you milk it too much and it might turn sour.
This conversation is getting cheesy. I hope someone doesn't have a cow!
Ugh. I wouldn't want to curdle anyone's stomach.
Can't we all just Moove away from this topic?
Who wants to visit Chantal, Haiti?
Chantal Andere is a Mexican actress who has been in many Latin soap operas, always cast as a villainess.
Some actors or actresses just generally fit the villain profile well. Kevin Bacon, for one.
The popularity of the name "Chantal" comes from St. Jeanne-Françoise de Chantal.
I once knew a little girl whose name was spelled "Chantell", which is just sad.
Variations in the spellings of names happens all the time.
Witness: "Aimee" becoming "Amy," for instance.
"Chandell" was the villainous piano player played by Liberace on the Batman television series.
The "Chantal" to "Chantell" thing is sad to me because it changes the pronunciation and it shows a disregard for the French language. I'm also a little tired of trendy names. That's just one of my things.
I'm changing my name to LeeJon Trakker.
LeeJon ought to be a trendy name.
And Rocky will write angry (but polite) letters to parents who use the name "LeeJon" so he can correct their spelling
I don't think it would do any good. In the last couple of decades, there has been a huge trend towards giving children "unique" names, which are usually not unique at all. If I ever had a daughter (which I will not because The Boyfriend and I decided early on that we didn't want kids), she'd be named Mary, after my mother and because she 'd certainly be the only one in her class.
That's capital M, capital A, small r, capital Y obviously
Whether it's Mary or MArY (I much prefer the former), it's certainly better than, say: Peaches, Pixie, Fifi Trixiebelle, or Heavenly Hrani Tiger Lily.
We are naming our new kid Ronnie James if its a boy (after Mr. Dio) and either Veronica (Ronnie for short) or Ivy if its a girl.
I've met several young women named "Precious", which just reminds me of Gollum. Blecch!
Nasty hobbitses, naming the little fishes like that
There can only be one precious!!!
The Pretenders' first album has a great song called "Precious," in which Chrissie Hynde keeps boasting about being precious. She also tells a guy to eff off.
I wonder how many guys she's told off in real life.
Oh, she's told off a ton of men...and women. She has a temper. She also reportedly got into a brawl at a nightclub with...get this...Carly Simon.
So baby you're the best was actually to Chrissie Hynde after getting beaten up? Who'd have guessed...
Carly Simon's song "Anticipation" was used in commercials for Heinz Ketchup in the '70s. I thought it was "ancipitation", but I was only about five at the time.
Well, now that there's ketchup in squeeze bottles, we can safely say that being prisoners of condiment-related anticipation is a relic of the far-distant past.
if you tap the "57" on glass bottles the ketchup will flow (like spice)
I've always preferred using the base of my palm to give the side a good smack.
Another trick that works with a brand new bottle is to just slide the blade of a butter knife into the bottle so it touches the edge of the opening as it goes in.
(I spent years toiling in the restaurant business. I are so smart.)
(I spent years toiling in the restaurant business.)
My father briefly owned a small bakery when I was about three, but he soon returned to teaching. My only memory of it is of me getting all the freshly baked rolls that I wanted.
I know of one alternative cartoonist who once told me that he comes from a family of professional bakers:
Garret Izumi.
(I spent years toiling in the restaurant business. I are so smart.)
The highlight? of my cooking career was cooking lunch for
Jack Bauer Keifer Sutherland at least a dozen times over a three week period.
Now THAT is one for the books. I've only ever cooked for family, friends and people at work.
After college, I had trouble finding a decent job and ended up spending four and a half years in various aspects of food service. I didn't much like it.
Although I love to cook, I don't plan on opening a restaurant or starting a catering service because of all the hassle involved in preparing food for strangers.
A friend of mine was opening a smoke house and it was a red tape minefield.
I generally cook for people I know, but the Geneva convention won't be around forever!
A couple of times, I've watched those "kitchen redo" shows on cable. But all I can do is roll my eyes, because everyone's "Before" kitchen is about ten times better than my kitchen: What are you leisure-class whiners going on about?! At least you have enough space to open the oven AND the cupboard at the same time! STFU!
Yeah, I love all those home makeover features in magazines where they clearly start with a space/ property/ price bracket beyond what many have.
