Through the looking glass

[cleolinda]

Lamictal, day 14: Which means that tomorrow is day 15, also known as the Big Jump to 50 Milligrams. And, very likely, a return to being unable to read.

God, the weather is beautiful today--a breezy, gorgeous sixty-six degrees. This is pretty much the warmest I like things to get, so now you know why I like fall and spring so much.

(Okay, the smoke alarm just went off because my sister turned the fireplace on. It's sixty-six degrees. IT'S NOT FIRE TIME YET.

I foresee particularly bitter battles in the Thermostat War this year.)


Remember the Paris in Wonderland story I mentioned a couple of days ago? I told it to Sister Girl over dinner tonight, and she just stared at me for, in all seriousness, about five seconds. I honestly could not figure out what her reaction was. Finally, she said, "I... I don't think I've ever felt this way before."

"What is it--like what?"

"It's like.." Long pause. "Sunshine. And... rainbows. I think... I think I have invented a new feeling."

"Nahhhh, it's called schadenfreude. You just never knew what it was called before."


Astronomers find distant, fluffy planet.

[Bad username or site: lyrical nights @ livejournal.com]: "Dog the Bounty Hunter has been arrested for capturing Andrew Luster (rapist Max Factor heir) in Mexico andbringing him back to the US in 2003. That's some kind of bitter irony right there." More:

TV reality star Duane "Dog" Chapman and two co-stars on his show were arrested Thursday in Hawaii on charges of illegal detention and conspiracy in the bounty hunters' capture three years ago of a cosmetics company heir.

The charges stem from Chapman's capture of Max Factor heir Andrew Luster on June 18, 2003, in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, said Marshals spokeswoman Nikki Credic in Washington.

Chapman's capture of Luster, who had fled the country while on trial on charges he raped three women, catapulted the 53-year-old bounty hunter to fame and led to the reality series on A&E.

Two possible explanations for this story: 1) This woman may have had something to do with the disappearance of her son, or 2) Nancy Grace drove a woman to suicide.

"Survivor" maven's big racial experiment a bust. "At the outset, most players made feeble comments about the ethnic divisions. Some registered pride; others didn't care. Not that any of this is truly indicative of how they felt. The show always has been so slickly produced and edited that, in the end, what comes out of the players' mouths is mostly what the producers want viewers to hear. If you think, for even a nanosecond, that someone might say, 'We're going to show those (insert your favorite racial epithet)!' and it would get on the air, I've got some fabulous UPN stock to offer you."

New Casino Royale poster.

You, too, can live in the Shire. But if there aren't any round doors, you guys are just half-assing it.

Costumer's Guide: Tons new Marie Antoinette prettiness, and some excellent hi-hi-res shots of the Pirates 2 wedding dress, where you can see tecno_fairy's handiwork.

Comments

[ironclad1609.livejournal.com]

Question: Are English speakers aware that the word Schadenfreude comes from my pretty language? :P
And: Can I really use that with each English speaker and expect them to know what I mean?

It always strikes me as odd when words from German show up in other languages so untranslated, which makes it hard for me to use them somehow, that's why I am asking...

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yeah, schadenfreude's used pretty commonly as a borrowed word--kind of like deja vu from French. I think the first time I heard it was on Dennis Miller's HBO show in the mid-'90s.

Geeky English factoid:

[honorh.livejournal.com]

English does have an equivalent to schadenfreude, though it's pretty obscure: epicaricacy means "to take pleasure in another's misfortune."

[zrath.livejournal.com]

I had heard the word a few times and had dismissed it as some kind of trendy buzzword,
like "synergy", "paradigm shift" or "naturopathic".
Your post made me look it up, and I'm glad I did.
I can't think of a French equivalent off-hand.

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

Question: Are English speakers aware that the word Schadenfreude comes from my pretty language? :P

I think most people would guess the word's from German just based on the spelling. English is full of loanwords and very close cognates, some much more common than others. I think my favorite loanword is cwm, from Welsh, meaning a rocky hollow produced by glaciers. It has none of the common English vowels in it. (People do occasionally include 'w' as a vowel, but I think -- linguistics people correct me if I'm wrong -- that its usual vowel function is as part of a diphthong 'ow' as in 'how.')

[flamingtoilet.livejournal.com]

The musical "Avenue Q" has a whole song about it, sung by Gary Coleman and a faux-muppet. The first time I read it was in an Anthony Daniels Wonder Column in the Star Wars Insider.

Yes. I am a dork.

[jolfolfille.livejournal.com]

Haha, me too. That song immediately began playing in my head when I read it. ^_^ I LOVE Avenue Q. And musicals in general. ^_^ That song rocks.

[ironclad1609.livejournal.com]

The only song I know from Avenue Q is "My girlfriend who lives in Canada", which was pretty funny!

And mentioning Star Wars doesn't make you a dork. I loved SW since I was a kid, it wasn't something dorky or to be ashamed of until the evil thing called internet arose ;)