Saturday Night Live, hosted by George Carlin, aired live from New York for the first time in 1975. The cast of SNL has been through many changes in the show’s history, from Chevy Chase to Tina Fey. Who was the funniest?
07:46 am - Conferencing... At DPS conference. Expect me to be exhausted until at least Sunday (when I give my poster talk).
If you all are interested in trying to understand astronomy in ten-minute bites geared towards professionals, they are web-streaming the conference. here. Today's special session is on why Pluto not being a planet is Okay. There's also Mars, Extrasolar planets, comets, the Moon and Enceladus (one of Saturn's moons -- it has geysers and makes the E ring).
01:05 pm - Back to the end of the (financial) world
Of the more sober and serious commentators, one of my favourite isJohn Authors at the Financial Times. In his videos he always looks a litle as though he is trying to stay calm - and not quite succeeding.
11:12 am - happy birthday pseudo boob! yep, it's been a whole year.
it's breast cancer awareness month, so hopefully the message is getting through to everybody about checking for changes to your breasts, and being aware of what is normal for you. That's the key - get comfortable with your body, and know what is normal, then any changes will be obvious, and will be spotted quickly. (and you know, that advice doesn't just go for breasts - it goes for the rest of you as well)
i'm not going to lecture anymore. but I might mention it one or two times more this month.
03:03 am - Do I deserve this? *ugh* The pain in my throat woke me up. I've only been asleep since midnight. Seriously, WTF?
Did I re-infect myself? Is this a secondary infection? I was definitely getting better. *whah*
This time my throat hurts (immensely), my ears itch, and I can feel it seeping into my breathing, along of course with the already existing sinus ick which had really eased up.
Tommorrow I need to go buy some Sambucol. I'm sick of this shit. It really seemed when I had that stuff and used it, there was a lot less of this.
Hopefully between the tylenol I took and the throat tea I have steeping right now, I'll be able to get enough relief to go back to sleep. Current Mood: sick
It reminded me of this song - if you aren't familiar with it, please watch all the way to the final punchline:
Okay, McCain says Obama is not an Arab. But takes it as read that "Arab" is an insult (now it means someone, by implication, who is not a decent family man?)
I am getting more and more sickened by the blatant racism against Arabs that's suddenly absolutely fine.
02:33 am Checkers stopped eating earlier this week and lost about as much weight as it was possible for her to lose. Seemed like she had three paws in the grave, and I was saying goodbye every time I went to pet her.
She ate part of her dinner and some baby food just now. If this is her bouncing back yet again, then she would be completely unreal.
But if it is her time, I'm ready. I'll miss her, but I've had this year plus that I didn't think I'd have back last September. And I've been thankful for every day of it. She's not just a cat. She's a part of my life. A fixture. I don't have many friends, so I get really attached to my cats. I think I kind of took her for granted after Cutie went. It took Checkers getting sick for me to realize how much I love her and how much I depend on her.
And if it's not her time, I'll be here to wait on her, hand and foot. Whatever it takes.
On a mostly unrelated note, I may have to start taking daily allergy medicine. I've been stuffy and had sinus pressure just about all week. I'll have to try to remember to take something before work tomorrow. Cuz I don't know where I can get allergy medication at my job. It's not like we have boxes of Allegra samples stashed away in a cabinet or anything. ;-)
12:37 am - What the shit, Knitpicks? It is apparently my mission today to spam everyone's friends lists. So, happy Spam-mas, everybody!
I was just on the Knitpicks website, intending to buy a US 7 fixed circular needle, because I love the finish on the metal tips. So smooth. Such a pleasure to knit with.
And then I discovered that Knitpicks only offers fixed circular needles in sizes below US 4. Everything above that is an interchangeable -- the cords screw into the needle tips. The US 7 tips are $5.99 and the cords are $3.99, so that's $10 for the needles right there, and then shipping is another three bucks. Nearly fifteen bucks for a single knitting needle? Fuck that noise, Knitpicks! I've knit with interchangeables before, and I've heard so many bad things about Knitpicks interchangeables that I am not inclined to spend that much on a single knitting needle. Give me my fixed circulars or give me death.
So, I went to TheKnitter.com, where I can buy Inox Express for $6. Free shipping. Eat that, Knitpicks.
On an unrelated note, my new obsession is Twilight snark. Like, I've laughed myself silly over it. Growing Up Cullen made me hurt myself a little from the snorting laughter that came out of me. The crowning achievement of that series (?) is definitely the scrapbooking post.
EMMETT CAN YOU KEEP IT DOWN I AM READING PROUST!!!!
cigarettes214, please reassure me that I have not gone insane. I didn't even make it through the first book. But I am addicted to the lolfans.
08:01 pm - "That sucks!" It does? Yesterday, Dan came into my room to "serenade" me with his guitar, as he frequently does. In this case, "serenade" means playing the intros to Guns'n'Roses and Led Zep songs, and the intros only. I guess they're mad licks?
I cranked up the Patrick Wolf, because I don't especially like hearing the intro to "Immigrant Song" fifteen times in a row, and Dan says, "No." And I say, "No? What do you mean, 'no'?" And he says, "Just no. This sucks." And I say, "Whatever, Mr. . . . " and then I blank, because part of having eclectic music taste is that I can listen to a lot of the same bands Dan does. He's also been listening to a lot of Cream and Eric Clapton lately, so I can't really rip on him for that. The other thing is that I really have no idea what the bands I don't like that he listens to are called. I just go, "Hey, where's the Clapton, man?" and sort of ignore the Cookie Monster vocals groups.
Also, Dan frequently finds himself playing the Noriega to my General Stiner. I have used music as a weapon, and I do not regret it.
Anyway, this little exchange led me to think about "this sucks" as a criticism of music or writing or any other art. It seems to me that when most people say "this sucks!" they mean, "This is not to my taste." We'll take the Patrick Wolf example. I can completely understand why someone would not like his music, but it's still well done. It's not sloppy or poorly played; he is not the alternative (folk punk? who knows!) version of the Pussycat Dolls.
For a writing example, I can understand why someone would not like In the Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, but the book is not poorly written. But Dan Brown? In Da Vinci Code mode? Oh, yes. Poorly written and poorly plotted. Or Twilight! One long WTF? with vampires.
So, in summation, it pisses me off when people use "this sucks!" to describes works that are just not to their tastes, rather than genuinely filled with suckitude. Please take the time to actually assess a work before labeling it as sucky.
Thank you. Current Music: Ghost Song -- Patrick Wolf
06:59 pm - Olvera Street I'll be going on Sunday. Leaving the North Hollywood Red Line station at 1pm. Please let me know if you're in. Current Mood: pleased
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worried![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/purplelemon/sassips/sick.gif){kind=small}
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pleased![[mood icon]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/niaha/kitty/ankangryg.gif){kind=small}
annoyed![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/mely/lemonfaces/mellow.gif){kind=small}
content![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/mely/lemonfaces/tongueout.gif){kind=small}
ditzy![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/mely/lemonfaces/yawn.gif){kind=small}
groggy![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/mely/lemonfaces/straight.gif){kind=small}
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