I always have more fun with the more from less features, where you know they've had to put in a bit of thought. Not "Gosh! Somehow we managed to create this giant modern kitchen... from that giant five years out of date kitchen." >Yawn<
Over here we have lots of game shows where celebrities are the contestants. Granted, they always promise to donate the prize money to charity, but COME ON! They make enough on their own to donate that much, give me a break!
My favorite game show was always Jeopardy, but when I moved to the Central Time Zone, I pretty much stopped watching. In the Eastern Time Zone, it's usually aired in the 7 or 7:30 time slot, after the news and before prime time begins at 8. In Central, prime time begins at 7. I honestly couldn't tell you when it's shown here.
My family's been encouraging me to join these game shows. I mean, you sit in a studio for a few hours and if you're lucky enough to know the answers to their questions you walk away with a nice bit of money.
I'm seriously considering it.
The closest I've been to a real game show was competing in an online version 1 vs 100 (there were prizes)
Back on the DC Boards, Exnihil ran a Legion version of Jeopardy. There were prizes too - real ones that Ex shipped to the winner.
And then there was the infamous Survivor game he ran not long after he arrived here. That was a fun game, though I didn't get to play as much as I wanted
Was that the one with actual posters taking part in challenges and voting each other out? I read the thread, and it was a hoot!
That is the one, I believe Lardy outlasted us all and walked away with Adventure 347 as his prize
I always did wonder how the Survivor cast of posters participated in real life. So there really was a thread, and everyone was free to plot and make deals and stuff like that?
My favorite reality show is (to no one's surprise) The Biggest Loser. Watching a bunch of fat people being starved, pushed around, and verbally abused by smug, nasty gym rats until they cry, puke, and collapse?! What could be a more terrific way to spend one's scarce leisure time?!
Oh, wait. This isn't the "LIES!" thread is it.
Sorry.
The saddest part is, I read on cracked.com that most of the contestants rebound after the show.
After all, they originally got slim because they were in a controlled environment 24/7. When they get out and back to their normal lives, it's impossible to keep up the same diet and exercise routine.
Amazing, isn't it? Almost like people have other priorities, concerns and interests in real life than maintaining some jerkwad trainer's idea of a perfect body.
[rolleyes]
And even if we consider that some of them just want to maintain a healthier lifestyle, doing it by adopting a regimen that just can't be maintained isn't the way!
Well, it's really about punishing oneself for the imaginary "crime" of imperfection. The idea that it's about health is slapped on to give it the illusion of seriousness.
The main blogger over at Fierce Freethinking Fatties actually followed the show for a whole season so he could take it down piece by piece. Now that's willpower! I'd lose my mind after fifteen minutes of watching that drivel.
True, the trick to keeping healthy is to make being healthy fun for you. Start an exercise regimen involving your favorite sport, or incorporate healthy AND tasty foods into your diet. That's also why crash diets don't work - you can't possibly stick to such a drastic change.
Thanks for the reference to Fierce Freethinking Fatties, I think I shall check that out!
Well, the corset is making a comeback so at least I might have a chance of maintaining my current waistline forever.
IB, I don't agree with everything the host writes, but when he's on, he's
really on.
My current "fitness regimen" is definitely my garden. Which reminds that I have to get in a couple of hours outside before I leave for work. Thanks for the chat, IB... Sorry we didn't manage to kill the thread.
Emily, I look forward to your new reality show:
So You Think You Can Fit Into My Corset.
Have a nice time in the garden, cleome!
With all the nice conversations going on in here, I think this thread will be alive for a long, long time.
Oh Emily, hopefully living in China will help you keep in shape. Bicycles are popular there and there's tons of lower-calorie cuisine!
With all the nice conversations going on in here, I think this thread will be alive for a long, long time.
That's why I love these threads. It's a long stream-of-consciousness conversation.
Let's just not go for stream-of-subconsciousness. I don't think the general public is ready for that
Is Legion World really the general public?
Can't the general public access anything we post on Legion World?
I hope I am not part of the general public. sounds so mediocre.
You can be part of the specific public.
Perhaps after enough time as part of the specific public, we'll be released to mix with the general public again
I suppose that means that I'll have to start showering again. Ah, well... Anything for group cohesiveness.
