I Am Not A Number, I Am A Free Thread
February 1, 2022 12:53 PM Subscribe
It's a thread, it's free: it must be a Free Thread. We're up to five now! That's probably some sort of anniversary, we should exchange gifts but not like gifts gifts, nothing elaborate, let's not make it weird. Anyway, come on in and chat about the whoozit and whatsit.
Still sorting out whether and how much manual structure to put into e.g. cross-linking these threads, etc; was just chatting with jessamyn about that on the podcast episode that is currently recorded but not yet posted. For now I'm just gonna make a point of manually connecting them in comments linking to the new one, and I'm using the "freethread" tag so they're easy to find.
Remember: low-stakes chatter, if there's something that feels like it's a postworthy Serious Conversation sort of thing go ahead and put together a post for it.
Still sorting out whether and how much manual structure to put into e.g. cross-linking these threads, etc; was just chatting with jessamyn about that on the podcast episode that is currently recorded but not yet posted. For now I'm just gonna make a point of manually connecting them in comments linking to the new one, and I'm using the "freethread" tag so they're easy to find.
Remember: low-stakes chatter, if there's something that feels like it's a postworthy Serious Conversation sort of thing go ahead and put together a post for it.
I just saw Carrom being played in a movie (Raging Fire). Very similar to a made-up game with coins my friends and I play called pocket bocce. I realize it's super old but I'm dying to play now. Any recommendations for boards or ways to learn?
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 1:01 PM on February 1, 2022
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 1:01 PM on February 1, 2022
Just remember “gift” is properly pronounced “jift.”
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:01 PM on February 1, 2022 [55 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:01 PM on February 1, 2022 [55 favorites]
just read through Recursion by Blake Crouch in two sittings -- haven't done that with a book in a minute, it was really nice to be in that zone again.
posted by lazaruslong at 1:03 PM on February 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by lazaruslong at 1:03 PM on February 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
I'm celebrating three years of sobriety today so I'm in a good mood. I was going to buy myself a BeaverTail on my lunch break but that felt like a bit much.
posted by Kitteh at 1:04 PM on February 1, 2022 [82 favorites]
posted by Kitteh at 1:04 PM on February 1, 2022 [82 favorites]
It's 66 and sunny and I'm heading out for a run. This is the time of year where your friends in Florida become truly insufferable.
posted by saladin at 1:06 PM on February 1, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by saladin at 1:06 PM on February 1, 2022 [6 favorites]
This afternoon it was really nice outside, 55 and pleasant... but we're battening down the hatches for the incoming winter storm. 6-16 inches of snow plus significant ice and sleet expected. I cancelled tomorrow's dentist appointment and we're officially working from home for the next couple of days.
I have a new Ibanez Mikro bass waiting for me when I get home from work in about half an hour. In metallic purple, because why not?
posted by Foosnark at 1:11 PM on February 1, 2022 [10 favorites]
I have a new Ibanez Mikro bass waiting for me when I get home from work in about half an hour. In metallic purple, because why not?
posted by Foosnark at 1:11 PM on February 1, 2022 [10 favorites]
TIL what a BeaverTail is... (Kitteh you should get one!! congrats on your anniversary!)
posted by supermedusa at 1:12 PM on February 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by supermedusa at 1:12 PM on February 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
I was already on the fence about WFH tomorrow given the snow forecast, and then one of our network guys made my day by asking me to test a new VPN feature, which sealed the deal.
posted by notoriety public at 1:13 PM on February 1, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by notoriety public at 1:13 PM on February 1, 2022 [7 favorites]
Both three years of sobriety and a new guitar sound like great things to celebrate. It is snowing in my particular part of Sweden and it’s also my bedtime, so I will not be outside jogging anytime soon. Probably never. But I really admire people who do get outside and move around. And I’ll be doing more of that the minute I am a healthy person again. All day long I’ve been saying thank you to my former self for the waffles I made and froze last week along with the soup that I froze last week. I wasn’t planning to get sick of course but it’s awesome to have what you need when you do get sick. It seems that I have gotten the milder version of COVID-19, which is better than the alternative.
posted by Bella Donna at 1:15 PM on February 1, 2022 [17 favorites]
posted by Bella Donna at 1:15 PM on February 1, 2022 [17 favorites]
I recently re-watched "Terminator 2" and was reminded of Gwenda Deacon, who plays the Night Nurse. I remember looking her up years ago and finding she had done "T2" as well as "L.A. Confidential" (in a larger and far more pivotal role), a bit role in the Paul Walker movie "Joy Ride", and that's pretty much it aside from a short and a long ago forgotten indie. Well, looking at her profile again on the IMDb, I found something I wasn't expecting: A link to her "Official Website".
On the other end of that link is a very Web 1.0 site that appears to have been pieced together by a family member. There are links to full online videos of that indie film and the short, plus audio of her reciting lines from "Our Town" and a few pictures of her in her youth.
I find myself very affected by this tiny tribute in a corner of the web. An actress that was fortunate to have appeared in two of the greatest films of the 90's, and who also had an acting career beyond that (and people who loved and appreciated her work). It's not quite enough for a post, so I'm thankful for these Free Threads so I could share it.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 1:16 PM on February 1, 2022 [22 favorites]
On the other end of that link is a very Web 1.0 site that appears to have been pieced together by a family member. There are links to full online videos of that indie film and the short, plus audio of her reciting lines from "Our Town" and a few pictures of her in her youth.
I find myself very affected by this tiny tribute in a corner of the web. An actress that was fortunate to have appeared in two of the greatest films of the 90's, and who also had an acting career beyond that (and people who loved and appreciated her work). It's not quite enough for a post, so I'm thankful for these Free Threads so I could share it.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 1:16 PM on February 1, 2022 [22 favorites]
Shouldn't this have been thread Number Six?
posted by InfidelZombie at 1:23 PM on February 1, 2022 [10 favorites]
posted by InfidelZombie at 1:23 PM on February 1, 2022 [10 favorites]
You are number 2.
posted by whatevernot at 1:23 PM on February 1, 2022 [9 favorites]
posted by whatevernot at 1:23 PM on February 1, 2022 [9 favorites]
Does anyone cut their own hair, and do you have tips? I have a sharp pair of scissors and a beard trimmer, do I need a proper clipper set? Thanks.
posted by elkevelvet at 1:25 PM on February 1, 2022
posted by elkevelvet at 1:25 PM on February 1, 2022
Homer Simpson was number 5.
(In your face Number 6)
posted by RonButNotStupid at 1:27 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
(In your face Number 6)
posted by RonButNotStupid at 1:27 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
I hope the rain holds off long enough for me to get my walk/dog walking in. And hoping we don't get much as much ice or snow over the next 48 hours as the weather guys are talking about. I'll be working from home (mostly) for another 2 or 3 weeks, depending on how the numbers look.
Stay safe and cozy, people, wherever you are!
posted by coppertop at 1:35 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
Stay safe and cozy, people, wherever you are!
posted by coppertop at 1:35 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
I will not make any deals with you. I've resigned. I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered. My life is my own. I resign.
posted by SystematicAbuse at 1:41 PM on February 1, 2022 [9 favorites]
posted by SystematicAbuse at 1:41 PM on February 1, 2022 [9 favorites]
Does anyone cut their own hair, and do you have tips? I have a sharp pair of scissors and a beard trimmer, do I need a proper clipper set? Thanks.
Including scissors in that list means you probably _aren't_ just asking about buzzing it down to 7mm every other week like I do with a cheapish rechargeable grooming trimmer. If you are, though - a barber's drape with magnets sewn into the hem so it sticks to an iron bathtub, fill the tub half full with water, tapioca - whatever, I don't judge - and buzz away. Easy(ish) cleanup and you aren't plugging up the drain.
I still have to have my wife clean up my neck every few weeks because the fine hair doesn't get caught by the guard, and eventually it gets a little obvious that I have like inch-long peachfuzz at the back of my neck. My wife says it isn't really that obvious to other people, but it bugs me, and that's mostly what matters?
posted by Kyol at 1:44 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
Including scissors in that list means you probably _aren't_ just asking about buzzing it down to 7mm every other week like I do with a cheapish rechargeable grooming trimmer. If you are, though - a barber's drape with magnets sewn into the hem so it sticks to an iron bathtub, fill the tub half full with water, tapioca - whatever, I don't judge - and buzz away. Easy(ish) cleanup and you aren't plugging up the drain.
I still have to have my wife clean up my neck every few weeks because the fine hair doesn't get caught by the guard, and eventually it gets a little obvious that I have like inch-long peachfuzz at the back of my neck. My wife says it isn't really that obvious to other people, but it bugs me, and that's mostly what matters?
posted by Kyol at 1:44 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
I'm happy that it was only a dead battery and not something really wrong with my car! Also, it was 60 outside today, so we went for a walk and enjoyed seeing fun dogs and cardinals singing.
posted by pepcorn at 1:44 PM on February 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by pepcorn at 1:44 PM on February 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
You could probably also work out some sort of suction cup arrangement for modern fiberglass tubs?
posted by Kyol at 1:45 PM on February 1, 2022
posted by Kyol at 1:45 PM on February 1, 2022
*bounces slightly in seat*
I filed my taxes this past weekend and I already know I'mma get a refund and it's gonna be niiiiiiiiice.....
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:45 PM on February 1, 2022 [9 favorites]
I filed my taxes this past weekend and I already know I'mma get a refund and it's gonna be niiiiiiiiice.....
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:45 PM on February 1, 2022 [9 favorites]
Does anyone cut their own hair, and do you have tips?
I do, well I really just trim my hair to 1/4" using clippers so there's minimal skill involved, my one tip is to have someone else around that can take a look at your head and even out anything that needs it once you're done. It isn't strictly necessary but then you aren't spending the rest of the day wondering if there's some hair sticking out.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 1:46 PM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
I do, well I really just trim my hair to 1/4" using clippers so there's minimal skill involved, my one tip is to have someone else around that can take a look at your head and even out anything that needs it once you're done. It isn't strictly necessary but then you aren't spending the rest of the day wondering if there's some hair sticking out.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 1:46 PM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
It's supposed to be 4 degrees (F) tonight here, so I am somewhat envious of those 60 degree temps, but it is February on a warming world, and supposed to be 4 somewhere, so it might as well be here.
posted by OHenryPacey at 1:46 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by OHenryPacey at 1:46 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
I recently relocated from Oakland, CA to Louisville, KY ("to be closer to Bourbon") and last week negotiated my first ever commute home in a snowstorm. My car's undercarriage has been given a proper baptism to remove all the road salt. Now there's freezing rain on the way. Should I expect the locusts come spring?
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 1:47 PM on February 1, 2022
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 1:47 PM on February 1, 2022
My hair is so amazingly long now! I attribute this to finally getting my iron levels sorted out (as well as only cutting it once since Feb 2020--thanks Covid!). It didn't used to be able to grow this long. I gaze at myself in wonder on Zoom.
posted by HotToddy at 1:48 PM on February 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by HotToddy at 1:48 PM on February 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
It's been two rough weeks, since I've been stuck at home after surgery to repair my ruptured Achilles tendon, getting around on Daisy the scooter and getting by on instacart grocery delivery. (Should be able to start weightbearing tomorrow, hallelujah!) This enforced laying-down-and-elevating-the-leg has given me time to indulge in a few guilty pleasures. I never thought I would enjoy reaction videos of my favorite bands/songs on YT, but that's been a huge help in passing the time. The new "All Creatures Great and Small" series too. I even bought a new contraption that clips on to the bed and holds my phone at just the right angle without the wrist strain. Like my grandmother used to say "They have everything these days." At least I booked my Memorial Day camping today, hoping that I'll be mostly mobile by then... Here's to a better spring for everyone!
posted by gemmy at 1:48 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by gemmy at 1:48 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
Hilariously I only just a few days ago finished a rewatch of The Prisoner. The confounding thing was how much of it I had no memory of, despite having seen it through at least three times, albeit decades ago. It didn’t help my sense that I think I’m beginning to actively lose memories.
posted by bixfrankonis at 1:48 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by bixfrankonis at 1:48 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
Sharp object season is here once more. I pruned the grape vines and most of one apple tree because the sun was shining, and it wasn't awful to be outside in the cold.
posted by MonkeyToes at 1:49 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by MonkeyToes at 1:49 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
Hilariously I only just a few days ago finished a rewatch of The Prisoner. The confounding thing was how much of it I had no memory of, despite having seen it through at least three times, albeit decades ago. It didn’t help my sense that I think I’m beginning to actively lose memories.
Did you find it as super confusing and hard to follow as it is seemingly considered to be? My wife and I watched through it the other year and it was.. Fine? Mostly normal? I wonder if 55 years of television stunts has sort of neutered the effect...
posted by Kyol at 1:52 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
Did you find it as super confusing and hard to follow as it is seemingly considered to be? My wife and I watched through it the other year and it was.. Fine? Mostly normal? I wonder if 55 years of television stunts has sort of neutered the effect...
posted by Kyol at 1:52 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
There's a theory about introductory dialog for The Prisoner. It's all about punctuation.
In the intro:
"Who are you?"
"The new Number Two."
"Who is Number One?"
"You are Number Six."
Consider the implications of re-framing the last line:
"You are, Number Six."
The last episode, Fall Out, suggests that Number Six was the real Number One all along. Considering the mind games played during the series (especially "Schizoid Man"), this is not impossible.
posted by SPrintF at 1:54 PM on February 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
In the intro:
"Who are you?"
"The new Number Two."
"Who is Number One?"
"You are Number Six."
Consider the implications of re-framing the last line:
"You are, Number Six."
The last episode, Fall Out, suggests that Number Six was the real Number One all along. Considering the mind games played during the series (especially "Schizoid Man"), this is not impossible.
posted by SPrintF at 1:54 PM on February 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
Shouldn't this have been thread Number Six?
Dammit, I didn't even think about that. I should have made this Lou Bega's Free Thread Number Five.
posted by cortex at 1:54 PM on February 1, 2022 [15 favorites]
Dammit, I didn't even think about that. I should have made this Lou Bega's Free Thread Number Five.
posted by cortex at 1:54 PM on February 1, 2022 [15 favorites]
Did you find it as super confusing and hard to follow as it is seemingly considered to be?
The series is pretty straightforward, I thought, except for Fall Out, which is... odd.
posted by SPrintF at 1:56 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
The series is pretty straightforward, I thought, except for Fall Out, which is... odd.
posted by SPrintF at 1:56 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
...except for Fall Out, which is... odd.
Didn't people show up and go apeshit in front of the BBC offices in London the day after it aired?
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 2:00 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
Didn't people show up and go apeshit in front of the BBC offices in London the day after it aired?
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 2:00 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
Happy Chinese New Year everyone! All the chores (making special food, exchanging greetings and anthropomorphic tiger gifs over Wechat, making fun of the Chun Wan variety show on CCTV) have been done, and it's time to sit back and relax and crack some sunflower seeds.
posted by of strange foe at 2:00 PM on February 1, 2022 [17 favorites]
posted by of strange foe at 2:00 PM on February 1, 2022 [17 favorites]
Shouldn't this have been thread Number Six?
number nine ... number nine ... number nine ... number nine
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:03 PM on February 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
number nine ... number nine ... number nine ... number nine
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:03 PM on February 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
I don't know why you're talking so much about Number Six in this thread.
