Does Your Mama Know?
You can find the complete soundtrack for Mamma Mia! on YouTube. I'd advise skipping any with massive amounts of Pierce Brosnan singing. It's not... pretty. But the rest of the album is just so much fun. Can't stop playing it in the background. All the songs can be found here. No movie video available yet -- just 30 second clips here and there -- but it's really the music that's most fun. The rest is just window dressing.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Oooh fun!
I loved "Mamma Mia!" I only know a couple of ABBA songs like "Dancing Queen" and "Winner Takes All", but the theme song is the one I really liked. So I went and found it on YouTube. Just so catchy and danceable. If you haven't seen the movie yet, I highly recommend it. It's just fun, silly, but fun, but sometimes you need that in your life, y'know?
I loved "Mamma Mia!" I only know a couple of ABBA songs like "Dancing Queen" and "Winner Takes All", but the theme song is the one I really liked. So I went and found it on YouTube. Just so catchy and danceable. If you haven't seen the movie yet, I highly recommend it. It's just fun, silly, but fun, but sometimes you need that in your life, y'know?
Sunday, July 27, 2008
LotD
10 Bank Breaking Money Myths -- interesting article. I've heard of a lot of these lately, especially those about home ownership versus renting and the ability to deduct mortgage. It's only been recently through my own home-search that I've realized that those were myths in fact, and that renting is by far the better option for me. Also, the carrying a balance to maintain credit score? Amazing how many times I've heard that one as well. The only thing carrying a balance does for you is rack up the interest so that you're financing that Starbucks latte for years and years.
10 Bank Breaking Money Myths -- interesting article. I've heard of a lot of these lately, especially those about home ownership versus renting and the ability to deduct mortgage. It's only been recently through my own home-search that I've realized that those were myths in fact, and that renting is by far the better option for me. Also, the carrying a balance to maintain credit score? Amazing how many times I've heard that one as well. The only thing carrying a balance does for you is rack up the interest so that you're financing that Starbucks latte for years and years.
Friday, July 25, 2008
XF
Forget the critics -- if you're a fan, you'll like, if not love, the movie. Seriously. It's good, nearly everything I was hoping for. No spoilers. Just go. Take it from a fan girl. It's pure fun and nostalgia and even a bit scary all nicely wrapped up with Easter Eggs for fun.
And oh -- here's a link to Rebecca Traister's essay on Scully. Must read.
Forget the critics -- if you're a fan, you'll like, if not love, the movie. Seriously. It's good, nearly everything I was hoping for. No spoilers. Just go. Take it from a fan girl. It's pure fun and nostalgia and even a bit scary all nicely wrapped up with Easter Eggs for fun.
And oh -- here's a link to Rebecca Traister's essay on Scully. Must read.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Grammar Lady
The woeful misuse of the apostrophe drives me absolutely bonkers. It's nails on a chalkboard to me to see someone write you're when they really mean your or vice versa. Who's versus whose is another good one, but I cut people some slack on that one because it's way more confusing than the previous example. More recently, I don't like the practice of adding an apostrophe to make dates plural such 1960's; I always think that something ought to belong to 1960 when I see that. Also, abbreviations with random apostrophes -- such as SAT's instead of SATs. Since so many people do these things with apostrophes, I decided to do a bit of research and find out what the actual rules are.
Turns out, I'm mostly right. The apostrophe for dates and plural abbreviations can be accepted in some places by some people, but the more proper way is to omit the apostrophe in cases of plural abbreviations and dates unless there's the potential to cause some confusion such as multiple A's -- so it's A's, not As or if there is punctuation (ex: periods) within the abbreviation. A good write-up on the rules are here. Here's another post on the same subject. And there's apparently an Apostrophe Protection Society, complete with examples of apostrophe abuse.
The woeful misuse of the apostrophe drives me absolutely bonkers. It's nails on a chalkboard to me to see someone write you're when they really mean your or vice versa. Who's versus whose is another good one, but I cut people some slack on that one because it's way more confusing than the previous example. More recently, I don't like the practice of adding an apostrophe to make dates plural such 1960's; I always think that something ought to belong to 1960 when I see that. Also, abbreviations with random apostrophes -- such as SAT's instead of SATs. Since so many people do these things with apostrophes, I decided to do a bit of research and find out what the actual rules are.
Turns out, I'm mostly right. The apostrophe for dates and plural abbreviations can be accepted in some places by some people, but the more proper way is to omit the apostrophe in cases of plural abbreviations and dates unless there's the potential to cause some confusion such as multiple A's -- so it's A's, not As or if there is punctuation (ex: periods) within the abbreviation. A good write-up on the rules are here. Here's another post on the same subject. And there's apparently an Apostrophe Protection Society, complete with examples of apostrophe abuse.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Holy crap
Have you heard about this? You know, it's one thing to be anti-abortion, but anti-contraception?
* emphasis mine
Have you heard about this? You know, it's one thing to be anti-abortion, but anti-contraception?
"[...] Department of Health and Human Services draft provided to Reuters this week carries a broad definition of abortion as any procedures, including prescription drugs, "that result in the termination of the life of a human being in utero between conception and natural birth, whether before or after implantation*."