When I was kid, I thought it was amusing when I'd run across a mention of a "shower-bath" in a book. I don't think I ever actually heard anyone say that. If my mother shampoos her hair while showering, she calls it a "shower-shampoo".
I used to hate shampooing my hair when I was a kid. The shampoo would always get in my eyes.
I hated shampooing for the same reason.
Of course, my hair was very unmanageable. It seemed to have a mind of its own. I could never get it to look right.
In the long run, I'm glad I went bald!
My hair is unmanageable right now, but it's more because of the length than anything else.
I have to shave my head every other day to keep it smooth. I've been shaving it since 2002. This definitely the most manageable my hair has ever been!
My hair is unmanageable right now, but it's more because of the length than anything else.
Accept it, and dress up on 10/31 as a hippie.
Or you could just borrow Rocky's pirate costume.
I think I'd be too lazy to shave my head every day
I was thinking of going as a waiter again, because I'm too lazy to really think of a costume. As a waiter, I just need to wear my normal office clothes and slap on a bowtie!
Pirates can have long hair. Maybe you could be the waiter at the Pirates of the Caribbean Restaurant.
As long as I remember to leave my parrot at home. It's not hygienic at all, and that'd spoil the whole waiter shtick!
But... Then you won't be able to call yourself
Long John Silverstein.
Oh, but I could run out and buy a stuffed parrot. I'm sure kids and adults alike would love it!
Or a shaved parrot to stand out from all the other pirate waiters.
Great Power Boy
I'm interested in who killed the parrot. It is a dead parrot isn't it?
If it said to you what it said to me, you might have killed it too!
Looks dead to me. And shaved.
I wonder if Saturn Girl could speak to parrots?
I think Jeckie should consult the Orakills...
Shhh! Through the mists...something's coming through...
Ferro Lad: Always remember our sacrifice
Chemical Kid: It's lonely here. Lyle...
Invisible Kid: Myra....Myra...
Karate Kid: I feel fine actually. Not dead at all. Oh, I am again. But wait..
Polly: Pieces of eight! Sqwawk! Murder! Murder most Fowl!
No! the veil has descended once more...
Squawky the Super-Parrot isn't dead, he's just imaginary.
And why was Squawky not a member of the Super Pets?
Clearly a bird brained decision not to have him in there.
Well, at least he is remembered in the modern era.
I think I'm going to have to make Suspendium in order to kill this thread.
And why was Squawky not a member of the Super Pets?
Clearly a bird brained decision not to have him in there.
oh dear.
Squawky should join the next incarnation of the LMB Super-Pets.
He can be Ibby's pet parrot.
Blaze would love that. He'd spend all night talking to my pet bird.
And why was Squawky not a member of the Super Pets?
Clearly a bird brained decision not to have him in there.
Them's fighting words!
The LMB Super-Pets first appeared in the early days of the LMB and then was disbanded. Not quite realizing that, I wrote them into a story years later that introduced Old Dutch the Super-Cow.
I suppose they could have decided to form a team again. Why not right?
Squawky even crashed in a Kryptonian Rocket! And flew straight through a tree (Chameleon Kid never learns)
A dream you say? Well just put that in writing and take it over to Wonder Tot over there at the imaginary stories desk, pal.
My feet hurt. I blame squawky.
I wonder what parrot tastes like?
That's too bad about your feet Power Boy. Have you received any tweetment for them?
I suppose they could have decided to form a team again. Why not right?
The
relevant article in the LMB Wiki states that they re-formed at some point, but never appeared again as a group after that.
So they formed, disbanded, re-formed, and have never been seen again. I smell a conspiracy!
That's too bad about your feet Power Boy. Have you received any tweetment for them?
I hope he wasn't treated by a quack.
Oh, I hope not. You don't know what would happen. Always see a wrencommended practitioner. It's best to be safe.
If our awful puns don't kill this thread... well, they'll have to get more awful!
Our our resident avian, I wouldn't let this thread die with someone else making a bird pun.
bird puns? I was only wishing Power Boy a swift recovery.
LMBers are such fair-feather friends. Tsk.
On the contrary, Cleome, we flock together.
