Hi everybody!
To wrap up the year, we're doing second chances month. The idea here is that you can write either specifically about second chances OR you can write about any of the topics we've previously covered. Maybe pay special attention to the topics that we completely ignored, listed here for your convenience:
Contributors: You can interpret this any way you want, and you can write as many posts as you want (within reason, obviously, not like 200 posts over the course of the month, but I don't think any of us have that kind of time on our hands). When you write your post, make sure you tag it with the topic ("second chances" and, if necessary, the old topic you're writing about) and your name/blog identifier, so that if any potential readers like you and hate the rest of us, they can find your posts easily.
Everyone: I am scheduling this post a month in advance and have no idea whether I'll be able to create a poll between now and then or not. Stay tuned, I guess?!
Comment on this post or the topic ideas post if there's anything you'd like to see added to the poll. As far as I'm concerned, any topic is fair game, so suggest away!
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Saturday, November 2, 2013
November Topic!
Hi everybody!
I hope you can forgive me for the late post, it's been a very busy week/month.
It's NaNoWriMo this month, so let's make our topic creative writing.
Contributors: You can interpret this topics any way you want (but mainly the intent is to post some of your own creative writing, if it exists), and you can write as many posts as you want (within reason, obviously, not like 200 posts over the course of the month, but I don't think any of us have that kind of time on our hands). When you write your post, make sure you tag it with the topic and your name/blog identifier, so that if any potential readers like you and hate the rest of us, they can find your posts easily.
Everyone: We might as well do something creative in December again. Woo!
Comment on this post or the topic ideas post if there's anything you'd like to see added to the poll in September. As far as I'm concerned, any topic is fair game, so suggest away!
I hope you can forgive me for the late post, it's been a very busy week/month.
It's NaNoWriMo this month, so let's make our topic creative writing.
Contributors: You can interpret this topics any way you want (but mainly the intent is to post some of your own creative writing, if it exists), and you can write as many posts as you want (within reason, obviously, not like 200 posts over the course of the month, but I don't think any of us have that kind of time on our hands). When you write your post, make sure you tag it with the topic and your name/blog identifier, so that if any potential readers like you and hate the rest of us, they can find your posts easily.
Everyone: We might as well do something creative in December again. Woo!
Comment on this post or the topic ideas post if there's anything you'd like to see added to the poll in September. As far as I'm concerned, any topic is fair game, so suggest away!
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
October Topic!
Hi everybody!
The September poll closed with the following breakdown of votes:
Once again I'm going to just decide what we'll write about in that case. I'd like to save "reunions" for a few months from now, so this month, we'll have two topics: the sea and body mods. These don't have much in common besides the popularity of octopus tattoos.
Contributors: You can interpret these topics any way you want, and you can write as many posts about one, both, or none of them as you want (within reason, obviously, not like 200 posts over the course of the month, but I don't think any of us have that kind of time on our hands). When you write your post, make sure you tag it with the topic and your name/blog identifier, so that if any potential readers like you and hate the rest of us, they can find your posts easily.
Everyone: We might as well do something creative in November again. Woo!
Comment on this post or the topic ideas post if there's anything you'd like to see added to the poll in September. As far as I'm concerned, any topic is fair game, so suggest away!
The September poll closed with the following breakdown of votes:
- 0 votes: cacti, colours
- 1 vote: reunions, the sea, body mods
Once again I'm going to just decide what we'll write about in that case. I'd like to save "reunions" for a few months from now, so this month, we'll have two topics: the sea and body mods. These don't have much in common besides the popularity of octopus tattoos.
Contributors: You can interpret these topics any way you want, and you can write as many posts about one, both, or none of them as you want (within reason, obviously, not like 200 posts over the course of the month, but I don't think any of us have that kind of time on our hands). When you write your post, make sure you tag it with the topic and your name/blog identifier, so that if any potential readers like you and hate the rest of us, they can find your posts easily.
Everyone: We might as well do something creative in November again. Woo!
Comment on this post or the topic ideas post if there's anything you'd like to see added to the poll in September. As far as I'm concerned, any topic is fair game, so suggest away!
Monday, September 23, 2013
The World's End Discussion, Part 4
On September 8, Dave, Jeff, and Megan got together to talk about the latest Edgar Wright/Simon Pegg/Nick Frost venture, The World's End, based on some notes from Cat. (So far she hasn't given permission to publish those notes, so for now you'll have to reconstruct them for yourself based on our references to them and deductive reasoning.) This is the thrilling conclusion of that discussion.
Beware, though: absolutely no effort was made to avoid spoilers.
MR
Ok, so finally, the ending!
Dave
Loved it.
MR
I also loved it, except for the very very end where they show what Gary is doing.
What actually is he doing? Straight up murdering people? I didn't get that.
JK
Yeah, I agree with you Megan.
I loved that he had a sword though.
Dave
I loved that there wasn't a magic "win" button that made everything okay again.
MR
I agree. Like Peter and Oliver are still blanks in the end, they don't magically come back to themselves.
Dave
And the world is messed up.
JK
Did either of you wonder for a bit if Gary was simply high and was imagining the blue bloods? Then I was wondering if he had drugged all of his friends too and they were seeing it.
MR
I don't think I ever doubted that what they were seeing was real.
Dave
Yeah the movie becomes a whole lot darker if they are all mass murderers.
MR
Another side note: I looooooved the creepy lights coming out of the blanks' faces. omg so good.
JK
That made for some cool scenes.
Dave
Yep, great effect.
In the end Gary got his friends back. He gets his glory days back, but also finally gets to grow up as a person and move onto new things. And the ending also shows the duality of humanity. You have the bigoted assholes, and the compassionate folks who believe in equality.
MR
But he isn't with his friends, is he? And I'm not sure that killing bigots is ... a great route to take.
Everything about the ending worked for me except him.
Dave
Without the network, the blanks have the opportunity to become real humans. So Gary and his group are on a quest to make the world a better place.
Yeah it was a bit of a stretch.
JK
Did Gary move on to new things? Weren't those other four guys he was with the kids that they beat up at the beginning? If they were, then he was fitting himself into another group in a similar role.
Dave
No it was the young version of their crew.
Andy, Oliver, Peter, and Steve.
MR
I think it made sense that he would still not really be doing what everyone else is, in terms of survival, but to have him just wandering around killing dudes seems.. so weird.
Dave
Yeah it was a little heavy handed.
MR
It seems like a sort of wish fulfillment thing (does he tell the guidance counsellor at the beginning that he just wants to "have fun" or something? I can't remember exactly what he says), except that it's presented in a strange way.
Dave
I like that he is roaming around with his old crew, but the extreme violence aspect is a bit much.
JK
It seemed like they had to end off on some kind of explosive high note and Gary was the best one to do that. But yes, it did seem somewhat out of place.
MR
Like going in and trashing the place? I'd take that.
Even like burning it down or something, which would be more theatrical.
Dave
Well I guess they were expecting the audience to buy into the violent post apocalyptic world that we all know from so many other sources.
But it wasn't really set up in this film.
MR
He just didn't really seem like a killer to me, I think?
Dave
Yeah, it took a pretty big jump, expecting the audience to fill in the gaps.
JK
Yeah, he was there for a good time, not to slay people. Unless he considered that a good time.
Dave
Well if you look at the end as if it was set in Mad Max, then it makes more sense.
I am guessing they wanted the audience to make that sort of jump.
JK
Everyone else seemed to be trying to rebuild, but Gary was out there being wild.
Dave
It’s what Gary does.
MR
I suppose. It does have some cues to that effect, like these guys in the bar he goes into are like neoneo Nazis.
JK
He seemed to have found a purpose in life again.
Dave
Yeah, killing Nazis!
Always a good cause, haha.
JK
Woot!
MR
I dunno if you guys have seen X-Men First Class, but I 100% believe and am on board with Magneto Nazi Hunter at the beginning of that movie, but putting Gary in that position at the end of this movie didn't work.
Dave
I know Cat didn't like the musketeer moment, but I got a kick out of it.
They played with the musketeer motif throughout the movie, and I thought it worked well at the end.
You have the three survivors meeting up, very drunk, surviving the end of the world, crazy with adrenaline. I think it was natural that they would laugh about that!
JK
Did anyone catch how Gary said that the five musketeers works because if two die, you still have three? That is precisely what happened with Oliver and Peter.
MR
Apparently I missed everything musketeer-related in the movie because I have no clue what you're talking about.
I do sort of remember the five musketeers comment because of that old Albert the Fifth Musketeer cartoon.
Other ending thoughts? I think I already went into mine above.
I just really like having my expectations subverted.
I was really hoping that Oliver and Peter would come back to life (mostly because I just love Martin Freeman and can't separate actors from their roles very well), but I was so happy when they didn't.
Dave
Yeah I like that they defeated the aliens but that there was a heavy cost to pay. I like that the blanks got a chance to be real people.
MR
And I loved that their actions brought on the end of the world (as we know it).. that never happens.
Dave
I like that Sam and Steve shacked up, in a rather nice shack.
MR
I wanted to know how they scored that shack. It was super nice.
Dave
Built it, Steve was a home builder, remember. Started his own business.
MR
Yeah, I was just about to say that I remembered him in a hard hat at some point. But building a shack with your own hands is a bit different!
Dave
He would still have the knowledge.
MR
I also liked Oliver's ball head.
And the eyes on it.
JK
Reminded me a bit of Wilson from Castaway.
MR
Me too.
Any other overall thoughts on the movie? What would you rate it on the letter grade scale?
Dave
A for awesome. It had good cinematography, good effects, good acting, good story, and was overall really fun to watch.
JK
A- , I think. It didn't totally blow my mind apart like Shawshank Redemption or The Sixth Sense, but it made me think and I laughed a lot.
MR
I'll go with A-.. the weirdness at the end didn't put a good button on things for me, and like Jeff I didn't have my mind completely blown.. but while not as jam-packed with amazing as Hot Fuzz, everything in this was well done, I laughed multiple times.
I wonder if maybe I'm just not familiar enough with the whole body-snatcher genre and ended up missing some of the jokes?
Good show all around in any case!
Dave
Yep. Solid, enjoyable entertainment!
Beware, though: absolutely no effort was made to avoid spoilers.
MR
Ok, so finally, the ending!
Dave
Loved it.
MR
I also loved it, except for the very very end where they show what Gary is doing.
What actually is he doing? Straight up murdering people? I didn't get that.
JK
Yeah, I agree with you Megan.
I loved that he had a sword though.
Dave
I loved that there wasn't a magic "win" button that made everything okay again.
MR
I agree. Like Peter and Oliver are still blanks in the end, they don't magically come back to themselves.
Dave
And the world is messed up.
JK
Did either of you wonder for a bit if Gary was simply high and was imagining the blue bloods? Then I was wondering if he had drugged all of his friends too and they were seeing it.
MR
I don't think I ever doubted that what they were seeing was real.
Dave
Yeah the movie becomes a whole lot darker if they are all mass murderers.
MR
Another side note: I looooooved the creepy lights coming out of the blanks' faces. omg so good.
JK
That made for some cool scenes.
Dave
Yep, great effect.
In the end Gary got his friends back. He gets his glory days back, but also finally gets to grow up as a person and move onto new things. And the ending also shows the duality of humanity. You have the bigoted assholes, and the compassionate folks who believe in equality.
MR
But he isn't with his friends, is he? And I'm not sure that killing bigots is ... a great route to take.
Everything about the ending worked for me except him.
Dave
Without the network, the blanks have the opportunity to become real humans. So Gary and his group are on a quest to make the world a better place.
Yeah it was a bit of a stretch.
JK
Did Gary move on to new things? Weren't those other four guys he was with the kids that they beat up at the beginning? If they were, then he was fitting himself into another group in a similar role.
Dave
No it was the young version of their crew.
Andy, Oliver, Peter, and Steve.
MR
I think it made sense that he would still not really be doing what everyone else is, in terms of survival, but to have him just wandering around killing dudes seems.. so weird.
Dave
Yeah it was a little heavy handed.
MR
It seems like a sort of wish fulfillment thing (does he tell the guidance counsellor at the beginning that he just wants to "have fun" or something? I can't remember exactly what he says), except that it's presented in a strange way.
Dave
I like that he is roaming around with his old crew, but the extreme violence aspect is a bit much.
JK
It seemed like they had to end off on some kind of explosive high note and Gary was the best one to do that. But yes, it did seem somewhat out of place.
MR
Like going in and trashing the place? I'd take that.
Even like burning it down or something, which would be more theatrical.
Dave
Well I guess they were expecting the audience to buy into the violent post apocalyptic world that we all know from so many other sources.
But it wasn't really set up in this film.
MR
He just didn't really seem like a killer to me, I think?
Dave
Yeah, it took a pretty big jump, expecting the audience to fill in the gaps.
JK
Yeah, he was there for a good time, not to slay people. Unless he considered that a good time.
Dave
Well if you look at the end as if it was set in Mad Max, then it makes more sense.
I am guessing they wanted the audience to make that sort of jump.
JK
Everyone else seemed to be trying to rebuild, but Gary was out there being wild.
Dave
It’s what Gary does.
MR
I suppose. It does have some cues to that effect, like these guys in the bar he goes into are like neoneo Nazis.
JK
He seemed to have found a purpose in life again.
Dave
Yeah, killing Nazis!
Always a good cause, haha.
JK
Woot!
MR
I dunno if you guys have seen X-Men First Class, but I 100% believe and am on board with Magneto Nazi Hunter at the beginning of that movie, but putting Gary in that position at the end of this movie didn't work.
Dave
I know Cat didn't like the musketeer moment, but I got a kick out of it.
They played with the musketeer motif throughout the movie, and I thought it worked well at the end.
You have the three survivors meeting up, very drunk, surviving the end of the world, crazy with adrenaline. I think it was natural that they would laugh about that!
JK
Did anyone catch how Gary said that the five musketeers works because if two die, you still have three? That is precisely what happened with Oliver and Peter.
MR
Apparently I missed everything musketeer-related in the movie because I have no clue what you're talking about.
I do sort of remember the five musketeers comment because of that old Albert the Fifth Musketeer cartoon.
Other ending thoughts? I think I already went into mine above.
