This is why I don't generally listen to music. :P If anyone asks, or if a comment seems contextually appropriate, I'll usually say I'm not that into music. The truth is, I'm into it too much.
I can't listen to music as background noise. If I like a song then it's distracting, and if I don't then it's annoying. I generally just avoid it because it sucks me in if I'm not careful.
This morning, I wasn't careful.
So I got a Facebook notice that a friend of mine posted a link. I went to check it out, and it was Queen's Live Aid set. I haven't seen that in a long time, so I clicked through and watched it. Awesome stuff -- Queen rules.
But I glanced at that column of links to the right on the YouTube page, and saw that there are... holy crap, there are reaction videos with people who've never heard Queen before, and sometimes the younger ones have never heard OF Queen. O_O
There were a few other things too -- one video analyzed Bohemian Rhapsody (the structure, not the lyrics) and it was really good. And I watched a video analyzing how Disney makes the songs in their movies feel nostalgic, which was actually sort of a history of Disney movie music, and how the music is one of the major factors in bringing about the Disney Renaissance, starting with Little Mermaid, which had completely awesome music. (I nagged my then-boyfriend, Jim, into renting it on my first or second visit (to see him in realspace -- we met online) and when we finished "Under the Sea" he had to rewind and watch it again right away. :D )
But mostly it was Queen reaction videos.
I got up a bit before midnight last night, Jim went to bed a little after two, and I started watching videos between four and five in the morning. I just finished. So... yeah, I lost like eleven hours of what was going to be productive time to watching a bunch of ridiculously fun music videos. :P I watched the Live Aid set like... seven times? Maybe eight, counting the original non-reaction video link that set me off. (Or maybe nine...?) I watched people watching the official video of Bohemian Rhapsody like eight times, maybe nine, including one guy who actually tried to break down and analyze the lyrics and figure out how it all made sense. [giggling facepalm] He paused after the first chunk and started talking about how the singer had just killed someone and was talking to his mother (he was watching a live-recorded video, without the intro :P ) and I was sitting here going, "Oh, dude, do not go there!" LOL!
I found a young man who'd grown up exposed to only hip hop, but someone had suggested he watch Bohemian Rhapsody and do a reaction video. His head exploded two or three times, he called out his parents for only playing hip hop when he was a kid and not introducing him to Queen, and he went on to do eighteen more Queen response videos, every one of which I watched. [hides under keyboard] Seriously, he was fun -- his reactions were more analyses, not incredibly technical, but with enough specific commentary and grounded opinion to make them interesting to listen to.
And just, watching people who've never heard Queen before watching for the first time (especially Bohemian Rhapsody, but a few other songs too) and going all O_O and then rocking out on it? That'll (unfortunately) never get old. :D It's like, introducing your favorite music to someone who's never heard it, and getting to enjoy both the music and their joyful reaction to it, which is massively awesome and fun.
So yeah, that's what I spent the morning and most of the afternoon doing. Thanks, Lyn. [wry smile]
Angie, who was finally able to break away and is going to do her best to forget that response videos exist because otherwise she'll get nothing else done for the rest of the year
Showing posts with label funny. Show all posts
Showing posts with label funny. Show all posts
Sunday, July 14, 2019
Thursday, December 14, 2017
Wonderful Star Wars Comics
Sad Panda has a seriously wonderful collection of Star Wars comics that are mashups of Star Wars and Calvin and Hobbes, plus a few other bonus strips -- I loved the Peanuts one. :) Definitely check them out. :D
Thanks to Jim Hines for the link.
Angie
Thanks to Jim Hines for the link.
Angie
Saturday, January 30, 2016
Model Deals with Dirtbags Online
So Emily Sears is a model, and like many models, she posts pics of herself online regularly. It's part of the job, building her reputation and brand, all that good stuff.
But there are dudes online who think it's just neato-kewl to send her pics of their penises, just... because? I don't even know. Do these guys really think some woman they've never met is going to look at a crappy phone-pic of their junk and think, "OMG I wanna this guy to bang me hard!!" Really? [eyeroll]
Eventually Ms. Sears got sick of this crap, and decided to start doing something about it. She looked at the guy's online profile, and found his wife or girlfriend, and sent her a screenshot of what the guy sent, with a note saying she thought the woman should be aware of what her husband/boyfriend was doing online.
