DVDs Hate Me

I have a beef with the DVD production industry (I guess that's who I'm supposed to blame?)  When I want to watch a movie, I want to watch that movie.  And only that movie.  Other than maybe the first time I watch a DVD, I am entirely uninterested in previews.  Previews belong in the theaters, when people care, not 12 years after every movie in the previews has a greatest hits special anniversary edition DVD format.  Honestly, is there really a problem with just opening to the root menu?  Is it really necessary to force me to push menu 30 times (or failing that, root menu; or, if the DVD really hates you, the skip button?)  I mean, they claim I can push menu at any time and it will go to the menu but they. are. lying.   Disney DVDs are particularly obnoxious with this, putting almost as many minutes of previews as actual movie on their discs and neither root menu or menu buttons take you to the menu.

You may not know this, but I am plagued with inferior DVD players.  My TV has a DVD player in it, which, in the past, when it was my sister's, worked reliably.  At that time I had an old TV (no, a really old TV,) so pretty much anything was an upgrade (though I honestly miss that TV.  It worked.)  Anyway, when the color started to go on that one, I inherited my sisters TV and she got my parent's old TV (I am, by this point, really tired of how many caps are in this post.  I hate acronyms.)  I guess the color on that one went fairly soon after my getting it, cause now that I think of it, this is my third set.  Anyway, at one point it worked reliably and now it doesn't really.  The disc player usually works on the first try, but more often it complains that I should "Please check the type and scratch of disc."  So I had a separate disc player (you have no idea how my family goes through external disc/tape players, it's ridiculous.)  That one worked right up until a few weeks ago, when it decided every disc ever had an irreparable debilitating scratch (but only about a third of the way through the movie.)  So I eventually got tired of that and dug an extra out of the attic.  Why do we even have extras?  This one, aside from having a ridiculously blinding red light ALL THE TIME, seemed to work far better than its' predecessor.  I "fixed" the light with a bit of electrical tape and was more or less satisfied with it.  Today, I felt like watching The Lion King because I love it so and had the songs stuck in my head.  Now, my DVD player seems to hate it immeasurably and won't play it without pausing every 15-20 seconds.  Maybe I should just watch it on the internet.  At least then it'll be high definition.

Disney, why do you like "modernizing" your movies when they get released on disc?  Take The Lion King, for instance.  When you finally are able to skip to the menu bit, they make you watch a 6 minute, poorly done CGI Zazu flight sequence before it actually gets to the menu (I think you can at least skip this part without confusing the disc, but the first time I didn't expect it.)   As if that wasn't enough torture, they then have Zazu (not even the original actor) explain the menu items.  Come on, Disney, nobody wants to listen to Zazu for longer than they have to.  That goes for the Morning Report song also.  (Plus, it shouldn't auto-play the "extended version," it should auto-play the theatrical version, duh.)
Also, don't put CGI menus on traditionally animated films.  It's stupid.

Weather, Cut it Out

Seriously, Weather, this rise to 60 degrees and then drop of 40 in a few hours, it's...it's not working out.  Weather, you have, in the past, been both wonderful and horrible to me (usually being wonderful when I have to stay inside and horrible when I could actually go outside and do something productive, or exercise even.)  But I find your mood swings and temper tantrums have finally gotten to me and I can no longer ignore them.  Really, Weather, you make it difficult for all of us when you act this way, and you do it in public, too, and that's just unacceptable.  So, I'm sorry to say this, especially as Valentine's Day is so close, but we have to break up.  I need my space, you see, and you need someone more...mercurial.  Oh...oh, Weather, don't cry, especially when you've gone and made it so cold...Weather, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it, let's try again.  We can make this work, I know we can.  Maybe if you could have a bit of a sunnier disposition and not get so angry at me, and I can stop spending so much time with Central Heating and Air Conditioning.  Please, Weather, let's work together on this.

Heavy Meta-Dreaming

So last night I had a dream in which two of my friends (first Scott and Diedre, then it kinda morphed into Scott and Kelley for some strange reason) were buying me a d'annyo (apparently a crab in my dream instead of a weird spelling of a fish I had in my fishtank at one point).  Scott and I went to Diedre's fancy new house (it was epic fancy, but not mansion).  Her family was all displeased that I showed Scott where she lived now, but I successfully made the case that he'd never find the way back on his own anyway.  At some point Diedre became Kelley or something weird, because after that I woke up and told Scott and Kelley about the dream in a "hey, I had a dream about you guys last night!" manner, and we went to Kelley's house.  My laundry was at Kelley's house because Chris's mom had like...stolen all my clothes to wash them or something, and Adam was at Kelley's house singing an epic musical about my underwear (though he didn't know they were mine at the time, which I guess maybe makes it less weird...ish.)  So I told them how my underwear had gotten there, a mystery to my waking self.  Then, a grey squirrel came in the open window and everyone wanted to pet it (and did,) only every third or fourth time I petted it, it bit me.
After that, Chris called me (like I'd asked him to) to make sure I'd woken up.