I just really like having my expectations subverted.
I was really hoping that Oliver and Peter would come back to life (mostly because I just love Martin Freeman and can't separate actors from their roles very well), but I was so happy when they didn't.
Dave
Yeah I like that they defeated the aliens but that there was a heavy cost to pay. I like that the blanks got a chance to be real people.
MR
And I loved that their actions brought on the end of the world (as we know it).. that never happens.
Dave
I like that Sam and Steve shacked up, in a rather nice shack.
MR
I wanted to know how they scored that shack. It was super nice.
Dave
Built it, Steve was a home builder, remember. Started his own business.
MR
Yeah, I was just about to say that I remembered him in a hard hat at some point. But building a shack with your own hands is a bit different!
Dave
He would still have the knowledge.
MR
I also liked Oliver's ball head.
And the eyes on it.
JK
Reminded me a bit of Wilson from Castaway.
MR
Me too.
Any other overall thoughts on the movie? What would you rate it on the letter grade scale?
Dave
A for awesome. It had good cinematography, good effects, good acting, good story, and was overall really fun to watch.
JK
A- , I think. It didn't totally blow my mind apart like Shawshank Redemption or The Sixth Sense, but it made me think and I laughed a lot.
MR
I'll go with A-.. the weirdness at the end didn't put a good button on things for me, and like Jeff I didn't have my mind completely blown.. but while not as jam-packed with amazing as Hot Fuzz, everything in this was well done, I laughed multiple times.
I wonder if maybe I'm just not familiar enough with the whole body-snatcher genre and ended up missing some of the jokes?
Good show all around in any case!
Dave
Yep. Solid, enjoyable entertainment!
Saturday, September 21, 2013
The World's End Discussion, Part 3
On September 8, Dave, Jeff, and Megan got together to talk about the latest Edgar Wright/Simon Pegg/Nick Frost venture, The World's End, based on some notes from Cat. (So far she hasn't given permission to publish those notes, so for now you'll have to reconstruct them for yourself based on our references to them and deductive reasoning.) This is the third part of that discussion. Keep your eyes peeled for Scott's cameo appearance.
Beware, though: absolutely no effort was made to avoid spoilers.
MR
Well let's jump over to the setting
JK
Sure!
MR
Creepy small town? A+
JK
Totally. I wonder if they are any places in Saskatchewan like that.
I thought it was interesting that the town was called Newton Haven. It sounded a lot like "New Haven," an idealized conformist utopia (that turns out to be a dystopia).
MR
I wanted to say it was called "Sleepy Hollow" cuz I couldn't remember the name of it but it certainly implied peacefulness.
MR
I love how this and Hot Fuzz completely lampoon the stereotype of the small town being somewhere where things are perfect.
JK
I liked how Newton Haven had "UK's First Traffic Circle." I wonder if this was intended to be one of the 'improvements' that the blanks had introduced (I wonder if there actually are any traffic circles in England). In the end, Sam actually makes a remark that the traffic circle confused her, an indication again that the 'improvements' introduced by the blanks aren't so great, aren't so 'human.'
MR
Hahaha I forgot that traffic circle joke.
Dave
Good observation Jeff.
I did like that line!
JK
Oh yeah, and Gary tells her to go right through it! Down with conformity!
MR
I have so much trouble figuring out the actual size of towns and stuff in movies.
Because here in SK, when I think small town, I think pop. 2000 people or less.
But the rest of the world is usually talking about somewhere with like 50 000 people in it or something.
SSB
I remember learning in elementary school that the population requirement to be a city was 5000, but in Ontario and stuff it's 75 000.
Dave
Serious!?
JK
Holy crap!
That’s huge!
There were definitely some small towns when I was in the UK, but Newton Haven did seem quite large, though not 'developed.'
MR
But the area that they're navigating to go to the different pubs looks fairly small.
JK
Yes, it does. The pub map does illustrate a rather small area.
Dave
Downtown core, with cottages all around.
JK
Actually, most UK towns/cities have a very small, olden-times feel in the downtown. Often called the 'old town ' e.g. Old Canterbury.
MR
Yeah, you're totally right about that, Jeff.
Actually it just occurred to me that this is sort of similar to the way that The X-Files treats rural America i.e. weird shit happens out there.
There aren't as many people around to see it.
JK
Totally true Megan!
MR
Let’s jump into the plot, though.
JK
Cool
MR
Cat thought the plot didn't go anywhere, but I think it just sort of got a little mired in fighting blanks.
I really liked the fight choreography, by the way.
JK
Even throughout all of the fighting, Gary still tried to satisfy his unfinished dream of all 12 pints.
MR
I know, I loved that.
Dave
I think it progressed and was important to telling Gary's story. Even in the face of the invasion, losing friends, and being in mortal danger of being "mulched" he still had to complete the Golden Mile.
JK
I loved how he got pissed off when that blank made him drop his beer!
MR
I think the thing that really encapsulated his character for me was when they get kicked out of the one place without being able to have a drink (because he’s banned for life) and he drinks the ones that people left outside on the patio.
Dave
It really shows how that challenge was all he had. And helped illustrate how his friends fit into his life.
MR
Yes!
JK
I loved that scene Megan!
JK
Is the Golden Mile the course of our lives? Our dreams and ambitions?
MR
The plot definitely wasn't, like, extremely complicated or anything, but I think it's better that it wasn't.
Dave
Yeah, I think it had its story to tell, and it did that effectively.
JK
True, a heavy plot probably would have obfuscated the theme of the movie.
MR
I'm going to reveal my criticism nerdiness right now, but Film Critic Hulk just wrote an excellent article not too long ago about how many blockbusters are way too complicated these days, which I generally agree with so much.
JK
I agree! Any of the latter instalments of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise is a prime example.
Dave
Yeah, it’s an alien invasion, in the end how much do all the motives and methods of the bad guys really matter to the everyman? They would have been mired down trying to tell that story too.
MR
In this case there could've stood to be more development of the characters besides Gary King, but his character arc (or lack thereof) alone makes the movie worth watching.
Dave
I think that some characters could have been developed more, but didn't really need to be.
MR
I think they might've been able to combine Oliver and Peter or something.
But then they couldn't've had Oliver turned into a blank and Peter get his revenge on his bully.
So maybe not
JK
I am glad that you wrote your article on Apocalypse and Armageddon Dave! Newton Haven was Armageddon and the Apocalypse was the revelation about what makes us human.
Sorry, getting ahead of myself again.
Dave
Haha thanks Jeff.
MR
I'm not good at finding plot holes, but did you see any?
JK
None were obvious to me.
Dave
I think the plot was pretty water tight.
JK
And it probably helped that they didn't have a convoluted plot either!
MR
The only thing I can think of is: do their families still live in the town? What’s going on with them?
JK
Do you mean their parents and siblings, Megan?
MR
Yes.
You'd just think that if they do still have family there, they would have visited them before now.
Dave
I think Oliver might have had parents in town, but since he was the first convert it makes sense that he wasn't worried about them.
And maybe they did, but you generally don't bring your five old friends along to visit your parents.
MR
No, I mean like haven't they been there in previous years to visit? This has been going on for a while.
Dave
Oh right...
MR
I actually don't think it's a big deal or anything, and you can probably explain it away... like they might have only been back for short visits and not noticed anything.
Dave
Yeah, they never really noticed anything until Gary pulled that first kid’s head off.
MR
Yeah, exactly.
JK
You’re right
Dave
So moot point, haha.
Tune in next time for the thrilling conclusion!
Beware, though: absolutely no effort was made to avoid spoilers.
MR
Well let's jump over to the setting
JK
Sure!
MR
Creepy small town? A+
JK
Totally. I wonder if they are any places in Saskatchewan like that.
I thought it was interesting that the town was called Newton Haven. It sounded a lot like "New Haven," an idealized conformist utopia (that turns out to be a dystopia).
MR
I wanted to say it was called "Sleepy Hollow" cuz I couldn't remember the name of it but it certainly implied peacefulness.
MR
I love how this and Hot Fuzz completely lampoon the stereotype of the small town being somewhere where things are perfect.
JK
I liked how Newton Haven had "UK's First Traffic Circle." I wonder if this was intended to be one of the 'improvements' that the blanks had introduced (I wonder if there actually are any traffic circles in England). In the end, Sam actually makes a remark that the traffic circle confused her, an indication again that the 'improvements' introduced by the blanks aren't so great, aren't so 'human.'
MR
Hahaha I forgot that traffic circle joke.
Dave
Good observation Jeff.
I did like that line!
JK
Oh yeah, and Gary tells her to go right through it! Down with conformity!
MR
I have so much trouble figuring out the actual size of towns and stuff in movies.
Because here in SK, when I think small town, I think pop. 2000 people or less.
But the rest of the world is usually talking about somewhere with like 50 000 people in it or something.
SSB
I remember learning in elementary school that the population requirement to be a city was 5000, but in Ontario and stuff it's 75 000.
Dave
Serious!?
JK
Holy crap!
That’s huge!
There were definitely some small towns when I was in the UK, but Newton Haven did seem quite large, though not 'developed.'
MR
But the area that they're navigating to go to the different pubs looks fairly small.
JK
Yes, it does. The pub map does illustrate a rather small area.
Dave
Downtown core, with cottages all around.
JK
Actually, most UK towns/cities have a very small, olden-times feel in the downtown. Often called the 'old town ' e.g. Old Canterbury.
MR
Yeah, you're totally right about that, Jeff.
Actually it just occurred to me that this is sort of similar to the way that The X-Files treats rural America i.e. weird shit happens out there.
There aren't as many people around to see it.
JK
Totally true Megan!
MR
Let’s jump into the plot, though.
JK
Cool
MR
Cat thought the plot didn't go anywhere, but I think it just sort of got a little mired in fighting blanks.
I really liked the fight choreography, by the way.
JK
Even throughout all of the fighting, Gary still tried to satisfy his unfinished dream of all 12 pints.
MR
I know, I loved that.
Dave
I think it progressed and was important to telling Gary's story. Even in the face of the invasion, losing friends, and being in mortal danger of being "mulched" he still had to complete the Golden Mile.
JK
I loved how he got pissed off when that blank made him drop his beer!
MR
I think the thing that really encapsulated his character for me was when they get kicked out of the one place without being able to have a drink (because he’s banned for life) and he drinks the ones that people left outside on the patio.
Dave
It really shows how that challenge was all he had. And helped illustrate how his friends fit into his life.
MR
Yes!
JK
I loved that scene Megan!
JK
Is the Golden Mile the course of our lives? Our dreams and ambitions?
MR
The plot definitely wasn't, like, extremely complicated or anything, but I think it's better that it wasn't.
Dave
Yeah, I think it had its story to tell, and it did that effectively.
JK
True, a heavy plot probably would have obfuscated the theme of the movie.
MR
I'm going to reveal my criticism nerdiness right now, but Film Critic Hulk just wrote an excellent article not too long ago about how many blockbusters are way too complicated these days, which I generally agree with so much.
JK
I agree! Any of the latter instalments of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise is a prime example.
Dave
Yeah, it’s an alien invasion, in the end how much do all the motives and methods of the bad guys really matter to the everyman? They would have been mired down trying to tell that story too.
MR
In this case there could've stood to be more development of the characters besides Gary King, but his character arc (or lack thereof) alone makes the movie worth watching.
Dave
I think that some characters could have been developed more, but didn't really need to be.
MR
I think they might've been able to combine Oliver and Peter or something.
But then they couldn't've had Oliver turned into a blank and Peter get his revenge on his bully.
So maybe not
JK
I am glad that you wrote your article on Apocalypse and Armageddon Dave! Newton Haven was Armageddon and the Apocalypse was the revelation about what makes us human.
Sorry, getting ahead of myself again.
Dave
Haha thanks Jeff.
MR
I'm not good at finding plot holes, but did you see any?
JK
None were obvious to me.
Dave
I think the plot was pretty water tight.
JK
And it probably helped that they didn't have a convoluted plot either!
MR
The only thing I can think of is: do their families still live in the town? What’s going on with them?
JK
Do you mean their parents and siblings, Megan?
MR
Yes.
You'd just think that if they do still have family there, they would have visited them before now.
Dave
I think Oliver might have had parents in town, but since he was the first convert it makes sense that he wasn't worried about them.
And maybe they did, but you generally don't bring your five old friends along to visit your parents.
MR
No, I mean like haven't they been there in previous years to visit? This has been going on for a while.
Dave
Oh right...
MR
I actually don't think it's a big deal or anything, and you can probably explain it away... like they might have only been back for short visits and not noticed anything.
Dave
Yeah, they never really noticed anything until Gary pulled that first kid’s head off.
MR
Yeah, exactly.
JK
You’re right
Dave
So moot point, haha.
Tune in next time for the thrilling conclusion!
Thursday, September 19, 2013
The World's End Discussion, Part 2
On September 8, Dave, Jeff, and Megan got together to talk about the latest Edgar Wright/Simon Pegg/Nick Frost venture, The World's End, based on some notes from Cat. (So far she hasn't given permission to publish those notes, so for now you'll have to reconstruct them for yourself based on our references to them and deductive reasoning.) This is the second part of that discussion.
Beware, though: absolutely no effort was made to avoid spoilers.
Dave
Characters?
MR
Yessir!
I thought that the Gary King characterization was awesome. They did such a great job of setting him up as someone who would take the trouble to still keep forging ahead and drinking pints in the face of killer robots.
Dave
Yeah, he was well done.
JK
He was certainly a layered character. Like duplex stainless steel.
MR
Someone who is just clinging to his glory days.
Dave
It's all he had.
JK
Interesting how one of the beers was called "Crowning Glory."
Dave
I think they had that at several of the pubs.
JK
I wonder if the character of the flavour of that beer was supposed to mirror the flavour of how they were reliving some of their memories and days together.
Dave
I think you are probably right.
MR
Haha, you guys both have way better memories for details than I do. I barely remember any of the characters' names.
JK
Peter, Andrew, Gary, ... crap can't remember the others.
MR
Oliver!
Dave
Oliver?
JK
Was he the one that chuckled at 'King Gay'?
MR
Oliver was the one with the birthmark.