* emphasis mine
Friday, July 18, 2008
Things that make you go hmmm
Anyone else notice AT&T's DSL connection slowing down right around the time they raised the prices another $5? I'm a little aggravated because when I started out, the connection was much faster at $14.99 and then they raised it to $19.99 and now it's $24.99 -- just six months after the $5 raise to $19.99. I'm paying $10 more for slower service! I am *so* an undelighted customer.
Anyone else notice AT&T's DSL connection slowing down right around the time they raised the prices another $5? I'm a little aggravated because when I started out, the connection was much faster at $14.99 and then they raised it to $19.99 and now it's $24.99 -- just six months after the $5 raise to $19.99. I'm paying $10 more for slower service! I am *so* an undelighted customer.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Nostalgia
I'm going on a road trip this weekend, so of course I was updating my iPod and came across an old Celine Dion song -- "Water From the Moon" -- that I was really fond of when I was in high school. So on the spur of the moment, I splurged the $1.06 and got the song. Turns out I still really like it. What I noticed is that Celine's voice seemed so much more pure back then -- less affected and overly styled than it is today. Incidentally, I think the same about Sarah Brightman's songs. The songs from 15 years or so ago are much more rich and vibrant, and these days, Sarah's voice is a lot more thready and breathless -- still beautiful, but you notice it more when you take a trip down memory lane. Anyway, here's a video of Celine's "Water From the Moon"; it actually sounds like it's underwater, but it's a great song.
I'm going on a road trip this weekend, so of course I was updating my iPod and came across an old Celine Dion song -- "Water From the Moon" -- that I was really fond of when I was in high school. So on the spur of the moment, I splurged the $1.06 and got the song. Turns out I still really like it. What I noticed is that Celine's voice seemed so much more pure back then -- less affected and overly styled than it is today. Incidentally, I think the same about Sarah Brightman's songs. The songs from 15 years or so ago are much more rich and vibrant, and these days, Sarah's voice is a lot more thready and breathless -- still beautiful, but you notice it more when you take a trip down memory lane. Anyway, here's a video of Celine's "Water From the Moon"; it actually sounds like it's underwater, but it's a great song.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Yikes
This link about commercial fishing and how fish are treated is deeply disturbing. Today someone told me crabs are also boiled alive and they flail violently as the water gets warmer; to me this is a response to a stimuli they perceive as threatening and dangerous -- I'd call it at least *fear* if not pain. It seems impossible to me that these animals don't suffer. They do, maybe in a different way than humans, but still they suffer.
This link about commercial fishing and how fish are treated is deeply disturbing. Today someone told me crabs are also boiled alive and they flail violently as the water gets warmer; to me this is a response to a stimuli they perceive as threatening and dangerous -- I'd call it at least *fear* if not pain. It seems impossible to me that these animals don't suffer. They do, maybe in a different way than humans, but still they suffer.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Saturday, July 05, 2008
Diabolical
Whoever thought clam shell packages were the bee's knees, or whatever, wasn't thinking of me, the consumer buying the product instead of the clam shell package. I hate these things. I mean, no two are the same, there's no easy, intuitive way to pull these things apart, and I'm reduced to stabbing the thing with my blunt scissors and knives (I'm so not using Calphalon knives on these things, no thank you). Not to mention, it was incredibly frustrating on Thursday afternoon when I purchased your run of the mill CAT 5 cable at Walgreens and then spent a good 20 minutes trying to extricate said cable out of the packaging.
The frustration was on top of stress because there was a very specific, work-related, thus deadline-orientated, reason I needed the CAT 5 cable and so I was running up against the clock as well. Seriously, clam shell packaging is the worst invention ever -- you can see the product, but darn you if you think you're actually going to get to it -- and not at all consumer-friendly, and dangerous too, if you think about it. I eventually got the CAT-5 cable out after basically cutting the thing apart from this way and that way and I was able to have my meeting after all, but it's a CAT-5 cable; airports have less security than this thing!
Whoever thought clam shell packages were the bee's knees, or whatever, wasn't thinking of me, the consumer buying the product instead of the clam shell package. I hate these things. I mean, no two are the same, there's no easy, intuitive way to pull these things apart, and I'm reduced to stabbing the thing with my blunt scissors and knives (I'm so not using Calphalon knives on these things, no thank you). Not to mention, it was incredibly frustrating on Thursday afternoon when I purchased your run of the mill CAT 5 cable at Walgreens and then spent a good 20 minutes trying to extricate said cable out of the packaging.
The frustration was on top of stress because there was a very specific, work-related, thus deadline-orientated, reason I needed the CAT 5 cable and so I was running up against the clock as well. Seriously, clam shell packaging is the worst invention ever -- you can see the product, but darn you if you think you're actually going to get to it -- and not at all consumer-friendly, and dangerous too, if you think about it. I eventually got the CAT-5 cable out after basically cutting the thing apart from this way and that way and I was able to have my meeting after all, but it's a CAT-5 cable; airports have less security than this thing!
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