| Not to Belittle Matthew Mitcham's Success ... or Strength |
[August 28, 2008] |
... but it makes me both sad and not a bit angry that there's one dude with balls enough to come out, and there's a media storm [or pretty damn close to one] about it.
Yet, the 13 out lesbians and bisexual women get little to no coverage for their courage?
WTF, people!
It's bad enough that there's only one dude man enough to come out in a whole league of boys men, but the 13 women who are 'man enough' to be out and proud get the equivalent of a by-line on Ellen.com.
Oh, and 6 of these brave, wonderful women went home with medals.
Where's the love??
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| So I've Been Reading About More Dumb-American Blogs... |
[August 16, 2008] |
... and it seems that this time the ire comes from newscasters and their occasional mispronunciations of Chinese cities or athletes names.
And all I can think about is: have you ever gone to another country and listened to their news?
Probably not, because you'd probably not understand a word they were saying [unless you spoke the language, of course]... oh, and that's even if they are talking about an America story.
Ask a Japanese/Chinese person [in Japan or China, not your third-generation American friend whose great-grandmother came here from Taiwan 60 years ago] to say "Ohio"... or ask a Russian to say "Ypsilanti". Of course, I bet there's plenty Americans who still butcher Ypsilanti. ;-) In fact, ask a random Iranian to pronounce any city from Wisconsin or Minnesota and I'm sure you'll get quite the butchering, even if they are a newscaster... even if they are a politician... even if they are educated. Hell, my friend -- Alex -- has a grandmother that's lived in the US for 25 years and she STILL cannot say Indianapolis without having to stop and think about it, lest she stumble. AND SHE LIVES IN INDIANAPOLIS!
And yes, I realize that one should go through extra steps and precautions to learning pronunciations as best as one can, considering it's the Olympics, they've known for awhile who was playing from where and when... and the television news analysts and prompt preparers could probably do with an NPR-like attitude about providing faux-phonetic spellings for athletes and countries [Bey-Shing. for instance]... but this seems to be yet another "hop on the wag-the-finger-at-those-fat-lazy-stupid-Americans-even-though-everyone-is-freakin'-guilty-of-it-but-never-mind-that-because-it's-still-cool-to-bash-on-America-even-when-they-are-making-the-same-mistakes-others-are-making" opportunity; and people seem to be taking full advantage of it.
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why I hate Olympic season.
And no, this isn't the vicodin talking.
Okay, maybe a little bit of the vicodin... but not much.
There's also the darvocet, too.
But you know what I mean.
So anyway; GO TEAM, AMERICA!!! (and any other country with cute dudes in tights!)
Addendum: Oh, and I saw the Croatian - vs - USA water polo match whilst waiting for the inevitable torturer to come and rip my teeth out. It was the highlight of the appointment, let me tell you.
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| Toothache Bad; Vicodine Good |
[August 13, 2008] |
I've an abscessed tooth, they say, and they gave me antibiotics and vicodin.
I'm currently useless, right now. I had to leave work early to make it to Immedia-Dent (to get the script for pain meds), and have since tried to finish the late ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif) slythindor100 Monday tag story [couldn't do it] and beta a 204-word story [and likewise couldn't do it].
Even this entry was started at 7:30-ish PM... but I'm just now posting it.
[... and thank gawd for spell check! ...]
I have an appointment with the oral surgeon on Saturday. Wish me luck.
I'll probably be MIA until then... unless I get used to the vicodin's drug-haze.
Good night, all!
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| OMG! First Bernie Mac, Now Isaac Hayes?!?! |
[August 10, 2008] |
Yeah, yeah -- Scientologist, whatev.
Still... Isaac–fuckin'–Hayes!!!
RIP, brotha'.
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| Who Are My French-Speaking People? |
[August 10, 2008] |
I need to know how to say something in French.
It's a map, of sorts—a map to the pleasures of her flesh.
Ideally, I'd like it to say that in French.
But it could be Pleasure Map, instead, or even Schema of her Pleasures or Map of her Pleasures or something.
I just need it to be sexy... and French... maybe Latin... but really, French would be best.
Thanks?
;)
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| Another Semi-Grammar Rant: Well vs Good |
[August 09, 2008] |
If you ask my how I'm doing, I'll generally say, "I'm well, thanks!"
I've said it, I believe, nearly all of my life.