JK
Oh yeah.
MR
Played by *fans self* Martin Freeman.
Dave
Right.
Then there was Peter, he was the King Gay chuckler.
And Steve the lover of Sam.
JK
Do you think there was some significance with how the 'blanks' were free from the blemishes of their injuries/aging (in reference to the birth mark)?
Perhaps since they were perfect, free of errors, that that made them inhuman, given the 'to err is human' thing.
Dave
Well on the surface it is because they are made from DNA, and aren't shaped by experience as real people are.
JK
Excellent point!
We are more than just our DNA... I love that insight Dave!
MR
I'm not sure about blanks being free from blemishes, but I do think there was some significance to the fact that the "blanks" were the robots, and the "empties" were the people who had been turned into robots, and that those words have very similar meanings.
MR
What did you guys think of Sam, the lone female character with a significant role?
JK
I liked her, I liked how she had matured but hadn't necessarily conformed.
MR
I think I agree with Cat that she wasn't terribly well-handled. She does get to do some ass-kicking and such but I didn't know much about her. In some ways she actually blends in with the "other guys" in terms of her actual personality. Maybe there were just too many characters in the ensemble?
Dave
Yeah she was a little underplayed, but again so were Oliver, Peter, and Steve.
Even Andy was close to minimal.
JK
I loved when his hand went through the door of that one pub!
But you are right, Andy didn't seem to be as developed as he could have been, given the fact that at the beginning Gary makes a point of mentioning their fraternal love.
MR
I thought Andy was quite well done, actually. He's a man who could have gone the same way as Gary, but instead turned his life around and became successful... except that we learn later in the movie that he actually isn't so successful.
JK
... Suggesting again that we're all fuckups...
Interesting point Megan.
Dave
I think all the characters were handled well, but that Gary was the true "main" character.
JK
On that note, Steve was a fuckup because he didn't act on his feeling toward Sam earlier. That was his great regret.
MR
Speaking of that, I wish we had gotten more of the two of them because I didn't really feel any connection to their love story, if you will.
Like, why did they care about each other?
Dave
You see how Sam has grown up from her party girl ways. Peter still has some issues with being bullied, Steve can finally stand up to Gary, etc.
JK
I was wondering if Sam also had regrets because of not capitalizing on the romance that never was.
MR
Ugh, this is why I wish that beginning bit hadn't been so rushed!
I didn't have enough connection to their younger selves to really see the progression.
JK
In fact, I don't think it even registered with me that Steve liked Sam in the old days.
Dave
I think she had regrets too, and you do see that. She tried to reciprocate to Steve when he first tells her, but he interrupts her to keep drunkenly talking. Then later in the dance club they almost have a moment before he gets pulled in by the crazy old man.
JK
Yeah, you're right.
I loved Basil!
And his 'crazy' straw.
Dave
It was fun seeing the Spaced cameos. I didn't see Daisy or Twist in there.
But there was Brian, Marsh, Tires.
When Peter confronts his bully, I thought for a minute that it was actually going to be the guy, and he would be beating up a human.
That would have been funny, but it would have been out of place.
MR
I love how he just runs off crazily after that scene.
Dave
Grabs the stick and keeps hitting him.
JK
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing about him possibly being human, Dave. Haha! I loved how he got his revenge!
Thinking back, Oliver was the one that most obviously was connected into modern technology, with his bluetooth device. Perhaps there is some commentary that modern social technology turns us into blanks. Just hazarding a wild ass guess.
Dave
Jeff I think there was definitely an undertone of that... and an overtone, as the network tells us that they have increased connectivity across the world. And at the end Andy talks about how life is simpler after the lights went out.
MR
You could be right, Jeff. I don't know when you guys noticed that Oliver had been turned into a blank, but I definitely didn't notice right away.
Dave
I had suspicions pretty quickly. He was too calm and happy.
MR
At least the characters took more time to notice than I did.
But it was also partly just that Oliver maybe had the most conformist personality?
JK
That's true. He didn't seem to have any regrets like the others did.
Any fuckups per se.
Dave
Yeah he just seemed very okay with everything, and was being a very good enabler for them all. And before he was the one they had to drag along.
Tune in next time for more thrilling discussion on... the setting and plot!
Beware, though: absolutely no effort was made to avoid spoilers.
Dave
Characters?
MR
Yessir!
I thought that the Gary King characterization was awesome. They did such a great job of setting him up as someone who would take the trouble to still keep forging ahead and drinking pints in the face of killer robots.
Dave
Yeah, he was well done.
JK
He was certainly a layered character. Like duplex stainless steel.
MR
Someone who is just clinging to his glory days.
Dave
It's all he had.
JK
Interesting how one of the beers was called "Crowning Glory."
Dave
I think they had that at several of the pubs.
JK
I wonder if the character of the flavour of that beer was supposed to mirror the flavour of how they were reliving some of their memories and days together.
Dave
I think you are probably right.
MR
Haha, you guys both have way better memories for details than I do. I barely remember any of the characters' names.
JK
Peter, Andrew, Gary, ... crap can't remember the others.
MR
Oliver!
Dave
Oliver?
JK
Was he the one that chuckled at 'King Gay'?
MR
Oliver was the one with the birthmark.
JK
Oh yeah.
MR
Played by *fans self* Martin Freeman.
Dave
Right.
Then there was Peter, he was the King Gay chuckler.
And Steve the lover of Sam.
JK
Do you think there was some significance with how the 'blanks' were free from the blemishes of their injuries/aging (in reference to the birth mark)?
Perhaps since they were perfect, free of errors, that that made them inhuman, given the 'to err is human' thing.
Dave
Well on the surface it is because they are made from DNA, and aren't shaped by experience as real people are.
JK
Excellent point!
We are more than just our DNA... I love that insight Dave!
MR
I'm not sure about blanks being free from blemishes, but I do think there was some significance to the fact that the "blanks" were the robots, and the "empties" were the people who had been turned into robots, and that those words have very similar meanings.
MR
What did you guys think of Sam, the lone female character with a significant role?
JK
I liked her, I liked how she had matured but hadn't necessarily conformed.
MR
I think I agree with Cat that she wasn't terribly well-handled. She does get to do some ass-kicking and such but I didn't know much about her. In some ways she actually blends in with the "other guys" in terms of her actual personality. Maybe there were just too many characters in the ensemble?
Dave
Yeah she was a little underplayed, but again so were Oliver, Peter, and Steve.
Even Andy was close to minimal.
JK
I loved when his hand went through the door of that one pub!
But you are right, Andy didn't seem to be as developed as he could have been, given the fact that at the beginning Gary makes a point of mentioning their fraternal love.
MR
I thought Andy was quite well done, actually. He's a man who could have gone the same way as Gary, but instead turned his life around and became successful... except that we learn later in the movie that he actually isn't so successful.
JK
... Suggesting again that we're all fuckups...
Interesting point Megan.
Dave
I think all the characters were handled well, but that Gary was the true "main" character.
JK
On that note, Steve was a fuckup because he didn't act on his feeling toward Sam earlier. That was his great regret.
MR
Speaking of that, I wish we had gotten more of the two of them because I didn't really feel any connection to their love story, if you will.
Like, why did they care about each other?
Dave
You see how Sam has grown up from her party girl ways. Peter still has some issues with being bullied, Steve can finally stand up to Gary, etc.
JK
I was wondering if Sam also had regrets because of not capitalizing on the romance that never was.
MR
Ugh, this is why I wish that beginning bit hadn't been so rushed!
I didn't have enough connection to their younger selves to really see the progression.
JK
In fact, I don't think it even registered with me that Steve liked Sam in the old days.
Dave
I think she had regrets too, and you do see that. She tried to reciprocate to Steve when he first tells her, but he interrupts her to keep drunkenly talking. Then later in the dance club they almost have a moment before he gets pulled in by the crazy old man.
JK
Yeah, you're right.
I loved Basil!
And his 'crazy' straw.
Dave
It was fun seeing the Spaced cameos. I didn't see Daisy or Twist in there.
But there was Brian, Marsh, Tires.
When Peter confronts his bully, I thought for a minute that it was actually going to be the guy, and he would be beating up a human.
That would have been funny, but it would have been out of place.
MR
I love how he just runs off crazily after that scene.
Dave
Grabs the stick and keeps hitting him.
JK
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing about him possibly being human, Dave. Haha! I loved how he got his revenge!
Thinking back, Oliver was the one that most obviously was connected into modern technology, with his bluetooth device. Perhaps there is some commentary that modern social technology turns us into blanks. Just hazarding a wild ass guess.
Dave
Jeff I think there was definitely an undertone of that... and an overtone, as the network tells us that they have increased connectivity across the world. And at the end Andy talks about how life is simpler after the lights went out.
MR
You could be right, Jeff. I don't know when you guys noticed that Oliver had been turned into a blank, but I definitely didn't notice right away.
Dave
I had suspicions pretty quickly. He was too calm and happy.
MR
At least the characters took more time to notice than I did.
But it was also partly just that Oliver maybe had the most conformist personality?
JK
That's true. He didn't seem to have any regrets like the others did.
Any fuckups per se.
Dave
Yeah he just seemed very okay with everything, and was being a very good enabler for them all. And before he was the one they had to drag along.
Tune in next time for more thrilling discussion on... the setting and plot!
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
The World's End Discussion, Part 1
On September 8, Dave, Jeff, and Megan got together to talk about the latest Edgar Wright/Simon Pegg/Nick Frost venture, The World's End, based on some notes from Cat. (So far she hasn't given permission to publish those notes, so for now you'll have to reconstruct them for yourself based on our references to them and deductive reasoning.) The discussion itself will be posted over the next few days.
Beware, though: absolutely no effort was made to avoid spoilers.
MR
Ok, so should we just jump right in?
First of all, have we all seen the movie, and what are everyone's basic opinions? E.g. did you enjoy it and so on?
JK
I had no idea what it was about going into it - I didn't see any trailers or read about it ahead of time. I was pleasantly surprised.
Dave
I saw the movie yesterday afternoon. I went by myself in between a wedding and a reception. I knew the basic premise, but stayed away from other spoilers. And I really liked it.
MR
I also went to see the movie alone between other stuff, a week or two ago or something. I really enjoyed it a lot.
Jeff, have you seen any of the other Wright/Pegg/Frost movies? Hot Fuzz or Shaun of the Dead? Or the TV show Spaced?
JK
I have seen all of them except Spaced.
Dave
Spaced is incredible. I watch the series once a year!
MR
I've only seen a few episodes of Spaced so far when my sister and I started watching it as a way to feel less angry after episodes of Breaking Bad. I don't think I'm really into it yet.
And I've seen the other two Cornetto movies. But I actually just rewatched Shaun of the Dead because I couldn't remember anything about it.
Dave
Well good to hear that we all had positive experiences with the movie!
JK
I overheard someone at work talking about some 'end of the world' movie that they thought was terrible - "they just hang out in the mall and talk; they do nothing at all to save the world." I was relieved that they must have been talking about something else.
Cornetto?
MR
"Cornetto Trilogy" is what they call the movies that Wright/Pegg/Frost make together, i.e. this one and Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. I don't exactly know why.
Dave
Oh, I did not know that name.
MR
I do know that apparently the Cornetto ice cream treat shows up in all three movies.
Dave
Ah yes, it does.
JK
Now I remember seeing the wrapper at the end of the movie.
Dave
And in Shaun of the Dead he buys an ice cream before slipping on some blood.
MR
Oh yeah!
Dave
And in Hot Fuzz they buy it from the shop and get a brain freeze.
MR
Ok, let’s just run through some of the points Cat made.
She found the pacing of movie a bit slow at the beginning.
Did you guys think so?
I actually found the initial montage of their first attempt to do the Golden Mile (was that what it was called?) a bit too fast.
I wasn't really clear on who the three “other guys” were, and it just flew by.
And then it does seem to slow down to actually get them back to the town.
JK
It did seem like a rushed backstory to me.
But that may have been in keeping with the spontaneous character of Gary King (that is, the way his mind works).
MR
I still couldn't figure out which guy was which for a long time.
Side note: casting of the young Nick Frost actor was right on.
Dave
I guess I agree that it was slow, but not in a detrimental way. At that point in the film it was telling a different story. It was about the old days and trying to relive them. I think it worked well with the story it was telling at that point.
MR
Yeah, I don't think I found the pacing a problem aside from the rushing at the very beginning.
Dave
Also I think the editing was well done. I know Edgar Wright has a very fast cut style, but his cuts always serve a purpose. During the intro there aren't a lot of reasons for these domesticated adults to have the jump cuts. The bit with the beer and water was a nice little touch.
MR
I loooved that.
Dave
And I think it would have lost its appeal, if there were jump cuts everywhere.
MR
Yeah, I wasn't ever bored or wishing to move on at any point.
Dave
No I rather enjoyed it, and think that it could have been an excellent movie if it continued without any of the invasion stuff.
I think they did a good job of portraying a group of old friends getting back together; playing on old jokes and stereotypes, while seeing how they have grown up and evolved (except Gary).
MR
Wow, I wouldn't have thought of that, but you're totally right. It obviously would've been a much different movie, and probably waaay darker. I also thought the depiction of the dynamics between old friends who don't see each other often was right on. But just that alone could have gone right through and been entertaining to watch. They actually do still manage to hit some of the same beats, but obviously it's set aside for the robot storyline. Although I really would have liked the three "other guys" to be more fleshed out.
JK
It's funny, I had a totally different encounter with a group of old friends last Labour Day weekend. I thought we would relive the glory days of high school but instead I realized that I didn't actually like most of them.
It was really weird to find out most of my oldest friends were fluff friends.
Dave
Jeff, I know what you mean. Not from a similar experience per se, but just looking back on my past and realizing that I don't quite have a group like that.
Never had a close core group of buds.
JK
I would consider our group of friends to be closer to the film's group dynamic compared to my high school friends.
Dave
Yes I agree, we all found each other at a later stage in life.
MR
Re: old friends, a lot of it is just growing apart. Your friends in school have a lot in common with you in terms of what you all do together all day, responsibilities, etc., but adults have such varying lives. Even people that you work every day with can have totally different things going on in their personal lives.