Not when Number Five is still alive.
posted by rorgy at 2:03 PM on February 1, 2022 [10 favorites]
Not when Number Five is still alive.
posted by rorgy at 2:03 PM on February 1, 2022 [10 favorites]
I bought a piece of furniture on craigslist today like it's 1999. It's slightly nicer than it looked in the pictures. Truly I am blessed.
posted by minervous at 2:04 PM on February 1, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by minervous at 2:04 PM on February 1, 2022 [7 favorites]
Has anyone else been getting really into solo board games lately? Between the pandemic and winter and trying to reduce screen time, I've been whiling away many an evening hour playing One Deck Dungeon, Elder Sign, or Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition, and I just picked up Under Falling Skies to try out. A nice cup of tea or maybe a porter, some good jazz playing in the background, and I'm all set for the evening.
posted by vverse23 at 2:04 PM on February 1, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by vverse23 at 2:04 PM on February 1, 2022 [7 favorites]
People indeed were so incensed at the end of The Prisoner that McGoohan actually got out of London for like two weeks. This is among the many fascinating things I learned from this old interview that for all I know I discovered here on MeFi.
The show definitely upon modern rewatch is less opaque than its reputation, which maybe really was the finale coloring everyone’s perception of the show overall? (Also the three episodes leading into the two-part finale are…not good.)
posted by bixfrankonis at 2:06 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
The show definitely upon modern rewatch is less opaque than its reputation, which maybe really was the finale coloring everyone’s perception of the show overall? (Also the three episodes leading into the two-part finale are…not good.)
posted by bixfrankonis at 2:06 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
"You are, Number Six."
I remember reading a theory that The Prisoner was actually a sequel to Danger Man. Apparently, there had been a DM episode where McGoohan's character had had to come up with a plan for dealing with retired agents: loyal people who had sacrificed a lot but were too dangerous to release into society. And the plan involved something like The Village.
So The Prisoner is about John Drake finding himself in his own retirement home but always unsure whether it's run by his side or the other side trying to convince him it's his side and that he can safely talk about classified things.
(I've seen very little of either show so this is all secondhand speculation, but this lines up with the punctuation theory.)
posted by suetanvil at 2:07 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
I remember reading a theory that The Prisoner was actually a sequel to Danger Man. Apparently, there had been a DM episode where McGoohan's character had had to come up with a plan for dealing with retired agents: loyal people who had sacrificed a lot but were too dangerous to release into society. And the plan involved something like The Village.
So The Prisoner is about John Drake finding himself in his own retirement home but always unsure whether it's run by his side or the other side trying to convince him it's his side and that he can safely talk about classified things.
(I've seen very little of either show so this is all secondhand speculation, but this lines up with the punctuation theory.)
posted by suetanvil at 2:07 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
ok fine i'll watch the prisoner
posted by glonous keming at 2:08 PM on February 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by glonous keming at 2:08 PM on February 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
Apparently, there had been a DM episode where McGoohan's character had had to come up with a plan for dealing with retired agents: loyal people who had sacrificed a lot but were too dangerous to release into society. And the plan involved something like The Village.
Yes! I remember seeing this episode (and agree regarding the connection) but have never been able to track it down (season/episode #) since. Any help would be appreciated. Thx.
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 2:10 PM on February 1, 2022
Yes! I remember seeing this episode (and agree regarding the connection) but have never been able to track it down (season/episode #) since. Any help would be appreciated. Thx.
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 2:10 PM on February 1, 2022
Gifts? I brought you this adorable factoid: bats have butt cheeks.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:12 PM on February 1, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:12 PM on February 1, 2022 [6 favorites]
I was working on some old code.
Now I'm working on some old code and listening to Iron Maiden.
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 2:15 PM on February 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
Now I'm working on some old code and listening to Iron Maiden.
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 2:15 PM on February 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
Now I'm working on some old code and listening to Iron Maiden.
Awesome. Also enjoy Neko Case singing the hell out of "Number of the Beast."
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:18 PM on February 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
Awesome. Also enjoy Neko Case singing the hell out of "Number of the Beast."
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:18 PM on February 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
oh hey there's a free preview of that game cortex mentioned over on itch
posted by the antecedent of that pronoun at 2:21 PM on February 1, 2022
posted by the antecedent of that pronoun at 2:21 PM on February 1, 2022
suetanvil and Insert Clever Name Here, that idea might have come from The Prisoner‘s script editor, not an episode of the precursor series?
posted by bixfrankonis at 2:22 PM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by bixfrankonis at 2:22 PM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
I'm recovering from a mild case of Covid that nonetheless took away my sense of taste and I'm thoroughly enjoying eating things that don't taste like... cardboard? ash? carpet? Anyway, things are tasting right again and it was just awful when they didn't!
posted by cooker girl at 2:26 PM on February 1, 2022 [16 favorites]
posted by cooker girl at 2:26 PM on February 1, 2022 [16 favorites]
Quick and dumb video game recommendation: Fights in Tight Spaces. It's a deck builder like the excellent Slay the Spire, except your cards are moves or attacks and it plays out in little isometric rooms (tight spaces). It's silly. Have fun imagining you are a karate person. Have fun kicking ninjas off of subway trains.
Bonus points if you always pronounce the title to the tune of the Moody Blues, "Nights in White Satin." Double bonus points if as a child you thought the title was, "Knights in White Satin," and didn't understand what the knights were so emo about.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 2:36 PM on February 1, 2022 [11 favorites]
Bonus points if you always pronounce the title to the tune of the Moody Blues, "Nights in White Satin." Double bonus points if as a child you thought the title was, "Knights in White Satin," and didn't understand what the knights were so emo about.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 2:36 PM on February 1, 2022 [11 favorites]
I have an absolutely miserable head-and-chest cold that is NOT Covid (according to tests every couple days, anyway) and I just want to sleep 24 hours a day but for some reason my children keep demanding to be fed.
On the upside, they're big enough to shovel the driveway so I don't have to, so at least there's that.
I got a brisket for the upcoming (possible) snowmageddon, so that will be nice. What are your favorite side dishes with brisket? (Last time I made brisket we made only side dishes from the Alexander Hamilton cookbook, so I'm going in a different direction.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 2:37 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
On the upside, they're big enough to shovel the driveway so I don't have to, so at least there's that.
I got a brisket for the upcoming (possible) snowmageddon, so that will be nice. What are your favorite side dishes with brisket? (Last time I made brisket we made only side dishes from the Alexander Hamilton cookbook, so I'm going in a different direction.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 2:37 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
I really enjoyed the demo of Fights in Tight Spaces when I played it a while back! Looks great, simple premise, some fairly satisfying action-choreography-as-card-game puncharoos.
posted by cortex at 2:38 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by cortex at 2:38 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
You know what we're vibing on in our house: Last Friday.
It's a hidden movement style board game that, for contractual reasons, is about a completely different, masked, machete-wielding maniac who kills counselors at a summer camp than the one you're thinking about.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:39 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
It's a hidden movement style board game that, for contractual reasons, is about a completely different, masked, machete-wielding maniac who kills counselors at a summer camp than the one you're thinking about.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:39 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
What are your favorite side dishes with brisket?
If you're going to smoke it: any combination of potato salad/scalloped potatoes/hush puppies, slaw, greens (kale, chard, spinach, collards, etc.), cornbread/corn pudding, apple sauce...
...man, now I want some smoked brisket!
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:43 PM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
If you're going to smoke it: any combination of potato salad/scalloped potatoes/hush puppies, slaw, greens (kale, chard, spinach, collards, etc.), cornbread/corn pudding, apple sauce...
...man, now I want some smoked brisket!
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:43 PM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
The Free Thread is a cool idea, but the new thing I like is the 1-2-3-4-5-10-20 years ago link. I've started to hit the 20 years past button each day. Besides Dick Cheney's Forever War, there is: Amazon having first profitable year, AOL suing Microsoft over Netscape, news stories I missed like the Rainbow Farm killings (I had to google -- dead link)... Anyways, this is History and You Are There. Or Here, on MetaFilter. Or something.
posted by CCBC at 2:46 PM on February 1, 2022 [16 favorites]
posted by CCBC at 2:46 PM on February 1, 2022 [16 favorites]
cortex: Vampire Survivors is fantastic! Picked it up yesterday after skimming RPS' review and playing the demo on itch. I have more than half the achievements now.
It seems to be doing well, going by the high number of Steam reviews (apparently, a popular YouTuber covered it). Anyway, seconding the rec!
posted by May Kasahara at 2:47 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
It seems to be doing well, going by the high number of Steam reviews (apparently, a popular YouTuber covered it). Anyway, seconding the rec!
posted by May Kasahara at 2:47 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
I just saw Carrom being played ... I'm dying to play now. Any recommendations for boards or ways to learn?
I think Carrom Clash implements all these rules described in a 1.5 minute video, but not all these written rules. Still, it got the basic idea across well enough for me to visualize the differences. I once saw game boards at this grocery store that ships nationwide, but I'd suggest looking for a similar local source.
My personal experience is actually with Crokinole, which is similar to Carrom. Here's a rules video. Plenty of websites sell boards + pieces. I have seen people literally line up to play Crokinole at a little board game convention--IMO seeing people play in person is as instantly appealing as, say, darts or pool were when you first saw them as a kid, and it only takes a moment to explain the rules.
FYI for either game, you probably want some shuffleboard powder or carnauba wax, which isn't as onerous as it sounds. I'd also suggest getting a board with a good finish on it, because if you have even a slight interest in these games, you will keep it and enjoy introducing it basically forever, and the finish has a slight impact on the game itself.
posted by Wobbuffet at 2:48 PM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
I think Carrom Clash implements all these rules described in a 1.5 minute video, but not all these written rules. Still, it got the basic idea across well enough for me to visualize the differences. I once saw game boards at this grocery store that ships nationwide, but I'd suggest looking for a similar local source.
My personal experience is actually with Crokinole, which is similar to Carrom. Here's a rules video. Plenty of websites sell boards + pieces. I have seen people literally line up to play Crokinole at a little board game convention--IMO seeing people play in person is as instantly appealing as, say, darts or pool were when you first saw them as a kid, and it only takes a moment to explain the rules.
FYI for either game, you probably want some shuffleboard powder or carnauba wax, which isn't as onerous as it sounds. I'd also suggest getting a board with a good finish on it, because if you have even a slight interest in these games, you will keep it and enjoy introducing it basically forever, and the finish has a slight impact on the game itself.
posted by Wobbuffet at 2:48 PM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
Just remember “gift” is properly pronounced “jift.”
Are you Dina Martina?
posted by mykescipark at 2:49 PM on February 1, 2022
Are you Dina Martina?
posted by mykescipark at 2:49 PM on February 1, 2022
It's a mild summer so far in Santiago.
My wife is a University professor (she recently moved up a rank, kinda like tenure only without tenure, yay) so she gets all of February off. We're on episode six of Yellowjackets.
My 14yo son recently finished Básica (1-8th grade) and starts Media (9-12th grade) in March, and he's in the middle of his summer vacation.
We leave for a week in Valparaíso next week, then another week in Chiloé which are both nice and all but NOT the out-of-country vacation we would usually have taken somewhere in the Caribbean in non-pandemic times, but oh well.
My cats are OK if a little weirder than usual (which is already pretty weird).
I'm riding my bike a lot, for health and endorphins, which are a kind of health, too.
My bass playing is getting better, though I still have a long way to go, which is great.
posted by signal at 2:52 PM on February 1, 2022 [13 favorites]
My wife is a University professor (she recently moved up a rank, kinda like tenure only without tenure, yay) so she gets all of February off. We're on episode six of Yellowjackets.
My 14yo son recently finished Básica (1-8th grade) and starts Media (9-12th grade) in March, and he's in the middle of his summer vacation.
We leave for a week in Valparaíso next week, then another week in Chiloé which are both nice and all but NOT the out-of-country vacation we would usually have taken somewhere in the Caribbean in non-pandemic times, but oh well.
My cats are OK if a little weirder than usual (which is already pretty weird).
I'm riding my bike a lot, for health and endorphins, which are a kind of health, too.
My bass playing is getting better, though I still have a long way to go, which is great.
posted by signal at 2:52 PM on February 1, 2022 [13 favorites]
Board game I was turned on to: Hues and Clues
Also -finally got a new job! Which meant I was able to put in my notice at my current position, but now in the weird purgatory of those two weeks where you don't do anything but wait it out. Then I finally get three blissful weeks with nothing to do.
posted by djseafood at 2:53 PM on February 1, 2022 [6 favorites]
Also -finally got a new job! Which meant I was able to put in my notice at my current position, but now in the weird purgatory of those two weeks where you don't do anything but wait it out. Then I finally get three blissful weeks with nothing to do.
posted by djseafood at 2:53 PM on February 1, 2022 [6 favorites]
Note a Mac version of Vampire Survivors is coming soon. I found the game thanks to SplatterCat on YouTube, because I adopted a heavy "watch people play video games" regime during quar 2020.
posted by wemayfreeze at 2:57 PM on February 1, 2022
posted by wemayfreeze at 2:57 PM on February 1, 2022
Also the three episodes leading into the two-part finale are…not good.
Are you dissing The Girl Who Was Death? If so, you may be on immensely shaky ground.
posted by Grangousier at 2:59 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
Are you dissing The Girl Who Was Death? If so, you may be on immensely shaky ground.
posted by Grangousier at 2:59 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
Opening up the free threads is like the digital equivalent of walking into Cheers. As a lifelong introvert I didn’t realize I missed small talk.
Anyway, I had a Major Life Moment in that I realized this week that I can suggest to my children that they make macaroons, walk out of the room and an hour later they JUST APPEAR (in a destroyed kitchen). Why did nobody explain the occasional upsides to teenagers?
posted by q*ben at 3:08 PM on February 1, 2022 [17 favorites]
Anyway, I had a Major Life Moment in that I realized this week that I can suggest to my children that they make macaroons, walk out of the room and an hour later they JUST APPEAR (in a destroyed kitchen). Why did nobody explain the occasional upsides to teenagers?
posted by q*ben at 3:08 PM on February 1, 2022 [17 favorites]
I got really into knife sharpening again, and this time decided to finally learn how to properly use splash and go Japanese whetstones.
I got all the kitchen knives sharp. Then all the pocket knives. Then the round pizza slicer.
Now I’m into cooking. My teenager is an amazing cook, and now they’re teaching me.
Also deep into the rabbit hole of DIY knife making so I can win Christmas this year. I think I’m gonna pull the trigger and get started kinda soonish.
Hoping we can ride this winter storm coming in central Texas. Last year it was like the most boring camping trip ever for us. If it happens this again we need a sled. Epic snowball fight. Something.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 3:09 PM on February 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
I got all the kitchen knives sharp. Then all the pocket knives. Then the round pizza slicer.
Now I’m into cooking. My teenager is an amazing cook, and now they’re teaching me.
Also deep into the rabbit hole of DIY knife making so I can win Christmas this year. I think I’m gonna pull the trigger and get started kinda soonish.