I'd have to agree with Rockhopper Lad. Everyone here seems to get along so pheasantly, it's hard to see them fall out.
When we've run out of bird puns, this thread will finally die!
Oh, then we'd be killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.
Here comes another bird pun! Duck!
Alas, our puns keep laying eggs.
That makes sense. Heaven knows we're all pretty cracked.
We're also easily influenced by bad eggs.
I'm sure things will get back to normal soon. I'd hate to see this thread take a tern for the worse.
Looks like it's time to start the "Guess Wren?" thread.
Oh, I see. A sort of "Wren will it feather end?" sort of thread? Good idea.
Hey! Quit finching all my ideas, Fledgling!
Sorry cleome. I didn't mean to ruffle your feathers.
If you get cleome mad, you'll have to go hide your head in the sand.
I'd have to give those last few puns a big goose egg.
Just those last few puns? I think even our beginning puns were badly scrambled.
As long as it's only the puns that are scrambled. I'd hate to think it was us, and that we'd terned into raven lunatics.
If anyone here was going batty, I think we should be able to spot it.
Hey! A bat is a mammal, not a bird!
Oh dear, that could be the swan song for this part of the thread.
Sometimes you just have to swallow hard and accept reality.
Drat. My plans to evolve the thread from bird puns to mammal ones has failed.
I should have just said we were cuckoo.
The Boyfriend often says "cuckoo-bananas" to mean crazy. For example: "He went all cuckoo-bananas." I guess I could say that as well. Toucan play that game.
I wonder if cuckoos taste good with bananas.
It was a brave attempt to move on Ibby. It's just a shame that everyone else chickened out of joining you.
I think some of us are just too hawkish about keeping the bird puns going.
It all seems to be going amicably enough though. I was worried that there might be a violent split in the thread, with an attempt to overthrow the bird puns. I'd have hated to have been involved in a coo.
It's really quite emu-sing.
I am really bad at bird puns. I feel I can't partridgcerpate.
Not to worry Power Boy. I think you have the talont for it.
One day...surely...these bird puns will end, and this thread will DIE!
Until then...please sparrow us the egg yolks.
Hey, if you can't beak 'em...
Oh my. These bird puns are about to make my sense of humor go the way of the dodo.
According to a certain
Porky Pig cartoon, dodos were quite funny.
This Dodo's son, Gogo Dodo, appeared in Tiny Toon Adventures.
De Dodo do
That's all I want to say to you.
Sing it with me! De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da...
And we're now off the bird puns!
Good! I was afraid the thread would get pigeon-holed!
I feel really isolated because of the shift away from bird puns. I wonder if a message in a bottle would help me reconnect.
Would a Nasty Genie in a bottle be of any help?
Ah, Nasty Genie. That's another all-time favorite LW thread :nod :
You haven't posted there in a while though, Rocky
Would a Nasty Genie in a bottle be of any help?
Only if it can sing like Sting
As we would say jn the Nasty Genie thread:
Granted! You can sing exactly like Sting when he has laryngitis!
I remember an SNL that Sting hosted back in the '90s. He had great comic timing and had at least one scene shirtless. That was a good show.
Was it the singing, the comic timing, or the shirtless scene that made you give it the thumbs-up, Rocky?
was he better shirtless in the '90s than in Dune of the '80s?
Was the '90s shirtless Sting better than the '80s shirtless Sting. For comic timing I mean.
I think that's a question better answered by Rocky. I know Sting more for his music.
While I enjoy some of Sting's work, I wish he'd shut his yap about environmental issues. Dude, you sired like fifty kids and you probably live in a house bigger than my entire state. Don't lecture other people about how we're not being easy enough on the freakin' planet! Gah!
Alas, some people want us to do what they say, and not as they do.
Yes, and the more money you have, the easier it is to lecture those with less about how
they're doing everything wrong.
Too bad that sometimes, having more money lets people feel more confident about shouting louder.
On the other hand, "Every Little Thing She Does" is still a pretty good song. Ignore the breathtakingly mediocre Shawn Colvin cover, however.
Often, the originals stand the test of time best
If I'm listening to a cover someplace other than a wedding or at a karaoke bar, I want it to be adventurous, not slavish. The jazz singer Fay Victor, for instance, pretty much cuts up and then reconstructs the parts of The Doors "People Are Strange" when she covers it. That, to me, is an awesome cover. (The usual gang of idiot commenters on YouTube can kiss my
-ed.)