JK
Any thoughts on how the end of the world played into the 'aging' theme of the rest of the film?
Something to do with our fragility?
I liked the association between these two facets but I haven't been able to place my finger on exactly why.
MR
Ooh, I like that.
Dave
I didn't quite see it as our fragility but more of a conformity thing. Grow up, be the same as everyone else, there is no conflict in uniformity. And Gary is the complete opposite. And he is trying to break his friends out of that existence. You see it in the set pieces too, with the first few pubs being "Starbucked" to be the same, and generic.
JK
I totally agree with that - very insightful.
MR
But Gary's not really presented as being correct. One of my favourite things about the ending is the way it subverts a lot of the tropes of this type of story. Usually the humans would tell off the all-powerful beings, convince them we're singular, and then the all-powerful beings would leave and everyone would live happily ever after.
In this case, we get totally effed. I also like how the argument for why humans are special here boils down to "we're fuckups."
Dave
I really liked the ending
JK
I loved that!
Dave
A traditional happy ending would be less awesome.
JK
Yes, our 'human condition' is to err.
Dave
So... errr.
JK
By that logic, Gary was the most human of them all. Interesting.
MR
We shouldn't skip ahead to the ending too much yet, though!
Dave
Agreed.
JK
Indeed.
Tune in next time for more thrilling discussion on... characters!
Beware, though: absolutely no effort was made to avoid spoilers.
MR
Ok, so should we just jump right in?
First of all, have we all seen the movie, and what are everyone's basic opinions? E.g. did you enjoy it and so on?
JK
I had no idea what it was about going into it - I didn't see any trailers or read about it ahead of time. I was pleasantly surprised.
Dave
I saw the movie yesterday afternoon. I went by myself in between a wedding and a reception. I knew the basic premise, but stayed away from other spoilers. And I really liked it.
MR
I also went to see the movie alone between other stuff, a week or two ago or something. I really enjoyed it a lot.
Jeff, have you seen any of the other Wright/Pegg/Frost movies? Hot Fuzz or Shaun of the Dead? Or the TV show Spaced?
JK
I have seen all of them except Spaced.
Dave
Spaced is incredible. I watch the series once a year!
MR
I've only seen a few episodes of Spaced so far when my sister and I started watching it as a way to feel less angry after episodes of Breaking Bad. I don't think I'm really into it yet.
And I've seen the other two Cornetto movies. But I actually just rewatched Shaun of the Dead because I couldn't remember anything about it.
Dave
Well good to hear that we all had positive experiences with the movie!
JK
I overheard someone at work talking about some 'end of the world' movie that they thought was terrible - "they just hang out in the mall and talk; they do nothing at all to save the world." I was relieved that they must have been talking about something else.
Cornetto?
MR
"Cornetto Trilogy" is what they call the movies that Wright/Pegg/Frost make together, i.e. this one and Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. I don't exactly know why.
Dave
Oh, I did not know that name.
MR
I do know that apparently the Cornetto ice cream treat shows up in all three movies.
Dave
Ah yes, it does.
JK
Now I remember seeing the wrapper at the end of the movie.
Dave
And in Shaun of the Dead he buys an ice cream before slipping on some blood.
MR
Oh yeah!
Dave
And in Hot Fuzz they buy it from the shop and get a brain freeze.
MR
Ok, let’s just run through some of the points Cat made.
She found the pacing of movie a bit slow at the beginning.
Did you guys think so?
I actually found the initial montage of their first attempt to do the Golden Mile (was that what it was called?) a bit too fast.
I wasn't really clear on who the three “other guys” were, and it just flew by.
And then it does seem to slow down to actually get them back to the town.
JK
It did seem like a rushed backstory to me.
But that may have been in keeping with the spontaneous character of Gary King (that is, the way his mind works).
MR
I still couldn't figure out which guy was which for a long time.
Side note: casting of the young Nick Frost actor was right on.
Dave
I guess I agree that it was slow, but not in a detrimental way. At that point in the film it was telling a different story. It was about the old days and trying to relive them. I think it worked well with the story it was telling at that point.
MR
Yeah, I don't think I found the pacing a problem aside from the rushing at the very beginning.
Dave
Also I think the editing was well done. I know Edgar Wright has a very fast cut style, but his cuts always serve a purpose. During the intro there aren't a lot of reasons for these domesticated adults to have the jump cuts. The bit with the beer and water was a nice little touch.
MR
I loooved that.
Dave
And I think it would have lost its appeal, if there were jump cuts everywhere.
MR
Yeah, I wasn't ever bored or wishing to move on at any point.
Dave
No I rather enjoyed it, and think that it could have been an excellent movie if it continued without any of the invasion stuff.
I think they did a good job of portraying a group of old friends getting back together; playing on old jokes and stereotypes, while seeing how they have grown up and evolved (except Gary).
MR
Wow, I wouldn't have thought of that, but you're totally right. It obviously would've been a much different movie, and probably waaay darker. I also thought the depiction of the dynamics between old friends who don't see each other often was right on. But just that alone could have gone right through and been entertaining to watch. They actually do still manage to hit some of the same beats, but obviously it's set aside for the robot storyline. Although I really would have liked the three "other guys" to be more fleshed out.
JK
It's funny, I had a totally different encounter with a group of old friends last Labour Day weekend. I thought we would relive the glory days of high school but instead I realized that I didn't actually like most of them.
It was really weird to find out most of my oldest friends were fluff friends.
Dave
Jeff, I know what you mean. Not from a similar experience per se, but just looking back on my past and realizing that I don't quite have a group like that.
Never had a close core group of buds.
JK
I would consider our group of friends to be closer to the film's group dynamic compared to my high school friends.
Dave
Yes I agree, we all found each other at a later stage in life.
MR
Re: old friends, a lot of it is just growing apart. Your friends in school have a lot in common with you in terms of what you all do together all day, responsibilities, etc., but adults have such varying lives. Even people that you work every day with can have totally different things going on in their personal lives.
JK
Any thoughts on how the end of the world played into the 'aging' theme of the rest of the film?
Something to do with our fragility?
I liked the association between these two facets but I haven't been able to place my finger on exactly why.
MR
Ooh, I like that.
Dave
I didn't quite see it as our fragility but more of a conformity thing. Grow up, be the same as everyone else, there is no conflict in uniformity. And Gary is the complete opposite. And he is trying to break his friends out of that existence. You see it in the set pieces too, with the first few pubs being "Starbucked" to be the same, and generic.
JK
I totally agree with that - very insightful.
MR
But Gary's not really presented as being correct. One of my favourite things about the ending is the way it subverts a lot of the tropes of this type of story. Usually the humans would tell off the all-powerful beings, convince them we're singular, and then the all-powerful beings would leave and everyone would live happily ever after.
In this case, we get totally effed. I also like how the argument for why humans are special here boils down to "we're fuckups."
Dave
I really liked the ending
JK
I loved that!
Dave
A traditional happy ending would be less awesome.
JK
Yes, our 'human condition' is to err.
Dave
So... errr.
JK
By that logic, Gary was the most human of them all. Interesting.
MR
We shouldn't skip ahead to the ending too much yet, though!
Dave
Agreed.
JK
Indeed.
Tune in next time for more thrilling discussion on... characters!
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Apocalypse - The Misunderstood Cousin of Armageddon
I remember learning about the origins of the word Apocalypse years ago, and was recently reminded about it on a radio program on CBC 1. Apocalypse gets a bad wrap. It has garnered a bad reputation by being associated with much darker events.
The word apocalypse originates in Greek, with a literal translation of "to uncover" or "to reveal". So it begins its life as innocent, and even hopeful. To uncover facts and reveal truths, are inherent to learning about the world around us and expanding our knowledge. So far Apocalypse seems like a pretty awesome character. But, "to reveal" can also be called a revelation; and long ago someone wrote a book about revelation, and called it Revelation, and put it in the Bible.
This book of Revelation turned out to be a chronicle of the end of days. It describes the eternal battle between good and evil, Heaven and Hell, Judgement Day, The Seven Seals, The Four Horseman, the cleansing of the earth, and its inheritance by the chosen. Most of these themes are pretty dark, and have become associated with apocalypse, and the end of days.
So the moral of this story is that at its core apocalypse is an act of revelation, of uncovering new truths. And not all revelations are bad, I would argue that most are in fact good, and many are freaking awesome! So maybe the Apocalypse is something to be celebrated, rather than feared. Unless it's a zombie apocalypse... that would still suck.
PS - with a little further research, it turns out Armageddon gets a bit of a bad wrap too. Armageddon is a location where the final battle between Heaven and Hell takes place. Totally not Armageddon's fault. Armageddon was just there, being a location, and then Heaven and Hell decided to duke it out on the front lawn. Now Armageddon also gets to be associated with the end of days.
The word apocalypse originates in Greek, with a literal translation of "to uncover" or "to reveal". So it begins its life as innocent, and even hopeful. To uncover facts and reveal truths, are inherent to learning about the world around us and expanding our knowledge. So far Apocalypse seems like a pretty awesome character. But, "to reveal" can also be called a revelation; and long ago someone wrote a book about revelation, and called it Revelation, and put it in the Bible.
This book of Revelation turned out to be a chronicle of the end of days. It describes the eternal battle between good and evil, Heaven and Hell, Judgement Day, The Seven Seals, The Four Horseman, the cleansing of the earth, and its inheritance by the chosen. Most of these themes are pretty dark, and have become associated with apocalypse, and the end of days.
So the moral of this story is that at its core apocalypse is an act of revelation, of uncovering new truths. And not all revelations are bad, I would argue that most are in fact good, and many are freaking awesome! So maybe the Apocalypse is something to be celebrated, rather than feared. Unless it's a zombie apocalypse... that would still suck.
PS - with a little further research, it turns out Armageddon gets a bit of a bad wrap too. Armageddon is a location where the final battle between Heaven and Hell takes place. Totally not Armageddon's fault. Armageddon was just there, being a location, and then Heaven and Hell decided to duke it out on the front lawn. Now Armageddon also gets to be associated with the end of days.
Sunday, September 1, 2013
September Topic!
It's September!
As I mentioned last month, I didn't have the energy to create a new poll for this month's topic.
Instead, I'm just picking the topic for this month, which is... THE APOCALYPSE.
This topic is mainly inspired by the fact that we'll be getting together early in the month to review The World's End together, which will be posted on the blog. I haven't seen the movie yet and I know that it involves a pub crawl but not necessarily the literal end of the world, so the topic might be unrelated, but whatever.
Contributors: this topic any way you want, and you can write as many posts about it as you want (within reason, obviously, not like 200 posts over the course of the month, but I don't think any of us have that kind of time on our hands). When you write your post, make sure you tag it with the topic and your name/blog identifier, so that if any potential readers like you and hate the rest of us, they can find your posts easily.
Everyone: There is a poll in the sidebar (not visible on the mobile site) with new topic options, as well as an "Other" category in case none of the topics in that list appeal to you. You can vote until a minute before midnight Saskatchewan time on the 25th of this month. Whichever topic gets the most votes gets written about next month.
Comment on this post or the topic ideas post if there's anything you'd like to see added to the poll. As far as I'm concerned, any topic is fair game, so suggest away!
As I mentioned last month, I didn't have the energy to create a new poll for this month's topic.
Instead, I'm just picking the topic for this month, which is... THE APOCALYPSE.
This topic is mainly inspired by the fact that we'll be getting together early in the month to review The World's End together, which will be posted on the blog. I haven't seen the movie yet and I know that it involves a pub crawl but not necessarily the literal end of the world, so the topic might be unrelated, but whatever.
Contributors: this topic any way you want, and you can write as many posts about it as you want (within reason, obviously, not like 200 posts over the course of the month, but I don't think any of us have that kind of time on our hands). When you write your post, make sure you tag it with the topic and your name/blog identifier, so that if any potential readers like you and hate the rest of us, they can find your posts easily.
Everyone: There is a poll in the sidebar (not visible on the mobile site) with new topic options, as well as an "Other" category in case none of the topics in that list appeal to you. You can vote until a minute before midnight Saskatchewan time on the 25th of this month. Whichever topic gets the most votes gets written about next month.
Comment on this post or the topic ideas post if there's anything you'd like to see added to the poll. As far as I'm concerned, any topic is fair game, so suggest away!
Friday, August 30, 2013
Brothers and Sisters
While it would’ve been easy enough to write about my own siblings and how awesome I think they are, this summer I took a trip out to the west coast and thus am in the fairly uncommon position of having seen all of my dad’s siblings within a three month period, which got me thinking about some other things.
I find siblings (and I suppose more broadly, family dynamics) really interesting. It’s always cool to meet a friend’s brother or sister and find out that some of the things you find unique about your friend exist in a similar way in a stranger. Some mannerism or turn of phrase or cadence in their laughter, even the shape of their smile. Family resemblance is pretty cool, too, and picking out which parts of which parent made it into each child's appearance.
My dad has six siblings, meaning that there's a larger sample size in his family for this sort of observation than in most others currently kicking around the modern world (I'm looking at you, Quiverfull Movement *shudder*). Also they all get along, which seems to be rather rare.
So, here are some thoughts I had about my dad and his brothers and sister.
Only my auntie and my uncle #3 are under six feet tall as far as I know, but my dad is built the tallest and "broadest" of all of them (he is the oldest, by the way). My youngest uncle, #5, is also very tall, but has a slimmer frame than my dad's. Oddly enough, I think he's also the one who looks most like my dad, tending toward my grampa's looks. Uncle #5 just told me the most adorable story about how he told my dad that he was looking for driving music, and my dad suggested he try Ennio Morricone. Uncle #5 told Dad that he liked some of the stuff, and Dad sent him a burned CD of some more Ennio Morricone music for Christmas last year. And now apparently every time Uncle #5 listens to the CD he thinks of my dad. Awww.
Somehow, I just for the first time ever noticed a couple of weeks ago that Uncle #1 and Uncle #4 look a lot alike. Uncle #1 wears coke-bottle strength glasses and Uncle #4 has very curly hair, so maybe those things concealed the likeness for a long time.
Uncle #1, #4, and #5 tend toward my grama's appearance, but Uncle #3 looks just like her. Uncle #2 has the most unique facial features.