I think this is an awesome solution. :) A friend of Ms. Sears, a DJ named Laura, who also gets dick pics on a regular basis, has started doing the same thing.
Good stuff, click through and read about it. The comments are actually worth reading too. I particularly like the one where a woman tells about how, when she was fourteen, some dude sent her a dick pic and she sent him a picture of cutting a banana. [smirk] I hope that had him crossing his legs for a while.
Angie
But there are dudes online who think it's just neato-kewl to send her pics of their penises, just... because? I don't even know. Do these guys really think some woman they've never met is going to look at a crappy phone-pic of their junk and think, "OMG I wanna this guy to bang me hard!!" Really? [eyeroll]
Eventually Ms. Sears got sick of this crap, and decided to start doing something about it. She looked at the guy's online profile, and found his wife or girlfriend, and sent her a screenshot of what the guy sent, with a note saying she thought the woman should be aware of what her husband/boyfriend was doing online.
I think this is an awesome solution. :) A friend of Ms. Sears, a DJ named Laura, who also gets dick pics on a regular basis, has started doing the same thing.
Good stuff, click through and read about it. The comments are actually worth reading too. I particularly like the one where a woman tells about how, when she was fourteen, some dude sent her a dick pic and she sent him a picture of cutting a banana. [smirk] I hope that had him crossing his legs for a while.
Angie
Sunday, February 2, 2014
But It's Groundhog Day...?
So I'm sitting here working on a story (which is due in by midnight) and I hear this hollow, distant boom from outside. Weird. Sounds like a fireworks type rocket going off, but there's only one, so I figure it must be a car backfiring or something. About ten minutes later there's another one. Then a few minutes after that, another one.
Then a few minutes ago it sounded like Fourth of July outside and I'm all o_O because it's NOT Fourth of July. :/ I go call downstairs to Jim, "Did Groundhog Day become a fireworks holiday when I wasn't listening?" Because this is seriously weird, like, Twilight Zone type weird.
Jim calls back, "It's the Superbowl. Seattle probably won."
Ahh.
Can you tell I'm not any kind of a football fan? I vaguely remember hearing that Seattle was playing, but giving no damns, I let it slip out of my head. I guess the city fathers care more than I do, if they spent the money on a fireworks show. [wry smile]
I suppose my city winning the Superbowl is somewhat more likely than my city deciding to set off fireworks for Groundhog Day.
Yay Seattle?
Angie, going back to writing
Then a few minutes ago it sounded like Fourth of July outside and I'm all o_O because it's NOT Fourth of July. :/ I go call downstairs to Jim, "Did Groundhog Day become a fireworks holiday when I wasn't listening?" Because this is seriously weird, like, Twilight Zone type weird.
Jim calls back, "It's the Superbowl. Seattle probably won."
Ahh.
Can you tell I'm not any kind of a football fan? I vaguely remember hearing that Seattle was playing, but giving no damns, I let it slip out of my head. I guess the city fathers care more than I do, if they spent the money on a fireworks show. [wry smile]
I suppose my city winning the Superbowl is somewhat more likely than my city deciding to set off fireworks for Groundhog Day.
Yay Seattle?
Angie, going back to writing
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Dear Dudebro
This is why John Scalzi pretty much owns the Internet.
Some months ago, Scalzi said that if his Twitter followers could raise $500 for Clarion within the next half hour, he'd have someone take a picture of him wearing a very nice Regency frock, and post it to his web site. They did, and he did. Much more recently, some misogynistic little boy whose insult quotient is about at the level of "Neener neener!" took the picture and memeized it, in a way he clearly thought would be distressing to Mr. Scalzi. [smirk]
Click through to see the picture, and enjoy seeing Scalzi hand it all back to this guy with a dumptruck. Seriously, this is awesome. :D
Angie
Some months ago, Scalzi said that if his Twitter followers could raise $500 for Clarion within the next half hour, he'd have someone take a picture of him wearing a very nice Regency frock, and post it to his web site. They did, and he did. Much more recently, some misogynistic little boy whose insult quotient is about at the level of "Neener neener!" took the picture and memeized it, in a way he clearly thought would be distressing to Mr. Scalzi. [smirk]
Click through to see the picture, and enjoy seeing Scalzi hand it all back to this guy with a dumptruck. Seriously, this is awesome. :D
Angie
Thursday, March 28, 2013
On the Gay Marriage Case
Writer Courtney Milan, who's a lawyer in her day job IIRC, wrote this seriously awesome summary of Tuesday's Supreme Court arguments in the Gay Marriage case, in transcript form. They're nowhere near done, but this is interesting and humorous and well worth reading. Probably a lot moreso, for most of us, than the actual transcript (which is 82 pages long) although she links to that if you want to tackle it.