The best artists dare to be different.
(and the Youtube comments section is one of the best places to find examples of trolls in the flesh. ugh!)
Like the cover band on the Loverboy video posted up in one of the chart threads
I agree, a song that's instantly recognisable as someone else's, and that brings no change of depth or meaning, is pretty much a waste.
There's been quite a debate over that here in the Philippines. Many of the popular songs on the charts are, sadly, just remakes of other songs which don't make many changes to the original. Most new artists lack funding or opportunities to make it big, while celebrities whose main talent is looking good are pushed by their studios to dabble in singing, dancing and acting even when they lack the talent for it.
The same all over, I guess.
I always thought it was a lot worse here than, say, in the USA.
but I guess celebrities face the same pressures everywhere.
I once ate at a dumpling restaurant popular with Chinese celebrities. The food was a bit spicy, but we got a plum drink afterwards, which was delicious.
Have you tried duck or chicken with plum sauce, Emily? It's quite delicious.
So we're back to birds again, eh? And fruit.
Hey, I'm a bird! I've also been referred to as a fruit.
I bet you've been referred to as beef too!
You probably have been referred to thus more than I, Ibby.
We really are pluming the depths of puns...
I've heard of breadfruit, but never of bird-fruit.
Though any gardener can tell you that parrot tulips are real.
The "Five Points of Calvinism" are remembered from the mnemonic device "TULIP":
Total Depravity
Unconditional Election
Limited Atonement
Irresistable Grace
Perseverance of the Saints
Personally, I think Calvin may have been smoking those tulips.
I always get the words "Tulip", "Tulpa", and "Turnip" mixed up.
I wonder if some posts without puns will turnip soon...
No puns will be the product of my two lips.
When I was little, I ate a piece of raw turnip because I didn't know any better.
It wasn't terrible, just...bland.
Turnips are okay, but I like rutabagas better.
I know I've told this story before, but here goes: A few Christmas Eves ago, I was chatting with two other tenors between services and mentioned that among the other things I had to do the next day in preparation for Christmas dinner was to mash rutabagas. They both looked at me and asked "what did you just say?". I never realized how much "mash rutabagas" would sound like...something else.
I am going to attempt to make Victorian food this year during the holidays. The first dish I will attempt to make will be plum pudding.
Mmm, plum pudding.
I likewise have to polish my shrimp gambas, beef taco and cream of squash recipes for the inevitable family dinners. But we don't have Thanksgiving, just Christmas.
I always host Thanksgiving dinner at my place. Last year, we tried having it the day after so folks who wanted to join us, but had family commitments could attend. It worked well. We'll do it again this year.
Sounds awesome, Rocky. That wouldn't work so well for Christmas season here, because families usually take the opportunity to go out of town for the holidays.
I'm not sure what vegetable I'll make. Parsnips worked well. Maybe it will be parsnips again.
I've never tried cooking parsnips before. I don't think I've tasted them more than once or twice either.
The only "autumn" vegetable I can remember cooking is squash.
I expect those veggies are hard to come by in your neck of the woods, Ibby. I may roast beets again. They were also a great success.
Yes, they are. So are limes, which is sad because I love making Mexican food. Thankfully, some specialty stores that specialize in imported goods carry lots of them. Using our Philippine lime isn't quite the same
Beets! More veggies which I haven't tried more than a couple of times
Fresh beets are delicious, but the effect they have on one's digestive system is comical, if you're not prepared for it. At least once, I've thought I was bleeding. Yes, I just made a poop joke.
Yes, I just made a poop joke.
Egads! Penguin poop.
Hey, beets will turn anyone's red.
Is there anything else that beets turn red?
It has a similar effect on what comes out on the front side.
Oh dear. Beets and bodily fluids sure don't go together.
The lovely cocktail of painkillers, anti-inflamatory meds and anibiotics I'm taking has turned mine green
My daily vitamin pack turns mine neon yellow.
Legion World. Peeing a rainbow.
I had a house guest once whose medication turned her pee orange. The toilet looked like it was filled with Tang.