My dad has worked in the sheet metal trade for basically his entire life, though not "on the tools" so much anymore (the fraction of it that he spent doing other things like being a baby and going to school is getting ever more insignificant). Uncles #4 and #5 are both working in that trade now, too. Uncles #2 and #3 are white collar, Uncle #1 and my Auntie are farm types.
The posture in my dad's family is out of this world. Not a single one of them slouches. Everyone has very dark brown hair, except my auntie, whose hair is more medium brown. My dad is the last one of them with a permanent moustache, although Uncle #2 tends to flirt with various facial hair configurations at various times.
When I drove out to BC this summer, my dad insisted on checking out the fluids in my car and the pressure in my tires to make sure everything was ok for the drive. In BC, before I left to come home, Uncle #5 basically insisted on doing the same thing.
The younger three uncles are the ones who live far away, everybody else lives in Saskatchewan.
I suspect most of this is largely irrelevant and uninteresting to most readers. But if you've never thought of doing it, I strongly urge you to observe a set of siblings with an eye to their similarities and where those might come from (and the differences, too).
I find siblings (and I suppose more broadly, family dynamics) really interesting. It’s always cool to meet a friend’s brother or sister and find out that some of the things you find unique about your friend exist in a similar way in a stranger. Some mannerism or turn of phrase or cadence in their laughter, even the shape of their smile. Family resemblance is pretty cool, too, and picking out which parts of which parent made it into each child's appearance.
My dad has six siblings, meaning that there's a larger sample size in his family for this sort of observation than in most others currently kicking around the modern world (I'm looking at you, Quiverfull Movement *shudder*). Also they all get along, which seems to be rather rare.
So, here are some thoughts I had about my dad and his brothers and sister.
Only my auntie and my uncle #3 are under six feet tall as far as I know, but my dad is built the tallest and "broadest" of all of them (he is the oldest, by the way). My youngest uncle, #5, is also very tall, but has a slimmer frame than my dad's. Oddly enough, I think he's also the one who looks most like my dad, tending toward my grampa's looks. Uncle #5 just told me the most adorable story about how he told my dad that he was looking for driving music, and my dad suggested he try Ennio Morricone. Uncle #5 told Dad that he liked some of the stuff, and Dad sent him a burned CD of some more Ennio Morricone music for Christmas last year. And now apparently every time Uncle #5 listens to the CD he thinks of my dad. Awww.
Somehow, I just for the first time ever noticed a couple of weeks ago that Uncle #1 and Uncle #4 look a lot alike. Uncle #1 wears coke-bottle strength glasses and Uncle #4 has very curly hair, so maybe those things concealed the likeness for a long time.
Uncle #1, #4, and #5 tend toward my grama's appearance, but Uncle #3 looks just like her. Uncle #2 has the most unique facial features.
My dad has worked in the sheet metal trade for basically his entire life, though not "on the tools" so much anymore (the fraction of it that he spent doing other things like being a baby and going to school is getting ever more insignificant). Uncles #4 and #5 are both working in that trade now, too. Uncles #2 and #3 are white collar, Uncle #1 and my Auntie are farm types.
The posture in my dad's family is out of this world. Not a single one of them slouches. Everyone has very dark brown hair, except my auntie, whose hair is more medium brown. My dad is the last one of them with a permanent moustache, although Uncle #2 tends to flirt with various facial hair configurations at various times.
When I drove out to BC this summer, my dad insisted on checking out the fluids in my car and the pressure in my tires to make sure everything was ok for the drive. In BC, before I left to come home, Uncle #5 basically insisted on doing the same thing.
The younger three uncles are the ones who live far away, everybody else lives in Saskatchewan.
I suspect most of this is largely irrelevant and uninteresting to most readers. But if you've never thought of doing it, I strongly urge you to observe a set of siblings with an eye to their similarities and where those might come from (and the differences, too).
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Pippa Middleton's Fashion Choices
Monarchy, hey? Weird stuff.
Over the weekend, I heard a presentation that referred to this sketch by Hari Kondabolu about diamonds and the Queen of England, and I thought I should share it:
Over the weekend, I heard a presentation that referred to this sketch by Hari Kondabolu about diamonds and the Queen of England, and I thought I should share it:
Thursday, August 1, 2013
August Topic!
Hi everybody!
The July poll closed with the following breakdown of votes:
Last time we had a tie, I made an executive decision. This time, I'm feeling more like a maverick, so we're going to write about all three topics that got votes: monarchy, travel, and siblings.
Contributors: You can interpret these topics any way you want, and you can write as many posts about one, two, all, or none of them as you want (within reason, obviously, not like 200 posts over the course of the month, but I don't think any of us have that kind of time on our hands). When you write your post, make sure you tag it with the topic and your name/blog identifier, so that if any potential readers like you and hate the rest of us, they can find your posts easily.
Everyone: I'm too lazy to create a poll for the sidebar this month (not visible on the mobile site), so we'll have to do something creative in September.
Comment on this post or the topic ideas post if there's anything you'd like to see added to the poll in September. As far as I'm concerned, any topic is fair game, so suggest away!
The July poll closed with the following breakdown of votes:
- 0 votes: writing, colours
- 1 vote: monarchy
- 2 votes: travel, siblings
Last time we had a tie, I made an executive decision. This time, I'm feeling more like a maverick, so we're going to write about all three topics that got votes: monarchy, travel, and siblings.
Contributors: You can interpret these topics any way you want, and you can write as many posts about one, two, all, or none of them as you want (within reason, obviously, not like 200 posts over the course of the month, but I don't think any of us have that kind of time on our hands). When you write your post, make sure you tag it with the topic and your name/blog identifier, so that if any potential readers like you and hate the rest of us, they can find your posts easily.
Everyone: I'm too lazy to create a poll for the sidebar this month (not visible on the mobile site), so we'll have to do something creative in September.
Comment on this post or the topic ideas post if there's anything you'd like to see added to the poll in September. As far as I'm concerned, any topic is fair game, so suggest away!
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Counting
Remember planking?
And owling?
Well, reading the topic for this month's posts made me think of Sesame Street, and then I realized the potential for counting (lesser known and more unwieldy name - Draculaing).
Now that's a photo trend I can really get behind. It would probably work best with photobombing, but in the background, instead of smiling or what-have-you, you'd be counting. Preferably with imposing eyebrows.
Monday, July 1, 2013
July Topic!
Happy Canada Day everybody!
The June poll closed with the following breakdown of votes:
- 0 votes: colours
- 1 vote: writing, travel, siblings
- 2 votes: counting
So the topic for this month is counting.
Contributors: You can interpret this topic any way you want, and you can write as many posts about it as you want (within reason, obviously, not like 200 posts over the course of the month, but I don't think any of us have that kind of time on our hands). When you write your post, make sure you tag it with the topic and your name/blog identifier, so that if any potential readers like you and hate the rest of us, they can find your posts easily.
Everyone: There is a poll in the sidebar (not visible on the mobile site) with new topic options, as well as an "Other" category in case none of the topics in that list appeal to you. You can vote until noon Saskatchewan time on the 25th of this month. Whichever topic gets the most votes gets written about next month.
The topics have been shuffled in with old ones that were kicked out over the course of the last year, and there will only be five per poll from now on. Comment on this post or the topic ideas post if there's anything you'd like to see added to the poll in August. As far as I'm concerned, any topic is fair game, so suggest away!
Monday, June 24, 2013
What's in your lunch box?
Very quickly, because my lunch break is almost over: what do you eat for lunch?
One of the perks of work in The North (or at a camp, anyway), is that you don't really have to worry about feeding yourself, except for overeating (or, if you have any sort of alternative dietary needs, you just have your baseline worries). I have hated packing lunches forever, and now that I'm out on my own again, but working out of town with no hope of buying anything, I've been really struggling getting back into the whole bagged lunch thing.
Last week I had a bit of a brainwave and realized that the best way to deal with my current schedule, with a chance of actually dragging my increasingly out-of-shape self to the pool after work occasionally, would be to distribute food throughout the day so that I'm not starving to death when I head home. So this week I'm trying to figure that out.
Today I packed:
I've eaten most of that so far, with half the bagel saved to eat at afternoon break, and the granola bar for my drive home. It doesn't seem to be quite enough food, but I don't feel as starved as usual, so I think that's a good sign.
Leftovers are no good because I have some strange aversion to hot lunches. Lunch is easily my least favourite meal of the day, although I do have one very fond memory of a sandwich mixte (ham, emmental, and butter on a baguette) eaten at a sidewalk cafe by the water in Nice a few years ago.
In short, lunch is my least favourite meal of the day and I am really inept when it comes to feeding myself.
And my lunch break has been over for a little while now, so this post is, too.
One of the perks of work in The North (or at a camp, anyway), is that you don't really have to worry about feeding yourself, except for overeating (or, if you have any sort of alternative dietary needs, you just have your baseline worries). I have hated packing lunches forever, and now that I'm out on my own again, but working out of town with no hope of buying anything, I've been really struggling getting back into the whole bagged lunch thing.
Last week I had a bit of a brainwave and realized that the best way to deal with my current schedule, with a chance of actually dragging my increasingly out-of-shape self to the pool after work occasionally, would be to distribute food throughout the day so that I'm not starving to death when I head home. So this week I'm trying to figure that out.
Today I packed:
- a sesame seed bagel
- strawberry flavoured light cream cheese
- a banana
- an apple
- cheese and crackers
- plain Greek yogurt (accidentally bought this instead of vanilla, but it's not as inedible as the last plain yogurt I bought, so maybe I'll get into this) with fresh raspberries
- a granola bar
I've eaten most of that so far, with half the bagel saved to eat at afternoon break, and the granola bar for my drive home. It doesn't seem to be quite enough food, but I don't feel as starved as usual, so I think that's a good sign.
Leftovers are no good because I have some strange aversion to hot lunches. Lunch is easily my least favourite meal of the day, although I do have one very fond memory of a sandwich mixte (ham, emmental, and butter on a baguette) eaten at a sidewalk cafe by the water in Nice a few years ago.
In short, lunch is my least favourite meal of the day and I am really inept when it comes to feeding myself.
And my lunch break has been over for a little while now, so this post is, too.
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Sicilian Pizza
For the longest time, I have been the “pizza guy” in my family. By this I mean the guy who makes the pizza. When I was really young my mom did it. Eventually I started helping her, and learning how. And even more eventually I took it over completely. Everyone agreed that I make awesome pizza. Perhaps this is true, or perhaps it was a good way to keep me making pizza, so they didn’t have to, haha. It is from a kit after all.
I use these Kraft pizza kits from the store. The kit provides ingredients for dough, sauce
and spice. Then you still need to make
the dough, and add your toppings and cheese of choice. It is pretty easy, and takes about an
hour. It yields a good result.
For the longest time I wanted to tinker with making the
dough from scratch, but for whatever reasons I never got around to it, until
recently. My brother and his fiancé have
introduced me to Sicilian Pizza! This is
a great way of having pizza. It is still
recognizable as a pizza but is different in a lot of ways that are great for
changing up your pizza experience.
First off the dough is hand made, which is a nice
touch. Then instead of a tomato sauce
you use olive oil to lightly coat the dough.
Then you add your toppings, which usually include more interesting deli
meats than your standard pepperoni or ham.
It is also a good idea to use some different cheese like swiss, or Havarti,
or something smoked. Then add some
tomato’s and basil, salt and pepper, and any other little flairs you would
like.
Then comes my favorite part.
Take the whole concoction and put it on a pizza stone, and put that on
the barbeque. A pizza stone is a flat
round stone, that is used to cook pizzas.
It is great for summer cooking as you can use the barbeque, and keep the
heat out of the kitchen. The pizza is
ready when the crust gets crispy.
Once you remove it from the barbeque, you have a light, thin
crust pizza covered in delicious and non-traditional toppings. And it tastes fantastic! I highly recommend this method to anyone who
is tired of the same old pizza. It is
also a great meal for hosting an event.
Everyone can help in different ways as you prepare and cook the pizzas. Add some cocktails to the mix, and it is the
start of a great evening with family/friends.
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Year Two Idea
While I do still plan on writing a post about food, I wanted to put an idea out there too.
Since we have reached the one year mark did we want to try something new? I was thinking it might be fun to try a podcast. I know you might be thinking that we are no where near fancy enough for that. But, a podcast is really just a group of people (usually friends) having a conversation, and sharing it with the internet. I think it could be fun to try, and it might be a good way for us to actually all participate. We would have to get together and chat for an hour or so once a month. That could lead to us discussing things that have been written in the blog, or inspire us to write new things. And I am sure there is available technology to help us do this without actually all being in the same room.
Anywho, just an idea. Let me know what you think.
Since we have reached the one year mark did we want to try something new? I was thinking it might be fun to try a podcast. I know you might be thinking that we are no where near fancy enough for that. But, a podcast is really just a group of people (usually friends) having a conversation, and sharing it with the internet. I think it could be fun to try, and it might be a good way for us to actually all participate. We would have to get together and chat for an hour or so once a month. That could lead to us discussing things that have been written in the blog, or inspire us to write new things. And I am sure there is available technology to help us do this without actually all being in the same room.
Anywho, just an idea. Let me know what you think.
Saturday, June 1, 2013
June Topic! and Happy Birthday to us!
Hi everybody!
Socializing Engineers is officially one year old! And although it's occasionally neglected, everyone seems interested in keeping the project going into another year. We've discussed a bit behind the scenes and should have some interesting stuff coming up.
However, since no one was proactive enough to notice the anniversary of the blog approaching, June will just be a regular month where we write about a topic of everyone's choice.
The May poll closed with the following breakdown of votes:
I'm going to make an executive decision and say that the topic for this month is food. It seems more appropriate for a laid-back summer month, and I expect to see some recipes!
Contributors: You can interpret this topic any way you want, and you can write as many posts about it as you want (within reason, obviously, not like 200 posts over the course of the month, but I don't think any of us have that kind of time on our hands). When you write your post, make sure you tag it with the topic and your name/blog identifier, so that if any potential readers like you and hate the rest of us, they can find your posts easily.
