Just thought you should know...

Fruit-flavoured marshmallows are nasty.

Masterpiece: The Complete Jane Austen

Everyone is entitled to my opinion:

I missed Persuasion, but thought Northanger Abbey was rather poorly done. Mansfield Park was pretty good, but had some issues as well. Firstly, they don't follow the books very well, and several violations of the etiquette of that period arise. Under no circumstances would Mr. Tilney and Catherine Morland have kissed, neither would Edmund and Fanny... this would have been a great impropriety, very inappropriate. Also, Fanny would not have permitted Edmund to enter her bed-chamber, nor would Edmund have presumed to enter... much less when Fanny was washing her hair. Speaking of hair, did anyone else notice that her 'do' was not correct to the period? But everyone else was fine.

As for the drama, "Miss Austen Regrets", that was absolutely ridiculous. She was portrayed in a very undesirable light, in my personal opinion. I would also like to point out the extreme inaccuracy of the piece. Firstly, Mr. Brydges did not propose to Jane Austen, and never had any such relationship with her. This proposal-acceptance-refusal scenario took place instead with one Harris Bigg-Wither. Where Mr. Brydges comes into the story is Jane Austen's relationship with his wife's cousin's son (or something of the sort) Tom Lefroy. This relationship came to nothing. And, in respect to Mr. Hayden (the 'apothecary'), Jane Austen had no such interest in him, but instead had been encouraging a relationship between him and her niece, Fanny. And nowhere is there any evidence to indicate that her sister, Cassandra, discouraged her from accepting any proposal...

Please, no one think I'm being critical or a wet-blanket... this just really smoked my shorts! It just isn't right to portray someone so inaccurately, especially when evidence, history, records etc. point in an entirely different direction.

All that aside, Pride And Prejudice has been pretty good so far. : )

The letter "U" is ruined!

It has now reached the point where I can no longer stand the mere site of a stand-alone "U". Whenever I see it, I think of all the people who use it in the place of 'you', and I want to scream. I can understand minimal abbreviation, such as TX, FL, NC etc. for the states, I can even undertake (on very rare occasions) to use "lol" when it is fitting, as an expression. But when people begin using '2' in the place of 'to' or 'too', 'R' in the place of 'are', 'Y' in the place of 'Why', and (most specifically) 'U' in the place of 'You' , that is just plain unbearable to me. It is denigrating to the English language and derogatory to the gifts of speech and communication. : (

How Many Forum Members Does It Take To Swap Some Lightbulbs

Thanks to a comment on my earlier post containing the "How Many Forum Does It Take To Change A Lightbulb" (Not Written By Me), I was inspired to write a continuation of the lightbulb saga, in which someone gets the idea that they should swap some lightbulbs! Everyone likes a swap, right?
Here goes:

*1* To post announcing that they would like to host a lightbulb swap.

*8* To post announcing that they would like participate in the lightbulb swap.

*2* To post announcing that they will be shipping their lightbulbs late.

*1* To not ship their lightbulbs at all.

*10* To post, blowing up into a heightened state of rage at the inconsiderate people (they didn't notice it was just one person) who dropped out of the lightbulb swap.

~~~
Right about here is a lull in which the swap host
receives, swaps, and ships out the lightbulbs. And it
begins again.
~~~

*1* To post and politely inquire as to the whereabouts of their lightbulbs... not meaning to cause any trouble of course...

*3* To post and announce loudly that they see no reason why the above should not have posted, seeing as the lightbulbs had "supposedly" shipped a month ago.

*5* To post, calculating exactly how much money the host had made off of them in the lightbulb swap (shipping fees etc.)

*13* To post protesting this revolt and declaring the above posters to be inconsiderate, and to proclaim that the host is such a wonderful talented person.

*The Host* To post and say that they did ship the lightbulbs some time ago, everyone knows the mail has been slow lately, and to please be patient.

*1* (OP) To post and say they didn't mean to cause this controversy, they just wanted to know where their lightbulbs were!

*3* (Mods) To post and announce that everyone needs to stop discussing this, and that if they have anything they want to say about the lightbulb swap, to please contact the host.

*11* To post, completely ignoring, (or overlooking, I cannot say) the mods' posts, and continue bickering over the lightbulbs.

*4* To post and try to change the subject.

*5* To post more about the stupid lightbulb swap.

*1* To post and announce that their lightbulbs have arrived.

*8* To post and announce that they knew all along that the lightbulbs were on their way (at least 2 of them had earlier stopped just short of condemning the host as a theif and a liar.)


PS Happy New Year everyone!

No Interesting Blog Fodder : /

13 Things About Me

1. When I was 8-years-old, I had these two skeleton paper dolls I made named "Phillip" and "Phillippa" . When my older sister made me mad I'd tell her I was never speaking to her again, then would hold long dramatic conversations with Phillip and Phillippa.
2. I keep getting "herbivore" and "vegetarian" mixed up.
3. I have a mirror paranoia. Whenever we go out I avoid public restrooms and dressing rooms because I'm convinced they're two-way.
4. Black labradors make me nervous. I have this recurring dream of being chased down the street by an abnormally large black lab, about twice the size he should be.
   
5. I really like dried squid and seaweed rice crackers.
6. I don't like eating in public.
7. I *love* people-watching. Sometimes I'll accidentally comment aloud on someone once they're out of earshot and my companions will look at me like I'm nuts, then I'll realize they weren't paying attention. This is one thing I love about my older sister: she's great at people-watching. We spend an inordinate amount of time muttering back and forth in undertones when we go out together.
8. I don't like standing near anyone taller than me unless they're close friends/relatives. How's that for irrational?
9. I don't like bullies. Especially the ones who pick on those weaker than themselves. It makes me want to scream...
10. I don't like pink.
11. I have a soda can collection.
12. I talk to my cat.
13. I don't like having my picture taken.
    

Poll Results:

11% of the population eat one container of ice cream in one sitting.

22% of the population eat two containers of ice cream in one sitting.

44% of the population eat one bowl of ice cream in one sitting.

22% of the population do not eat ice cream... how can you not eat ice cream?

Thanks everyone for voting, and look out for new polls coming in!

Pop-Tart Observations.

As if the excessive quantity of sugar and carbs in pop-tarts wasn't bad enough, they've now come up with this:


Limited edition pop tarts, each having its own Christmas/Winter themed image. It looks innocent enough from the outside of the box, but when I opened the package, I could hardly believe the horror my eyes beheld. First, we have the gingerbread man:

Do you see it? His left eye has been gouged out. And when I go on to my second pop-tart, we find out how...

The evil undead snowman(look at his face carefully and you will see how closely it resembles that of a skull) has removed the gingerbread man's eye from its socket with the handle of his broom. And do you see the decapitated head he's holding under his left arm?
Absolutely atrocious.

The Spinning Dancer.

Okay, I've been seeing a lot of people post asking "Which way is she really spinning." So I decided to post and take some screen shots... retentive, I know, but maybe this will clear some things up:

Examine both of the above shots very carefully, and you will be able to see that they are of neither her left, nor her right side. The image was designed "just so". It is, in fact, both.

And on to the front and back shots. Again, you will see that it is neither her back nor her front, but both. : )

Update: Further examination leads me to believe that she is not spinning at all, but instead "morfing", for lack of a better term. If so, then as the image is morfing, the brain registers it as "spinning". From there either the left or right side takes over, and causes it to spin either counter-clockwise or clockwise. :)


Link to the Spinning Dancer: http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,22492511-5005375,00.html?from=mostpop