Hoping we can ride this winter storm coming in central Texas. Last year it was like the most boring camping trip ever for us. If it happens this again we need a sled. Epic snowball fight. Something.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 3:09 PM on February 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
Because most folks agree it's good for you and also in an attempt to avoid kidney stones (I had some oxalates show up in my urine sample for my last physical) I have recently seriously upped my daily fluid intake. As the result, as you might imagine, I'm spending a lot more time in the bathroom. I'm a counseling psychologist (happily in private practice, working from home entirely on a tele-health platform due to Covid) and I used to be able see 3 people in a row without a bathroom break. Now I'm desperate to pee 45-50 minutes into every session. One upside is that it's helping me keep to the 50 minute hour so I actually get a little break between sessions. I used to regularly do 58 minute sessions, which my clients loved but the little break is better for me. And hopefully all the water is good for my health.
posted by Plafield at 3:09 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by Plafield at 3:09 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
i heard this yesterday and can't get it out of my head
posted by pyramid termite at 3:12 PM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by pyramid termite at 3:12 PM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
Hi
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:13 PM on February 1, 2022 [19 favorites]
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:13 PM on February 1, 2022 [19 favorites]
FLO!, hello.
posted by clavdivs at 3:16 PM on February 1, 2022 [8 favorites]
posted by clavdivs at 3:16 PM on February 1, 2022 [8 favorites]
CLAV! Hello.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:16 PM on February 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:16 PM on February 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
I watched yesterday's SpaceX launch while standing in my back yard. (I live 150 miles away from the Kennedy Space Center.) It was just after sunset so there was enough light to see the contrails as the rocket went up and we could very clearly see the landing booster separate and come down. So cool!
posted by Daily Alice at 3:19 PM on February 1, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by Daily Alice at 3:19 PM on February 1, 2022 [6 favorites]
Hilariously I only just a few days ago finished a rewatch of The Prisoner. The confounding thing was how much of it I had no memory of, despite having seen it through at least three times, albeit decades ago. It didn’t help my sense that I think I’m beginning to actively lose memories.
Did you find it as super confusing and hard to follow as it is seemingly considered to be? My wife and I watched through it the other year and it was.. Fine? Mostly normal? I wonder if 55 years of television stunts has sort of neutered the effect...
The balloon phobia comments in the ‘surprising things that creep you out' Meta shed an interesting new light on The Prisoner for me.
posted by jamjam at 3:22 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
Did you find it as super confusing and hard to follow as it is seemingly considered to be? My wife and I watched through it the other year and it was.. Fine? Mostly normal? I wonder if 55 years of television stunts has sort of neutered the effect...
The balloon phobia comments in the ‘surprising things that creep you out' Meta shed an interesting new light on The Prisoner for me.
posted by jamjam at 3:22 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
My sister lives overseas but booked a trip to see our mom (for reasons that were canceled 36 hours before her scheduled departure) and I haven’t seen either of them in years so I’m here too. So far I’ve replaced a gasket on a sliding door, replaced two failed dimmer switches with new ones in the style mom now likes better, switched the lighting in her office to LED and had to replace three lumieres in the process, and purchased but not installed an articulating wall mount for the TV in her bedroom. Mom needs to update her cable and internet plans but she won’t let me help.
This morning I got my three miles in by walking around the jogging trail of the big park nearby, and it’s weird to see how the park and my high school (only visible from the back if you’re on the trail) have changed. The school has a new building and an improved baseball field; the park has all-new tennis facilities. The neighborhood has gone a bit downhill since I moved away, so it was nice to see that it wasn’t all falling apart.
Things have been good so far but we’re supposed to get ice and snow tomorrow with no thaw expected before my sister and I both fly out, so it may get awkward soon.
posted by fedward at 3:29 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
This morning I got my three miles in by walking around the jogging trail of the big park nearby, and it’s weird to see how the park and my high school (only visible from the back if you’re on the trail) have changed. The school has a new building and an improved baseball field; the park has all-new tennis facilities. The neighborhood has gone a bit downhill since I moved away, so it was nice to see that it wasn’t all falling apart.
Things have been good so far but we’re supposed to get ice and snow tomorrow with no thaw expected before my sister and I both fly out, so it may get awkward soon.
posted by fedward at 3:29 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
Today I remembered how much I love The Pipettes.
posted by signal at 3:40 PM on February 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by signal at 3:40 PM on February 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
Mr. Lincoln, I am a grown-ass forty seven year old man and I still thought it was "Knights". I'm going to hang on to that misperception, though, because frankly it's way more awesome that way
posted by phooky at 3:50 PM on February 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by phooky at 3:50 PM on February 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
Seems impractical to me - the satin would surely get torn and stained during a battle or even a joust...
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:58 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:58 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
Have any of you listened to the A Degree Absolute! podcast? Chris Klimik and Glen Weldon go through The Prisoner in waaay too much detail, and now I believe there was a whole lot less there there than I'd originally believed.
posted by whuppy at 4:00 PM on February 1, 2022
posted by whuppy at 4:00 PM on February 1, 2022
First
posted by sjswitzer at 4:11 PM on February 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by sjswitzer at 4:11 PM on February 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
I went cross country skiing today in a secret Vermont place I am not supposed to broadcast to the world. But I will say it rhymes with Messy Fridge.
posted by Xurando at 4:13 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Xurando at 4:13 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
I gave away a white couch on craigslist in 2000. To a russian mathematician. He seemed very very happy to have it.
posted by joeyh at 4:16 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by joeyh at 4:16 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
I'm in hybrid mode now, doing a lot of presentations and meetings online, but also meeting my students for the first time in person on Thursday. I'm ambivalent - always good to be with them weighed against COVID.
posted by doctornemo at 4:19 PM on February 1, 2022
posted by doctornemo at 4:19 PM on February 1, 2022
See, that's it! I thought they were such badass knights that they could just go around wearing clean white satin because no one could even touch them. Like, just, you're fighting this knight in white satin, and they're already kicking your ass, but you're fighting on and they parry your wild blow but just one drop of blood from one of your many wounds arcs through the cold winter air and spots their perfect white satin tunic, and suddenly everything stops, a hush falls, the knight narrows his eyes, and it's just ohhhh shiiiit
posted by phooky at 4:21 PM on February 1, 2022 [18 favorites]
posted by phooky at 4:21 PM on February 1, 2022 [18 favorites]
I had cake and ice cream for dinner because I am an adult and you can't stop me.
posted by briank at 4:21 PM on February 1, 2022 [14 favorites]
posted by briank at 4:21 PM on February 1, 2022 [14 favorites]
In honor of Jason Isbell's birthday, here's Himself and The 400 Unit covering "Sad But True," a perfect kitchen-cleaning groove.
posted by MonkeyToes at 4:22 PM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by MonkeyToes at 4:22 PM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
Hilariously I only just a few days ago finished a rewatch of The Prisoner. The confounding thing was how much of it I had no memory of
This indicates you are watching it correctly.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 4:24 PM on February 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
This indicates you are watching it correctly.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 4:24 PM on February 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
We're moving on Saturday and the water company cut off our water early so I can't have a shower. They're supposed to turn it back on but who knows when.
posted by joannemerriam at 4:25 PM on February 1, 2022
posted by joannemerriam at 4:25 PM on February 1, 2022
I have no idea what most of you are talking about but that's what I like about MetaFilter. If I'm curious enough, I'll find out. If not, that's okay too.
posted by a fish out of water at 4:28 PM on February 1, 2022 [14 favorites]
posted by a fish out of water at 4:28 PM on February 1, 2022 [14 favorites]
re: upthread Knights/Nights in White Satin, there is a drawing of a knight riding a white horse on the album art of "Days Of Future Passed" -the album that track was on. So either the artist was ALSO confused, or there's some intentional wordplay there.
I successfully installed Fallout 1 from a CD on an old Win 7 laptop. Had to install a high res patch and a different version of Direct X to make it work, I know NOTHING about this kind of stuff but with a little internet research got it going. I'm not a gamer, but my son wanted to try it and I made it happen. Good stuff.
posted by Larry David Syndrome at 4:42 PM on February 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
I successfully installed Fallout 1 from a CD on an old Win 7 laptop. Had to install a high res patch and a different version of Direct X to make it work, I know NOTHING about this kind of stuff but with a little internet research got it going. I'm not a gamer, but my son wanted to try it and I made it happen. Good stuff.
posted by Larry David Syndrome at 4:42 PM on February 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
I've decided that these cold January nights in DC are meant for rereading all the Murakami I can get my hands on. I just finished The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles and am now deep in 1Q84.
I'm starting to see little hints of his alternate worlds in my dreams and it's kind of a delight!
I heard someone say today that this is not the time for guilt or shame. Pre-COVID me would never have spent 20+ hours a week quietly reading novels when she should have been Doing Something Productive. But I am and it's fabulous!
posted by kinsey at 4:43 PM on February 1, 2022 [9 favorites]
I'm starting to see little hints of his alternate worlds in my dreams and it's kind of a delight!
I heard someone say today that this is not the time for guilt or shame. Pre-COVID me would never have spent 20+ hours a week quietly reading novels when she should have been Doing Something Productive. But I am and it's fabulous!
posted by kinsey at 4:43 PM on February 1, 2022 [9 favorites]
Seconding Crokinole in regards to Carrom.
Powder makes Crokinole too fast but works pretty well for Carrom. I don't wax my board but do have some Homer Formby's spray I hit the board and discs with every so often.
posted by Windopaene at 4:44 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
Powder makes Crokinole too fast but works pretty well for Carrom. I don't wax my board but do have some Homer Formby's spray I hit the board and discs with every so often.
posted by Windopaene at 4:44 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
The Prisoner is crazy 60s sci-fi spy intrigue, about a British secret agent who resigns, but then is kidnapped and wakes up in a kind of combination resort and political prison. Part of the idea of the show is that the titular Prisoner doesn't know which side runs the Village, and prisoners and warders both live there, with the prisoners not sure who they can rely on when they attempt to escape.
While often The Village seems awfully sinister, there is also room for levity and wide-ranging storytelling there. The main character, only called "number 6," usually loses of course, but does get some wins in. The last episode, especially, is really weird.
posted by JHarris at 4:44 PM on February 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
While often The Village seems awfully sinister, there is also room for levity and wide-ranging storytelling there. The main character, only called "number 6," usually loses of course, but does get some wins in. The last episode, especially, is really weird.
posted by JHarris at 4:44 PM on February 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
I had cake and ice cream for dinner because I am an adult and you can't stop me.
When my friend and I were 19 or so and sharing an apartment, we decided to split a chocolate pudding pie for dinner Because We Could. We both foolishly ate our entire halves, and suffered the consequences for the next three or four hours. I haven't been tempted to do it since then but I don't regret having done it that once.
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:45 PM on February 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
When my friend and I were 19 or so and sharing an apartment, we decided to split a chocolate pudding pie for dinner Because We Could. We both foolishly ate our entire halves, and suffered the consequences for the next three or four hours. I haven't been tempted to do it since then but I don't regret having done it that once.
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:45 PM on February 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
to the tune of the Moody Blues, "Nights in White Satin."
By the way, I always refer to that band as the "Bloody Moos" in my head because I find it hilarious (no reflection on their music though).
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:49 PM on February 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
By the way, I always refer to that band as the "Bloody Moos" in my head because I find it hilarious (no reflection on their music though).
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:49 PM on February 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
It's NOT "Knights in white satin"?
I saw my first robin today.
posted by acrasis at 4:53 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
I saw my first robin today.
posted by acrasis at 4:53 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
I always imagined the Knights were made invisible by the Night. But then acid was always a part of the Moody Blues era. The time I saw them circa 1970 seems like a dream.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 5:02 PM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by a humble nudibranch at 5:02 PM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
I've been getting into Spy-fi as well. The guy to kinda follow is Dennis Spooner. He did everything from Dr. Who to The New Avengers. Really kind of fun.
He was buds with Terry Nation, who more or less invented the Daleks, and created Blake's 7.
Nation moved to LA in the 80's and wrote for MacGyver. Which is kinda weird to me. But fun.
posted by valkane at 5:06 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
He was buds with Terry Nation, who more or less invented the Daleks, and created Blake's 7.
Nation moved to LA in the 80's and wrote for MacGyver. Which is kinda weird to me. But fun.
posted by valkane at 5:06 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
Did you find it as super confusing and hard to follow as it is seemingly considered to be? My wife and I watched through it the other year and it was.. Fine? Mostly normal? I wonder if 55 years of television stunts has sort of neutered the effect...
Yeah, tv (and movies) teach you how to watch them. I recall a first- or second-year university course on the history of film and the prof really opened my teenaged eyes to the impact that various innovations had on contemporary audiences. We think patronizingly about early nickelodeon attendees panicking and fleeing from the oncoming train or fainting at the bandit seemingly firing his pistol at the viewer, but imagine trying to suss out what the hell was going on the first time there was a flashback, or when D.W. Griffith cut back and forth between four different time periods in Intolerance.
I often watch movies and TV now with a tiny post-modern angel whispering on my shoulder, deconstructing the form and pointing out how these narratives would have been utterly baffling to my grandparents. I suspect that forty years hence, filmed entertainment will seem incomprehensible to most of us old geezers, and many of us will bore our grandchildren reminiscing about when these things were filmed in landscape and not portrait.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:08 PM on February 1, 2022 [6 favorites]
Yeah, tv (and movies) teach you how to watch them. I recall a first- or second-year university course on the history of film and the prof really opened my teenaged eyes to the impact that various innovations had on contemporary audiences. We think patronizingly about early nickelodeon attendees panicking and fleeing from the oncoming train or fainting at the bandit seemingly firing his pistol at the viewer, but imagine trying to suss out what the hell was going on the first time there was a flashback, or when D.W. Griffith cut back and forth between four different time periods in Intolerance.
I often watch movies and TV now with a tiny post-modern angel whispering on my shoulder, deconstructing the form and pointing out how these narratives would have been utterly baffling to my grandparents. I suspect that forty years hence, filmed entertainment will seem incomprehensible to most of us old geezers, and many of us will bore our grandchildren reminiscing about when these things were filmed in landscape and not portrait.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:08 PM on February 1, 2022 [6 favorites]
I made fish tacos for the first time tonight. They were very good.
The key part of my car key fob fell out somewhere at work. I realized that after the building was locked. I do have the spare key. My brother is on the way over to take me up there to get the car. Then he's coming back for tacos (ground beef style, yuck).
Yesterday I went out and bought a toilet auger and successfully unclogged the toilet. Yuck. This is why I don't want to be a solo homeower. Once probate is done, my brother is going to move in and he's going to sell his house.
posted by kathrynm at 5:16 PM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
The key part of my car key fob fell out somewhere at work. I realized that after the building was locked. I do have the spare key. My brother is on the way over to take me up there to get the car. Then he's coming back for tacos (ground beef style, yuck).
Yesterday I went out and bought a toilet auger and successfully unclogged the toilet. Yuck. This is why I don't want to be a solo homeower. Once probate is done, my brother is going to move in and he's going to sell his house.
posted by kathrynm at 5:16 PM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
Can anyone explain the appeal of Jordan Peterson? I have tried to listen to him, to understand the why people find him compelling, and while we both speak English, I have mostly no idea what he is talking about.
posted by tarantula at 5:18 PM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by tarantula at 5:18 PM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
I saw my first robin today.
we have a robin or two who have decided to stay around this winter - we're in michigan - we're about to get buried in more snow and frozen in more cold - i would call him stupid and crazy, but come to think of it, i'm not leaving either, so ...
posted by pyramid termite at 5:30 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
we have a robin or two who have decided to stay around this winter - we're in michigan - we're about to get buried in more snow and frozen in more cold - i would call him stupid and crazy, but come to think of it, i'm not leaving either, so ...
posted by pyramid termite at 5:30 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
Snow's arrived in Denver. While I'm grateful to be housed every day, cozy evenings like this really amp up the gratitude. Got back from a walk to the market just as the first flakes were starting, doing a zoom raclette evening tomorrow night with other snowbound friends. (We all have little partyclettes, highly recommend.)
posted by cyndigo at 5:32 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by cyndigo at 5:32 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
Three TV show opening numbers which rock:
1. The Prisoner
2. UFO
3. Medical Center
Which is best? You decide!
posted by whatevernot at 5:34 PM on February 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
1. The Prisoner
2. UFO
3. Medical Center
Which is best? You decide!
posted by whatevernot at 5:34 PM on February 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
Easily it's UFO. But you forgot the opening theme to first season Space: 1999 which just slaps.
posted by valkane at 5:36 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by valkane at 5:36 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
I had read before the premiere of Peacemaker that James Gunn wanted to do something to keep people from hittin the Skip Credits button. I think he succeeded.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:40 PM on February 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:40 PM on February 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
Can anyone explain the appeal of Jordan Peterson?
