cleolinda: (Default)
cleolinda ([personal profile] cleolinda) wrote2006-02-27 05:06 pm

Random thoughts

>> Important note: I had four of the BPAL envelopes returned to me--the addresses were wrong? All I had to go on were the addresses on y'all's Paypal, so if you paid but haven't received yours, please get back to me in the comments.

>> My mother just up and cleaned the entire refrigerator from top to bottom, with bleach, on Friday afternoon right when she got home. Some vague, pernicious funk was emanating from the fridge, and whether it was animal, vegetable or mineral, we do not know. Yea, we do not know even now, verily, because it had vanished by the time the fridge was clean, and yet she never encountered anything stank on the way down.

(Pernicious Funk will be the name of my next garage band.)

>> All three dogs came home from the vet on Saturday with clean new Easter-print bandannas around their necks. The poms wanted theirs off pretty quickly, but Lucky is still wearing his--and before you start in on me about how making a dog wear a bandanna is tacky and/or cruel, he's worn them before, and he's always very sad when you take the bandanna away to wash it, and always very happy when it comes back. Don't judge my dog for being stylish, okay?

>> I think I had forgotten how very good chocolate-marshmallow-almond ice cream is. (Marshmallow ice cream. Think about that for a moment. It's actually softer and stickier than the chocolate ice cream. Zomg.) I think it just knocked chocolate chip back off the top of my list.

(It's actually chocolate ice cream, marshmallow ice cream, and chocolate-covered almonds, lest I mistakenly give you the impression that almond-flavored ice cream is involved. I have not yet witnessed such a thing.)

>> On Saturday, I finally read Stephen King's On Writing, and was perhaps the last writing-interested person on the planet to do so. It was just one of those things--I wanted the book, I asked for the book, I got the book, I... never read the book. Shit happens, what can I say. I did, however, mark this passage as a truth for the ages:

"In many ways, Eula-Beulah prepared me for literary criticism. After having a two-hundred-pound babysitter fart on your face and yell Pow!, The Village Voice holds few terrors."

>> Courtesy of [livejournal.com profile] iczer6, we have a charity request with a twist: a family that's had one hell of a time needs your help getting on Extreme Home Makeover.

SeattlePI.Com: A year of bad luck leaves family struggling to cope: "Todd Downing and his two children, Kayleigh, 8, and Tyler, 11, of West Seattle have endured many hardships over the past year including the death of Sam, his wife and their mother, the death of Todd's father, a flood of sewage to their home on Christmas Eve and a fire which destroyed the home on Valentines Day 2006. Now the family is living in a rental home across the street."

Click the second link (EHM) to see how you can help. And no, collecting money is not involved--it's more "using the power of the people on the internet to make something good happen."

>> Linkspam:

Ancient Sun Temple Uncovered in Cairo; Egypt announces discovery of Ramses II statues.

"Your Boyfriend Was the Killer All Along" Day! I got to the second paragraph and laughed out loud. Hee.

Is the LA Times taking advantage of Kate Braverman's bi-polar illness to make her look bad? 

Science fiction writer Octavia Butler dies.

A freaktastic new Rolling Stone article on Scientology.

Stewart Blasts "Evil, Immoral" Trump. Oh, come on. I refuse to believe they're not funnin' at this point. Surely this is a sham feud to drive up ratings for the new season of The Apprentice.

George Michael in Drug Arrest.

On the heels of last week's hidden passageways: do-it-yourself secret hollow books.

Video: Recess time at Panda Kindergarten. Yes, it's as adorable as it sounds.

[livejournal.com profile] dailydigestnews: Much linky goodness.


Site Meter

[identity profile] jedilora.livejournal.com 2006-02-27 11:11 pm (UTC)(link)
I haven't gotten my BPAL yet, although it's possible I accidently put in my college, no longer valid address instead of my home, valid address.

[identity profile] pigsnicket.livejournal.com 2006-02-27 11:12 pm (UTC)(link)
I haven't gotten mine yet, but since I'm in Canada I assume it'll be a little while yet. But was one of the addresses to Toronto?

[identity profile] kywhippets.livejournal.com 2006-02-27 11:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Just seen: Only on Fox: "All-Out Civil War in Iraq: Could It Be a Good Thing?" (http://mediamatters.org/items/200602240003)

For crying out loud.

