Weekend Update Thingy
Nov. 8th, 2005 12:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fenchurchMy mom and step-dad were in town over the weekend (my step-dad, a physical therapist, was attending a training seminar in the Seattle area). My mom and I ended up spending most of the weekend making trips to Trader Joe's (a prime shopping spot for my mom when she's in town) and watching episodes of the new Doctor Who... it was just like old times! (She's the one who got me hooked on the original series when I was 10.) Sadly, we didn't make it up to where we'd experience the hotness that is Jack, but that just means we've got a lot to look forward to the next time she comes to visit.
My folks wound up having to leave about four hours earlier than they'd planned (step-dad even left the seminar early), due to the rockslide over Snoqualmie Pass... meaning they had to first drive down to Portland and then over to the other side of the state. Right now *the* main East/West route in the state of Washington is still completely closed down and has been since early Sunday morning... last I heard, they thought they might have one lane in each direction open late tomorrow... and they're hoping to have more lanes open by Thanksgiving (this may seriously curtail our plans for that weekend, because I'm not keen on the idea of getting stranded on the other side of the Pass). All the other passes are getting seriously overloaded with traffic, and some are closing down due to snow. It's going to be a nasty year for holiday travel.
(Note to our Governor: BTW, some people don't respond too well to blackmail. Just thought you should know.)
In other news, I will be so incredibly happy when this election is finally over... no more stupid campaign ads! There's one in particular that sets my teeth on edge every time I hear it... and makes me want to hunt down the people responsible and hurt them. The reason is completely separate of the campaign item, and has everything to do with the structure of the ad's "plot."
The ad goes something like this (not actual dialogue, but close enough):
Waiter/Barrista: Here's your coffee. Hey, don't you know her?
Guy: Hey! You're right! And keep the change.
Guy: Hey, don't I know you?
Woman: Yes, you do. I'm Kate. I'm a Nurse. I work with your sister.
Okay... so, the Waiter/Barrista dude knows that Guy knows this woman... but *Guy* isn't even sure he knows her. How is this? Is W/B psychic? A good guesser? A meddling matchmaker taking a chance? And so Guy, on the advice of his W/B goes up to this woman and uses a classic pick-up line, and she immediate announces her profession, her name, and how he knows her in one of the more awkward social exchanges I've ever heard on the radio.
Why did they choose to write this particular sequence of events in that way? What was wrong with just have Guy be the one to say to W/B "Hey, I think I know her. Here... keep the change."
It bugs the hell out of me every time I hear it. Seriously.
Sunday night, I ended up tuning into "Category 7: The End of the World" a bit late... missing about the first 40 minutes, where I'm guessing we probably got one or two extreme weather effects and a whole lot of interpersonal relationship backstory (if it followed the disaster movie formula at all). I often find that the best way to watch these sorts of movies is with a DVR and a pause button... then you can fast forward through the boring bits and just watch the parts where things get torn apart or it starts to hail fireballs or whatever. But maybe that's just me. :-p
Anyway, it's shaping up to be a lovely cheesy disaster movie: mostly mediocre acting, some bad dialogue, fairly bad special effects, bad science and bad plotting. What's not to love? Oh, and on the even more hugely plus side, there's Schanke from Forever Knight and Krycek from The X-Files!!! I hadn't seen either John Kapelos or Nicholas Lea in anything for quite awhile. Oh, and can someone please tell me when Randy Quaid, a man who used to be a fairly decent actor, suddenly became the king of the B-grade disaster movie?
I did have to wonder, just a bit, about the wisdom of airing this mini-series now... right after so many people have gone through some fairly horrific and very REAL natural disasters. I know that there's almost always something going on in the world that would fit that description, but it still seems like they might have been better off waiting at least until the next sweeps period to give it a teensy bit more of a time buffer. I dunno, it just seems a tad bit tacky.
We made our first ever batch of croutons yesterday, a la Alton Brown. They were particularly good in Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup.
Tomorrow is A Feast For Crows Day!! Fan-girlish Squee!!! And I get it before![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rackham because he's still uselessly plodding through reading the latest Robert Jordan book.
And finally, I've recently discovered the yumminess that is Trader Joe's Chocolate Soymilk. That stuff is the best thing since sliced Great Harvest Dakota Bread!