He is a psuedo-science snake-oil salesman, peddling half-assed amunition for odious ideas to people who are desperate for any kind of cover for their prejudices. He sells smug for pennies on the dollar.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 5:43 PM on February 1, 2022 [11 favorites]
He is a psuedo-science snake-oil salesman, peddling half-assed amunition for odious ideas to people who are desperate for any kind of cover for their prejudices. He sells smug for pennies on the dollar.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 5:43 PM on February 1, 2022 [11 favorites]
I never see robins in flight in our neighborhood but there are some that run around at sidewalk level and one that likes the roofline of the house across the street. One day I grabbed binoculars to figure out what was moving back and forth up there, and eventually I realized that was just his (or her) thing. Ground level for most robins; roof line for that one.
posted by fedward at 5:45 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by fedward at 5:45 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
TV show opening numbers which rock
Which is best? You decide!
This one!
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:49 PM on February 1, 2022 [8 favorites]
Which is best? You decide!
This one!
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:49 PM on February 1, 2022 [8 favorites]
I'ma gonna one-up you there, Greg_Ace.
posted by valkane at 5:53 PM on February 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by valkane at 5:53 PM on February 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
Some robins overwinter in just about every state, peninsular Alaska, and a bit of southern Canada as well. We just don't always see them, because they spend a lot of their time in the woods and not in our yards. During they winter they'll eat berries, but during breeding season, it's those highly nutritious worms that brings them to our yards.
posted by mollweide at 5:55 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by mollweide at 5:55 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
it's those highly nutritious worms that brings them to our yards.
Worst milkshake flavor ever. Unless you're a robin, I guess.
posted by notoriety public at 6:02 PM on February 1, 2022 [13 favorites]
Worst milkshake flavor ever. Unless you're a robin, I guess.
posted by notoriety public at 6:02 PM on February 1, 2022 [13 favorites]
I'm having ice cream float for dinner because I can't get drunk tonight. (As I have been telling people, part of why I wanted to do a show in winter is because otherwise winter is drunk o' clock for me.) It technically wasn't even a "bad" day other than setting up a new computer is a pain, things don't work, and yet another one of my coworkers quitting (apparently her previous hell job is still better than this one?), but by 2-ish I was utterly burned out of solving other people's problems and fixing broken things and dealing with exhausting clientele and I wanted to scream so much.
I just go round and round on the same debate every day: I really hate helping, fixing, and solving for a living (and getting yelled at) and it is absolutely draining. However, that's what you get paid to do, anything I would love to do is expendable (especially in a pandemic), and my skillset is limited since I can't do a money/math-using job. My job has great health insurance, mostly lets me work from home and has great covid protocols. I can afford to live alone here. The benefits are too good to give up. I only do part time public service (technically speaking, my job is mostly emails and they don't make me do the counter any more and only phones sometimes) and all jobs along the lines of mine are full time phone answering/front desk/finance people. This is truly the best fit for me available in the world. And nobody else will hire me.
I have this argument with myself every single day.
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:03 PM on February 1, 2022 [6 favorites]
I just go round and round on the same debate every day: I really hate helping, fixing, and solving for a living (and getting yelled at) and it is absolutely draining. However, that's what you get paid to do, anything I would love to do is expendable (especially in a pandemic), and my skillset is limited since I can't do a money/math-using job. My job has great health insurance, mostly lets me work from home and has great covid protocols. I can afford to live alone here. The benefits are too good to give up. I only do part time public service (technically speaking, my job is mostly emails and they don't make me do the counter any more and only phones sometimes) and all jobs along the lines of mine are full time phone answering/front desk/finance people. This is truly the best fit for me available in the world. And nobody else will hire me.
I have this argument with myself every single day.
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:03 PM on February 1, 2022 [6 favorites]
I don't think I have SAD necessarily, but I tend to get pretty depressed this time of year. It's cold, everything looks dead, no birds, etc.
So I decided to go to Florida tomorrow for a warm weather break from the Wisconsin cold. I'm conflicted though, because I really hate the political situation there and kinda feel like I shouldn't be giving them any of my money.
But my sanity is important, and I plan to spend money at local restaurants and breweries. I'm staying at a friend's house for free. Plus I never use enough vacation time - I lost some hours last year that didn't carry over, so fuck it.
posted by Billy Rubin at 6:15 PM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
So I decided to go to Florida tomorrow for a warm weather break from the Wisconsin cold. I'm conflicted though, because I really hate the political situation there and kinda feel like I shouldn't be giving them any of my money.
But my sanity is important, and I plan to spend money at local restaurants and breweries. I'm staying at a friend's house for free. Plus I never use enough vacation time - I lost some hours last year that didn't carry over, so fuck it.
posted by Billy Rubin at 6:15 PM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
reporting back from watching The Prisoner e1, seems fine. the balloon things are weird and creepy and i'm a lil curious that dudeman is not more concerned with the balloon things cuz, were i in that situation i'd be like WTF IS UP WITH THE BALLOON THINGS to everyone i encountered. i will keep going for now. sorry i don't know enough about it to do a in-joke reference thing. 🎈
here's one of my favorite anime OPs: Princess Principal, which is a great alt-history steampunk spygirls show (whenver i mention it to people who are unfamiliar with it they always think it's a high school show where the person in charge is a cute princess).
and here's one of my favorite anime EDs: Kill Me Baby. what a charming and catchy-ass chuune. that dance.
(i try to not declare something is "the best" as in "here is the best anime OP that's not Tank! or Cruel Angel's Thesis" even if i do actually think that, instead translating it to "here is one of my favorites")
posted by glonous keming at 6:21 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
here's one of my favorite anime OPs: Princess Principal, which is a great alt-history steampunk spygirls show (whenver i mention it to people who are unfamiliar with it they always think it's a high school show where the person in charge is a cute princess).
and here's one of my favorite anime EDs: Kill Me Baby. what a charming and catchy-ass chuune. that dance.
(i try to not declare something is "the best" as in "here is the best anime OP that's not Tank! or Cruel Angel's Thesis" even if i do actually think that, instead translating it to "here is one of my favorites")
posted by glonous keming at 6:21 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm having ice cream float
Q: How do you make an elephant float?
A: Two scoops of ice cream, some root beer, and an elephant.
I really hate helping, fixing, and solving for a living (and getting yelled at) and it is absolutely draining
If it's any consolation* I actually enjoy helping/fixing/solving for a living but it's still absolutely draining; even without getting yelled at (much), and even after - or maybe because of - being in the biz for more than 30 years. I don't have a way out either. My hope for an unknown rich relative to die and make me their sole beneficiary is pretty tenuous at this point.
* probably not
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:23 PM on February 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
Q: How do you make an elephant float?
A: Two scoops of ice cream, some root beer, and an elephant.
I really hate helping, fixing, and solving for a living (and getting yelled at) and it is absolutely draining
If it's any consolation* I actually enjoy helping/fixing/solving for a living but it's still absolutely draining; even without getting yelled at (much), and even after - or maybe because of - being in the biz for more than 30 years. I don't have a way out either. My hope for an unknown rich relative to die and make me their sole beneficiary is pretty tenuous at this point.
* probably not
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:23 PM on February 1, 2022 [4 favorites]
I've started rewatching The Good Place (1-2 episodes every night after dinner). It's even more delightful than I remember, plus I get a bonus spark of glee when I catch the foreshadowing this time around.
posted by kitkatcathy at 6:25 PM on February 1, 2022 [10 favorites]
posted by kitkatcathy at 6:25 PM on February 1, 2022 [10 favorites]
Can anyone explain the appeal of Jordan Peterson?
Conservatives want an intellectual academic on their side for once. Peterson being a vacuous gibbering idiot spouting meaningless academic jargon isn't a problem, as long as he spouts pro-individualistic, anti-collective, misogynistic meaningless academic jargon.
posted by AlSweigart at 6:28 PM on February 1, 2022 [17 favorites]
Conservatives want an intellectual academic on their side for once. Peterson being a vacuous gibbering idiot spouting meaningless academic jargon isn't a problem, as long as he spouts pro-individualistic, anti-collective, misogynistic meaningless academic jargon.
posted by AlSweigart at 6:28 PM on February 1, 2022 [17 favorites]
Last week when my kids and I were walking to the school bus in the morning we noticed a couple of small birds fly away from a tree in opposite directions and then saw some kind of predator bird swoop by with a small bird in it's talons. The whole thing happened so fast we just caught glimpses of it. The small birds weren't robins, although they're still around.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 6:30 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 6:30 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
I've built a few crokinole boards over the past couple of years, and I've got to say that the carnauba wax tip is legit. I've played all my life, but never had a board so slick!
Crokinole is a lot like darts, or horseshoes, or... Any other game that is quick, simple, fun, and also has lots of room for skill. I recommend it!
I can also heartily second the appeal of sharpening as a hobby. Very meditative, with practical results!
posted by Acari at 6:30 PM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
Crokinole is a lot like darts, or horseshoes, or... Any other game that is quick, simple, fun, and also has lots of room for skill. I recommend it!
I can also heartily second the appeal of sharpening as a hobby. Very meditative, with practical results!
posted by Acari at 6:30 PM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
AlSweigart, that's terribly cynical of you! I mean, you're certainly not at all wrong....
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:39 PM on February 1, 2022
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:39 PM on February 1, 2022
I was in a copy shop today printing out some paperwork and a young girl was walking around wearing some sort of hard plastic backpack with an apparently perfectly content rabbit chilling in it.
Thanks, reality, that's more like it.
Also- aren't Danger Man or whatever it was called and The Prisoner explicitly linked? Doesn't the main character of Danger Man resign at the end, then it shows the resignation process at the beginning of The Prisoner? I always thought they were related.
posted by SystematicAbuse at 6:43 PM on February 1, 2022 [7 favorites]
Thanks, reality, that's more like it.
Also- aren't Danger Man or whatever it was called and The Prisoner explicitly linked? Doesn't the main character of Danger Man resign at the end, then it shows the resignation process at the beginning of The Prisoner? I always thought they were related.
posted by SystematicAbuse at 6:43 PM on February 1, 2022 [7 favorites]
Hey everyone, Wet Leg has dropped another banger: Oh No
posted by maxwelton at 6:49 PM on February 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by maxwelton at 6:49 PM on February 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
Hey, all. Nice to see everyone, even if I sat quietly in a corner all evening just listening.
posted by Ickster at 6:58 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by Ickster at 6:58 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
I'm depressed about Ontario's health care system crisis. We could just deal with Covid (and everything else) properly, except that premier Doug Ford is choking the funding for our health care system, and hoarding federal Covid funds (thanks Justin!) to spend on his next election campaign.
posted by ovvl at 7:17 PM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by ovvl at 7:17 PM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
I'll see your Wet Leg and do a throwback: Little Sis Nora.
posted by valkane at 7:25 PM on February 1, 2022
posted by valkane at 7:25 PM on February 1, 2022
I was in the office for the first time in two years (fully masked up, vaxxed and boosted) in order to get my work laptop fixed. It was a surreal experience. Aside from the utter lack of cars and people, there was so much... for lack of a better word, "safety signaling", that I really wondered how anyone could take such half-hearted meaures seriously. For example, instead of three chairs in a row, the middle one was "closed." Small conference rooms were closed but big meeting spaces were open. On every wall, printouts advised me to "stay safe" but nowhere did I see signs describing actual safety. No "We've upgraded our ventilation system!" or "Here's a free mask!" or even just a "Go home if youre sick!" It was a Potemkin village of public health that made me genuinely afraid for whenever we're forced to go back to the office.
posted by lock robster at 7:34 PM on February 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by lock robster at 7:34 PM on February 1, 2022 [5 favorites]
Decades ago I was tramping around the UK with a friend and we stopped in this Welsh village that made the hair on the back of my neck rise. Everything about it made me feel strange and unsettled and I couldn’t tell my friend why…. until I realized it was where The Prisoner had been filmed. Luckily we were never chased by a giant balloon and we were able to escape.
Be seeing you.
posted by zenzenobia at 7:40 PM on February 1, 2022 [14 favorites]
Be seeing you.
posted by zenzenobia at 7:40 PM on February 1, 2022 [14 favorites]
"it's those highly nutritious worms that brings them to our yards."
> Worst milkshake flavor ever
I'm just wondering how you know, notoriety public
posted by anadem at 8:03 PM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
> Worst milkshake flavor ever
I'm just wondering how you know, notoriety public
posted by anadem at 8:03 PM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
Anybody here get today's Wordle, 227, in two? A friend posted his accomplishment of this today and there were four other folks, including me, who also managed to do so. It would be interesting to see the data on average number of guesses for each word.
We're heading north to Canada for a week of board games and snow sports with another couple. Will need to see if we can track down some Beaver Tails, 'cause those look yummy. Feeling a mix of anxiety and guilt over travelling, but we'll be able to isolate ourselves pretty well where we're staying, and I desperately need the mental break. Work has been really piling it on the last few months.
posted by calamari kid at 8:03 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
We're heading north to Canada for a week of board games and snow sports with another couple. Will need to see if we can track down some Beaver Tails, 'cause those look yummy. Feeling a mix of anxiety and guilt over travelling, but we'll be able to isolate ourselves pretty well where we're staying, and I desperately need the mental break. Work has been really piling it on the last few months.
posted by calamari kid at 8:03 PM on February 1, 2022 [1 favorite]
I took my father to have his driver's license renewed on Monday. He's in his eighties and not been out much in the last two years. I was charmed by how much he enjoyed the trip.
We were driving through a semi industrial area with lots of quirky businesses and he kept reading their names out loud, spontaneously.
That's something I do too.
For some reason this small shared trait between us really pleased me.
It's just getting light here after a hot night. Looks like today will be cooler and we might even get some rain. I have a light workload today which means I can spend most of the day writing. And my writing is going really well right now. Such a pleasure.
posted by Zumbador at 8:09 PM on February 1, 2022 [6 favorites]
We were driving through a semi industrial area with lots of quirky businesses and he kept reading their names out loud, spontaneously.
That's something I do too.
For some reason this small shared trait between us really pleased me.
It's just getting light here after a hot night. Looks like today will be cooler and we might even get some rain. I have a light workload today which means I can spend most of the day writing. And my writing is going really well right now. Such a pleasure.
posted by Zumbador at 8:09 PM on February 1, 2022 [6 favorites]
I rarely post, but had a good meeting with my boss today, helped a bunch of people inside the hospital system that I am a contracted IT guy for with a bunch of issues, and am helping my girlfriend get her audio book idea rolling - so here I am, posting about it.