Click through to read the rest.
She also summarized the next chunk, which is shorter but still has some good ??? stuff in it. She says she's not going to do any more, which is a shame, seriously.
Angie
Oral argument starts with Charles Cooper speaking on behalf of the petitioners, who are not in favor of same-sex marriage in California.
COOPER: Thank you, Mr. Chief Justice, and may it please the Court. Today, we—
ROBERTS: In keeping with the practices of this Court, we don’t allow anyone to complete a full sentence before interrupting them. Tell us why the people who hired you should even be allowed to bring a case.
COOPER: Because California said so.
GINSBURG: So? We’ve said before that in order to be able to bring a federal case, you have to have an injury in fact, something that is specific to you.
COOPER: But these people were injured. They didn’t want gay people to marry, and now look! Gays. Lesbians. Able to marry at will. It’s very injurious. They’re injured just thinking about it.
Click through to read the rest.
She also summarized the next chunk, which is shorter but still has some good ??? stuff in it. She says she's not going to do any more, which is a shame, seriously.
Angie
Monday, February 18, 2013
Random Penguin
This site? Is great.
When the merger of Random House and Penguin was approved, it was clear to all that the new company needed to be called Random Penguin. Well, perhaps not to all. That the executives in charge decided to call it Penguin Random House instead just proves that their souls had withered some decades past. One lone protester decided to demonstrate against this great nomenclatural wrong by putting random penguins into the covers of books issued by Penguin or Random House. The results are great -- check 'em out.
I particularly like Mists of Avalon and Throne of the Crescent Moon. :D
(Note that they're taking submissions, too, so if you feel inspired, fire up Photoshop make with the random penguins.)
Angie
When the merger of Random House and Penguin was approved, it was clear to all that the new company needed to be called Random Penguin. Well, perhaps not to all. That the executives in charge decided to call it Penguin Random House instead just proves that their souls had withered some decades past. One lone protester decided to demonstrate against this great nomenclatural wrong by putting random penguins into the covers of books issued by Penguin or Random House. The results are great -- check 'em out.
I particularly like Mists of Avalon and Throne of the Crescent Moon. :D
(Note that they're taking submissions, too, so if you feel inspired, fire up Photoshop make with the random penguins.)
Angie
Monday, January 21, 2013
Blog Moderation Techniques
Okay, this is awesome. :) How does one handle jerkwad commenters? Sure, you can delete their posts, but certain practitioners of gluteal haberdashery are annoyingly persistent. What to do?
John Scalzi (a big-name SF writer, for anyone not into SF) has a ridiculously popular blog and doesn't shy away from controversial topics. I generally agree with him, so in my world he's a good guy, but there are folks out there who disagree with him strongly on various matters. If they're willing to be civil then all is well, but certain individuals come sliming and frothing their way onto his blog, spraying putrid stupidity all over the curtains. His usual response is to delete them (using the Mallet of Loving Correction -- some SF fans actually gave him a real one at WorldCon, like a fancy judge's mallet but about three feet long) but some folks, when their comments have been malleted, just keep coming back over and over. Handling them is annoying and takes up time.
So he borrowed a technique from blogger Jenny Lawton, in a move one of his commenters called "setting the Mallet to 'Kitten.'" It made me laugh, and after a couple of kittenings, a recent jerkwad couldn't take it anymore and vanished, yay!
I only wish I had 1/100 the blog traffic Scalzi does. My current jerkwad visitors are all comment spammers; moving up to active asshats would be an indication that my blog had achieved a new level of readership, so I'd actually kind of welcome that, at least as an indicator of popularity. [wry smile] Right now, I don't even need a Mallet, much less one with a "Kitten" setting. When/if I ever do, though, I'll keep it in mind. [snicker]
Check out the Kitten setting.