Now we just need blue and violet.
I won't look at Tang the same way again...
I'm actually surprised they still make it. It was big when I was very young as "The drink the astronauts took to the moon" or some such.
It's known here mostly for the orange flavor powder, but I think there are tons of other flavors too right?
I don't think I've seen a flavor other than orange in decades. They used to have grape and grapefruit flavors as well.
Our local deli has San Pellegrino Grapefruit Soda. It's not really cold beverage weather anymore but I still want some
right now!!
Back in Newfoundland there were several soda flavours i've never seen anywhere else (except where there are lots of newfies)...all Crush brand; Pineapple, Lime and Birch Beer
I had birch beer once in Philadelphia. It was pretty good.
In Boston, ginger ale is more popular than it is in the rest of the country. You can buy it at the supermarket here in Houston, but it's a rare restaurant or bar that serves it here.
For some reason, growing up I had the impression that ginger ale was alcoholic. I think it's because of the drink's color and the packaging.
Then there's ginger beer, which is entirely different from ginger ale and very hard to come by in the US, but it is delicious.
I find ginger ale to be soothing on an upset stomach.
Cool! Maybe I should try that, though generally carbonated drinks make my stomach more wonky.
Mmmm ginger beer and lime....
Two decades ago, the only way to enjoy ginger beer in these parts was to hit a fancy gift shop like Norm Thompson, buy a bottle of ginger syrup, and try to make it last for a year. (Or maybe make your own syrup at home.)
Nowadays, it's easier to find ginger beer in most stores. Reed's, and Ginger People are both relatively affordable and really good.
I occasionally make ginger wine. In fact, I'm due to get some started in the next couple of weeks. Lovely for the winter.
I once went to a wine-making party at some friends' house when I lived in Boston. It was great fun. I moved out of state before that batch of wine was drinkable, alas.
My friends and I used to have cookout parties, where we'd make things from tacos to sukiyaki to nachos to pasta to pizza. Alas, no drinks though.
My best friend and I went out to dinner every week, usually on Friday, for many years. Lately, we've both been trying to save money, so we've been cooking for each other on alternate weekends. I have The Boyfriend over too when it's my turn. Next week, it will be lasagna.
I wish my cooking/living space could accommodate Thanksgiving guests this year, but it can't. (I get away with the annual New Years Day party only because it's all finger foods and punch, not everyone sitting down at tables to eat a regular meal.)
I've been going to the same former college teacher's house for the holiday potluck almost every year since 1988. But he's taking the year off from entertaining, so now my buddies and I are trying to find an alternate venue. Hopefully it won't end up being Taco Bell™.
It's almost Christmas season again and as early as now, groups of friends are starting to organize reunions. I have to pick and choose which ones to attend. I'm just glad I no longer volunteer to organize - these things are a lot of work.
I may have already mentioned this, but my mom and I host Thanksgiving dinner on the Friday following (I do not like calling it "Black Friday"). That way all our friends who have family commitments the day before can join us. We use Thanksgiving Day as a prep day and get Chinese takeout.
I fully agree with that tactic of being flexible with dates. What's truly important is the spirit of the holiday (giving thanks together with family and friends), after all.
The day after Thanksgiving is a big Christmas shopping day, which I avoid as much as possible. This also gives me something better to do.
Christmas season sort of started here as early as September. Some malls play Christmas carols already.
Ugh. I dread setting foot in
any retail store for
any reason between now and, oh, about January 15th.
My problem with Christmas in US culture is it begins in September and continues (gathering up more steam after Halloween and Thanksgiving, respectively) and comes crashing to a halt on December 25th.
There's a lot to be said for the concept (for those of us who celebrate Christmas) of a quiet, reflective Advent followed by the Twelve Days of Christmas.
I thought it was only like that here in the Philippines. Maybe it's more noticeable because we don't have Thanksgiving, and Halloween isn't that big a deal, and All Saints' Day isn't all that festive.
The other day an expat was joking around with the Starbucks barista. "How come you have Christmas drinks already? It's not yet Christmas! It isn't even December yet!"
No, it's everywhere and it gets a little more desperate every year. Every day is a sale day, every day is gearing up to the next big holiday or sale event.