My folks wound up having to leave about four hours earlier than they'd planned (step-dad even left the seminar early), due to the rockslide over Snoqualmie Pass... meaning they had to first drive down to Portland and then over to the other side of the state. Right now *the* main East/West route in the state of Washington is still completely closed down and has been since early Sunday morning... last I heard, they thought they might have one lane in each direction open late tomorrow... and they're hoping to have more lanes open by Thanksgiving (this may seriously curtail our plans for that weekend, because I'm not keen on the idea of getting stranded on the other side of the Pass). All the other passes are getting seriously overloaded with traffic, and some are closing down due to snow. It's going to be a nasty year for holiday travel.
(Note to our Governor: BTW, some people don't respond too well to blackmail. Just thought you should know.)
In other news, I will be so incredibly happy when this election is finally over... no more stupid campaign ads! There's one in particular that sets my teeth on edge every time I hear it... and makes me want to hunt down the people responsible and hurt them. The reason is completely separate of the campaign item, and has everything to do with the structure of the ad's "plot."
The ad goes something like this (not actual dialogue, but close enough):
Waiter/Barrista: Here's your coffee. Hey, don't you know her?
Guy: Hey! You're right! And keep the change.
Guy: Hey, don't I know you?
Woman: Yes, you do. I'm Kate. I'm a Nurse. I work with your sister.
Okay... so, the Waiter/Barrista dude knows that Guy knows this woman... but *Guy* isn't even sure he knows her. How is this? Is W/B psychic? A good guesser? A meddling matchmaker taking a chance? And so Guy, on the advice of his W/B goes up to this woman and uses a classic pick-up line, and she immediate announces her profession, her name, and how he knows her in one of the more awkward social exchanges I've ever heard on the radio.
Why did they choose to write this particular sequence of events in that way? What was wrong with just have Guy be the one to say to W/B "Hey, I think I know her. Here... keep the change."
It bugs the hell out of me every time I hear it. Seriously.
Sunday night, I ended up tuning into "Category 7: The End of the World" a bit late... missing about the first 40 minutes, where I'm guessing we probably got one or two extreme weather effects and a whole lot of interpersonal relationship backstory (if it followed the disaster movie formula at all). I often find that the best way to watch these sorts of movies is with a DVR and a pause button... then you can fast forward through the boring bits and just watch the parts where things get torn apart or it starts to hail fireballs or whatever. But maybe that's just me. :-p
Anyway, it's shaping up to be a lovely cheesy disaster movie: mostly mediocre acting, some bad dialogue, fairly bad special effects, bad science and bad plotting. What's not to love? Oh, and on the even more hugely plus side, there's Schanke from Forever Knight and Krycek from The X-Files!!! I hadn't seen either John Kapelos or Nicholas Lea in anything for quite awhile. Oh, and can someone please tell me when Randy Quaid, a man who used to be a fairly decent actor, suddenly became the king of the B-grade disaster movie?
I did have to wonder, just a bit, about the wisdom of airing this mini-series now... right after so many people have gone through some fairly horrific and very REAL natural disasters. I know that there's almost always something going on in the world that would fit that description, but it still seems like they might have been better off waiting at least until the next sweeps period to give it a teensy bit more of a time buffer. I dunno, it just seems a tad bit tacky.
We made our first ever batch of croutons yesterday, a la Alton Brown. They were particularly good in Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup.
Tomorrow is A Feast For Crows Day!! Fan-girlish Squee!!! And I get it before
rackham because he's still And finally, I've recently discovered the yumminess that is Trader Joe's Chocolate Soymilk. That stuff is the best thing since sliced Great Harvest Dakota Bread!
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no subject
Date: 2005-11-08 10:19 am (UTC)Mmmm.... roasted red pepper and tomato soup.
no subject
Date: 2005-11-09 01:39 am (UTC)Mmmm.... roasted red pepper and tomato soup
It's incredibly good stuff... we're lucky enough to have a Trader Joe's just up the street, or I don't know what I'd do.
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Date: 2005-11-08 10:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-09 01:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-08 11:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-08 12:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-08 03:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-10 02:39 pm (UTC)