Angie
John Scalzi (a big-name SF writer, for anyone not into SF) has a ridiculously popular blog and doesn't shy away from controversial topics. I generally agree with him, so in my world he's a good guy, but there are folks out there who disagree with him strongly on various matters. If they're willing to be civil then all is well, but certain individuals come sliming and frothing their way onto his blog, spraying putrid stupidity all over the curtains. His usual response is to delete them (using the Mallet of Loving Correction -- some SF fans actually gave him a real one at WorldCon, like a fancy judge's mallet but about three feet long) but some folks, when their comments have been malleted, just keep coming back over and over. Handling them is annoying and takes up time.
So he borrowed a technique from blogger Jenny Lawton, in a move one of his commenters called "setting the Mallet to 'Kitten.'" It made me laugh, and after a couple of kittenings, a recent jerkwad couldn't take it anymore and vanished, yay!
I only wish I had 1/100 the blog traffic Scalzi does. My current jerkwad visitors are all comment spammers; moving up to active asshats would be an indication that my blog had achieved a new level of readership, so I'd actually kind of welcome that, at least as an indicator of popularity. [wry smile] Right now, I don't even need a Mallet, much less one with a "Kitten" setting. When/if I ever do, though, I'll keep it in mind. [snicker]
Check out the Kitten setting.
Angie
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Emerging Magic and A Hidden Magic out in Paperback
Amazon has copies of Emerging Magic in paperback. The paper version is 390 pages long, and costs $16.95, free shipping if you have Prime.
I also have to laugh -- there are three companies offering to third-party sell you a new copy already, all with a $3.99 charge for shipping, which is doubtless how number one, who's charging $16.94 (Ooooo, discount!) is making money. Number two is charging $17.19, and number three (who's got to be seriously delusional, is all I can say) is charging $57.87. Good luck, dude. :)
I've heard some other writers griping about this, but so long as I get my royalty, they can sell the book for whatever retail price they like. I'm certainly not going to stress out over a business whiz who thinks he can sell a sixteen-something dollar book for almost sixty dollars, on the same page with a [Buy] button for the (identical) sixteen-something dollar version.
Anyway, I'm sort of boinging over here, because this is my first paperback book. I turned in the EM galleys ahead of the HM galleys, so I'm assuming the paperback Hidden Magic will show up some time soon; I'll definitely post about it when it does.
[ETA: Charisstoma found the A Hidden Magic paperback. It's not linked to the Kindle edition yet, so I didn't see it -- stealth paperback! It's 248 pages, and costs $14.95 with Prime shipping available. Thanks to Charisstoma for pointing it out!]
Angie
I also have to laugh -- there are three companies offering to third-party sell you a new copy already, all with a $3.99 charge for shipping, which is doubtless how number one, who's charging $16.94 (Ooooo, discount!) is making money. Number two is charging $17.19, and number three (who's got to be seriously delusional, is all I can say) is charging $57.87. Good luck, dude. :)
I've heard some other writers griping about this, but so long as I get my royalty, they can sell the book for whatever retail price they like. I'm certainly not going to stress out over a business whiz who thinks he can sell a sixteen-something dollar book for almost sixty dollars, on the same page with a [Buy] button for the (identical) sixteen-something dollar version.
Anyway, I'm sort of boinging over here, because this is my first paperback book. I turned in the EM galleys ahead of the HM galleys, so I'm assuming the paperback Hidden Magic will show up some time soon; I'll definitely post about it when it does.
[ETA: Charisstoma found the A Hidden Magic paperback. It's not linked to the Kindle edition yet, so I didn't see it -- stealth paperback! It's 248 pages, and costs $14.95 with Prime shipping available. Thanks to Charisstoma for pointing it out!]
Angie
Monday, June 18, 2012
Oatmeal vs. FunnyJunk and Charles Carreon
This summary is not available. Please
click here to view the post.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
March Stuff and an Early April Mishap
Writing: 5997 words = 1
Editing: 114,093 words = 23
Sub: 1 loooong novel = 1
TOTAL = 25 points
I didn't look at my total until April, so of course I didn't have a chance to write another Three Freaking Words to get another writing point. [headdesk]
I finally finished Emerging Magic the sequel to A Hidden Magic. Actually, I finished it in February, but it took most of March to get through an editing pass and ready to submit, but it's in, yay! This sucker's taken more than twice as long as I thought it would, and having it finally finished feels wonderful. :)
I'm visiting my mom in Reno over Easter, and the world is letting me know I should've stayed home. :/ I only have one pair of jeans that fit, so I wore them up here, and brought a couple of pairs of sweats to sleep in, and bum around the house in, and hopefully wear to the gym if I can go with my brother whenever he goes. Also brought a skirt in case we go somewhere fancy for Easter dinner. So I flew up Tuesday, and when I got in, my mom made me a cup of hot chocolate. She has a tablecloth on her table, which I'm not used to, and somehow while sitting down to drink (with the cup at my place already) I managed to catch the tablecloth on... I don't even know what, maybe I sat on it somehow, although I didn't think it was that long. Anyway, next thing I know the cup's fallen over and I have HOT chocolate all in my lap and some on my top, and a second later it soaks through and it's freaking HOT! Damn!