I feel for the poor staff who have to work later and later and on more and more standard holiday days to feed the consumers.
I think I've only bought pressies early when there was extra shipping involved. With more and more things online, that's no longer really a problem. So, I don't change what I do every year, regardless of how much retailers jump up and down.
I read an article last year covering a few people who spend Christmas as quietly as possible. For them it was a chance to be away from work, to relax and to spend time doing things they wanted and not what anyone else dictated. One person just enjoyed a few good books for a couple of days. Bliss for them.
For me, Christmas is a church festival first and a family holiday second. I try to focus on the music the choir I sing in has to perform and the meaning of it. Outside of rehearsals, the rule in our tradition is no Christmas music in services till December 24th.
I certainly do buy presents for friends and family, but I try to keep them simple. I make a point of leaving my (artificial) tree up till January 6th. Again, that's what works for me. In a way, it's kind of like the folks Thoth mentioned, though in a more conventional way. If I had children or was not active in a church, I'm sure it would be quite different, though I imagine even if I did not hold Christmas as a religious holiday that I would resist the commercialization.
When I arrived in China in February 2012, I was bemused at the fact that a lot of department stores still hadn't removed their Christmas decorations. I wonder if they just keep them on until Chinese Years is over or if they just don't want to take them down.
As a kid, I usually loved celebrating Chanukkah with my family. Candles, singing and dancing, eight days of gifts, stories about miracles and The Good Guys Winning. Hard to find fault with that.
I still tend to think of Winter festivals as primarily being for the enjoyment of kids. I'm an Atheist now, but I still buy some chocolate-gold coins and light the Menorah every year. At some level, I suspect my mother of having supernatural divination powers. If I didn't light it, she'd know. (Never mind that we live on opposite sides of the country.) Then there'd be all kinds of awkward explaining to do.
Plus, let's face it, most cultures love having something lit and burning in Wintertime. It boosts everyone's spirits.
Chanukkah starts around Thanksgiving this year. I better get moving. I don't even know if I've got enough candles left over from last year...
I love hearing everyone's facsinating stories about holidays!
My mom's like that too cleome, she somehow just knows stuff.
I'll share a little something about the Mid-Autumn Festival. Mooncakes (sweet pastries) are baked to represent the beautiful full moon. The mooncakes were once used to overthrow the Mongols; secret messages were baked into cakes. During the mid-autumn festival the Chinese people rose up and used the instructions to drive out the Mongols.
The other night someone said a mutual friend was off sunning himself in Cozumel. Noting the time, I said "no he's probably mooning himself." Then I realized what I had said.
If he has Triplicate Girl's powers, he coudl definitely moon himself
It's a guy from my choir. I can pretty much guarantee he has no powers. He's a bass.
I always thought I had a fairlly high voice, then in college I was told by my fthat I was a bass. My voice has gotten a lot deeper since then.
Except when I have a cold (as I do now), I pretty much can't sing below the C below Middle C (called "Tenor C"). I don't have a problem with high notes (again, excepting when impared by illness), so I sing tenor.
So you can sing both bass and tenor? Cool. I don't know much about music but I do know that not everyone can do that. Or at least, not everyone can do it well
Nope. I'm pretty much just a tenor. It's easier for me to sing high notes than low notes. Of course, I'm a choral tenor, which is very different from an operatic tenor.
One can shatter glass with his or her voice, and the other can't?
Something else else like that. I'm definitely a non-shatterer.
This article says it's possible to shatter glass, but you'd need a very capable singer with a very loud voice volume, and a piece of glass that is reasonably brittle.
Henry Higgins knew about that:
She'll have a booming, boisterous family,
Who will descend on you en masse.
She'll have a large Wagnerian mother
With a voice that shatters glass.
I think the boisterous family is scarier than the mom who can shatter glass!
What was terrible trauma for Henry was just "an average day" for my family.
Calm, quiet family dinners where anyone actually completed a sentence were simply Not Done.
It's taken me 20+ years on the West Coast to tone my conversational technique down even a little bit. After ten minutes back home with my family, I revert completely, accent and all.
All of my dad's siblings are very gregarious, and they all married partners who are relatively quiet. You can just imagine how family dinners go
I'm not especially gregarious, but I am a tenor. I can't shatter glass, but I can shatter your repose.