There's talk of marriage in our lives and I'm s little nervous but not flat out scared, need to reject the idea. We just celebrated our second anniversary together.
I'm so glad to read other people's positive stories. Thanks for sharing everybody
posted by thebotanyofsouls at 8:19 PM on February 1, 2022 [11 favorites]
There's talk of marriage in our lives and I'm s little nervous but not flat out scared, need to reject the idea. We just celebrated our second anniversary together.
I'm so glad to read other people's positive stories. Thanks for sharing everybody
posted by thebotanyofsouls at 8:19 PM on February 1, 2022 [11 favorites]
A friend confided recently that, growing up, she always thought turkeys were just big male chickens.
posted by kinnakeet at 8:53 PM on February 1, 2022 [15 favorites]
posted by kinnakeet at 8:53 PM on February 1, 2022 [15 favorites]
My very old hound attempted to bring a dead squirrel into the house tonight. She was so happy! High stepping and tail wagging, she ran to the door to be let in with her (shudder) prize. She has never done anything like this before. I mean, sure, she’s a hound, she has been bred for this, but this *particular* hound has never managed to catch a squirrel until today. It was probably already sick or wounded, but she made damn sure it was well and truly dead.
I shrieked and ran and made my husband dispose of the corpse. Yuck.
That is all, Metafilter.
posted by msali at 9:19 PM on February 1, 2022 [6 favorites]
I shrieked and ran and made my husband dispose of the corpse. Yuck.
That is all, Metafilter.
posted by msali at 9:19 PM on February 1, 2022 [6 favorites]
I'ma gonna one-up yt you there, Greg_Ace.
I give you Richie Brockelman, Private Eye, starring the director of "Grown Ups 2," a four-time award nominee (winning once).
posted by rhizome at 9:40 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
I give you Richie Brockelman, Private Eye, starring the director of "Grown Ups 2," a four-time award nominee (winning once).
posted by rhizome at 9:40 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]
Anybody here get today's Wordle, 227, in two?
3/4 of my friends and i did
posted by emmling at 9:40 PM on February 1, 2022
3/4 of my friends and i did
posted by emmling at 9:40 PM on February 1, 2022
I made my third ceramic pinchware out of clay I dug out of a cliff this past summer this evening!
The clay is difficult to work with as its natural elasticity is good but lower than ideal. I desire the conceptual power of being able to truthfully claim the pieces I make are totally local to the conservancy dig site, though, so I don't want to incorporate additives even if they'd make it easier to handle. The clay is therefore quite prone to cracking so it's been easy to put working with it off. There is a looming deadline - I have an exhibition coming up in October that will show my body of work created at/about this conservancy artist residency - so I'm happy I'm making progress again!
posted by vegartanipla at 9:53 PM on February 1, 2022 [10 favorites]
The clay is difficult to work with as its natural elasticity is good but lower than ideal. I desire the conceptual power of being able to truthfully claim the pieces I make are totally local to the conservancy dig site, though, so I don't want to incorporate additives even if they'd make it easier to handle. The clay is therefore quite prone to cracking so it's been easy to put working with it off. There is a looming deadline - I have an exhibition coming up in October that will show my body of work created at/about this conservancy artist residency - so I'm happy I'm making progress again!
posted by vegartanipla at 9:53 PM on February 1, 2022 [10 favorites]
I share with you two videos, both done for the Festivids fanvid exchange this winter.
This one is all joy and food porn. Samin Nosrat and food and people. And Etta James.
This one is All the President's Men, set to a jaunty tune you might recognize. So so well done.
And that, my friends, is the art of fanvidding.
posted by suelac at 10:42 PM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
This one is all joy and food porn. Samin Nosrat and food and people. And Etta James.
This one is All the President's Men, set to a jaunty tune you might recognize. So so well done.
And that, my friends, is the art of fanvidding.
posted by suelac at 10:42 PM on February 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
After listening to several of my favorite podcasts go downhill in quality (My Favorite Murder unfortunately leading the pack in that regard), finding Welcome to the OC, Bitches has been such a guilty pleasure delight. No one is taking themselves too seriously, it's just two actresses (and some legit guests from the show) having a great time reminiscing. Was the OC a great show? Eh...the first season is really something, but all of the best ideas were exhausted pretty quickly. It's a fun little diversion we all deserve.
posted by Gumshoe Grimshaw at 2:32 AM on February 2, 2022
posted by Gumshoe Grimshaw at 2:32 AM on February 2, 2022
Eternals was better than I thought it would be. It looks amazing, the actors are strong and it has far more dialogue than the standard Marvel movie. Plus, Celestials!
posted by One Hand Slowclapping at 4:58 AM on February 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by One Hand Slowclapping at 4:58 AM on February 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
I don't think I have SAD necessarily, but I tend to get pretty depressed this time of year. It's cold, everything looks dead, no birds, etc.
posted by Billy Rubin
I live in the tropical monsoon deep north of Australia, on the edge of a swamp, and it is monsooning like a mofo here right now.
After about three days of heavy unbroken monsoon rain, when everything has gone past saturation point, the swamp is lapping at my door, and even the frogs have had enough,... about then I start getting a Heart-of-Darkness urge to throw things at walls, go real primitive, and sacrifice some innocent creature to the gods I don't believe in. Because, at that point, why the fuck not?
Within minutes of the sun coming out I start feeling fine.
I imagine it is not unlike the feeling Arctic circle dwellers get when the sun first reappears over the frozen early spring horizon.
posted by Pouteria at 5:32 AM on February 2, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by Billy Rubin
I live in the tropical monsoon deep north of Australia, on the edge of a swamp, and it is monsooning like a mofo here right now.
After about three days of heavy unbroken monsoon rain, when everything has gone past saturation point, the swamp is lapping at my door, and even the frogs have had enough,... about then I start getting a Heart-of-Darkness urge to throw things at walls, go real primitive, and sacrifice some innocent creature to the gods I don't believe in. Because, at that point, why the fuck not?
Within minutes of the sun coming out I start feeling fine.
I imagine it is not unlike the feeling Arctic circle dwellers get when the sun first reappears over the frozen early spring horizon.
posted by Pouteria at 5:32 AM on February 2, 2022 [4 favorites]
I'm all about the upthread love for Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit. I hate to brag here but Jimbo Hart has liked at least two of my Tweets, and my wife is sick of hearing about it.
It was in the 40s (Fahrenheit) here in the Madison area yesterday, but it's 9 (Fahrenheit) right now. You can understand why people would rather let robots milk the cows than do it themselves in this weather.
posted by wintermind at 5:39 AM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
It was in the 40s (Fahrenheit) here in the Madison area yesterday, but it's 9 (Fahrenheit) right now. You can understand why people would rather let robots milk the cows than do it themselves in this weather.
posted by wintermind at 5:39 AM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
Why do sheep sound like people making sheep noises? Do sheep even exist?
posted by Literaryhero at 5:40 AM on February 2, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by Literaryhero at 5:40 AM on February 2, 2022 [5 favorites]
Someone I went to college swore that "K/Nights in White Satin" was about "a penis in a condom". Is there any truth to that?
And while we're asking questions:
So, we have a bit of a pickle at my apartment. I live in a duplex, with three little rooms (and the kitchen and the bathroom) in the top, and one big room on the bottom. My roommate took over the bottom room for his turf, making it one big open-plan home theater/office space with bed and dresser tucked into a corner. We are on the ground floor of our building.
And about a month ago, sometime during the first real cold snap, my roommate started hearing....scuttling noises inside the ceiling. I've never heard them, but he hears them clearly - scuttling and scurrying, and sometimes squealing. Some kind of critter has somehow gotten inside the floorboards between my floor and his; and we live two doors down from a restaurant, so it is likely a rat. And over the past month they've been getting more and more active, to the point that they are now waking him up at about 3 am each night. (I still hear nothing, by the way.)
We've called our super, and he called an exterminator - but it's going to be another week or two before the exterminator can even get here. What is something we can do in the meantime?
(Also, PLEASE tell me that my bird feeder isn't exacerbating things somehow? I put seed out at about 6:30 each morning, and it's completely emptied out by noon, so I don't think that birdseed could be drawing rats....)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:12 AM on February 2, 2022
And while we're asking questions:
So, we have a bit of a pickle at my apartment. I live in a duplex, with three little rooms (and the kitchen and the bathroom) in the top, and one big room on the bottom. My roommate took over the bottom room for his turf, making it one big open-plan home theater/office space with bed and dresser tucked into a corner. We are on the ground floor of our building.
And about a month ago, sometime during the first real cold snap, my roommate started hearing....scuttling noises inside the ceiling. I've never heard them, but he hears them clearly - scuttling and scurrying, and sometimes squealing. Some kind of critter has somehow gotten inside the floorboards between my floor and his; and we live two doors down from a restaurant, so it is likely a rat. And over the past month they've been getting more and more active, to the point that they are now waking him up at about 3 am each night. (I still hear nothing, by the way.)
We've called our super, and he called an exterminator - but it's going to be another week or two before the exterminator can even get here. What is something we can do in the meantime?
(Also, PLEASE tell me that my bird feeder isn't exacerbating things somehow? I put seed out at about 6:30 each morning, and it's completely emptied out by noon, so I don't think that birdseed could be drawing rats....)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:12 AM on February 2, 2022
My brother and his two sons (a toddler and an infant) all have COVID. And my spouse is isolating upstairs after spending all day Sunday with someone who tested positive for COVID the next day.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:25 AM on February 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:25 AM on February 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
Oh, we had clear pictures of rats eating the fallen seed around our feeder last winter, EmpressCallipygos. So I moved the bird feeder to the back side of the garage so the pictures would be less clear.
I mean, I also patched up the rotted out service door threshold, but that was more mouseproofing than ratproofing.
posted by Kyol at 6:34 AM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
I mean, I also patched up the rotted out service door threshold, but that was more mouseproofing than ratproofing.
posted by Kyol at 6:34 AM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
Kemosabe the Porcupine Eating Corn
SOUND ON
posted by Glinn at 6:40 AM on February 2, 2022 [3 favorites]
SOUND ON
posted by Glinn at 6:40 AM on February 2, 2022 [3 favorites]
Aw, dammit.
Uh....does it help my chances of keeping the feeder to know that the feeder is clear on the other side of the room from where he's been hearing the rats? And that I did once hear some scuttling in the alley in a different place entirely?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:40 AM on February 2, 2022
Uh....does it help my chances of keeping the feeder to know that the feeder is clear on the other side of the room from where he's been hearing the rats? And that I did once hear some scuttling in the alley in a different place entirely?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:40 AM on February 2, 2022
late to the free thread again, and missing all the Prisoner talk?? I re-watched the first episode just the other week, now I wanna commit to a full rewatch.
motivated by a recent FPP, I ditched the green music app. which has lead me down a rabbit hole of tracking down stuff I want to listen to and buying music outright where I can. when it came to 東京初期衝動 (Tokyo Syoki Syodo) I stumbled into OTOTOY (another green music app) where I was delighted to discover the band has a new album out today
posted by okonomichiyaki at 7:30 AM on February 2, 2022
motivated by a recent FPP, I ditched the green music app. which has lead me down a rabbit hole of tracking down stuff I want to listen to and buying music outright where I can. when it came to 東京初期衝動 (Tokyo Syoki Syodo) I stumbled into OTOTOY (another green music app) where I was delighted to discover the band has a new album out today
posted by okonomichiyaki at 7:30 AM on February 2, 2022
Uh....does it help my chances of keeping the feeder to know that the feeder is clear on the other side of the room from where he's been hearing the rats? And that I did once hear some scuttling in the alley in a different place entirely?
Sorry, nope. It's free food, doesn't matter where it is or what it is, rats will eat it and be attracted by it.
posted by cooker girl at 7:50 AM on February 2, 2022
Sorry, nope. It's free food, doesn't matter where it is or what it is, rats will eat it and be attracted by it.
posted by cooker girl at 7:50 AM on February 2, 2022
....I'm still gonna wait and check with the exterminator. But I'll mention the fact that I had this thought to my roommate still and discuss.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:52 AM on February 2, 2022
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:52 AM on February 2, 2022
I have been binging Muppeturgy as well as rewatching The Muppet Show on Disney+. It's making me very happy.
posted by PussKillian at 7:54 AM on February 2, 2022
posted by PussKillian at 7:54 AM on February 2, 2022
Cooker girl - I just saw similar advice! Yay, I'll be making those changes!
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:58 AM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:58 AM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
Empress, I’m going to differ with others here and say that I doubt the bird feeder is directly causing your problem. The rat is inside your home, so the problem is more about finding out how the fucker got inside. NYC is just pretty heavy on the rats these days - I live in Brooklyn too and the uptick in the rat population since the pandemic has been…alarming.
posted by cakelite at 8:06 AM on February 2, 2022
posted by cakelite at 8:06 AM on February 2, 2022
Our water got turned back on!
posted by joannemerriam at 8:19 AM on February 2, 2022 [10 favorites]
posted by joannemerriam at 8:19 AM on February 2, 2022 [10 favorites]
Apparently MetaFilter is becoming my online venting home.
Dudes, if you are in charge of buying company-branded clothing for a company event where all company employees must wear said company-branded clothing, please be aware that your female employees (and those who wear "women's clothing") will have questions about sizing. Please ensure a sizing chart is available from your clothing supplier.
If you can't do that (because apparently that's too big an ask), be specific when you put out an email saying: hey, what items do you want and in what sizes?
How the heck are we supposed to know what sizes are actually available, unless you list them?
Also, when somebody asks you that specific question, the answer "there are three sizes available" doesn't actually answer the question. Do you mean three sizes in total? Do you mean three women's sizes and three men's sizes? Who knows?
If this is supposed to be a professional event and you want your team looking sharp, then it's up to you, as the organizer of the clothing purchase to ensure that people can request clothing items that will actually fit them!
Men, get a clue. (Yes, I know "not all men" but still...)
posted by sardonyx at 8:22 AM on February 2, 2022 [9 favorites]
Dudes, if you are in charge of buying company-branded clothing for a company event where all company employees must wear said company-branded clothing, please be aware that your female employees (and those who wear "women's clothing") will have questions about sizing. Please ensure a sizing chart is available from your clothing supplier.
If you can't do that (because apparently that's too big an ask), be specific when you put out an email saying: hey, what items do you want and in what sizes?
How the heck are we supposed to know what sizes are actually available, unless you list them?
Also, when somebody asks you that specific question, the answer "there are three sizes available" doesn't actually answer the question. Do you mean three sizes in total? Do you mean three women's sizes and three men's sizes? Who knows?
If this is supposed to be a professional event and you want your team looking sharp, then it's up to you, as the organizer of the clothing purchase to ensure that people can request clothing items that will actually fit them!
Men, get a clue. (Yes, I know "not all men" but still...)
posted by sardonyx at 8:22 AM on February 2, 2022 [9 favorites]
failed at today's Wordle. :( Without giving it away, I was disappointed to realize how many words end with those 4 letters. Or maybe it's just 3, and I saved the most common one for last.
posted by hydra77 at 8:27 AM on February 2, 2022
posted by hydra77 at 8:27 AM on February 2, 2022
Cakelite: Yeah, I suspect that while the birdfeeder didn't initially attract rats, it might be a small contributing factor when it comes to encouraging them to stick around. I just emailed my roommate about this, and about my research, and the analogy I used was: It's not the favorite restaurant you make a reservation at for your dinner, it's more like the ice cream place across the street that you sometimes hit up as an occasional bonus as you're leaving.