[identity profile] kali921.livejournal.com 2006-02-27 11:18 pm (UTC)(link)
Holy Bambi, those pandas! *squeelet* I just squeed at my computer and got in trouble at work. :-D

I only hope that the reunion with their parents isn't difficult. I hope there's precedent for the parents accepting their cubs after a long absence.

Oh, god, this should go on [livejournal.com profile] baaaaabyanimals.

[identity profile] metonymy.livejournal.com 2006-02-27 11:23 pm (UTC)(link)
I haven't gotten mine yet... should be for Naomi G.?

Aaaand sometimes the pernicious funk is just from the accumulation of all the food smells. Ew. Least favorite chore ever, personally.

[identity profile] ter369.livejournal.com 2006-02-27 11:27 pm (UTC)(link)
On Saturday, I finally read Stephen King's On Writing, and was perhaps the last writing-interested person on the planet to do so.

Nope.

I haven't read it.

I also haven't read that Bird By Bird book every aspiring-writer-who-hasn't-finished-writing-a-novel pushes at me.

[identity profile] alliemolloy.livejournal.com 2006-02-27 11:28 pm (UTC)(link)
iiiice-creeeeaaam!! My favourite flavour is Heavenly Hash, which has the chocolate ice-cream, marshmallow goo-ish ice-cream, and pecans, I believe. Yum. I can only imagine how delicious it would be with chocolate-covered almonds!

[identity profile] sigma7.livejournal.com 2006-02-27 11:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Goddamn, I didn't think Scientology could get any crazier or scary, and whoop, lookie there, there they go again.

Also file under "scary" -- undercover TV reporting team (http://www.boingboing.net/2006/02/25/florida_cops_threate.html) tries to find out if police stations, as they are required to, give out forms for civilians to fill out for officer complaints. Out of 38, only three did, and there was plenty of naked intimidation and authority-flaunting (http://cbs4.com/topstories/local_story_033170755.html) to go around. And one such cop filed suit (http://cbs4.com/local/local_story_053001510.html) to stop the story from airing.

Still plenty of fanatics in this country, isn't there?

[identity profile] elbeonore.livejournal.com 2006-02-27 11:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Someone should invent almond-falvoured ice cream. It would be wonderful!

Also, have you seen this (http://www.comcast.net/entertainment/index.jsp?cat=ENTERTAINMENT&fn=/2006/02/27/334534.html&cvqh=itn&ts=2006.02.27_13.15)? Dan Brown is being sued for idea-theft. I can't admit to having read The Da Vinci Code, or any of the other books, but now I want to read them all, if only to see how similar they are. Good publicity. Anyway.

[identity profile] particle-person.livejournal.com 2006-02-27 11:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, my BPAL and the other stuff hasn't come yet. I will allow as how I live in the postal Bermuda triangle, so my mail is apt to vanish and reappear months later wondering what happened. My last issue of MacWorld was plainly transported by black hole, seeing as it was the February issue and it came on Valentines day much the worse for wear. General relativity sucks that way.

Can you confirm the address for me via email? If it's not a space-time warpage issue, I'd like to check that it isn't sitting around waiting somewhere.

[identity profile] spooke.livejournal.com 2006-02-27 11:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Whatever happened to that page of bizarre Japanese ice cream flavors? I can't convince my mom that anyone eats garlic, raw horseflesh or oyster ice cream. Baw!

[identity profile] foresthouse.livejournal.com 2006-02-28 12:12 am (UTC)(link)
I'm way behind on reading journals so maybe you've already seen this and I missed it, but I thought you'd be interested if you haven't seen it:

New photos from civil rights era discovered in Birmingham (http://foresthouse.livejournal.com/319037.html)

[identity profile] kookaburra1701.livejournal.com 2006-02-28 12:12 am (UTC)(link)
I love book-hollows. I have one on the bookshelf by my bed with a Derringer and a few bullets in it that my dad made for me.

[identity profile] tigereyed24.livejournal.com 2006-02-28 01:04 am (UTC)(link)
Mmmm, heavenly hash icecream (thats what you're eating, right?). I miss that stuff. I shall have to talk my mother in to buying some next shopping trip.

