The Next Dark Age
We're in it Now
The Product of My Affection
Weekend Assignment #322: Product Placement
Okay, let’s shift gears to something very commonplace. Product Placement. We all have a certain product in our lives we simply couldn’t live without. Tell us about your favorite product. How long have you used it? Why is it the best? If it were no longer on the market, what would you use instead? Give us all the details!
Extra Credit: Time to get creative. Take a photo of your favorite product!
Since she is seven years old and they have stopped making this car, I have given some thought to what I will do when I drop her transmission on Route 53. The Ford Escape seems the only logical conclusion. But what would I do if I simply couldn’t drive anymore?
Hm.
I guess I’d have to move to the city.
This is a picture of my car from the winter before last. I was blogging about this awesome phenomenon in Chicago, where on the first clear Saturday we all go to the car wash. Sit in the queue for 45 minutes for the privilege of paying 10 bucks to wash the road salt off our vehicles. Personally, I stop at the ladies room and pick up a Big Gulp before getting in line.
30 Day TV Meme – Day 25
http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=leartojugg-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B00006LPCK&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifrDay 25 – A show you plan on watching (old or new)
Someday. Someday, I will watch Highlander: The Series. When the last movie came out, I went with my brother and he had to fill me in on Duncan’s story. I rather liked the character. Drama with the ticked off wife amused me. It just hasn’t been a priority yet.
But someday.
Wild Swans, by Jung Chang
Wild Swans is categorized as “Women’s Studies/Asian Studies”. I would call it the 100 year history of a Chinese family from the ladies’ perspective. Jung Chang was born in 1952 and grew up under Mao’s regime. Her parents were early participants in the Revolution. Her grandmother had been the concubine of a warlord.
In the beginning, it was all about the subjugation of women with the footbinding and the selling of twelve year olds. Then, the old warlord died and the grandmother married an older doctor – a very good man. As we get through the childhood of the author’s mother, we see the beginning of the Communist Revolution.
The ideology was fascinating and the shared ideas and arguments of the parents made the political issues personal. It was really well written. As the Communists took power for real, the Changs climbed the ladder. Jung Chang was one of the privileged, but her parents were among the honest ones. She was taught to work hard, study hard, blahblahblah. Then the Cultural Revolution ruined them and I really remembered why I hate Communism.
It’s things like this: a kid goes to join the army to fight the Japenese. He happens to run into the Kuomintang before he runs into the Communists. He joins them. He thinks, “What difference does it make as long as I am fighting the Japanese?”
Ha.
At best, the answer is, “You will never have a decent job in your life.” At worst, you will be “persecuted to death”. Tortured, starved, brainwashed….
The scariest thing to me in the history was the”indoctrination” of schoolchildren. Propaganda day in and day out. The scariest thing to me personally was Chang talking about her father’s persecution driving him to madness. He actually started hearing voices while in prison. Even after his release he was hounded and she tells of the day when the book burning types made him burn all of his books. She remembers him doing it. She had never seen him cry before.
I was sick.
This was a pick for my book club. I wouldn’t have chosen it myself. I am glad that I read it. But I am also glad I am finished.
30 Day TV Meme – Day 24
http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=leartojugg-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B00023P49C&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifrDay 24 – Best quote
Ugh. Asking for one quote from a gazillion hours of television is insane. Right now I can’t think of anything but “the wrath of the whatever high up on the thing” that I posted from The West Wing. The West Wing had a thousand of them! Hang on….
I’ve always liked Eric Cartman’s “Screw you guys. I’m goin’ home.”
And of course, “Oh my God! They killed Kenny!” “You bastards!” gets a lot of mileage.
Ohhhh. And “You. Will. Respect mah authoritay!”
That’s the one.
When did I stop watching South Park?
Anne’s Law – Book Sales
As I was saying, the Little City Book Sale has confirmed in my mind the need for some ground rules at these events. Because I am old and cranky. Book Sales are very crowded, so the Spirit of the Law is to do your best to stay out of other people’s way. Respect personal space. Keep it moving along. To be specific:
1. Be aware of what is going on around you. You’re supposed to be browsing, not losing yourself in a book. That’s why they don’t have cushy chairs. If you want to stop and chat with your friends, step outside the aisles. Or better yet, go to Starbucks.
2. Keep your stuff with you at all times. Don’t put your pile of books down on the other books such that the rest of us can’t tell which you are setting aside to buy, and can’t see the books that are for sale. Don’t set your bag down on the table and for the love of Dickens don’t leave your drink lying around, either. We don’t want to touch your stuff. We don’t want it in our way, either.
3. This goes double if you are using a cart. I am not a fan of shopping carts at books sales, but I know how many people are seriously filling them up. God Bless. But seriously, anyone with a cart is taking up three times as much space as the average person. That makes it three times as likely that you and your stuff are in the way. Keep it with you all the time. Anyone who leaves their cart in the middle of the aisle and walks away to browse should be required to relinquish custody of said cart and wear a dunce cap for the remainder of the day.
4. Hygiene is important. Sometimes we really are jammed in there like cattle, so don’t be the stinky kid in class. By that I mean body odor, perfume, cigarette smoke and you would not believe the stench of hair care products these days.
5. It is absolutely ok to be slow. To browse the books. To read the back of every last one. Just be aware of what is going on around you. Can you take a step to one side or another to let someone by? And if someone is parked in front of you, go around. The books don’t have to be right in front of your face to see the titles. And if you need to reach across someone, just say “Excuse me.”
6. We all know the extra books are in boxes under the table. We have all found some gems down there. If you are pulling up books because there is room on the table; well, heck you are doing the volunteers a favor. But if you are in high traffic with your head under the tarp and your butt in the air, you are not going to be aware of what is going on around you.
