(no subject)

[cleolinda]

So I'm done with my exam. I don't know about the second and third essays, but I do think the first essay, the big compulsory question, is a thing of minor beauty ("Pierre seems to offer no moral instruction, unless it's 'Hey kids, don't marry your sister'").

As for the 15-page essay, I said to hell with it and took an incomplete (a common and casual occurrence in my department; I've had professors say, "I want this to be really good, so if you need extra time, just take the incomplete") rather than go to the exam wrung out over trying to finish it. On one hand, I do not have the pleasure of being done with the stupid thing (which I actually think is going to turn out pretty well). On the other, it felt really, really good to have it put off until January and not have a nervous breakdown right before the exam, so I'm going to have to believe I made the right call on this one.

And then I got home and we had another corporate Christmas basket. And this one was a good one: Godiva cocoa! Ghirardelli chocolates! Tiramisu biscotti! Smoked... salmon? Okay, that's a little Which One of These Things Is Not Like the Other, but we'll manage. Oooo, and more Danish butter cookies. And cheese straws! Cinnamon-roasted cashews! Dried apricots! And some kind of English tea that has bergamot but is apparently not allowed to use the words "Earl" or "Grey"! Sister Girl ran off with the cheese spread and the water crackers, which is fine with me because it means I'm more likely to get the chocolates.

(Speaking of cheese, I just got a spam email with the subject heading Careless cheddar. What, guilty cheese has got no rhythm?)

Also, I think I have finished my Christmas shopping. Well, I do have to buy something for the Dirty Santa game (and I know exactly what to get, but cannot mention it here if I want to maintain the element of surprise). And maybe another something for my mother. And I have a deep foreboding that I have forgotten someone or something. But we've got nearly two weeks until Christmas, so I'm sure I have time to make up for anything I've forgotten. (Cue ominous music.)

(I had a weird dream the other night that I came into the den and my father--who I haven't seen in eight years, and has never stepped foot in the house where I live now--had found the Sofia Coppola Marie Antoinette, the one with the trailer I just linked to the other day, on cable. Yes, even though it's not in theaters yet. We were all--"all"; I get the feeling there were other family members in there as well--like, "Holy shit, we'd better watch this then." And then the rest of the dream was a really weird version of the movie that... didn't really have much to do with the movie at all. I think Marie was eventually dragged off from an 18th-century spa to her doom. I just... I don't know what to make of these dreams sometimes, I'm telling you.)

Tonight (as in, Tuesday night): The original King Kong on Turner Classic Movies and the awful Jeff Bridges/Jessica Lange 1976 remake on AMC, both at 7 pm. I'm thinking it's TCM for the win, here.

From the lovely edda: "Would you mind throwing this: www.bestoftimeclocks.com into the mix? It's my former Intern Lady's new web business and I told her I'd try to give it a nudge out into the great wide 'net. If not, it's not the end of the world. It's basically a huge site for clocks, complete with chimes. *adjusts pimp-hat feather and jeweled cane*" Ooo, the sun clock.

The Mission: Impossible 3 trailer. Wait, Philip Seymour Hoffman is in this? Wow, not caring has totally interfered with my knowledge of this movie.

"I'm still lesbing with Angelina Jolie and you can't stop me!"

Depeche Mode win headlining slot at Coachella fest. Mmm, Depeche Mode.

Man Apologizes After Fake Wikipedia Post . "A man who posted false information on an online encyclopedia linking a prominent journalist to the Kennedy assassinations says he was playing a trick on a co-worker. Brian Chase, 38, ended up resigning from his job and apologizing to John Seigenthaler Sr., the former publisher of the Tennessean newspaper and founding editorial director of USA Today. 'I knew from the news that Mr. Seigenthaler was looking for who did it, and I did it, so I needed to let him know in particular that it wasn't anyone out to get him, that it was done as a joke that went horribly, horribly wrong,' Chase was quoted as saying in Sunday editions of The Tennessean. Chase said he didn't know the free Internet encyclopedia called Wikipedia was used as a serious reference tool."

Comments

[elbales]

That reporter? Is lame.

What on earth is Dirty Santa?

[http://users.livejournal.com/_skye_/]

I just got a spam email with the subject heading Careless cheddar. What, guilty cheese has got no rhythm?
HAHAHAHAHA!!!

You MUST tell us what the Dirty Santa game is!

[syneblue.livejournal.com]

the free Internet encyclopedia called Wikipedia was used as a serious reference tool.
?
Oh dear. I mean, I love Wiki, but the words "serious reference tool" do not flash through my brain when I think of it.

[edda.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU!

Am working on my own CafePress idea still, but my scanner does not do...anything, really. Am going to see if public library has one. *crosses fingers* Or the University, there's that...