Some things are more important than repose. Like listening to Legion Tracker sing!
Several Legion Worlders have talked about singing over the years. Besides Tracker and me, I know that Lash, Lardy and Suddenly Seymour have all done some singing.
Thwre are enough singers to form a boyband! The Back Alley Boys?
I don't think any of us could pull off "boyband" any more. Maybe Middle Aged Guy Band.
We could call it a Man Band!
I know Tracker plays keyboards, but does anyone else play an instrument? I dabbled in a bunch when I was younger, but never actually learned to play anything well enough to say I played it.
I didn't get to try any instruments either, besides Band Hero on Wii. I usually pick the drums. Always wanted to learn them, but a drum set won't fit in my room
Oh, I tried a lot. I tried violin, cello, guitar, recorder, piano and organ. I wasn't very good at any of them. I finally settled on singing in the choir.
I'm still gonna' learn to play drums, someday.
But not until I can move out to the countryside. Then I can practice at any time of the day or night without annoying the neighbors.
Cleome in the country: Chapter one.
Once again the villagers heard the strange drums from the hills. They were a straightforward people, and they knew that nothing good could come from such an ominous sound.
The village elders could all remember the last time such noises were heard. The eerie thumping was heard by them as long ago as last Thursday, when the domino club met at the local community centre.
They shuddered at the recollection of what was foretold by the dull aching heartbeats of the mist enshrouded slopes. "I hate the drums. There'll be trouble if that racket keep up," said Old Ebidiah, district domino champion three years running.
That was as good as it got in the foretelling department locally. Ebidiah was second last in that district competition. It was hard to live in the shadow of Mrs Stodge from the next village, who could foretell the future from the varied shapes of her knitting experiments.
Her latest pattern had ended up as a clarinet, and she looked at the hills and dreamt dreams of jazz.
It looks like cleome's developed a new LMB power! Jeepers! She's like Chlorophyll Kid, Tyroc and Dream Girl rolled into one!
I'm fine with living in thothkins' universe so long as it's all drawn by P.Craig Russell, aka The Only Guy In The Universe Who Can Make Me Temporarily Forget How Much I Can't Stand Opera.
So what is Thothy's LMB power?
It has something to do with gardens, I believe.
And also making people lethargic
(making references to threads in the MMB, but I'm too lazy to look up the actual reference posts!)
Oh, and successfully posting from itty bitty gadgets which cause him to curse a lot.
Even for the LMB, that really doesn't sound like much in the way of powers.
I'm fine with living in thothkins' universe so long as it's all drawn by P.Craig Russell, aka The Only Guy In The Universe Who Can Make Me Temporarily Forget How Much I Can't Stand Opera.
No! Russell! I said "Willowy"! Everything has to be "Willowy" now! And over there! I know that it's a tractor. But couldn't you make it more enigmatic. Oh and and willowy of course.
So Thothy has the power to make things "willowy". That's actually kind of cool.
I wonder just how bored people would be in some of those poses.
Nura: So what did you do today Mysa?
Mysa: Oh, you know. Just stood at one of the windows, looking out and sighing a lot.
Nura: I must say, you've got that willowy, enigmatic look down pretty well.
Mysa: Thanks, but I'm starving. You're only allowed 500 calories on the P Craig Russell Willowy look diet. And my back's killing me from all that arching. >sigh<
Nura: You're doing the sighing again...
Mysa: Sorry.
Nura: C'mon let's get back to our Build-a-Blok jigsaw.
Oh, those wacky Nal sisters! Always willowy in a crisis!
As a "large lady" myself, I think I would have appreciated Nura even more in her post-willowy phase.
I think I agree with that sentiment, Cleome. A lifetime of reading comics filled with super-buff guys has done little to help my body image.
On the other hand...
That comment was made 24 hours and 11 minutes after my post.
Looks like I killed me another one, kids!
The Trial of Rockhopper Lad can not be far behind.
Darn. I stopped on this thread last night but couldn't think of anything willowy to post.
Congrats, Rocky!
Thanks!
I'm not sure, but at just over five months, I think this is the longest it's taken to kill one of these threads.
Whew! I thought this thread was going to live forever! Congrats Rocky! Blaze says hi too!
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