Then, I realized that I'd had a dream about a dream and referenced something that had happened in another dream as an actual event.  I can't decide if my brain is just that broken or I just woke up that many times to remember that many dreams, as I've heard whenever a dream spontaneously changes location/people you've actually woken up and gone back to sleep.
It was all so very meta.

Fashionista Vista

So, for Christmas I got, among other things, a Macy's giftcard for Too Much Money. So I figured I'd go check it out since I haven't been in...might actually be a decade now. Apparently ruffles are in. Woo...ruffles...
Whilst navigating the strange terrain of the long-running department store, I came across several items which should not exist, and frankly, some of them I'm not even sure what article of clothing it's supposed to be (I hate it when someone tells me I'm wearing a dress as a skirt (this is a purely hypothetical situation as I do not buy ambiguous articles of clothing.))
Also, the sixties seem to be continuing their comeback. Aren't we tired of sixties fashions yet (again?) I saw way too many peasant blouses and paisley prints, it was getting ridiculous. Half of the clothing looked like it came right out of the old Bond movies and I'm waiting for the beehive to come back.
Alright, Macy's, let's go!

This is how you do ruffles.

This is NOT how you do ruffles.

 Ruffles, though I don't really care for them much, are feminine and can be good.  To your left you will see ruffles done the right way.  To your right you will see...wtf were they thinking?  I get the little cravat look you want to pull off, but it honestly looks like a Macy's employee took an extra large shirt and stapled all the extra fabric together down the middle (while it was on the model, no less!)

This is...borderline acceptable, I guess.

Vests are another easily misunderstood piece of clothing, aside from Macy's websites' confusion as far as "what is a vest" goes.  Vests are for if it's too cold for just a shirt but not cold enough for a jacket; alternatively, "I wore this shirt yesterday but today you won't notice because I'm also wearing a vest over it."
First we'll discuss short vests (i.e., normal vests.)

Yes.

No.

 First up, the floral print looks fleecy and warm vest.  Clearly fits in the "too cold for shirt, too warm for jacket category," has some sort of feminine print and is slightly formfitting without making you feel like a tube of toothpaste.
Hoodie vest:  always no.  Aside from the fact they had the model wear a black (hoodie) vest over a black shirt (almost like they're ashamed to show it off,) there is no reason to have a hood on it.  At all.  No woman with her hair done is going to wear a hood unless it's absolutely friggin freezing outside, in which case, they're going to wear a parka and not a cotton vest.  Also, it looks ridiculous.

Also yes-ish.

 Long vests:

Cute.

Failing miserably.

Faux fur: I agree with the sentiment, but it always looks terrible in such quantity.  Same goes for actual fur, actually.  Actually...that whole outfit is miserable.  I hope models don't actually have taste.

Heeeheh, 60s

Bonus!:  
What is this?  It is simply a travesty in and of itself.  It's like the designer woke up one day and said, "You know what?  It doesn't matter what my stuff actually looks like, so I can just totally phone it in today and people will still buy and sell it!" and then went back to have a venti chacha coffee at Starbucks.
(It's called a Cha Cha Vente Tunic and I have no idea if that's a style or a brand.)  Also, tunics are so 60s again.  This thing comes in black, "concrete," and the ever-present mauve, none of which make it look any better.





Dresses (specifically cocktail dresses, as Danielle and I perused many of them yesterday:)
Wow there are so many bad dresses I have to just pick some and stop.  It will be a plethora of pictures!

Shouldn't do one sleeve.

This is an oversized shirt, not a dress.
Definitely not a cocktail dress, Macy's...

Cute, but watch the hemline there, junior!

Oversized shirt now comes in ruffles!

Not as bad as the grey one.

MORE RUFFLES MAKE BETTER!

Some simple rules for everyday:

• A dress is not an oversized shirt.
• Ruffles do not clothing make.
• Juniors sizes (ages 12-16, generally) should not have hem that far above the knee.
• If the model looks silly in it, you will look sillier.
• Stop it with the fringe/paisley/animal prints already!  Some is okay, but market is now flooded!

Some things I found in the actual store:
[EDIT: Post will be edited upon the re-discovery of my micro SD card converter. =P ]
[EDIT EDIT: Gave up on finding the adapter, bought a card reader finally.]

This...is just wrong.  I appreciate your willingness to not wear fur and/or leather, but this by no means suggests you're allowed to mix faux fur and pleather in a hideous combination, and no, I don't care how cold it is outside.  Although, if I catch you wearing this, I will make sure you are burning with shame within ten seconds, so, yeah, I guess it can be pretty warm.  What could save this?  Not being quilted shiny pleather, for one thing.  Better faux fur would probably also help, but mostly what would help is not looking like an 80's reject.  (And this from someone who actually loves 80's fashion like an idiot, too!)

This is an abomination.

I'm not even sure what this is, but I am sure the designer should probably be shot.
I think it's a blouse?  Maybe?
Or a dress...?
This is a RUFFLES NO.  Also what's up with the cheesy flower-pin thing going on these days?
I'm sorry, just imagining someone wearing this is making my head hurt.










Lastly, my favorite clothing item at Macy's...