Had another idea related to one I told you about. (Unspeakable Evil-related, not holiday-related.) More later.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Basically, you bring ornaments, or gag gifts, or whatever you decide on--one gift per attendee, not specifically intended for anyone. The first person chooses and opens a present. The second person chooses and opens a present, and can keep it or force the first person to trade. The third person can keep theirs or force one or two to trade. And so on. The first person, however, is the one who gets the last choice among all the opened gifts, so it's really the best spot to have.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Man, I thought it was fairly common. Maybe it's a Southern thing: http://www.livejournal.com/users/cleolinda/351031.html?thread=15368247#t15368247

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

The sad thing, though, is that that's been Wikipedia's whole spiel in the media lately--they can be a serious reference tool, and in theory they'll be even LESS biased than traditional encyclopedias because all kinds of people will have access to the "edit" button. I think the Wikipedia people are new to the internet, or were perhaps born yesterday.

[drpeprfan.livejournal.com]

I wondered what that was too, we call that White Elephant, at least on the West Coast.

[honorh.livejournal.com]

Oh, a Chinese Gift Exchange. Dunno why it's called that around these parts, but it's the same thing.

Actually, ours is a slight variation. First person chooses a gift. Second person can either take that gift from first person or choose a gift of her own. If second person takes first person's gift, first person is then forced to choose an unopened gift. Then third person either chooses an unopened gift or takes first or second person's, ad infinitum.

[ankhet.livejournal.com]

that there would be a White Elephant as I know it (with the addition of a rule that states that a gift can only be taken twice, thereby the third person that has it in their hands has to keep it). Sometimes the rules also say that no one can open their gift until everyone has a box.

[skyblade.livejournal.com]

I think Cruise is secretly patronizing Hoffman in the Oscar race in order to get his movie more coverage and pedigree. But then, lo and behold, his plans are conceivably brought down by a straight actor pretending to be a gay man. I'd be mentioning some Irony Gods right now, but the Litigation Gods are a little more ruthless.

[cosmob.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking it's TCM for the win, here.

Actually, 98.42% of the time, it's TCM for the win. Sure, they'll show movies that kind of make me boggle, but, most of the time, TCM is the best thing on.

[bardintraining.livejournal.com]

I did that a few years ago...I forget what it was called...but I think the phrase "gift exchange on crack" came up more than once, as no one had a formal name for it. I held a toilet brush shaped like a daisy in my lap for most of the game (as they drew names to see who would go when,) and I was absolutely horrified and steamed. There were a bunch of Ferrer Rocher boxes people fought over. The deal was, if someone else took your gift, you got to choose a gift, either a new one, or someone else's unwrapped one. I think I ended up with a mug and a pack of playing cards (thank God for 13 year old boy trying to be "random" and cute by insisting he wanted nothing more than a flowery toilet brush for Christmas--I thought he was trying to impress girls with his effeminate cleaning skills, but then I saw him hitting his friends with the toilet brush and it made more sense,) and some candy, which really suited me much better than a toilet brush. Although with a price limit of 10 bucks, pretty much everything was dollar-store-ish crap that people love to hate and hate to love. But seriously, toilet-brush person: you suck just a little.

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

Goodness - a fifteen page essay! I'm glad I didn't have to write one of those.

[syneblue.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...I get the whole Big Deal of anyone being able to edit, but in the context of "hey, look, this is what The People think about it," as a sort of pulse of the general population.
And you don't see me Wiki-ing anything for a research paper.

[tess0927.livejournal.com]

Coachella is likely to be amazing, if the DM show I saw here in Detroit on the 30th of November was any indication whatsoever.

I feel your pain on the paper - I am in an MA program myself and currently slogging through a 15-page monstronsity on the post-modern construction of gender in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Best of luck with the post-holiday completion.

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

Your gift-basket listings make me huuuuungry.

Hehe

[ironclad1609.livejournal.com]

I stopped counting how many dreams I had about seeing movies I was looking forward to way ahead of them coming out. Mostly with disappointing results, or a horrible movie theatre or an awful crowd. I can't remember ever being pleased in those dreams...
Speaking of which, with J.J. Abrams in charge I am somewhat excited about M:I 3

[the-bumper-car.livejournal.com]

Hi! You might find the following very interesting.

The awesomest Lost trailer ever. (http://movies.collegehumor.com/items/2005/10/collegehumor.1618980.mpg)

Another guy who's on death row who shouldn't be on it (http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2005/12/travesties_of_t.html)

[trede.livejournal.com]

Since it's the 14th here, happy birthday Cleo.

It's my birthday too. Yay for us. :]

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

All I know is, I checked the listings one night (like, a couple of years ago) and it was that awful Keanu Reeves-Rachel Weisz movie about them being rocket scientists or something. Chain Reaction? Yeah. American Movie Classics: Well, Two Out of Three Ain't Bad.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yeah, grad school frequently kind of sucks. ; )

[elbiesee.livejournal.com]

Oh, I've done that before.

Ended up with an industrial sized can of baked beans. Gave it to my parents, who dressed them up for Christmas dinner. So, not a bad gift after all. :-)

[princessstarr.livejournal.com]

All I gotta say is mmmGhirardelli. Definitely could use some of that right now.

[this-quiet.livejournal.com]

The former lover? Sounds creepy and slightly stalkerish.

And an early happy birthday from this li'l old reader of yours. =)