So I go change out of my jeans and top, put on a pair of sweats and a T-shirt, and put my jeans and top and the tablecloth and the placemat and all in the laundry. They wash, and I put 'em in the dryer when I go to bed.
Yesterday, we're going grocery shopping so I go to get dressed. Get my jeans out of the dryer... and there's a huge shredded rip down the seam in the seat! [headdesk] Totally ruined. The washing machine just ate my jeans, and of course they're all I have. :(
I get online and go to the site where I bought the jeans to get more. Can't just go out and buy a pair; no stores I know of carry pants for women who are tall and fat both, right there on the rack. I wear a 24T, and the only way to get those is mail order, and not from very many places even that way. :/ So I go to Woman Within, and sure enough they have a nice selection. I pick a couple of pairs, both on sale yay, and order. I was originally thinking to just have them sent home and that I'd be wearing sweats the rest of my time here (got the skirt, but I don't like wearing them unless I have to) but I see the site has a super-duper express-zoom delivery option that'll get you your stuff the next business day if you order before 4pm Eastern, for only twenty dollars extra on the delivery charge. O_O Okay, yeah, it's a lot, but if I can get jeans to wear while I'm here, that's awesome. The stuff I ordered was on sale, so it sort of makes up for the delivery charge, right? :P So I change delivery to Mom's address and go for it. By this time it's like three minutes after 1 here, which is 4 on the east coast, so I'm hoping it'll sneak in and be delivered tomorrow (which would be today now) and if not then it'll come on Friday and that's still good.
I hit confirm order and it chugs along... and the confirmation screen comes up showing regular delivery to Mom's address, estimated delivery date April 14th. WTF?? O_O
I won't even be here then! :( :( :( Something screwed up, and I'm pissed off.
So I send an e-mail to their customer service address, explain what happened and why this is completely unacceptable. I tell them I want delivery expedited to arrive either Thursday, or Friday at the very latest, or I want the order cancelled, one or the other. Hit send, then we go off grocery shopping with me in my sweats.
Give them credit, by the time we got back, there was an answer in my e-mail with an apology for the screw-up. The Customer Service lady said she'd make sure I got my stuff on Friday. We'll see. If so, then cool. I still wish their system had worked the way it was supposed to the first time, but an efficient and prompt fix is what you want from a good company. Everybody makes mistakes; what separates the good companies (and people) from the bad is what they do after they've made the mistake.
I hope everyone has a great Easter, or just a great weekend if you don't observe the holiday. [wave/hugz]
Angie, hanging out in sweats in Reno
Editing: 114,093 words = 23
Sub: 1 loooong novel = 1
TOTAL = 25 points
I didn't look at my total until April, so of course I didn't have a chance to write another Three Freaking Words to get another writing point. [headdesk]
I finally finished Emerging Magic the sequel to A Hidden Magic. Actually, I finished it in February, but it took most of March to get through an editing pass and ready to submit, but it's in, yay! This sucker's taken more than twice as long as I thought it would, and having it finally finished feels wonderful. :)
I'm visiting my mom in Reno over Easter, and the world is letting me know I should've stayed home. :/ I only have one pair of jeans that fit, so I wore them up here, and brought a couple of pairs of sweats to sleep in, and bum around the house in, and hopefully wear to the gym if I can go with my brother whenever he goes. Also brought a skirt in case we go somewhere fancy for Easter dinner. So I flew up Tuesday, and when I got in, my mom made me a cup of hot chocolate. She has a tablecloth on her table, which I'm not used to, and somehow while sitting down to drink (with the cup at my place already) I managed to catch the tablecloth on... I don't even know what, maybe I sat on it somehow, although I didn't think it was that long. Anyway, next thing I know the cup's fallen over and I have HOT chocolate all in my lap and some on my top, and a second later it soaks through and it's freaking HOT! Damn!