My dog also enjoys bandannas. Too cute :)

[identity profile] eve-the-just.livejournal.com 2006-02-28 01:08 am (UTC)(link)
Creepy photo touch-ups (http://www.fluideffect.com/index2.html)

Don't know if you've seen this particular example of celebrity reality before. Click on "Portfolio" and then "Before/After". The number of dark circles under eyes that they have to airbrush out is to be expected I guess. I was particularly disgusted with the Paris/Nicole B&W image, where they remove Paris' boniness but leave her unhealthily skinny and then slice a segment out of Nicole so she doesn't look like "the fat friend" next to the posterchild for eating disorders there. Hollywood is evil.

[identity profile] katiefoolery.livejournal.com 2006-02-28 01:32 am (UTC)(link)
Fridge funk truly is a curious phenomenon. Known to strike when every item in your fridge is fresh, it causes bafflement across households the world over. Why, for instance, is it there one minute, but not the next? Why does one person register the funk, whereas others are unable to smell it? Truly, these questions may never be answered.

[identity profile] oohasparklie.livejournal.com 2006-02-28 01:33 am (UTC)(link)
I just spent $50 at BPAL and it's all your fault. ;P Dying to get my shipment now.

[identity profile] oohasparklie.livejournal.com 2006-02-28 01:59 am (UTC)(link)
Cleo, if you'd allow me to be sappy for a minute, I have to tell you that I'm really enjoying your posts both here and in [livejournal.com profile] dailydigestnews. I spend half my time online reading the links you give us, and I have so much fun and I learn, too! lol I really appreciate all the time you take. You're one of the good ones. :)

request

[identity profile] lifes-lyrics.livejournal.com 2006-02-28 02:13 am (UTC)(link)
hey i think u are a hilarious genius...i was wondering if u could think about doing a movie in 15 mins on donnie darko.? just a thought
LATA

[identity profile] kosher-jenny.livejournal.com 2006-02-28 02:24 am (UTC)(link)
Last fall I volunteered at a women's craft festival and one booth had a woman selling hollow books. I was so upset that I didn't have enough cash on me to buy one, but now I can make my own, yay! (The only other thing at the fair that could afford and wanted was a pretty little metal pocket mirror that got bought while my back was turned. Woe!)

I'm trying to do this come the weekend.

[identity profile] shesnotallthere.livejournal.com 2006-02-28 02:43 am (UTC)(link)
When I worked at the vet clinic, I noticed most dogs really liked their bandannas. We had one dog in particular who, although he never got a bandanna, was REALLY possessive about his collar. We'd take it off to bathe him, and we had to make sure to leave it where he could see it or he freaked out.

[identity profile] sparkythehamstr.livejournal.com 2006-02-28 02:48 am (UTC)(link)
I love On Writing. It's short on actual, hard advice, but I thought the practical experience he writes about was more useful anyway. But that could be because I'm a King fangirl.

[identity profile] bardintraining.livejournal.com 2006-02-28 03:27 am (UTC)(link)
Some of the best ice-cream flavours come from the company that makes Moose Tracks. Possibly Alaskan-something name. I forget. But tiny caramel-filled chocolate cups embedded in thick, squidgy, creamy-ice-goodness?
And I have a fondness for sherbert (sorbet?) and gelati.

The panda thing was cute, yes, but am I the only one vaguely disturbed that they're trying to facilitate easier mating later in life? Let the baby pandas play as babies! I cringed like I do when adults tease little kids about their so-called "girlfriends" or "boyfriends" simply because little Susie would rather romp in the sandbox with Jimmy than comb Barbie's hair with Tiffany. Ugh.

I loved that Scientology article--reading it made me understand it a lot more, and I'm grateful that my shy-away instincts in that arena are now justified by back-up information. Like--okay, I kind of get it now, and I still think they're all rather batshit crazy. Just a little.

[identity profile] khaman.livejournal.com 2006-02-28 03:41 am (UTC)(link)
I love 'On Writing.' Unfortunately, I feel guilty every time I think of the book, as I have to finish the one I'm presently working on. I can blame my family, but in the end... gotta finish the fucker.

[identity profile] caffienerain.livejournal.com 2006-02-28 04:22 am (UTC)(link)
Cleo, I didn't know you read Girls are Pretty. It's been a relegious sort of thing for me for... God, years, I guess. I'm almost absolutley sure you've heard of Post Secret (http://www.postsecret.com) right?

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