And fortunately it looks like it will be a very easy factor to mitigate! It looks like my specific setup isn't the feeders themselves, it's more a matter of "is there seed spilled on the ground underneath". And while I do see a lot of traffic out there and any seed spilled on the ground also gets eaten up, there is a nonzero chance that occasionally there's some seed down there. But there are two things I can do right now that would stop that -
1. Switch to a "no-mess" seed. I've mainly been using seed that has whole sunflower seed, but just switching to a mix with shelled sunflower seed means birds don't have to shell things and potentially spill stuff on the ground. I have a bag of no-mess stuff already, I'll just make that my main bag.
2. This is the trick that amuses me - I can also spike the birdseed with hot sauce. Apparently rodents hate hot peppers, but birds don't taste it - so that can drive rodents away. I'm looking at options right now and giggling over the various riffs on hot sauce names that they're giving birdseed blends ("Cajun Cardinal" is probably my favorite).
So I sent my roommate that email as an "oops, I may have been making things worse but here's how I'm fixing it" FYI thing. And maybe that intel about hot sauce may lead to another brainstorm about a temporary repellant in our apartment as well.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:33 AM on February 2, 2022 [3 favorites]
And fortunately it looks like it will be a very easy factor to mitigate! It looks like my specific setup isn't the feeders themselves, it's more a matter of "is there seed spilled on the ground underneath". And while I do see a lot of traffic out there and any seed spilled on the ground also gets eaten up, there is a nonzero chance that occasionally there's some seed down there. But there are two things I can do right now that would stop that -
1. Switch to a "no-mess" seed. I've mainly been using seed that has whole sunflower seed, but just switching to a mix with shelled sunflower seed means birds don't have to shell things and potentially spill stuff on the ground. I have a bag of no-mess stuff already, I'll just make that my main bag.
2. This is the trick that amuses me - I can also spike the birdseed with hot sauce. Apparently rodents hate hot peppers, but birds don't taste it - so that can drive rodents away. I'm looking at options right now and giggling over the various riffs on hot sauce names that they're giving birdseed blends ("Cajun Cardinal" is probably my favorite).
So I sent my roommate that email as an "oops, I may have been making things worse but here's how I'm fixing it" FYI thing. And maybe that intel about hot sauce may lead to another brainstorm about a temporary repellant in our apartment as well.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:33 AM on February 2, 2022 [3 favorites]
From what I've heard about spiking the seed with cayenne is that ultimately you end up selecting for hothead squirrels and rats who are perfectly willing to put up with a little caliente in exchange for a free meal.
posted by Kyol at 8:47 AM on February 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Kyol at 8:47 AM on February 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
I often watch movies and TV now with a tiny post-modern angel whispering on my shoulder, deconstructing the form and pointing out how these narratives would have been utterly baffling to my grandparents. I suspect that forty years hence, filmed entertainment will seem incomprehensible to most of us old geezers, and many of us will bore our grandchildren reminiscing about when these things were filmed in landscape and not portrait.
I learned this very early, with my father. He was a big fan of movies, but something happened with Hollywood output of the 1970s onwards - it's that whole Spielberg/Coppola/Lucas gang, blockbusters with inventive narrative techniques. Unless they're Charles Bronson flicks or standard B-movie actioners, he could never follow a Western movie anymore.
posted by cendawanita at 8:50 AM on February 2, 2022
I learned this very early, with my father. He was a big fan of movies, but something happened with Hollywood output of the 1970s onwards - it's that whole Spielberg/Coppola/Lucas gang, blockbusters with inventive narrative techniques. Unless they're Charles Bronson flicks or standard B-movie actioners, he could never follow a Western movie anymore.
posted by cendawanita at 8:50 AM on February 2, 2022
(as in, like 20 years later, we children finally realised that despite him getting us hooked on Star Wars, he never got the Vader reveal)
posted by cendawanita at 8:52 AM on February 2, 2022
posted by cendawanita at 8:52 AM on February 2, 2022
Xinnian hao, y'all.
Our local Chinese Cultural Center has cancelled its Spring Festival celebration because pandemic, but has posted a video of performances by the people who would ordinarily perform at it, including the Randomlet's lion dance youth troupe. It's fun seeing your kid be acrobatic online.
(The Randomlet is a little weirded out watching a video themself, and really wishes they hadn't filmed a routine where they were the head -- they very much prefer performing as the back of a lion.)
posted by Quasirandom at 9:08 AM on February 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
Our local Chinese Cultural Center has cancelled its Spring Festival celebration because pandemic, but has posted a video of performances by the people who would ordinarily perform at it, including the Randomlet's lion dance youth troupe. It's fun seeing your kid be acrobatic online.
(The Randomlet is a little weirded out watching a video themself, and really wishes they hadn't filmed a routine where they were the head -- they very much prefer performing as the back of a lion.)
posted by Quasirandom at 9:08 AM on February 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
there was so much... for lack of a better word, "safety signaling", that I really wondered how anyone could take such half-hearted meaures seriously
Eighteen months ago when the directives to physically distance were first coming into play, my hometown began posting signs on public benches showing which seats were off-limits. As the result of an earlier generation of user-hostile architecture, what might have been a flat bench twenty years earlier was now equipped with three evenly-spaced armrests on the bench so as to make it essentially four conjoined chairs. Can’t take a chance someone might lie down, you know.
Anyway, every bench had DO NOT USE signs assiduously fastened to the first and third seats, or else the second and fourth. Evidently they took the alternate seat idea to heart.
I was tempted to write to the municipal government to let them in on One Weird Trick to find the way two people could use these benches and be even further apart, but I despaired at explaining it.
This, by the way, is the same municipal government that recently, in a stretch of -35 degree weather, boarded up a back entrance to City Hall because some of those filthy hobos were trying to keep warm on the hot air vents at night. The newspaper ran a story that pointed out that there was no construction permit filed to do this, and local concerned parties tore down the cheap plywood hoardings. The chastened city duly paid the $200 or so to itself for a building permit and rebuilt the things stronger. Last I heard they were still in place.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:08 AM on February 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
Eighteen months ago when the directives to physically distance were first coming into play, my hometown began posting signs on public benches showing which seats were off-limits. As the result of an earlier generation of user-hostile architecture, what might have been a flat bench twenty years earlier was now equipped with three evenly-spaced armrests on the bench so as to make it essentially four conjoined chairs. Can’t take a chance someone might lie down, you know.
Anyway, every bench had DO NOT USE signs assiduously fastened to the first and third seats, or else the second and fourth. Evidently they took the alternate seat idea to heart.
I was tempted to write to the municipal government to let them in on One Weird Trick to find the way two people could use these benches and be even further apart, but I despaired at explaining it.
This, by the way, is the same municipal government that recently, in a stretch of -35 degree weather, boarded up a back entrance to City Hall because some of those filthy hobos were trying to keep warm on the hot air vents at night. The newspaper ran a story that pointed out that there was no construction permit filed to do this, and local concerned parties tore down the cheap plywood hoardings. The chastened city duly paid the $200 or so to itself for a building permit and rebuilt the things stronger. Last I heard they were still in place.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:08 AM on February 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
The mechanical keyboard vendor I've bought a bit of stuff from in the past is about to reopen their mystery switch grab bag in a half hour or so and I am unreasonably excited to get random crap at a deep discount that hasn't been moving otherwise. What is it about grab bag sales that is so exciting?
posted by Kyol at 9:26 AM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Kyol at 9:26 AM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
From what I've heard about spiking the seed with cayenne is that ultimately you end up selecting for hothead squirrels and rats who are perfectly willing to put up with a little caliente in exchange for a free meal.
Honestly I think the barbecue joint we share a back yard with may be where the bulk of the "free meals" are coming from; my occasionally-there-may-be-seed-on-the-ground is more like the ice cream place down the block that they sometimes hit up after. Still those are easy enough fixes that it doesn't make sense not to try.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:32 AM on February 2, 2022
Honestly I think the barbecue joint we share a back yard with may be where the bulk of the "free meals" are coming from; my occasionally-there-may-be-seed-on-the-ground is more like the ice cream place down the block that they sometimes hit up after. Still those are easy enough fixes that it doesn't make sense not to try.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:32 AM on February 2, 2022
TV show opening numbers which rock
Which is best? You decide!
While there are certainly tons of great opening numbers from excellent TV shows, it is more difficult to find an excellent opening number from a terrible TV show. The goal would be to find the greatest disconnect between the high quality of the opening and the poor quality of the show.
I give you my opinion of the greatest opening number from an otherwise terrible TV show (largely because of the killer Danny Elfman score and cool animation tricks). The show itself somehow ran for three seasons but was never remotely funny.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 10:06 AM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
Which is best? You decide!
While there are certainly tons of great opening numbers from excellent TV shows, it is more difficult to find an excellent opening number from a terrible TV show. The goal would be to find the greatest disconnect between the high quality of the opening and the poor quality of the show.
I give you my opinion of the greatest opening number from an otherwise terrible TV show (largely because of the killer Danny Elfman score and cool animation tricks). The show itself somehow ran for three seasons but was never remotely funny.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 10:06 AM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
I have an interview on Monday for a permanent position that opened up in the office i'm temping in right now...i have all my fingers and toes crossed.
I'm watching the NC state supreme court case about redistricting right now and it's both interesting and infuriating.
posted by schyler523 at 10:07 AM on February 2, 2022 [4 favorites]
I'm watching the NC state supreme court case about redistricting right now and it's both interesting and infuriating.
posted by schyler523 at 10:07 AM on February 2, 2022 [4 favorites]
TV show opening numbers which rock
Which is best? You decide!
This one.
Dat da-WEEEEEEE, dat-dat-dat-DWEEE-dow.....
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:14 AM on February 2, 2022 [6 favorites]
Which is best? You decide!
This one.
Dat da-WEEEEEEE, dat-dat-dat-DWEEE-dow.....
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:14 AM on February 2, 2022 [6 favorites]
TV show opening numbers which rock
Which is best? You decide!
Somehow ironically not rocking at all: Maybe you and me were never meant to be, but maybe think of me once in a while.
That has been stuck in my head since Hesseman passed away. It's a perfect lats 70s TV intro.
For the exit music, here's hoping Johnny got his message through to the bartender. I believe he asked for a seven and seven, but it might have been a "hev a hemm hemm." Jury's still out.
Side note: the themes from Taxi, WKRP, and Cheers always bring me to the edge of tears, and I have no idea why.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 10:28 AM on February 2, 2022 [5 favorites]
TIL that there was a Dilbert tv series.
on preview: Abehammerb Lincoln: WKRP theme has been stuck in my head also, but it may just be because I actually live in Cincinnati and every time I see The Genius Of Water, the song pops into my head. Which is often because I work downtown.
posted by cooker girl at 10:31 AM on February 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
on preview: Abehammerb Lincoln: WKRP theme has been stuck in my head also, but it may just be because I actually live in Cincinnati and every time I see The Genius Of Water, the song pops into my head. Which is often because I work downtown.
posted by cooker girl at 10:31 AM on February 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
OH HANG ON HOW DID I MISS THIS -
We think patronizingly about early nickelodeon attendees panicking and fleeing from the oncoming train or fainting at the bandit seemingly firing his pistol at the viewer, but imagine trying to suss out what the hell was going on the first time there was a flashback, or when D.W. Griffith cut back and forth between four different time periods in Intolerance.
I've run into this a lot over here. When I watched A Trip To The Moon for the first time, it was really hard to follow for a good while - and it hit me that that's because what I was looking at was big static shots with a bunch of people milling about and gesticulating each time. There were no subtitles, none of those cards that showed you what people were saying, none of that - it was as if someone had just set up a camera so that they could film a stage and then told the actors to go ahead. And it struck me that that is likely exactly what they did do, simply because they hadn't figured out yet that film is different and so it has different rules and so that approach just plain doesn't work.
I suspect that forty years hence, filmed entertainment will seem incomprehensible to most of us old geezers, and many of us will bore our grandchildren reminiscing about when these things were filmed in landscape and not portrait.
They may also make connections - the first time I saw one of the Ealing comedies, I found myself "getting" Monty Python on a slightly different level.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:35 AM on February 2, 2022
We think patronizingly about early nickelodeon attendees panicking and fleeing from the oncoming train or fainting at the bandit seemingly firing his pistol at the viewer, but imagine trying to suss out what the hell was going on the first time there was a flashback, or when D.W. Griffith cut back and forth between four different time periods in Intolerance.
I've run into this a lot over here. When I watched A Trip To The Moon for the first time, it was really hard to follow for a good while - and it hit me that that's because what I was looking at was big static shots with a bunch of people milling about and gesticulating each time. There were no subtitles, none of those cards that showed you what people were saying, none of that - it was as if someone had just set up a camera so that they could film a stage and then told the actors to go ahead. And it struck me that that is likely exactly what they did do, simply because they hadn't figured out yet that film is different and so it has different rules and so that approach just plain doesn't work.
I suspect that forty years hence, filmed entertainment will seem incomprehensible to most of us old geezers, and many of us will bore our grandchildren reminiscing about when these things were filmed in landscape and not portrait.
They may also make connections - the first time I saw one of the Ealing comedies, I found myself "getting" Monty Python on a slightly different level.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:35 AM on February 2, 2022
Free Thread (holds up lighter) Free Thread!
For some reason I am reminded of seeing Rocky Horror Picture Show for the first time, with my best friend; the concept of a movie playing in a theater AT MIDNIGHT! blew my little suburban mind, as did the grocery shopping beforehand. Why did we need...oh, I see!
You could bring matches and lighters to theaters and use them.
You could throw toast and playing cards. Sprinkle water and wear newspaper hats. Shout some genuinely filthy setup lines at the screen. Dance.
We sat in the balcony of our beloved old revival house and watched the chaos below and the beauty onscreen. Added to our personal language of film phrases we'd use, that no one else knew. We sounded like idiots most of the time, I suppose.
posted by winesong at 10:59 AM on February 2, 2022 [5 favorites]
For some reason I am reminded of seeing Rocky Horror Picture Show for the first time, with my best friend; the concept of a movie playing in a theater AT MIDNIGHT! blew my little suburban mind, as did the grocery shopping beforehand. Why did we need...oh, I see!
You could bring matches and lighters to theaters and use them.
You could throw toast and playing cards. Sprinkle water and wear newspaper hats. Shout some genuinely filthy setup lines at the screen. Dance.
We sat in the balcony of our beloved old revival house and watched the chaos below and the beauty onscreen. Added to our personal language of film phrases we'd use, that no one else knew. We sounded like idiots most of the time, I suppose.
posted by winesong at 10:59 AM on February 2, 2022 [5 favorites]
now you have me remembering when the Cool Girl from Ontario was visiting my friend here in rural Alberta and she introduced us to the Rocky Horror phenomenon. She printed out scripts and really put her heart in it, kind of transformed my life really. Somehow I ended up as Riff Raff.
posted by elkevelvet at 11:08 AM on February 2, 2022
posted by elkevelvet at 11:08 AM on February 2, 2022
My brother was the criminologist with that era's performing troupe, so I ended up hanging out with the performers until the show, then fucking around with my friends in the audience before going home at 3am. Often to a 7am opening shift in the kitchen.