So I go change out of my jeans and top, put on a pair of sweats and a T-shirt, and put my jeans and top and the tablecloth and the placemat and all in the laundry. They wash, and I put 'em in the dryer when I go to bed.
Yesterday, we're going grocery shopping so I go to get dressed. Get my jeans out of the dryer... and there's a huge shredded rip down the seam in the seat! [headdesk] Totally ruined. The washing machine just ate my jeans, and of course they're all I have. :(
I get online and go to the site where I bought the jeans to get more. Can't just go out and buy a pair; no stores I know of carry pants for women who are tall and fat both, right there on the rack. I wear a 24T, and the only way to get those is mail order, and not from very many places even that way. :/ So I go to Woman Within, and sure enough they have a nice selection. I pick a couple of pairs, both on sale yay, and order. I was originally thinking to just have them sent home and that I'd be wearing sweats the rest of my time here (got the skirt, but I don't like wearing them unless I have to) but I see the site has a super-duper express-zoom delivery option that'll get you your stuff the next business day if you order before 4pm Eastern, for only twenty dollars extra on the delivery charge. O_O Okay, yeah, it's a lot, but if I can get jeans to wear while I'm here, that's awesome. The stuff I ordered was on sale, so it sort of makes up for the delivery charge, right? :P So I change delivery to Mom's address and go for it. By this time it's like three minutes after 1 here, which is 4 on the east coast, so I'm hoping it'll sneak in and be delivered tomorrow (which would be today now) and if not then it'll come on Friday and that's still good.
I hit confirm order and it chugs along... and the confirmation screen comes up showing regular delivery to Mom's address, estimated delivery date April 14th. WTF?? O_O
I won't even be here then! :( :( :( Something screwed up, and I'm pissed off.
So I send an e-mail to their customer service address, explain what happened and why this is completely unacceptable. I tell them I want delivery expedited to arrive either Thursday, or Friday at the very latest, or I want the order cancelled, one or the other. Hit send, then we go off grocery shopping with me in my sweats.
Give them credit, by the time we got back, there was an answer in my e-mail with an apology for the screw-up. The Customer Service lady said she'd make sure I got my stuff on Friday. We'll see. If so, then cool. I still wish their system had worked the way it was supposed to the first time, but an efficient and prompt fix is what you want from a good company. Everybody makes mistakes; what separates the good companies (and people) from the bad is what they do after they've made the mistake.
I hope everyone has a great Easter, or just a great weekend if you don't observe the holiday. [wave/hugz]
Angie, hanging out in sweats in Reno
Friday, April 1, 2011
A New Writer Story
I know I still need to post March Stuff, but this is too good to wait on. [facepalm] Anyone else ever have this happen...?
I sent a story via Post Office to an SF magazine yesterday, 31 March (yes, there are still SF markets that haven't dragged their butts into the 21st century), and today I got my empty, unsealed SASE back in the mail. o_O I can only assume that my envelope came open (unstuck or torn or whatever) and scattered its contents all over the sorting room. Just as well they sent me my SASE back, or I'd never have known and would've been waiting to hear back from the editor for quite a while; even assuming they get the whole story, which is kind of unlikely, they wouldn't respond without a SASE. So thanks to the PO for delivering an empty, open envelope and clueing me in.
I'll admit this is a new one on me. I remember back when paper mail was the only way to send stories in. Heck, I remember when your SASE was the 9x12 and the larger envelope was a 10x13, because you were hand-typing your manuscripts and if it was rejected, you wanted that sucker back, rather than just the slip. I never had the whole thing fall apart, or be torn apart, or whatever happened yesterday.
The Post Office is closed for today, but I have a new package done up and will try again tomorrow. Hopefully it'll get through unscathed.
Angie, crossing a set of virtual fingers
I sent a story via Post Office to an SF magazine yesterday, 31 March (yes, there are still SF markets that haven't dragged their butts into the 21st century), and today I got my empty, unsealed SASE back in the mail. o_O I can only assume that my envelope came open (unstuck or torn or whatever) and scattered its contents all over the sorting room. Just as well they sent me my SASE back, or I'd never have known and would've been waiting to hear back from the editor for quite a while; even assuming they get the whole story, which is kind of unlikely, they wouldn't respond without a SASE. So thanks to the PO for delivering an empty, open envelope and clueing me in.