Everyone: Blogger polls are kind of sucky, so I decided to try something new this month. You shouldn't notice any differences to your voting experience other than the fact that your vote will hopefully actually show up this month. Also, there is a new "Other" category that should allow you to suggest new topics within the poll itself. The poll is in the sidebar (not visible on the mobile site), and you can vote until the 25th of this month. Whichever topic gets the most votes gets written about next month.
The topics have been shuffled in with old ones that were kicked out over the course of the last year, and there will only be five per poll from now on. Comment on this post or the topic ideas post if there's anything you'd like to see added to the poll in July. As far as I'm concerned, any topic is fair game, so suggest away!
Socializing Engineers is officially one year old! And although it's occasionally neglected, everyone seems interested in keeping the project going into another year. We've discussed a bit behind the scenes and should have some interesting stuff coming up.
However, since no one was proactive enough to notice the anniversary of the blog approaching, June will just be a regular month where we write about a topic of everyone's choice.
The May poll closed with the following breakdown of votes:
- 0 votes: body mods, something you love, something you hate, character
- 1 vote: religion, food
I'm going to make an executive decision and say that the topic for this month is food. It seems more appropriate for a laid-back summer month, and I expect to see some recipes!
Contributors: You can interpret this topic any way you want, and you can write as many posts about it as you want (within reason, obviously, not like 200 posts over the course of the month, but I don't think any of us have that kind of time on our hands). When you write your post, make sure you tag it with the topic and your name/blog identifier, so that if any potential readers like you and hate the rest of us, they can find your posts easily.
Everyone: Blogger polls are kind of sucky, so I decided to try something new this month. You shouldn't notice any differences to your voting experience other than the fact that your vote will hopefully actually show up this month. Also, there is a new "Other" category that should allow you to suggest new topics within the poll itself. The poll is in the sidebar (not visible on the mobile site), and you can vote until the 25th of this month. Whichever topic gets the most votes gets written about next month.
The topics have been shuffled in with old ones that were kicked out over the course of the last year, and there will only be five per poll from now on. Comment on this post or the topic ideas post if there's anything you'd like to see added to the poll in July. As far as I'm concerned, any topic is fair game, so suggest away!
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Homemade Fashion
Replying to Cat's post got me thinking about another blog that I follow that's sort of fashion-related, which may only be interesting to me, except whatever, I'll share it with you guys anyway.
Cation Designs is a sewing blog by a lady in California who is super geeky and super good at sewing, as far as I'm concerned. She simultaneously makes me want to get better at it, and throw in the towel while I still have a chance. I originally saw her Superman dress, and have been following her blog ever since. She seems like a super cool person, posts sweet pictures of costumes and things, has an adorable cat, and occasionally writes serious posts like this interview with her mom.
And now I'll get back to work.
Cation Designs is a sewing blog by a lady in California who is super geeky and super good at sewing, as far as I'm concerned. She simultaneously makes me want to get better at it, and throw in the towel while I still have a chance. I originally saw her Superman dress, and have been following her blog ever since. She seems like a super cool person, posts sweet pictures of costumes and things, has an adorable cat, and occasionally writes serious posts like this interview with her mom.
And now I'll get back to work.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Uncrafty Solutions
I've spent the past few weeks thinking on and off about fashion - sometimes because of this blog, sometimes because of other reasons like seeing something pretty in a store window - and I keep coming back to this image.
I don't really have anything to say about it that hasn't already been said, and likely in a better way than I could put it, but I've been thinking about how hard it is to be an ethical consumer of fashion when on a pretty strict budget. And when craft-ally challenged, like me. (That one week I tried to learn how to knit, I hurt my hands more than I thought possible). The saying I remember hearing in engineering a good many times - that, of the three options of "cheap," "good," and "fast," you get to pick two - seems applicable here, though maybe with some changes.
When it comes to buying clothes, I mostly try to get things second-hand, but I admittedly have a weakness for online shopping and for H&M. Plus, places like American Apparel may manufacture clothes in the U.S., but their advertising leaves such a gross taste in my mouth that I don't really want to have anything to do with them. In short, it feels like there aren't many good options out there.
What do you folks think about fashion and ethics? What kinds of choices are important to you?
I don't really have anything to say about it that hasn't already been said, and likely in a better way than I could put it, but I've been thinking about how hard it is to be an ethical consumer of fashion when on a pretty strict budget. And when craft-ally challenged, like me. (That one week I tried to learn how to knit, I hurt my hands more than I thought possible). The saying I remember hearing in engineering a good many times - that, of the three options of "cheap," "good," and "fast," you get to pick two - seems applicable here, though maybe with some changes.
When it comes to buying clothes, I mostly try to get things second-hand, but I admittedly have a weakness for online shopping and for H&M. Plus, places like American Apparel may manufacture clothes in the U.S., but their advertising leaves such a gross taste in my mouth that I don't really want to have anything to do with them. In short, it feels like there aren't many good options out there.
What do you folks think about fashion and ethics? What kinds of choices are important to you?
Monday, May 20, 2013
The only thing I do fashionably is arrive late
I am, like, terrible at fashion. I can tell what's fashionable on other people, but God help me when it comes to dressing myself. I could write this post about all my insecurities when it comes to clothes and how much I'd prefer every single workplace to have its own uniform (also maybe my personal experiences with uniforms and individuality), but instead I'll tell you about the one and only fashion blog that I read.
À l’allure garçonnière is written by a person from Quebec City, and instead of being solely "look at this cute outfit I wore today," the writer actually delves into issues such as how fashion shapes culture and vice versa. The blog is updated infrequently at the moment, but I feel like I learn something valuable from each post.
À l’allure garçonnière is written by a person from Quebec City, and instead of being solely "look at this cute outfit I wore today," the writer actually delves into issues such as how fashion shapes culture and vice versa. The blog is updated infrequently at the moment, but I feel like I learn something valuable from each post.
Sunday, May 5, 2013
May Topic!
Hi everybody!
We didn't do too well with the coworkers topic (not to mention posting the new topic on time, oops), but it's onward and upward. So!
The April poll closed with the following breakdown of votes:
So the topic for this month is fashion, in a landslide!
Contributors: You can interpret this topic any way you want, and you can write as many posts about it as you want (within reason, obviously, not like 200 posts over the course of the month, but I don't think any of us have that kind of time on our hands). When you write your post, make sure you tag it with the topic and your name/blog identifier, so that if any potential readers like you and hate the rest of us, they can find your posts easily.
Everyone: There is a poll for the June topic in the sidebar, and you can vote until the last day of this month. Whichever topic gets the most votes gets written about next month.
Counting, cacti, and personal finance were kicked off of the poll this month. If you really want to see what we have to say about them, you'll have to suggest those topics again.
Comment on this post or the topic ideas post if there's anything you'd like to see added to the poll in June. As far as I'm concerned, any topic is fair game, so suggest away!
We didn't do too well with the coworkers topic (not to mention posting the new topic on time, oops), but it's onward and upward. So!
The April poll closed with the following breakdown of votes:
- 0 votes: counting, cacti, body mods, personal finance, religion, something you love, something you hate, food, character
- 1 vote: fashion
So the topic for this month is fashion, in a landslide!
Contributors: You can interpret this topic any way you want, and you can write as many posts about it as you want (within reason, obviously, not like 200 posts over the course of the month, but I don't think any of us have that kind of time on our hands). When you write your post, make sure you tag it with the topic and your name/blog identifier, so that if any potential readers like you and hate the rest of us, they can find your posts easily.
Everyone: There is a poll for the June topic in the sidebar, and you can vote until the last day of this month. Whichever topic gets the most votes gets written about next month.
Counting, cacti, and personal finance were kicked off of the poll this month. If you really want to see what we have to say about them, you'll have to suggest those topics again.
Comment on this post or the topic ideas post if there's anything you'd like to see added to the poll in June. As far as I'm concerned, any topic is fair game, so suggest away!
Monday, April 1, 2013
April Topic!
Hi everybody!
The March poll closed with the following breakdown of votes:
So the topic for this month is coworkers.
Contributors: You can interpret this topic any way you want, and you can write as many posts about it as you want (within reason, obviously, not like 200 posts over the course of the month, but I don't think any of us have that kind of time on our hands). When you write your post, make sure you tag it with the topic and your name/blog identifier, so that if any potential readers like you and hate the rest of us, they can find your posts easily.
Everyone: There is a poll for the May topic in the sidebar, and you can vote until the last day of this month. Whichever topic gets the most votes gets written about next month.
"The sea" got kicked off of the poll this month. If you really want to see what we have to say about it, you'll have to suggest that topic again.
Comment on this post or the topic ideas post if there's anything you'd like to see added to the poll in May. As far as I'm concerned, any topic is fair game, so suggest away!
The March poll closed with the following breakdown of votes:
- 0 votes: the sea, cacti, body mods, personal finance
- 1 vote: counting
- 2 votes: coworkers
So the topic for this month is coworkers.
Contributors: You can interpret this topic any way you want, and you can write as many posts about it as you want (within reason, obviously, not like 200 posts over the course of the month, but I don't think any of us have that kind of time on our hands). When you write your post, make sure you tag it with the topic and your name/blog identifier, so that if any potential readers like you and hate the rest of us, they can find your posts easily.
Everyone: There is a poll for the May topic in the sidebar, and you can vote until the last day of this month. Whichever topic gets the most votes gets written about next month.
"The sea" got kicked off of the poll this month. If you really want to see what we have to say about it, you'll have to suggest that topic again.
Comment on this post or the topic ideas post if there's anything you'd like to see added to the poll in May. As far as I'm concerned, any topic is fair game, so suggest away!
Saturday, March 30, 2013
It was the best of dates, it was the worst of dates
For a 26 year-old, I've been on comparatively few dates (maybe? sometimes this is hard to determine). For the purposes of this blog post, I'm defining date as a one-on-one outing that happens prior to the establishment of a serious/committed romantic relationship, because it's sometimes hard to determine what a date is, too. So, with my limited experience, I don't have any real horror stories along the lines of "he got way too drunk and then vomited on me when he leaned in for a kiss" or anything. But I do have a personal best and worst--excluding from consideration my most recent experience, because that wound is still very tender--and now I will tell you about them.
Best
I think the best dates combine chemistry with novelty or atmosphere to become fun and memorable.
I spent a lot of my first year of university with a giant crush on a boy who ultimately ended up rejecting me halfway through the year. I started my second year of university resigned to never speaking to him again, until we reconnected halfway through that year. He was the first male of the species that I met who was like me.
Both shy, and in my case having been burned before, we had to get a bit creative with our suggestions for hang out time, neither of us willing to initiate a conversation about what would turn out to be our mutual attraction. Anyway, imagine my luck when I had an English assignment that took me to the main library on campus, a place I previously hadn't visited except for internet access on my lunch breaks, but which he happened to be very familiar with!
So one way or another, we ended up meeting at the library. I arrived first and was so nervous that I almost ended up hiding and not speaking to him, except that somehow I managed to psych myself up to say hello after all (in case it's not clear yet, I was terrible at social interaction when I was 19).
Once we were talking I was glad I hadn't flaked out, but my heart was pounding the entire time that we spent wandering through the library, from the microfilm room to the place where they keep the books about Shakespeare. We teased each other, or at least I remember him teasing me. I was just generally thrilled to be surrounded by books, with the boy I liked much more than I was willing to admit yet, except to myself.
That date and a few others turned into a little spring romance and then disproportionate heartbreak. In spite of that, the time I spent with him, including our library excursion, holds pride of place in a few different categories of my past.
Worst
My worst date experience was one that I never should've agreed to in the first place, which was one of the elements that made it bad. I could've easily avoided it! I'll keep details to a minimum about the gentleman in question. He was a random dude that I had really awkward sexual tension with, but his personality put me off on the several occasions we'd been in group situations. The invitation was made under questionable circumstances, the venue was his choice (a bad one), and the conversation was lacklustre. I'm kind of a terrible conversationalist at the best of times, prone to getting distracted by anything in the vicinity that's moving, but I was in especially bad form that night, and strangely he made almost no effort to draw me out.
I spent the lead up to the date just dreading the experience, and for the only time in my life I arranged an excuse to leave early. Maybe predictably, this was much more of a learning experience for me than any date I actually enjoyed. In particular: if you really don't think you're interested in someone, don't go out with them. It's a waste of everyone's time.
He asked me out again and I turned him down, and eventually I think he gave up on me.
***
And now I can't help wondering whether these two dudes read this blog. Eep. My apologies to both of them, anyway.
Best
I think the best dates combine chemistry with novelty or atmosphere to become fun and memorable.
I spent a lot of my first year of university with a giant crush on a boy who ultimately ended up rejecting me halfway through the year. I started my second year of university resigned to never speaking to him again, until we reconnected halfway through that year. He was the first male of the species that I met who was like me.
Both shy, and in my case having been burned before, we had to get a bit creative with our suggestions for hang out time, neither of us willing to initiate a conversation about what would turn out to be our mutual attraction. Anyway, imagine my luck when I had an English assignment that took me to the main library on campus, a place I previously hadn't visited except for internet access on my lunch breaks, but which he happened to be very familiar with!
So one way or another, we ended up meeting at the library. I arrived first and was so nervous that I almost ended up hiding and not speaking to him, except that somehow I managed to psych myself up to say hello after all (in case it's not clear yet, I was terrible at social interaction when I was 19).
Once we were talking I was glad I hadn't flaked out, but my heart was pounding the entire time that we spent wandering through the library, from the microfilm room to the place where they keep the books about Shakespeare. We teased each other, or at least I remember him teasing me. I was just generally thrilled to be surrounded by books, with the boy I liked much more than I was willing to admit yet, except to myself.
That date and a few others turned into a little spring romance and then disproportionate heartbreak. In spite of that, the time I spent with him, including our library excursion, holds pride of place in a few different categories of my past.
Worst
My worst date experience was one that I never should've agreed to in the first place, which was one of the elements that made it bad. I could've easily avoided it! I'll keep details to a minimum about the gentleman in question. He was a random dude that I had really awkward sexual tension with, but his personality put me off on the several occasions we'd been in group situations. The invitation was made under questionable circumstances, the venue was his choice (a bad one), and the conversation was lacklustre. I'm kind of a terrible conversationalist at the best of times, prone to getting distracted by anything in the vicinity that's moving, but I was in especially bad form that night, and strangely he made almost no effort to draw me out.