Ah, to be a teenager again. I'm pretty sure that would literally kill me now.
I still find myself biting back the callouts and responses when the soundtrack comes up while I'm out for a walk. I'm weird, but I'm not _that_ weird...
posted by Kyol at 11:20 AM on February 2, 2022
Ah, to be a teenager again. I'm pretty sure that would literally kill me now.
I still find myself biting back the callouts and responses when the soundtrack comes up while I'm out for a walk. I'm weird, but I'm not _that_ weird...
posted by Kyol at 11:20 AM on February 2, 2022
Someone I went to college swore that "K/Nights in White Satin" was about "a penis in a condom". Is there any truth to that?
Doesn't appear to be.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:36 AM on February 2, 2022
Doesn't appear to be.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:36 AM on February 2, 2022
Today's work update, since I can't go to my usual Slack channel today:
(a) "To make things easier," I now have to bring (a) a laptop, (b) a mouse (c) a keyboard, and (d) a docking station, every day I have to go into the office. There is a desktop RIGHT HERE that we are just supposed to not use any more because....???
I note that my job involves the use of two giant monitors and REALLY REALLY REALLY SHOULD NOT BE DONE ON A TINY LAPTOP. I have NEVER wanted a laptop for work, I do not NEED it when we had a desktop at home and an office loaner. This laptop is SMALL because we're supposed to pretend it's a large portable drive, apparently.
(b) This was my first day back in the office hauling this crap, which was so big I could not zip my backpack hauling it all. I walk to work because the reason why I live as close as I do and pay the rent that I do is so I don't have to drive to work, and what will happen when it eventually rains on a workday?
(c) When I got here, GUESS WHAT, THE DOCKING STATION SETUP DOES NOT WORK. It appears to be missing a cord, so I can only get one monitor to work, not two, which boils down to "I have to work on the TINY LAPTOP SCREEN only."
(d) Nor does Zoom work today, as somehow the sound does not work on this setup despite the sound on my laptop being cranked 100%. I had to do the morning meeting off my phone. Now people want me to actually do work on large scale screens on Zoom later today and on Friday, but guess what?
(e) I haven't even mentioned that the new keyboard has "action keys" that make me completely unable to do things like "hit save" in the database I have to work on, and because I'm not an admin, I can't disable them.
I repeat: LITERALLY TO MAKE THINGS EASIER AT MY JOB, THEY JUST MADE THEM HARDER AND THEY WON'T ACKNOWLEDGE THIS.
I finally got permission to use the desktop (see above Zoom meetings). FFS. And they wonder why someone just quit again? To go back to her previous (presumed hell job) employer, who was apparently bad but not as bad as here? She looked about as excited as someone announcing they have a hernia in today's meeting, and said next to nothing about the new job.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:45 AM on February 2, 2022 [8 favorites]
(a) "To make things easier," I now have to bring (a) a laptop, (b) a mouse (c) a keyboard, and (d) a docking station, every day I have to go into the office. There is a desktop RIGHT HERE that we are just supposed to not use any more because....???
I note that my job involves the use of two giant monitors and REALLY REALLY REALLY SHOULD NOT BE DONE ON A TINY LAPTOP. I have NEVER wanted a laptop for work, I do not NEED it when we had a desktop at home and an office loaner. This laptop is SMALL because we're supposed to pretend it's a large portable drive, apparently.
(b) This was my first day back in the office hauling this crap, which was so big I could not zip my backpack hauling it all. I walk to work because the reason why I live as close as I do and pay the rent that I do is so I don't have to drive to work, and what will happen when it eventually rains on a workday?
(c) When I got here, GUESS WHAT, THE DOCKING STATION SETUP DOES NOT WORK. It appears to be missing a cord, so I can only get one monitor to work, not two, which boils down to "I have to work on the TINY LAPTOP SCREEN only."
(d) Nor does Zoom work today, as somehow the sound does not work on this setup despite the sound on my laptop being cranked 100%. I had to do the morning meeting off my phone. Now people want me to actually do work on large scale screens on Zoom later today and on Friday, but guess what?
(e) I haven't even mentioned that the new keyboard has "action keys" that make me completely unable to do things like "hit save" in the database I have to work on, and because I'm not an admin, I can't disable them.
I repeat: LITERALLY TO MAKE THINGS EASIER AT MY JOB, THEY JUST MADE THEM HARDER AND THEY WON'T ACKNOWLEDGE THIS.
I finally got permission to use the desktop (see above Zoom meetings). FFS. And they wonder why someone just quit again? To go back to her previous (presumed hell job) employer, who was apparently bad but not as bad as here? She looked about as excited as someone announcing they have a hernia in today's meeting, and said next to nothing about the new job.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:45 AM on February 2, 2022 [8 favorites]
Dat da-WEEEEEEE, dat-dat-dat-DWEEE-dow.....
Didn't even have to click to know what T.V. show that was....
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 11:45 AM on February 2, 2022 [4 favorites]
Didn't even have to click to know what T.V. show that was....
posted by a non mouse, a cow herd at 11:45 AM on February 2, 2022 [4 favorites]
I’m just here fishing for 60-ish-year-old former supporters of the Cincinnati Bengals facing an existential crisis this week.
posted by MorgansAmoebas at 11:47 AM on February 2, 2022
posted by MorgansAmoebas at 11:47 AM on February 2, 2022
TV show opening numbers which rock
Which is best? You decide!
I humbly submit:
Sanford and Son (Quincy Jones!)
Barney Miller
Cowboy Bebop (famously)
posted by chromecow at 1:28 PM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
Which is best? You decide!
I humbly submit:
Sanford and Son (Quincy Jones!)
Barney Miller
Cowboy Bebop (famously)
posted by chromecow at 1:28 PM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
And for folks that like the groove of Barney Miller and Sanford and Sons, I also suggest:
Also Sprach Zarathustra
Used to great effect in the Hal Ashby film Being There, with Peter Sellers.
posted by chromecow at 1:31 PM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
Also Sprach Zarathustra
Used to great effect in the Hal Ashby film Being There, with Peter Sellers.
posted by chromecow at 1:31 PM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
Nights in White Satin is also the title of a movie from the late eighties that I can't remember much about except that it's the kind of movie that you watched late at night in the pre-streaming era when you had cable.
Also, best TV intro (besides Peacemaker's) would be the theme song for Laverne & Shirley, which was covered by Johnny Cash for a Nissan commercial.
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:39 PM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
Also, best TV intro (besides Peacemaker's) would be the theme song for Laverne & Shirley, which was covered by Johnny Cash for a Nissan commercial.
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:39 PM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
I’ve recently fallen in love with these dorky jazz piano teachers’ podcast — TV theme aficionados may enjoy Peter Martin and Adam Maness’s take on the 7 Hippest TV Show Themes. I won’t spoil the rest of the list, but Taxi is there, as well as a couple I would not have remembered as hip at all, but hot damn. Sha-la-la-la!
posted by mubba at 2:07 PM on February 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by mubba at 2:07 PM on February 2, 2022 [2 favorites]
Someone I went to college swore that "K/Nights in White Satin" was about "a penis in a condom". Is there any truth to that?
i wonder what "ride my see-saw" is really about
posted by pyramid termite at 3:25 PM on February 2, 2022
i wonder what "ride my see-saw" is really about
posted by pyramid termite at 3:25 PM on February 2, 2022
I was looking for an excuse to post the hilarious dancing in the Ride My See-Saw video and now I have it. Best to watch the whole song, but if you want to cut to around 2:00, there's some strange arm flailing.
posted by Larry David Syndrome at 4:12 PM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Larry David Syndrome at 4:12 PM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
I’ve recently fallen in love with these dorky jazz piano teachers’ podcast — TV theme aficionados may enjoy Peter Martin and Adam Maness’s take on the 7 Hippest TV Show Themes.
But mubba, they leave out the Peter Gunn theme!
posted by jamjam at 6:26 PM on February 2, 2022 [5 favorites]
But mubba, they leave out the Peter Gunn theme!
posted by jamjam at 6:26 PM on February 2, 2022 [5 favorites]
Larry David Syndrome, you neglected to mention they were performing from the Cube Dimension!
posted by JHarris at 6:33 PM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by JHarris at 6:33 PM on February 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
I wonder what "ride my seesaw is really about.
I think you'll need your "brand new [roller skates] key" to unlock that mystery.
posted by jamjam at 6:34 PM on February 2, 2022
I think you'll need your "brand new [roller skates] key" to unlock that mystery.
posted by jamjam at 6:34 PM on February 2, 2022
Branford Marsalis' tracks from The Russia House are awesome.
posted by clavdivs at 8:14 PM on February 2, 2022
posted by clavdivs at 8:14 PM on February 2, 2022
Okay so I braised my brisket in the crockpot because I had like 12-oz of half-turned red wine that wasn't drinkable anymore, so I thought, "I'll braise rather than roast" and threw in some herbs with the wine. And then I was like, "What can I put with it without having to go to the store in the terrible snow?" so I made challah knot rolls from scratch (first try!) and I dug around in my fridge and cabinets and found three lonely potatoes, some carrots, and shallots, so I chopped those up and added them halfway through the 9-hour braise and ANYWAY it all turned out really well and I am very proud of my improvised dinner made of a sale-priced brisket and leftover odds-and-ends in my pantry.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:26 PM on February 2, 2022 [14 favorites]
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:26 PM on February 2, 2022 [14 favorites]
Mmmm, brisket...
posted by Windopaene at 8:41 PM on February 2, 2022
posted by Windopaene at 8:41 PM on February 2, 2022
I braised my brisket in the crockpot
*dejected sigh at lack of smoking activities*
(kidding of course, I"m glad it worked out great!)
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:19 PM on February 2, 2022
*dejected sigh at lack of smoking activities*
(kidding of course, I"m glad it worked out great!)
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:19 PM on February 2, 2022
Patting myself on the back for actually managing to finish one fic (even if in my mind it's actually a 2-parter) so i technically have no other WIPs on the plate (no, i do not perceive my Cobra Kai ones, don't make me).
posted by cendawanita at 12:41 AM on February 3, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by cendawanita at 12:41 AM on February 3, 2022 [6 favorites]
Fifty years ago, BBC1 showed a film called Let's Kill Uncle on a Saturday night and I didn't get to see it and was curiously obsessed with it for a while, the way one only can be about a film one hasn't actually seen. I stumbled across the book thirty years ago and read it. A couple of days ago I thought about it again and wondered whether there was anything on the internet and it seems it's on YouTube. Watching it now. It's not good, exactly - it turns out it was made by William Castle (albeit for a legit studio), and he didn't really do good. But then I don't have much use for concepts of good and bad anyway. It's certainly idiosyncratic. Basically a Disney adventure film for sociopaths. Nigel Green is superb. Am rooting heavily for Uncle Kevin.
posted by Grangousier at 11:40 AM on February 3, 2022
posted by Grangousier at 11:40 AM on February 3, 2022
So this isn't quite enough for its own post, but I just came across a Twitter thread that has reduced me and some of my friends to helpless wheezing laughter:
"Stray Carnivore" on Twitter collected the programs of several sci-fi conventions and fed their agendas into an AI program, and asked it to generate "Sci-Fi Convention Panels". Here are the results (SL Twitter), and some of the most wheeze-inducing examples are below:
"Stray Carnivore" on Twitter collected the programs of several sci-fi conventions and fed their agendas into an AI program, and asked it to generate "Sci-Fi Convention Panels". Here are the results (SL Twitter), and some of the most wheeze-inducing examples are below:
Why George Lucas was Lovecraftposted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:08 PM on February 3, 2022 [13 favorites]
Asimov's Influence on Influence
Why Conventions? An Open Letter
Debate: Cake or Hugos?
Why Are We Still Talking About Dune? A Panel About Dune.
Asimov and Heinlein: Live Swordfighting
The Cakes of Gor
Buffy: A Panel of Woman
Heinlein on Diversity
Harlan Ellison Has Cake: The Hugo Perspective
Quantum Mixtapes of Venus
George R R Martin Edits Live
I am glad the Dune panel has a subtitle. Otherwise I wouldn't have known what it was about.
posted by Quasirandom at 1:35 PM on February 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Quasirandom at 1:35 PM on February 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
Cake or Hugos?
Didn't Eddie Izzard do a bit about that?
(wow, do cakes really feature so heavily in actual Sci-Fi conventions?)
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:36 PM on February 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
Didn't Eddie Izzard do a bit about that?
(wow, do cakes really feature so heavily in actual Sci-Fi conventions?)
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:36 PM on February 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
Today's tech update: my Adobe Acrobat went out, had to get it reinstalled, got the guy to fix the action keys issue while I was at it. Huzzah, so the whole thing isn't quite as busted today. Though my boss is gonna get an earful tomorrow when I'm back in the office again, lemme tell ya.
posted by jenfullmoon at 4:49 PM on February 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 4:49 PM on February 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
George R R Martin Edits Live
I'll pay that one. :)
posted by Pouteria at 5:03 PM on February 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'll pay that one. :)
posted by Pouteria at 5:03 PM on February 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
Sold my hideous rug to an antimasker and can't decide if it's a moral victory or failure. I knew she was an antimasker ahead of time.
posted by HotToddy at 5:55 PM on February 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by HotToddy at 5:55 PM on February 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
Sold my hideous rug to an antimasker
You should have sold them an antimassacar.
posted by notoriety public at 6:17 PM on February 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
You should have sold them an antimassacar.
posted by notoriety public at 6:17 PM on February 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
After three weeks out of school due to illness and a resurgence of school avoidance, my youngest went to school for a few hours today! I finally have an empty house for a few blissful hours.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 8:09 PM on February 3, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 8:09 PM on February 3, 2022 [4 favorites]
That reminds me that someone could reprise Dejah420's 'Cake Vandal' question thread, which I consider to be possibly the most fun ask of all time — and I wouldn’t mind another look at the question where somebody who was trapped in an elevator in Puerto Rico managed to break into the thread using his kindle and asked for our help.
Oh and don’t forget the Meta started by that guy who was looking to buy a used car and ended up plaintively and yet indignantly asking 'what is all this?'
posted by jamjam at 8:50 PM on February 3, 2022
Oh and don’t forget the Meta started by that guy who was looking to buy a used car and ended up plaintively and yet indignantly asking 'what is all this?'
posted by jamjam at 8:50 PM on February 3, 2022
Sold my hideous rug to an antimasker
This would of course be rude and of poor ethics, but I'm given to wonder: what might be the smallpox blanket of COVID?
posted by rhizome at 9:01 PM on February 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
This would of course be rude and of poor ethics, but I'm given to wonder: what might be the smallpox blanket of COVID?
posted by rhizome at 9:01 PM on February 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
what might be the smallpox blanket of COVID?
A good username, for one thing...
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:19 PM on February 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
A good username, for one thing...
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:19 PM on February 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
I got into such an isolated, sad, desperate cauldron of filth over the last few months and have been paralyzed on the couch. When I talked to my mom on Sunday, after listening to me whimper for awhile she finally said, “what’s one easy thing you can do right now?” And then she held my hand - over the phone and from the opposite coast - while I pulled a garbage bag out of the box under the sink and put the delivery containers on the living room floor into it. Then we unloaded the dishwasher together, put the dirty dishes into it and started it.