7. I am very sorry to say this, but the big book sales are no place for children. Seriously. I was at the Little City sale for 90 minutes and didn’t hit close to 100% of the tables. And I am quick. Even if you have really well-behaved kids, 90 minutes on their feet in a tent is too much to ask anyone under 10. And even a 10 year old would have to be pretty committed to the Cause of Reading to stand it. I saw a woman yelling at her 4-year old: “Will you be quiet?! We are looking at books!!” No, lady. You are looking at books. The kid is stuck in the cart looking at this warehouse of a tent.
8. Be careful with the books. Just because you don’t want it doesn’t mean that no one will. Don’t jam them in so the pages bend. Don’t drop them on a different table because you have changed your mind. Don’t leave your iced coffee so the condensation causes water damage. (Yeah, I’m bitter about that one.)
9. Don’t argue with the staff. At Little City and the library sales, these are volunteers raising money for charity. If you think they have made a mistake, just ask politely. If you don’t like the answer, you don’t buy the book. Don’t be a pain.
10. Bring your own bags. First, they take up less space while you are shopping than baskets. Second, if it is a charity book sale, either the bags cost them money or they have a limited supply that volunteers have scavenged from their own homes. And third. You know, go green.
I don’t want to sound like I don’t want you there. I do. Really. I like to know that other people appreciate books. I like that Little City and my library and other charities are raising funds this way. If there wasn’t a crowd, there’s something wrong with the business model and they might just all quit and that would suck.
But please. Be part of the solution, not part of the problem.
30 Day TV Meme – Day 23
http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=leartojugg-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B00005JO9J&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifrDay 23 – Most annoying character
The real answer is Frank Burns from M*A*S*H, but:
I hated Izzy Stevens before you did. It is not too terribly far from the truth to suggest that this chick ruined Grey’s Anatomy for me. While she had a couple of decent Doctor Moments, she was generally a train wreck of bad decisions. She whined, she fell in love with a patient, she made people around her dumber.
And OMG, the Katherine Heigl drama. Between the saying one damned thing about Isaiah Washington and withdrawing her name from the Emmys, and this season submitting her name to the Emmys. Ugh.
Remember when Shannen Doherty was on 90210 and the line blurred between disliking her and disliking her character until we wanted to spit every time we saw her face? It’s like that.
Austin
My friend Austin is a Cancer survivor. Several years ago, in the thick of treatment, he started using the blog tool at Carepages, a great website for patient outreach. It was a way for him to express himself in a safe forum, as well as keeping his friends and family up to date on his progress. The posts tapered off as his active treatment wound down.
But he still has stuff to say, so he started up a page on Blogger. And stalled out. But he was still writing and even participating in local readings. Every once in a while, he would write something and post it on the Notes app in Facebook. And every time, I would be all:
Dooooooode……you have a real blog. Why are you tooling around on the Facebook???
And now he is back on Blogger and I am plugging him so he will be forced to keep up the thing. Thank you for your attention.
30 Day TV Meme – Day 22
http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=leartojugg-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B001DMVZNK&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifrDay 22 – Favorite series finale
M*A*S*H. By a country mile.
M*A*S*H had an advantage in that the “ending” was natural and self-evident. The war had to end sometime. The added brilliance was in the stories told in a 2-hour period in a race to the finish line. Namely, Hawkeye finally cracked. The way that story unfolded – with the awesome Alan Arbus in his recurring role as an army psychiatrist – was Hawkeye trying to piece together the fragments of memory from the trauma that led to a breakdown.
As that story arc ended, the peace process picks up and we watch our heroes making plans to go home. There is a great scene where we hear what everyone plans to do next. the punchline, of course, belongs to Klinger.
The word Goodbye spelled out in the rocks is an iconic picture now, but it was really powerful in context. It was natural, true to the series, worked as a stand alone ep and tied up the loose ends. I can’t think of another show that did it so well.
Dracula: Origin
http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=leartojugg-20&o=1&p=8&l=bpl&asins=B0017AJMX8&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr I picked up this game on clearance at the holiday sale at Half Price Books. I wasn’t really interested in one more Dracula game, but I realized that some of the people that worked on this game did the Agatha Christie games that I kinda liked.
The first thing I did, while the game was loading, was Google the walkthroughs. Because I am a big cheater. And ever since the incident with the orange juice and conducting electricity (on the Orient Express game), I don’t even feel dumb. Or guilty.
The player is Van Helsing, trying to rescue that foolish Mina. Poor Harker is toast. There are some puzzles, as well as some problem solving, but I am really in it for the storytelling. It was ok.
However, the feature in the interface that I really liked was that when you hit the spacebar, the screen will highlight with all of your options – the hand for places you should do something, the eye for places you should see something and the footprints for where you can move to a new screen. Very convenient for cheaters having a “what the heck haven’t I done here?” moment.
This would have been good for a weekend – if there hadn’t been two hockey games that weekend.
Lunch at Whole Foods
Whole Foods moved into the neighborhood near my office, so I walked over for lunch today. They are clearly catering to the business lunch crowd. I am used to the salad bar, the hot bar, the soup bar, the sushi bar and the gelato counter. This one also had a pasta counter and a “diner” counter with burgers and sandwiches and milkshakes.
I picked up a slice of pizza for $3.00. It was pretty decent for by-the-slice, with a good crust. Here’s the problem: you can’t get anything normal at Whole Foods. Like a freakin’ Diet Coke.
Pizza requires a carbonated beverage. Lunchtime requires caffeine. And it must be of the Diet variety. This is what they had:
“All natural”.
I will not be making this mistake again.
The Next Dark Age 