I'll admit this is a new one on me. I remember back when paper mail was the only way to send stories in. Heck, I remember when your SASE was the 9x12 and the larger envelope was a 10x13, because you were hand-typing your manuscripts and if it was rejected, you wanted that sucker back, rather than just the slip. I never had the whole thing fall apart, or be torn apart, or whatever happened yesterday.
The Post Office is closed for today, but I have a new package done up and will try again tomorrow. Hopefully it'll get through unscathed.
Angie, crossing a set of virtual fingers
Monday, February 21, 2011
From Typewriter to Bookstore
A short video on where books come from -- great for a giggle. :) Some of the comments are just as funny, particularly the ones that take the video seriously and wax indignant with their corrections, hee!
From the Typewriter to the Bookstore
From the Typewriter to the Bookstore
Monday, January 31, 2011
Seasick Fish?
There's got to be a story seed in here somewhere, seriously. :) I'm reading Packing for Mars by Mary Roach, who's a wonderfully funny science writer. The book is about the space program (American, Russian, Japanese, whatever) and she's talking about space sickness, which it seems most astronauts do suffer from at least sometimes, whether or not they're willing to admit it to the media or even each other. She's looking at motion sickness in general, what causes it and what kinds of animals can get it, etc.
One Canadian researcher recalls a story told to him by the owner of a codfish hatchery. The fishmonger had call to transport some of his tank-raised charges by sea. "After the boat had been under way for some time, all the feed they had eaten was seen to be on the bottom of the tank."
If even fish can get seasick, the rest of us are doomed! LOL!
This is a great book, with a lot of information, data, anecdotes, experiments and experiences Mary had while researching it, told in her usual smooth-flowing style salted with lots of funny bits. (The footnotes are usually good for a snicker.) I'm almost a third of the way through and I know already this one's going to get a high rating on Goodreads. :)
Angie
One Canadian researcher recalls a story told to him by the owner of a codfish hatchery. The fishmonger had call to transport some of his tank-raised charges by sea. "After the boat had been under way for some time, all the feed they had eaten was seen to be on the bottom of the tank."
If even fish can get seasick, the rest of us are doomed! LOL!
This is a great book, with a lot of information, data, anecdotes, experiments and experiences Mary had while researching it, told in her usual smooth-flowing style salted with lots of funny bits. (The footnotes are usually good for a snicker.) I'm almost a third of the way through and I know already this one's going to get a high rating on Goodreads. :)
Angie
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Free Cornwall!
I have to share this 'cause it's too much fun to keep to myself. Chris Dolley blogs at the Book View Cafe -- a collective of SF/F authors both blogging and publishing together, worth reading -- and for the last month has been relating the story of how he, as a university student, conspired with a number of his fellows to stage a revolution to free Cornwall from the shackles of the English. No, really! :)
It was a prank to raise money for charity, but it's something that never would've gone over in the hyper-paranoid atmosphere today. It's a great story, though, and well worth reading. Check it out. The link goes to Part Five, but Parts One through Four are linked in the first paragraph.
Today he posted about what they did the following year, which was bury a body in a flowerbed for charity. It's not quite as giggle-worthy as the Cornish Revolution, but it's short and fun and definitely worth reading.
Enjoy!
Angie
It was a prank to raise money for charity, but it's something that never would've gone over in the hyper-paranoid atmosphere today. It's a great story, though, and well worth reading. Check it out. The link goes to Part Five, but Parts One through Four are linked in the first paragraph.
Today he posted about what they did the following year, which was bury a body in a flowerbed for charity. It's not quite as giggle-worthy as the Cornish Revolution, but it's short and fun and definitely worth reading.
Enjoy!
Angie
Monday, July 26, 2010
Some Links
Federal judge says you can break DRM if you're not doing so to infringe copyright -- this is excellent news, in my opinion. DRM is a pointless annoyance anyway, and courts ruled many years ago that someone who bought a piece of software was allowed to make backup copies for personal use, so it only makes sense that we should be allowed to break the DRM on a movie, and e-book, a game, or whatever that we've legally purchased if it's become a pain in the butt, or if we want to make a backup of that for our own personal use. Of course, some of the publishers would love to force us to re-purchase our entire electronic libraries every time a hard drive crashes or a book reader is stolen, but it seems there's a judge who disagrees. Good to know at least one circuit court is on the consumer's side.