I spent the lead up to the date just dreading the experience, and for the only time in my life I arranged an excuse to leave early. Maybe predictably, this was much more of a learning experience for me than any date I actually enjoyed. In particular: if you really don't think you're interested in someone, don't go out with them. It's a waste of everyone's time.
He asked me out again and I turned him down, and eventually I think he gave up on me.
***
And now I can't help wondering whether these two dudes read this blog. Eep. My apologies to both of them, anyway.
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Online Dating and "Things in Quotes"
Many people have told me that online dating could be a great solution for me. The logic is sound. I spend a lot of time away from home, and most of my free-time activities are not the greatest for meeting new, single people. So finding available, compatible people using the internet sounds great. I could do it on my own time, and I could skip the pickup stage.
As I said, the logic is sound. That, coupled with crushing loneliness (I exaggerate) has convinced me to try online dating on several different occasions. Actually the most recent time I tried it was due to sheer boredom. I was stuck at a site, away from home and almost all my days were standby. So what better to do than peruse matches. But that is a different story.
I have tried a few different sites, and tried at a few different times. All in all it has not been very successful for me. I have found that free sites are heavily geared towards random hookups, and seemed much shadier. After a while I decided to try a site with a paid membership. This site had an overall better experience, but I grew tired of it after a while for several reasons.
The site did help me get a few dates, and I met a few interesting women, but in the end I think we were just going through the motions. I know some people who have had great success on this site, and at least one couple who met through it, and are now married with a child. So I am not trying to say these sites don't work. I just don't think they work for me.
The basic method of the sites are that you fill out your profile, and lengthy questionnaire. Then computers use this information to discover your compatibility, and matches you to "compatible" people. All at once this process works too well, and not at all. When I say "not at all" I mean that the majority of my matches did not seem overly interesting to me. And when I say it "works too well" I mean that the majority of my matches were carbon copies of each other. If there weren't pictures I would swear there were 5 women out there with 500 profiles!
This made me a little jaded about the whole thing. It made me wonder if the general population is actually that bland, or if these women are just afraid to actually say something original. Based on all the profiles there are only about three books being published today. How can no one read anything outside those three books! Are they trying to fit into a mold, and say all the right things? I am sure the men do it too.
Maybe it's the reason I don't get a lot of responses. I talk about liking video games, and going to comic conventions, and reading science fiction, skiing in the mountains, and seeing live music. I try to show a bit of myself. But I find that most of my matches "like to travel" and "go for drinks with friends". And that's about it. I have even tried re-doing my personality profile, but to no avail. So with the abundance of generic profiles I find myself reverting to the basics of "hot or not", which isn't a good basis for a relationship.
My last gripe is that when you sign up you get a bunch of new matches, which is great. But then there is barely anything new coming in for the rest of your 3-month membership. Then as soon as your membership expires, you get loads and loads of new matches everyday. As well as "offers" to sign back up and "find happiness (TM)".
So to finish my little rant. The sites seem dishonest in their intentions. And most of the people seem dishonest about themselves; "I do the cool kids stuff, I read the cool kid books, I am a cool kid too". But you are all exactly the same. If I wanted Ms. Generic I probably wouldn't be single. So I have grown tired of the online dating scene, as it seems to have removed the human element. Everyone seems like a robot, with a human face (and not in a sexy Cylon sort of way).
As I said, the logic is sound. That, coupled with crushing loneliness (I exaggerate) has convinced me to try online dating on several different occasions. Actually the most recent time I tried it was due to sheer boredom. I was stuck at a site, away from home and almost all my days were standby. So what better to do than peruse matches. But that is a different story.
I have tried a few different sites, and tried at a few different times. All in all it has not been very successful for me. I have found that free sites are heavily geared towards random hookups, and seemed much shadier. After a while I decided to try a site with a paid membership. This site had an overall better experience, but I grew tired of it after a while for several reasons.
The site did help me get a few dates, and I met a few interesting women, but in the end I think we were just going through the motions. I know some people who have had great success on this site, and at least one couple who met through it, and are now married with a child. So I am not trying to say these sites don't work. I just don't think they work for me.
The basic method of the sites are that you fill out your profile, and lengthy questionnaire. Then computers use this information to discover your compatibility, and matches you to "compatible" people. All at once this process works too well, and not at all. When I say "not at all" I mean that the majority of my matches did not seem overly interesting to me. And when I say it "works too well" I mean that the majority of my matches were carbon copies of each other. If there weren't pictures I would swear there were 5 women out there with 500 profiles!
This made me a little jaded about the whole thing. It made me wonder if the general population is actually that bland, or if these women are just afraid to actually say something original. Based on all the profiles there are only about three books being published today. How can no one read anything outside those three books! Are they trying to fit into a mold, and say all the right things? I am sure the men do it too.
Maybe it's the reason I don't get a lot of responses. I talk about liking video games, and going to comic conventions, and reading science fiction, skiing in the mountains, and seeing live music. I try to show a bit of myself. But I find that most of my matches "like to travel" and "go for drinks with friends". And that's about it. I have even tried re-doing my personality profile, but to no avail. So with the abundance of generic profiles I find myself reverting to the basics of "hot or not", which isn't a good basis for a relationship.
My last gripe is that when you sign up you get a bunch of new matches, which is great. But then there is barely anything new coming in for the rest of your 3-month membership. Then as soon as your membership expires, you get loads and loads of new matches everyday. As well as "offers" to sign back up and "find happiness (TM)".
So to finish my little rant. The sites seem dishonest in their intentions. And most of the people seem dishonest about themselves; "I do the cool kids stuff, I read the cool kid books, I am a cool kid too". But you are all exactly the same. If I wanted Ms. Generic I probably wouldn't be single. So I have grown tired of the online dating scene, as it seems to have removed the human element. Everyone seems like a robot, with a human face (and not in a sexy Cylon sort of way).
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Dating Co-Workers
My job occupies a large amount of my time. Last year I spent roughly 50% of my time away from home for work purposes. When I am home, I spend time on my own, or with family and friends. And my group of friends is mostly a small, well knit group, without lots of new people to meet. And I am not the type to lurk in bars trying to meet people. So this pretty much narrows my dating pool to random encounters and co-workers.
Fortunately I work at a good place with lots of eligible bachelorettes. But unfortunately, I have never really grown comfortable with the idea of dating someone I work with. Even in my office there have been several successful office romances. But, I am still unsure about it for many reasons.
I think one reason is that I am a pretty private person. At work I have my more professional appearance. It is hard for my nerdy core to come out. Opening up to a potential romantic partner at work seems daunting enough. But if that partner is a co-worker then it seems like you are opening up to a whole lot more people, because relationships are what people talk about in an office (among other things).
Another reason is the possibility of it going horribly wrong. What if the relationship ended with a really bad breakup. You would still have to see that person all the time. You might not be able to keep your personal and professional feelings separate. What if it was bad enough that one person had to leave their job over it?
And perhaps a silly reason, is that there is too much choice! I feel like with office romances you kind of only have one shot at it. What if you pick the wrong person, and it doesn't work out? If you bugger it up, you can't just jump to the next person. This isn't Mad Men. I don't think the modern professional environment operates on that level. Or maybe it does and I am just oblivious to all the inter-office shenanigans.
Or maybe these reasons are just excuses for me to avoid taking a chance.
What does everyone else think? Is dating a co-worker something to go for, or avoid?
Fortunately I work at a good place with lots of eligible bachelorettes. But unfortunately, I have never really grown comfortable with the idea of dating someone I work with. Even in my office there have been several successful office romances. But, I am still unsure about it for many reasons.
I think one reason is that I am a pretty private person. At work I have my more professional appearance. It is hard for my nerdy core to come out. Opening up to a potential romantic partner at work seems daunting enough. But if that partner is a co-worker then it seems like you are opening up to a whole lot more people, because relationships are what people talk about in an office (among other things).
Another reason is the possibility of it going horribly wrong. What if the relationship ended with a really bad breakup. You would still have to see that person all the time. You might not be able to keep your personal and professional feelings separate. What if it was bad enough that one person had to leave their job over it?
And perhaps a silly reason, is that there is too much choice! I feel like with office romances you kind of only have one shot at it. What if you pick the wrong person, and it doesn't work out? If you bugger it up, you can't just jump to the next person. This isn't Mad Men. I don't think the modern professional environment operates on that level. Or maybe it does and I am just oblivious to all the inter-office shenanigans.
Or maybe these reasons are just excuses for me to avoid taking a chance.
What does everyone else think? Is dating a co-worker something to go for, or avoid?
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Dating Advice for Nerds
Hi again!
I've got another dating-related link I'd like to share this month: Dr. Nerdlove. It's a dating and relationship advice column written with an eye to advising specifically geeky/nerdy types (he tends to aim his advice towards dudes, for several reasons he goes into fairly often), so this kind of fits with the "socializing engineers" idea of th'blog. I can't say that I agree with everything that he writes, but I stumbled upon the site when he was getting a lot of publicity for talking about nerds and male privilege - and ever since then, I've rather enjoyed reading his column.
He's perceptive, compassionate, and engages the social issues at work in the dating world in a way that I think is pretty effective and non-shitty, rather than spouting the often scary/manipulative PUA kind of stuff that seems to ooze out of the internet. (He does, however, need a better copy editing process :/). Take a gander!
I've got another dating-related link I'd like to share this month: Dr. Nerdlove. It's a dating and relationship advice column written with an eye to advising specifically geeky/nerdy types (he tends to aim his advice towards dudes, for several reasons he goes into fairly often), so this kind of fits with the "socializing engineers" idea of th'blog. I can't say that I agree with everything that he writes, but I stumbled upon the site when he was getting a lot of publicity for talking about nerds and male privilege - and ever since then, I've rather enjoyed reading his column.
He's perceptive, compassionate, and engages the social issues at work in the dating world in a way that I think is pretty effective and non-shitty, rather than spouting the often scary/manipulative PUA kind of stuff that seems to ooze out of the internet. (He does, however, need a better copy editing process :/). Take a gander!
Saturday, March 2, 2013
OK Cupid Goldmine
Since this month's topic is Dating, I thought I'd share one of the most hilarious (and unsettling) blogs I've found recently: OK Cupid Goldmine.
Aside from the slightly sketchy posting of other people's dating profiles for judgment (something I'm not 100% comfy with), this site reveals how varied people can be, and how lots of people end up rambling on their dating profiles about things that may be better left until ...much later in the process. Let that be a lesson to ye?
Aside from the slightly sketchy posting of other people's dating profiles for judgment (something I'm not 100% comfy with), this site reveals how varied people can be, and how lots of people end up rambling on their dating profiles about things that may be better left until ...much later in the process. Let that be a lesson to ye?
Friday, March 1, 2013
March Topic!
Hi everybody!
The February poll closed with the following breakdown of votes:
So the topic for this month is dating.
Contributors: You can interpret this topic any way you want, and you can write as many posts about it as you want (within reason, obviously, not like 200 posts over the course of the month, but I don't think any of us have that kind of time on our hands). When you write your post, make sure you tag it with the topic and your name/blog identifier, so that if any potential readers like you and hate the rest of us, they can find your posts easily.
Everyone: There is a poll for the April topic in the sidebar, and you can vote until the last day of this month. Whichever topic gets the most votes gets written about next month.
Colours, bridges, and rainbows got kicked off of the poll this month. If you really want to see what we have to say about them, you'll have to suggest the topics again. Also, considering that we're down to only six topics to choose from, you should seriously consider suggesting something new this month. As far as I'm concerned, any topic is fair game, so suggest away!
Comment on this post or the topic ideas post if there's anything you'd like to see added to the poll in April.
The February poll closed with the following breakdown of votes:
- 0 votes: colours, bridges, rainbows, the sea, cacti, personal finance
- 1 vote: counting, body mods
- 2 votes: coworkers
- 3 votes: dating
So the topic for this month is dating.
Contributors: You can interpret this topic any way you want, and you can write as many posts about it as you want (within reason, obviously, not like 200 posts over the course of the month, but I don't think any of us have that kind of time on our hands). When you write your post, make sure you tag it with the topic and your name/blog identifier, so that if any potential readers like you and hate the rest of us, they can find your posts easily.
Everyone: There is a poll for the April topic in the sidebar, and you can vote until the last day of this month. Whichever topic gets the most votes gets written about next month.
Colours, bridges, and rainbows got kicked off of the poll this month. If you really want to see what we have to say about them, you'll have to suggest the topics again. Also, considering that we're down to only six topics to choose from, you should seriously consider suggesting something new this month. As far as I'm concerned, any topic is fair game, so suggest away!
Comment on this post or the topic ideas post if there's anything you'd like to see added to the poll in April.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Back to Basics
In the spirit of last minute posts, here is a quick
one. A few months ago I acquired a hair
comb again, after years going without.
It is not that I avoided using one, I actually didn’t have one at all. Back in high school I did the hair gel thing,
which required gel and hands, not much more.
Then came university, long days, and sleepless nights. My hairstyle of choice evolved into the “shower,
and put a hat on” style. It was highly
efficient. I rolled with this until quite recently. But a few months ago I started cutting my
hair a little differently, and having a comb helps make it look nice.
However I still tend to put a hat on after combing it. Sometimes this helps (stupid cowlicks), other times it hinders. Maybe I just need to find a certain type of hat, which will have less interference.
Also, similar to Megan, I cut back on my grooming while away on site. The comb definitely stays at home. While on a job my hair is generally covered by a toque, hood, hardhat or some wild combination of these items. So there is no need to try make it fancy. Also, bring on the beard!
"Feminine" Hygiene
Feminine hygiene is a phrase that always grossed me out. It's got that vaguely clinical sound to it, like there's a euphemism buried in the term just waiting to smack you over the head with some antiseptic and shame for being too direct about your "lady problems." Ignoring that sense of foreboding, I am about to embark on some good ol'-fashioned period talk. Squeamish beware?