And it's not but for any reason other than that's how I was taught and it's stuck and that's how my family answers it, unless they say something like "I'm doing good, actually...", which of course generally means something a bit different than 'well' would mean; and it's generally meant as a lead-in to the question: 'doing good at/in what?'
So it's 'bad' grammar with intent, which makes it acceptably bad grammar seeing as it's exceptionally good communication -- and I'll fight anyone tooth and nail if they say that's not what grammar is designed for, but that's neither here nor there.
Onwards, it seems my "I'm well" thing is catching on at work. One person, a wizardly older gent, stopped dead in his tracks in the restroom to say "Oh, my -- correct English. How refreshing. I was an elementary school teacher."
I see.
I guess you've since forgotten elementary grammar then?
I think from here on out, I'm going to start saying good instead of well. I never used well in the hopes that everyone would catch on because it's 'right' or 'righter' or 'rightly' or whatever. I just said it because... well, just because, really. Now people who always said 'good' are saying 'well', at least to me. And I know it's because they think, since I'm an English student, that I'm secretly grading their conversational English. Firstly, it's conversational and it doesn't need to be 100% correct; secondly, no, I don't worry about other people's spoken English; and thirdly, it's not wrong.
I am good.
Say it with me, people:.
Then say this:
He was sad.
She is happy.
We are together.
Those, like good, are predicate adjectives. They are used when you have an adjective [good] that points back to the subject [I] via a linking verb [am].
I am well.
He was sadly.
She is happily.
We are, er... togetherly[!!!] <-- I actually like this one.
The car was redly.
The sky is bluely.
So if those meanies try to correct you, just point at them and laugh as you spit out the words predicate adjective. If you can double over from the guffaws and bring tears to your eyes, all the better. ;-)
[Disclaimer: Now this is not a slam on those who prefer one over the other; rather, it's a slam to those who try to correct conversational, informal English. People of that sort deserve a bit of ridicule.]
Side-note: Anyone who's read/listened to Bridesmaid Revisited as annoyed by the author's abusive use of the word 'presently'? It's about as bad as Jim Butcher's [Dresden Files] 'snarled'.
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| Guh...! Okay BORDERS (and B&N and Half-Priced Books)... |
[August 07, 2008] |
... stop pimping yet another 'sexy vampire'/paranormal "romance"/whatever from the Next Big Housewife Break-Out Author.
If I get one more email about Sherrilyn Kenyon's Acheron, we'll be having some words.
~wags finger~
Oh, and I've downloaded Season Series One of Absolute Power, and... of course I love it. How could you not with lines like, "Most of the young people here at Prentiss McCabe don't know their arse from their elbow, but with Alison, at least you know she'll join the Royal Arse Society and get a book about elbows from the library"...? HA! Plus, I so want to slash these two...
 
Oh, and for the writers on my f'list—I've found another easier way of putting indents in your stories when you post, provided you're not scared of two little html/xhtml tags. It's especially easier if you've been doing the " 10 times" trick. I won't bore those who don't care about it, but for those who do, I'll post the trick. I can't believe it took me this long to figure it out.
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| OM(MFJHC)G!!! Who on my F'list... |
[August 05, 2008] |
... knows about advanced (emphasis on that please) CSS selectors??
Like... all of a sudden CSS has turned into frickin' math and frickin' English grammar, complete with + signs and * signs and parentheticals and [ ]s, which apparently are different from ( )s, and no-spaces means this while with-spaces means that... and it's driving me INSANE, I tell you!!!
About three years ago, I bought a book on CSS that was written by the frickin' dude that frickin' created CSS[!!!!!] and I loved it because it helped me wrap my mind around box-models, margins and their idiosyncracies, and even inheritance... So I find the book last night, thinking that surely the frickin' dude that frickin' created CSS would talk about such advanced CSS selectors [especially since CSS 3.0 has supposedly been around since 2002, if not a bit earlier], Oh, but guess what?!!!?! NOPE HE DOESN'T MENTION WORD–ONE ABOUT IT I HATE HIM AND HIS BOOK AND I'M GONNA TAKE THE BOOK BACK LIKE ALL THOSE "BREAKING DAWN" PEOPLE CLAIM THEY'RE GONNA DO BECAUSE DAMMIT I'M ANGRY!!!
Okay, well... I'm not angry, per se, but I am a bit irritated. So any of you lot who can help would be greatly loved.