There’s more to the story but the gist is that I finally got the supportive, loving, kick in the ass that I’ve needed for months and I’ve been flying with it.
posted by bendy at 11:37 PM on February 3, 2022 [24 favorites]
There’s more to the story but the gist is that I finally got the supportive, loving, kick in the ass that I’ve needed for months and I’ve been flying with it.
posted by bendy at 11:37 PM on February 3, 2022 [24 favorites]
i thought i was rly going to get it on the procrastination front but it turns out my antennas were attuned to some ~technical~ problems the vendor has been having so i'm exactly early for a work obligation deadline.
posted by cendawanita at 11:56 PM on February 3, 2022
posted by cendawanita at 11:56 PM on February 3, 2022
You know how there are books that are you’ve heard the names of, that are “universally-admired,” that have won Pulitzer prizes but that you’ve never gotten around to reading?
I grabbed a copy of “The Executioner’s Song” the other day and in the introduction it says something like “if you don’t know the story of Gary Gilmore, skip the rest of this intro because there are spoilers.” I swiped through the rest of the intro without reading it and dove into the book.
I can only read a few chapters at a time because this story is terrifying. I know this guy does some - probably many - unbeknownst to me horrible things and every time I turn a page I think it happens now. I’m figuratively scared to death.
posted by bendy at 2:34 AM on February 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
I grabbed a copy of “The Executioner’s Song” the other day and in the introduction it says something like “if you don’t know the story of Gary Gilmore, skip the rest of this intro because there are spoilers.” I swiped through the rest of the intro without reading it and dove into the book.
I can only read a few chapters at a time because this story is terrifying. I know this guy does some - probably many - unbeknownst to me horrible things and every time I turn a page I think it happens now. I’m figuratively scared to death.
posted by bendy at 2:34 AM on February 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
When your teenager comments on the state of the bathroom, you know you've gone a step too far towards a filth cauldron. I managed to clean the toilet and shower yesterday, so it's a start.
posted by mollweide at 4:05 AM on February 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by mollweide at 4:05 AM on February 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
> George R R Martin Edits Live
I'll pay that one. :)
Elsewhere on the list is something called "BSDM Fireball" and a friend of mine wants to combine these two because maybe the fireball would be sufficient motivation.
I know someone who would pay HUGE sums to see Asimov and Heinlen swordfighting.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:09 AM on February 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'll pay that one. :)
Elsewhere on the list is something called "BSDM Fireball" and a friend of mine wants to combine these two because maybe the fireball would be sufficient motivation.
I know someone who would pay HUGE sums to see Asimov and Heinlen swordfighting.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:09 AM on February 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
Just got the latest MetaFilter monthly podcast ep posted.
posted by cortex at 12:22 PM on February 4, 2022
posted by cortex at 12:22 PM on February 4, 2022
After nearly Three! Months! the transmission guy has rebuilt the transmission in my shitty old Ford Taurus (which is what I can afford thank you very much) and I will almost certainly be treating myself to the fun of a new battery since it has been sitting being 'regularly started' in his lot over the winter.
Since I'm out about $2500 for this I guess it needs to give me no major issues for about 18months to amortize vs what I'd otherwise be paying for a new car. I can't wait to carve 3 hours out of my icy slush filled dangerous-to-drive weekend to go wrap my hands around my terrible old car's steering wheel again.
I was 43 when I learned to drive and it has not been a wonderful experience since having to have a car.
posted by aesop at 12:40 PM on February 4, 2022
Since I'm out about $2500 for this I guess it needs to give me no major issues for about 18months to amortize vs what I'd otherwise be paying for a new car. I can't wait to carve 3 hours out of my icy slush filled dangerous-to-drive weekend to go wrap my hands around my terrible old car's steering wheel again.
I was 43 when I learned to drive and it has not been a wonderful experience since having to have a car.
posted by aesop at 12:40 PM on February 4, 2022
@rachelichtman: Sadly, this is all that remains of the light, comedic spin-off of The Prisoner.
posted by rhizome at 1:51 PM on February 4, 2022
posted by rhizome at 1:51 PM on February 4, 2022
I am pleased to report that ALL TECHNOLOGY IS WORKING RIGHT NOW. The in-office setup is working, I got a battery for the mouse, printers are installed, etc. (I did ask at work, "If X is leaving, can we use her docking station?" and got "but what about the next person?" and I said "you KNOW it's gonna take at least a year to get another one hired..." So, maybe.)
I admit that right now I have three more hours of work and I am more or less kinda out of stuff to do? I've cleared the docket of major stuff and the big project I was supposed to start today has been postponed due to Technical Difficulties, so I'm kind of down to the non-urgent dregs kinda stuff. I have one hour meeting with my boss, but otherwise...and here I am in person in the office for that :P
posted by jenfullmoon at 2:00 PM on February 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
I admit that right now I have three more hours of work and I am more or less kinda out of stuff to do? I've cleared the docket of major stuff and the big project I was supposed to start today has been postponed due to Technical Difficulties, so I'm kind of down to the non-urgent dregs kinda stuff. I have one hour meeting with my boss, but otherwise...and here I am in person in the office for that :P
posted by jenfullmoon at 2:00 PM on February 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
Just got the latest MetaFilter monthly podcast ep posted.
You said you were going to link all the threads together!
@rachelichtman: Sadly, this is all that remains of the light, comedic spin-off of The Prisoner.
Oh hey I just wrote a Wikipedia page for her.
posted by jessamyn at 2:00 PM on February 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
You said you were going to link all the threads together!
@rachelichtman: Sadly, this is all that remains of the light, comedic spin-off of The Prisoner.
Oh hey I just wrote a Wikipedia page for her.
posted by jessamyn at 2:00 PM on February 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
I have no idea what most of you are talking about but that's what I like about MetaFilter. If I'm curious enough, I'll find out. If not, that's okay too.
posted by a fish out of water at 7:28 PM on February 1
Eponstyrical
posted by theora55 at 2:58 PM on February 4, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by a fish out of water at 7:28 PM on February 1
Eponstyrical
posted by theora55 at 2:58 PM on February 4, 2022 [4 favorites]
You said you were going to link all the threads together!
I went back and did it! Possibly we disagree on terms! What's going on! Hi!
posted by cortex at 3:00 PM on February 4, 2022
I went back and did it! Possibly we disagree on terms! What's going on! Hi!
posted by cortex at 3:00 PM on February 4, 2022
HOW. ELSE. ARE. WE. SUPPOSED. TO. HEAR. EACH. OTHER. OVER. ALL. THE. SHOUTING?!
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 5:20 PM on February 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 5:20 PM on February 4, 2022 [2 favorites]
HOW. ELSE. ARE. WE. SUPPOSED. TO. HEAR. EACH. OTHER. OVER. ALL. THE. SHOUTING?!
OH OK THANKS
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:34 PM on February 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
OH OK THANKS
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:34 PM on February 4, 2022 [1 favorite]
Very pleased with all of the discussion of The Prisoner. I've been wanting to rewatch it with my friend. We've been watching The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1980s British sitcom) together by streaming the youtube videos through Watch2gether. So far we've watched 12 episodes in 18 months. .... BREAKING NEWS we're gonna watch one tonight.
posted by neuron at 7:14 PM on February 4, 2022
posted by neuron at 7:14 PM on February 4, 2022
I suddenly had a flash of insight! It's entirely trivial but here it comes...
In the Netherlands, we have oliebollen. They're a bit like donuts, but there is no hole in them.
The US has biscuits and gravy. We have pasteitjes met ragout. Like so. They are very similar, but the biscuits have no holes in them.
See? It all makes sense now. That's where the hole from the pasteitjes went! You folks just moved it from the biscuits to the donuts!
posted by Too-Ticky at 12:36 AM on February 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
In the Netherlands, we have oliebollen. They're a bit like donuts, but there is no hole in them.
The US has biscuits and gravy. We have pasteitjes met ragout. Like so. They are very similar, but the biscuits have no holes in them.
See? It all makes sense now. That's where the hole from the pasteitjes went! You folks just moved it from the biscuits to the donuts!
posted by Too-Ticky at 12:36 AM on February 5, 2022 [3 favorites]
elkevelvet: Does anyone cut their own hair, and do you have tips? I have a sharp pair of scissors and a beard trimmer, do I need a proper clipper set? Thanks.
I've done this with decent success. I wear my hair short but a little longer on top and in front.
I have proper clippers, and use them for the back and sides; to make this easier, I put my other hand on top of my head to cover the part I don't want clipped, so i can feel where to stop. I then switch to a shorter comb for the lowest inch in the neck and above the ears, to make for a more gradual edge.
The top of the head, I do with scissors. I put the hair between the fingers of my other hand, and cut it on top of my fingers.
As a final touch, I remove the comb from the clippers, to get rid of the actual neck hair.
You can use two mirrors to see the back of your own head, but I've also used a webcam and my laptop. And you should also try to do as much as possible by touch. It really helps if you pay attention to what you can feel.
I have no idea how suitable your beard trimmer is. Sorry.
posted by Too-Ticky at 1:16 AM on February 5, 2022
I've done this with decent success. I wear my hair short but a little longer on top and in front.
I have proper clippers, and use them for the back and sides; to make this easier, I put my other hand on top of my head to cover the part I don't want clipped, so i can feel where to stop. I then switch to a shorter comb for the lowest inch in the neck and above the ears, to make for a more gradual edge.
The top of the head, I do with scissors. I put the hair between the fingers of my other hand, and cut it on top of my fingers.
As a final touch, I remove the comb from the clippers, to get rid of the actual neck hair.
You can use two mirrors to see the back of your own head, but I've also used a webcam and my laptop. And you should also try to do as much as possible by touch. It really helps if you pay attention to what you can feel.
I have no idea how suitable your beard trimmer is. Sorry.
posted by Too-Ticky at 1:16 AM on February 5, 2022
We finally got enough snow to go sledding! Our kids have been wishing for it all winter. Just like last year some other kids got there first and built a ramp, so my kids had lots of fun with that (well, so did I). Even better this park's hill is kind of small for older kids but just right for us, so it's never too crowded.
posted by Tehhund at 4:26 PM on February 5, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by Tehhund at 4:26 PM on February 5, 2022 [5 favorites]
oh hey meant to share: mom really really liked jingle rock bell. like disproportionately.
posted by 20 year lurk at 9:31 PM on February 5, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by 20 year lurk at 9:31 PM on February 5, 2022 [4 favorites]
Do posts in https://projects.metafilter.com/ have to be web projects? Where can I put a recent painting? Is there any service you'd recommend to upload images?
posted by real-fern at 2:19 AM on February 6, 2022
posted by real-fern at 2:19 AM on February 6, 2022
real-fern: Where can I put a recent painting?
See if you would enjoy the MeFi Makers' Board! I'm enjoying it.
posted by Too-Ticky at 2:21 AM on February 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
See if you would enjoy the MeFi Makers' Board! I'm enjoying it.
posted by Too-Ticky at 2:21 AM on February 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm making batches of blondies for a social event in a couple of weeks. First batch was browned-butter with dried cherries, walnuts, and dark chocolate chips. Not sure what to do for the second batch. I have available: pecans, walnuts, dark chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, white chocolate, butterscotch chips, cranberries, raisins, crystallized ginger, unsweetened shredded coconut.
I was thinking butterscotch chips with pecans, but that seems just... sweet. Maybe sea salt on top?
posted by suelac at 10:20 AM on February 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
I was thinking butterscotch chips with pecans, but that seems just... sweet. Maybe sea salt on top?
posted by suelac at 10:20 AM on February 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
Folks, please check out The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window on Netflix. It is absurd and brilliant. I promise it's a comedy. (there is some child endangerment/violence in the last ep, so just fast forward through that part at the end if that's something you need -- I wish I had!) Then join us in Fanfare to talk about it!
posted by curious nu at 11:13 AM on February 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by curious nu at 11:13 AM on February 6, 2022 [1 favorite]
The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window
curious nu I just discovered this show last weekend and I loved the first 95% of it.
posted by bendy at 11:17 PM on February 6, 2022
curious nu I just discovered this show last weekend and I loved the first 95% of it.
posted by bendy at 11:17 PM on February 6, 2022
too-ticky your insight reminded me of a phase in my childhood when the phrase "die koning se oliebol!", proclaimed with pompous formality, was enough to keep us laughing and giggling for days. I'm not sure why.
(I'm Afrikaans. Our joke probably seems particularly awkward to a person who speaks Dutch)
posted by Zumbador at 12:57 AM on February 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
(I'm Afrikaans. Our joke probably seems particularly awkward to a person who speaks Dutch)
posted by Zumbador at 12:57 AM on February 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm very very gradually getting my food shopping habits under control, I think. I've tended to buy things by whim - I will ignore the contents of my fridge and the food that's already sitting there waiting to be used and buy "just one small pack of [blank]" because that's what I feel like having for dinner, and then the balance of that one small pack of [blank] joins the rest of what's lurking in the fridge and I end up not using it. (Ah, the woes of a single cook.) Fortunately, the bulk of what I have is shelf-stable stuff, or stuff that lasts for a while in the fridge, so...it's not that bad.
But I'm gradually starting to get smarter. I needed to cook some dried beans in the pantry to clear space, and that triggered ideas for about five other meals....all of which will use up other things in the fridge. I'm getting better about turning older things into either soup stock or something, and getting into the habit of cooking things so they can sit in the fridge and be reheated when I need them instead of faffing about after work. I'm getting into the habit of shopping my fridge and pantry first before heading to the grocery store, thankfully.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:07 AM on February 7, 2022 [3 favorites]
But I'm gradually starting to get smarter. I needed to cook some dried beans in the pantry to clear space, and that triggered ideas for about five other meals....all of which will use up other things in the fridge. I'm getting better about turning older things into either soup stock or something, and getting into the habit of cooking things so they can sit in the fridge and be reheated when I need them instead of faffing about after work. I'm getting into the habit of shopping my fridge and pantry first before heading to the grocery store, thankfully.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:07 AM on February 7, 2022 [3 favorites]
I made pasta last night, using my kid's recipe. Sliced shallots and then carmelized them. Threw in sliced garlic at the last minute. For the pasta: spread your dough around your workspace in a ring, crack your eggs in the center of the ring (1 egg per 80g of flour), stir the eggs with a fork, slowly incorporating the flour. Knead well, roll in a ball, let rest for 30 minutes, then roll out in a sheet, fold accordian-style, and then cut into fettuccini. Toss with the shallots and garlic. Salt/pepper to taste. Served it with roasted zucchini (rough cut, baking sheet, olive oil, salt, pepper, minced garlic, paprika). Finally cooking after all these years. My wife and kid went from "damn he never cooks" to "damn will he please get the fuck out of the kitchen now". I've cooked 6 out of the past 7 nights. Loving it.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 7:40 AM on February 7, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 7:40 AM on February 7, 2022 [3 favorites]
I made chili this weekend -- ground turkey for the meat, mix of navy and great northern for the beans. Ran out of cumin when I spiced it, as there was less than half a bottle left. (When in doubt, add more cumin to the chili. Trust me.)
It was even better the second night.
posted by Quasirandom at 8:08 AM on February 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
It was even better the second night.
posted by Quasirandom at 8:08 AM on February 7, 2022 [1 favorite]
Chili and soups are always better the 2nd night. Love eating it the first night and thinking "damn, leftover are going to be awesome".
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 8:55 AM on February 7, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 8:55 AM on February 7, 2022 [4 favorites]
« Older An unknown photographer's work comes to light... | “get up and try to do something” Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by cortex at 12:57 PM on February 1, 2022 [3 favorites]