For all the menstruate-ers out there vaguely sick of tampons or pads, I WHOLEHEARTEDLY recommend menstrual cups. The one in particular that I have had (positive!) experiences with is the Diva Cup, but I'm certain there are other good kinds out there. What's good about using these?
1. Less waste - you just buy the one cup and then use it for a long time (how long totally depends on your particular item). Less waste in terms of trash from pads or tampons, and also less wasted time going out to buy those things!
2. Less expensive - of course, you're going to spend a bit more up-front, but over time, these things will save you money. I'd estimate that I've saved about $50/year from using the Diva Cup instead of tampons/pads.
3. Good for the lazy - as much as I love reasons #1 and 2, 3 is by far my most important reason. Changing pads or tampons is something you often have to do several times a day, and overnight can be stressful because you're asleep long enough to cause murderous-looking accidents in your pants. What I like best about the Diva Cup is that it's supposed to be emptied every 12 hours - it's a lot *easier* to deal with periods now.
Now, I'm pretty sure these aren't for everyone. But I thought I'd share the one personal hygiene product that has most improved my life in the past five years, rather than rambling about how much I hate putting on sunscreen in the summer (oh, how i do!). If you, dear reader, or any of your friends are even remotely curious about menstrual cups, I say try 'em!
For all the menstruate-ers out there vaguely sick of tampons or pads, I WHOLEHEARTEDLY recommend menstrual cups. The one in particular that I have had (positive!) experiences with is the Diva Cup, but I'm certain there are other good kinds out there. What's good about using these?
1. Less waste - you just buy the one cup and then use it for a long time (how long totally depends on your particular item). Less waste in terms of trash from pads or tampons, and also less wasted time going out to buy those things!
2. Less expensive - of course, you're going to spend a bit more up-front, but over time, these things will save you money. I'd estimate that I've saved about $50/year from using the Diva Cup instead of tampons/pads.
3. Good for the lazy - as much as I love reasons #1 and 2, 3 is by far my most important reason. Changing pads or tampons is something you often have to do several times a day, and overnight can be stressful because you're asleep long enough to cause murderous-looking accidents in your pants. What I like best about the Diva Cup is that it's supposed to be emptied every 12 hours - it's a lot *easier* to deal with periods now.
Now, I'm pretty sure these aren't for everyone. But I thought I'd share the one personal hygiene product that has most improved my life in the past five years, rather than rambling about how much I hate putting on sunscreen in the summer (oh, how i do!). If you, dear reader, or any of your friends are even remotely curious about menstrual cups, I say try 'em!
Monday, February 25, 2013
Plucking Eyebrows and Picking Battles
Right now my job requires me to fly north every Monday and then back home every Friday. I spend four nights each week in a "camp." There are bathroom/shower facilities there that are perfectly serviceable, but still, each Friday when I get home, I immediately close myself up in the bathroom and go through a whole process of shaving and plucking and showering with a variety of different scented products. Then I put on either my sweat pants or my "city clothes," and go about the rest of my weekend.
This is very much a ritualized practice that I've developed to transition between my work and home life. It helps me to relax and also reacquaint myself with home. But why not just take a long shower? In other words, what's up with the shaving?
Well, our culture is super weird about body hair, basically.
I totally get that. Some people will tell you that even if nobody else in the world shaved their legs, they would still do it. I believe that for the most part these people are lying, most of all to themselves. Sure, I might love the feeling of freshly shaved legs on clean sheets, but if I didn't know that feeling and had no reason to ever even think of experiencing it, I wouldn't seek it on my own, and 99.9% of people are almost definitely the same way.
There are people who are trying to combat this whole body hair weirdness. Basically they just let theirs grow, and that's cool. But even though I know that this is a nurture thing rather than a nature thing, I'm not going to stop shaving my legs or plucking my eyebrows anytime soon. I would happily give up makeup* for the rest of my life (another bit of cultural weirdness), but this is one fight I don't want to have with myself or the culture at large.
I know that it's silly to feel like the armpit hair that the vast majority of other adult women also have needs to be shaved off. But the fact is that good body image is hard enough to cultivate without counterculture contortions thrown in. For all kinds of reasons, I feel way more comfortable with no makeup on my face than I do with visibly hairy legs.
I think that we'd all be better off if we could be happy with ourselves without any kind of modification. But I don't think that should be forced.
*My original idea of what to write about for this month's post!
This is very much a ritualized practice that I've developed to transition between my work and home life. It helps me to relax and also reacquaint myself with home. But why not just take a long shower? In other words, what's up with the shaving?
Well, our culture is super weird about body hair, basically.
I totally get that. Some people will tell you that even if nobody else in the world shaved their legs, they would still do it. I believe that for the most part these people are lying, most of all to themselves. Sure, I might love the feeling of freshly shaved legs on clean sheets, but if I didn't know that feeling and had no reason to ever even think of experiencing it, I wouldn't seek it on my own, and 99.9% of people are almost definitely the same way.
There are people who are trying to combat this whole body hair weirdness. Basically they just let theirs grow, and that's cool. But even though I know that this is a nurture thing rather than a nature thing, I'm not going to stop shaving my legs or plucking my eyebrows anytime soon. I would happily give up makeup* for the rest of my life (another bit of cultural weirdness), but this is one fight I don't want to have with myself or the culture at large.
I know that it's silly to feel like the armpit hair that the vast majority of other adult women also have needs to be shaved off. But the fact is that good body image is hard enough to cultivate without counterculture contortions thrown in. For all kinds of reasons, I feel way more comfortable with no makeup on my face than I do with visibly hairy legs.
I think that we'd all be better off if we could be happy with ourselves without any kind of modification. But I don't think that should be forced.
*My original idea of what to write about for this month's post!
Saturday, February 2, 2013
February Topic!
Happy Groundhog Day, everyone!
Sorry about the slightly late update this month. The January poll closed with the following breakdown of votes:
- 0 votes: writing, travel, coworkers, counting, rainbows
- 1 vote: colours, the sea, cacti
- 2 votes: personal hygiene
So the topic for this month is personal hygiene.
Contributors: You can interpret this topic any way you want, and you can write as many posts about it as you want (within reason, obviously, not like 200 posts over the course of the month, but I don't think any of us have that kind of time on our hands). When you write your post, make sure you tag it with the topic and your name/blog identifier, so that if any potential readers like you and hate the rest of us, they can find your posts easily.
Everyone: There is a poll for the March topic in the sidebar, and you can vote until the last day of this month. Whichever topic gets the most votes gets written about next month.
Writing and travel got kicked off of the poll this month. If you really want to see what we have to say about them, you'll have to suggest the topics again.
Comment on this post or the topic ideas post if there's anything you'd like to see added to the poll in March.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Chairing
Hi there, blogfolks! It's been a while, and I'm sorry to have forgotten to write anything in December. If the archives are any indication, though, I'm in good company...
I have to admit that this topic has given me quite the pause. I spent a good while thinking "chairs? what can I possibly have to say about chairs?!" before I decided to be sneaky about it. So, while I am technically going to talk about chairs, I won't be going with the obvious, physically present, bottom-supporting chairs that you might be thinking of when you read the month's topic.
Rather, I'd like to discuss "chairs" as in chairing - the activity. While I haven't chaired a meeting, I've got some background in leading class discussions both in my seminars (with other grad students) and in my tutorial (with first year students). Leading discussions is difficult, but can be incredibly rewarding. What can you do to prepare for chairing?
In my experience, there are a few things that can make the process infinitely less painful, and (hopefully) more enjoyable and productive for the others involved.
1. Preparation
This is a fairly obvious step, yet it's one that's easy to neglect - if you want to lead a discussion on some topic, you'd better know what you're talking about. Read about the issues you'll be covering, and come up with an agenda. For classroom discussions, I've found that one good question tends to lead to about 15-20 minutes of talking - though you'll have to be prepared to ask follow-up questions based on what comes up in that time. In terms of meetings, it might be more the case that you have to limit your points to what a group can chew on in the time limit you have. (That is to say, if you only have half an hour, don't plan to address six issues - even if only a few of the people present have something to say, time goes by *quickly* and each point someone makes will likely prompt others' responses, escalating into a snowball of eating up your precious time if you aren't careful). Make it thorough, but manageable.
2. Active Listening
When you're in the position of leading a discussion or meeting, it can often be very difficult to understand what other people are saying. Different communication styles abound, and what makes perfect sense in one person's head might confuse another person when said out loud. If someone asks a question or makes a point, try to rephrase it and confirm that that is indeed what they meant. Not only does this show that you're paying attention, but it may even help the other people present chew on that person's ideas a bit. Try to ensure that you're engaged with people's ideas, and that those ideas are fully fleshed out when presented.
3. Concrete Goals
Setting out to discuss an issue or solve a problem frequently leads to surprising places - if you're not careful, what started out as one issue can quickly turn into a tangent on another. Along with making an agenda, try to ensure that you've got concrete goals to deal with. For a class discussion, this might be trying to find several possible answers for a specific question, or for a meeting, it might be assigning responsibility for an action to an individual. Not only does this help things get somewhere productive, but it helps make everyone feel like their time isn't being wasted. The last thing people want is to be subjected to the personal ramblings of someone who doesn't particularly care about the issue in question. Having a goal in mind can help direct the conversation to somewhere meaningful.
What about y'all? Any suggestions on how to make chairing a more engaging and helpful experience?
I have to admit that this topic has given me quite the pause. I spent a good while thinking "chairs? what can I possibly have to say about chairs?!" before I decided to be sneaky about it. So, while I am technically going to talk about chairs, I won't be going with the obvious, physically present, bottom-supporting chairs that you might be thinking of when you read the month's topic.
Rather, I'd like to discuss "chairs" as in chairing - the activity. While I haven't chaired a meeting, I've got some background in leading class discussions both in my seminars (with other grad students) and in my tutorial (with first year students). Leading discussions is difficult, but can be incredibly rewarding. What can you do to prepare for chairing?
In my experience, there are a few things that can make the process infinitely less painful, and (hopefully) more enjoyable and productive for the others involved.
1. Preparation
This is a fairly obvious step, yet it's one that's easy to neglect - if you want to lead a discussion on some topic, you'd better know what you're talking about. Read about the issues you'll be covering, and come up with an agenda. For classroom discussions, I've found that one good question tends to lead to about 15-20 minutes of talking - though you'll have to be prepared to ask follow-up questions based on what comes up in that time. In terms of meetings, it might be more the case that you have to limit your points to what a group can chew on in the time limit you have. (That is to say, if you only have half an hour, don't plan to address six issues - even if only a few of the people present have something to say, time goes by *quickly* and each point someone makes will likely prompt others' responses, escalating into a snowball of eating up your precious time if you aren't careful). Make it thorough, but manageable.
2. Active Listening
When you're in the position of leading a discussion or meeting, it can often be very difficult to understand what other people are saying. Different communication styles abound, and what makes perfect sense in one person's head might confuse another person when said out loud. If someone asks a question or makes a point, try to rephrase it and confirm that that is indeed what they meant. Not only does this show that you're paying attention, but it may even help the other people present chew on that person's ideas a bit. Try to ensure that you're engaged with people's ideas, and that those ideas are fully fleshed out when presented.
3. Concrete Goals
Setting out to discuss an issue or solve a problem frequently leads to surprising places - if you're not careful, what started out as one issue can quickly turn into a tangent on another. Along with making an agenda, try to ensure that you've got concrete goals to deal with. For a class discussion, this might be trying to find several possible answers for a specific question, or for a meeting, it might be assigning responsibility for an action to an individual. Not only does this help things get somewhere productive, but it helps make everyone feel like their time isn't being wasted. The last thing people want is to be subjected to the personal ramblings of someone who doesn't particularly care about the issue in question. Having a goal in mind can help direct the conversation to somewhere meaningful.
What about y'all? Any suggestions on how to make chairing a more engaging and helpful experience?
Saturday, January 26, 2013
DIY Diner
So basically, I'm a miser. I've been working full time for the last almost three years and I still have mostly hand-me-down and cheap furniture. This has nothing to do with lack of disposable income, and everything to do with trying to save up a substantial down payment to buy myself a place to live. I disagree with the concept of renting being the same thing as spending money for nothing, but in the very likely event that I continue living and working right where I am now, a property investment doesn't seem like a terrible idea.
Anyway, this is just preamble to why I have a "set" of five diner-style chairs from God knows when that my dad or grampa bought for something like $5 a piece. While attempting to "research" this post, I discovered that you can buy a similar style chair from Williams-Sonoma for hundreds of dollars. However, I'm just trying to figure out how to actually hang onto these chairs without having a formica table to go with them. I have a theory that I could pair them with a nice simple rectangular table and that would work ok.
But before I can do that, I have to re-upholster the chairs. Here is what they look like right now:
So I figure I have to go through the following steps with these chairs:
Anyway, this is just preamble to why I have a "set" of five diner-style chairs from God knows when that my dad or grampa bought for something like $5 a piece. While attempting to "research" this post, I discovered that you can buy a similar style chair from Williams-Sonoma for hundreds of dollars. However, I'm just trying to figure out how to actually hang onto these chairs without having a formica table to go with them. I have a theory that I could pair them with a nice simple rectangular table and that would work ok.
But before I can do that, I have to re-upholster the chairs. Here is what they look like right now:
So I figure I have to go through the following steps with these chairs:
- Determine how much upholstery is required. I feel like this would be a good time to use my optimization problem skills, but HAHAHA YEAH RIGHT LIKE I REMEMBER ANY OF THAT.
- Buy materials and tools. I definitely need upholstery, plus the actual cushions in the chairs will need replacing as well. I think I also need to get a small stapler and maybe some other items.
- Take the chairs apart and straighten/buff up the legs. I need help for this step, so I'm hoping to borrow my dad for one weekend.
- Actually reupholster the chairs.
Thursday, January 3, 2013
January!
I know this may be hard to believe, but we haven't actually abandoned this blog!
Since no one voted in last month's poll, we'll be carrying last month's topic over.
You can still vote for the same topics as before.
Happy writing, everyone!
Since no one voted in last month's poll, we'll be carrying last month's topic over.
You can still vote for the same topics as before.
Happy writing, everyone!
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