♥
or whatev...
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| If You Ever Have a Chance to Watch... |
[August 03, 2008] |
 ... the French movie Le Ciel sur la tête [Times Have Been Better], do so, and know that you are watching exactly how I envision the relationship between Dennis and Colin. Aside from being a great breezy summer movie, it's got this dude in it [pictured], who has that sickly-but-French-so-it's-okay look about him.
~le sigh~
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| Note to Friends: If You Send Me an LJ Private Message (PM)... |
[August 02, 2008] |
... please make sure your own ability to receive private messages is turned on.
You can do that here. Scroll down to the Contact Info and look for the LJ User Messaging drop-down box. I've had three PMs in the last week where I've typed out a nice reply and then hit SEND only to be brutally rebuffed by LJ!
Thanks!
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| Brideshead Revisited -- Audio Book; Run-On Sentences; Fat, Gay Vampires |
[August 02, 2008] |
[ Unabridged, read sexily by Jeremy Irons | Download Lnk ]
As always, if you like the book, buy it.
Also, it seems like the comma-as-replacement/implied-conjunction is making serious leeway in some editing circles. You've always been able to use the comma-as-an-implied-conjunction [caic] rule when making non-exhaustive lists [Her song was heavenly—its tone, its rhythm, its lyric], but now it seems more and more acceptable in non-list sentences.
Example:
Her verbal falir, her brilliant mind dazzle the reader on every page.
[Grammar Desk Reference, Lutz, G. and D. Stephenson, The Writer's Digest, 7th Edition. §5C, pp. 98.] The single comma implies a conjunction and, which means the verb dazzle must agree with the two subjects. Were it dazzles instead, then something would be wrong.
Therefor, one could argue that a sentence like this is acceptable:
Her bright eyes pierced through you straight to your soul, her tireless voice rose your spirits to new heights. But if you follow the rule of non-exhaustive lists, then the author could have always gotten away with such constructions, because they are listing but two [implied: of many] of her qualities that were so special; thusly, the caic rule would have applied.
Of course, fiction has been getting away with this for awhile now, probably off the heel of the caic rule, but now it looks like we don't need to fanagle some round-about rule of lists to justify ourselves anymore!
And really, it makes sense. If an apostrophe can replace a letter, why can't a comma (which couldbe viewed as a heavier apostrophe—like an apostrophe that got too heavy to remain aloft in the sentence] replace an entire word [which is heavier than a letter]? Plus, we're used to commas replacing the word then in if-then statements, like the one at the beginning of this entry [if you like the book then buy it], so really... it's nothing new; rather, an extension of what we already do... an expansion of the rules, if you will.
Run-on sentences, beware—you're a dying breed!
Speaking of heavier... I went to B&N last night and was amused to find a book about a fat, gay [oh, another implied conjunction use that we're already familiar with!!] vampire from New Orleans who pisses off a black militant vampire [cheesily named Malicious X, after Malcolm X, of course]. But I can't remember the title!!
I didn't buy it there because it had one of my writing pet-peeve sentence constructions in it.
He ran to the living, as a crashing noise caught his attention.
The story is in another person's POV, and the he in that sentence is NOT the POV character. I hate that. And this was on the first random page I looked at. There were other examples, and I knew that the book would be littered with them. But now that I've calmed down about it, I find myself still wanting to read it. If any one -- anyone at all -- knows what I'm talking about, if you could pass on the title, you'd have my heart-felt gratitude!
Also, since we're on the subject... if there's any such writing pet-peeves that immediately makes you drop a book -- or hit the BACK button -- do let me know!
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| Speaking of Audio Books... |
[August 01, 2008] |
In honor of the re-re-remake of Brideshead Revisited, I'll be uploading the unabridged audio book, read by Jeremy Irons, very soon.
Should be interesting, yes?
less-than-three!
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| :LOL: If Robert Pattinson/Cedric Diggory Had That Annoying Little Brother... |
[July 28, 2008] |
 ... that constantly cock-blocked you from getting in Robert/Cedric's pants...
... it'd be this dude.
For serios!
Seriously. I just wanna punch him in the face.
And then maybe make out with him a bit. What can I say? I'm weak. Pity me.
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| Awwww, Third of Five (aka Hugh) is sooOOOooo cute!!! |
[July 28, 2008] |
 Awwwwww, look at it, bless!