Funny, smart commentary about burqa bans -- the idea of a government body dictating what people can wear, short of the really riciculous exception examples cited in this piece, is ludicrous. If Moslem women want to wear a burqa then they should be able to. Anyone who wants to wear a burqua, or a veil, or a T-shirt saying "Our Government Is Full of Idiots!" should be able to do so. Banning a traditional item of clothing which causes no harm to anyone is an outrageous infringement of freedom, and racist to boot.
Period Speech -- this xkcd comic pretty much says it all about various writers' attempts at period speech. (It also applies to various kinds of accents and dialects used by writers who apparently have never been exposed to same.) It's easy to see how silly it looks when our era is one of the ones being mangled, but plenty of writers trying to write "medieval" or "Southern" or whatever sound pretty much like this.
Jane Austen's Fight Club -- this is a really wonderful video. :D I'm not usually one for videos, but my husband e-mailed me this one and I was LOLing. Watch and enjoy. :D
[Edited because embedding the video didn't work. :/ ]
Funny, smart commentary about burqa bans -- the idea of a government body dictating what people can wear, short of the really riciculous exception examples cited in this piece, is ludicrous. If Moslem women want to wear a burqa then they should be able to. Anyone who wants to wear a burqua, or a veil, or a T-shirt saying "Our Government Is Full of Idiots!" should be able to do so. Banning a traditional item of clothing which causes no harm to anyone is an outrageous infringement of freedom, and racist to boot.
Period Speech -- this xkcd comic pretty much says it all about various writers' attempts at period speech. (It also applies to various kinds of accents and dialects used by writers who apparently have never been exposed to same.) It's easy to see how silly it looks when our era is one of the ones being mangled, but plenty of writers trying to write "medieval" or "Southern" or whatever sound pretty much like this.
Jane Austen's Fight Club -- this is a really wonderful video. :D I'm not usually one for videos, but my husband e-mailed me this one and I was LOLing. Watch and enjoy. :D
[Edited because embedding the video didn't work. :/ ]
Friday, July 9, 2010
Great Comic About the Creative Process
Thanks to Nagasvoice over on LJ for linking to THIS COMIC. You'll probably want to blow up your browser window to take up your whole screen; I did and still had to scroll a bit, but it's worth it.
I have to admit I recognize far too much of this. [wry smile] The tangled loops of overthinking, for example. And I wish there were a handly station for filling up on motivation and ambition. I think I have enough pride, thanks anyway; the trick is producing enough output to be proud of. [laugh/flail]
Where do you get stuck along the route...?
Angie
I have to admit I recognize far too much of this. [wry smile] The tangled loops of overthinking, for example. And I wish there were a handly station for filling up on motivation and ambition. I think I have enough pride, thanks anyway; the trick is producing enough output to be proud of. [laugh/flail]
Where do you get stuck along the route...?
Angie
Friday, July 2, 2010
Wonderfully Funny Video
I don't even own a cell phone, so I have no horse in this derby. Heck, I've never even heard of the other phone in this cartoon. But my husband found the video and I was LOLing through most of it, 'cause yeah, I've known people who were like this about whatever the must-have product was way before iPhones came out. Watch and laugh -- it just keeps getting funnier. :D
iPhone 4 vs HTC Evo
Angie
iPhone 4 vs HTC Evo
Angie
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
To the Straight Guy at the Party Last Night
I just have to share this. :) Thanks to Zoe Nichols on LJ for linking.
Provenance: this was originally posted to Craigslist in Lansing, MI. Some people didn't like it, for no specific reason, and flagged it for removal; it's gone now, and I don't know who originally wrote it. Truth Wins Out reposted it in its entirety, because it's just that awesome and needs to be preserved and shared. I agree.
Read it and laugh.
Angie
Provenance: this was originally posted to Craigslist in Lansing, MI. Some people didn't like it, for no specific reason, and flagged it for removal; it's gone now, and I don't know who originally wrote it. Truth Wins Out reposted it in its entirety, because it's just that awesome and needs to be preserved and shared. I agree.
Read it and laugh.
Angie
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