I just watched the ST:TNG episode "I, Borg" and completely forgot how much I loved that episode and, in particular, Hugh.
Third of Five: You will be assimilated
La Forge: Yes, but before that happens, could we ask you a few questions? :lol:
It helps that it was played with child-like wonder by Jonathan Del Arco [pictured], who is completely fuckin' cute. That pic is him at age 41, by the way. Yes, you read correctly... forty–fuckin'–one.
Fuck him and his still-supple skin!
~iz jealos~
Any Third-of-Five/Data slash out there? Or maybe Third-of-Five/La Forge? Third-of-Five/Lore??
"Captain...? I do not want to forget that I am Hugh."
Aww, neither do I, Third-of-Five... neither do I...
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| LJ-based Programs Everyone Should Have |
[July 27, 2008] |
Now that LJ doesn't allow for the mass-security feature to work for non-paid members, I wanted to remind you all that there is LJ-Sec, which will work on non-paid accounts. You can change all of your security levels (public, private, friends, custom) all at once, even if you have a PLUS or FREE account.
Stick it to The Man!!!
;)
Download: LJ Sec
Community: ![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) ljsec
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| Sunday Sinnin'... Alexei Nemov... Sunday To-Dos...Another Grammar Rant (kinda)... Lost-Wallet Updat |
[July 27, 2008] |
[... Man, I really want to pluralize "to-do" with an apostrophe. –Dos looks too much like DOS [disk operating system] to me, but I know plenty of people would object. ~wink~]
[Sunday Sinnin']
Hey, everyone. I thought I'd give you guys extra inspiration with a bit o' Sunday Sinnin'. Hope you don't mind.
( And On with the Sinnin'...! )
[Speaking of Ouchie! Look at him do the splits!]
 One of my fave gymnasts of all time is Alexei Nemov, who is just as beautiful as they cum come. And it's not because he's Russian, either.
Well... not just.
Here's one of his floor routines. Check out the 0:26 mark. Ouchie! And hotsie!
So wrong, yet so so right.
Another montage—don't mind the bad music.
And something funny he did on Regis.
[Update on the Lost–Wallet Legacy]
Oh, it's still lost. I went yesterday to the BMV to get a new license. I got there at 9:30am and already there were 30 people ahead of me. I had to get my lawnmower over to be repaired before the shop closed, so I left and did that, thinking that when I returned to the BMV [closer to closing time] the wait would be less. No such luck. Estimated wait time: 45 minutes. # of people in front of me: 43. Fuck. That. So I have to do it Tuesday after work when the BMV stays open a bit later than usual [7pm instead of 5pm].
I did go to Target to get some jeans and a couple shirts—and three new ties!!—and some other supplies for my work desk. Oh, and I got the Fantastic Four 2006 cartoon DVD. Very anime-like animation. Oh! And tonnes of skin-care and hair-care products. I've only watched three episodes so far, and I've major issues with two of them, but they are still enjoyable.
[My To-Do List for Today]
( Under the jump for those who care... )
Well... that's all I can think about for now, but I'm sure I'll be posting again really soon—it's only 1:15pm here, after all.
Abküssen!!
Addendum-1: Hey, what are the best DW/TW slash comms on LJ/IJ? Anyone...? Anyone...? Beuller...? Beuller...?
Addendum-2: And I'm still waiting for the HP:TNG-meets-Breakfast Club fic. I can't believe it hasn't been written yet. Cam? Candi? Get on it!
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| Joining sesheta_66's Weight Loss Campaign!!! |
[July 27, 2008] |
 IT'S ON!!!(Like Hermione on Ron!) |
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| I Really Need to Stop Coming Up with Cool Half-Ideas. |
[July 27, 2008] |
"My name is James Sirius Potter. I'm the best at what I do. Unfortunately, what I do... isn't very nice. You see, I kill people."
Yes, I'm ripping from Wolverine's schtick. But I was thinking that the eldest Potter progeny doesn't really get much love, especially in the AS/S world. And what a way to make him stand out than to become a Hit-Wizard-for-Hour?
I have a rough idea of who the mark would be in the story, but ... well... I've other stories to finish—as well as tonnes to beta—so I can't devote the proper time to it.
Still... what a cool little idea.
[sorry for the SPAMMAGE tonight!]
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