Wait...what?

Scuttlebutt About the House

We might actually get the oven today! I will be happy to get the last one out of its' residence of the Middle of the Kitchen Floor! (Scott did not notice this for the first like...week it was there, and he'd definitely been at my house multiple times. In the kitchen, even!) Maybe I can bake things again in celebration! Mom has made brownie mix twice now and can't even pretend she was going to bake some of it.

Chris updated me with Linux on a fancy computer...but this version of Linux hates me and particularly is at odds with my monitor, which makes navigating difficult, to say the least. It's hard enough to try to log in when you get one blink of screen every forty seconds or so, but harder when you unminimize a window and for some reason it makes you log in again (with the blinking) and brings you back with windows from two days ago instead of two minutes ago. Hopefully a different version won't be so buggy. If not then Linux isn't impressing me much.

Also, really ugly IM application. I miss you, Trillian. ;_; When will you make a Linux version?

Dad is so funny. He's re...novating the garage (I guess, he says I'll be able to park in there at some point but I don't think I believe him) and a couple weeks ago he apparently shot himself in the thumb with the nail gun. He came inside and asked me if the dogs had been fed yet. I said no (because it was like 5:20 and their dinner is supposed to be at 6 but dad never follows that anymore,) so he fed them and went back outside. Apparently he drove himself to the emergency room. Why didn't he ask me? Did he really think I'd say "naaaaaw, you can drive yourself to the emergency room, sucka!?" Was he too embarrassed to admit he shot himself in the thumb? I didn't even know about it until the next day when mom told me (all gossipy-like) what he'd done. He still didn't mention it until I deliberately asked him how his thumb was. Looking at his fingers last week, it looks like he bruised his middle finger too. (He says he doesn't remember how that happened.)


Reminder to self: you wanted to watch Being Human, remember? Hope it doesn't suck, apparently Syfy picked it up which usually isn't promising. =p


Dessa got me a subscription to Entertainment Weekly. I disagree with their movie reviews. For instance, Tron deserved less than a B, and the King's Speech was definitely better than Harry Potter. There was some something about the Green Hornet movie (...eh) some people complained about 3D and low moviegoing in 2010, and something about Beiber dating/making out/"getting frisky" with Selena somebody...
(EDIT: How is it I mention watching the King's Speech to mom and get caught in a conversation about the last three generations of royals? Why does she follow the royal family anyway???)

There had to have been more in that magazine than that. Maybe I'll use it as wrapping paper for Dessa's birthday present. =D
DESSA WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY!?



Tune in next time for fashion do's and don'ts at Macy's.

Xbox Jive

So Chris keeps complaining about old monitors and the refresh rate. Apparently, anything below, like, a billion Hz gives him wacky jive-talkin trippy nightmares or something. I don't see it unless I'm really concentrating on it like those annoying magic eye posters that I could never quite get the hang of and wasn't sure if it was three dolphins or a top hat and a dinosaur. Sometimes I think I was just making it up in my head (unlike normal people who imagine it but at least come up with a consistent answer.)

I no longer know where I was going with that since the parents distracted me with a bunch of "will you set up the new Xbox? (cleverly phrased as a question, see?)" and "Can I watch Netflix on the new Xbox?" and "Where's my saved game?" "What do you mean I have to select memory unit instead of the hard drive?" and, my favorite, "Why isn't anything showing up on the screen?" Well, dad, that would be because you didn't plug it in. It's okay, I'm sure you'll figure it out someday. I assume it's working now because dad has begun his customary cursing at the game for being too hard or the controls for being inoperable or something-ruther. This does not, however, tell me what game he's playing as he says this for every game that has ever been made.

Funny story, since there were just three of us playing Left 4 Dead one day, we asked dad if he wanted to play with us (since he'd been having a hard time doing it on his own earlier that day.) He said no because he "didn't want to have to follow other people." I guess he likes being the leader of the pack and doesn't want to be inconvenienced by picking up incapacitated teammates. After all, that's what the AI's are for, right?

At first I disagreed with getting another Xbox (because I get it when I leave, apparently, and I'd rather have an extra PS3, hehe,) because I figured there'd be money arguments again. Apparently the worth of being able to play separately (co-op gameplay? what?) is far greater than any monetary inconvenience caused by getting another Xbox and all its associated peripherals. I'll be sure to bring this up at the weekly/daily money fight. But hey, I probably won't actually be able to take it with me when I leave because they'll be too used to not fighting over the video games/t.v. time. In that case I'll get a slim since I'll kinda have to have a job by the time I move out anyway or it defeats the purpose.

It seems it's time for me to go be extraordinarily nerdy so I'll leave you with a random segue to best video ever?


(Wham, bam, I'm done with a post for this month. Commence not-feeling-guilty subroutine!)

Too Lazy to Title!

Today, dad asked me if I was okay. He said I look really tired.
I figure I must really look like crap if dad's noticing.

Someday I'll figure out how to sleep again instead of flopping around in bed like a fish out of water.

People also keep asking me if I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving. My thoughts are: I don't have a job or school so it's not like I get the day off; any food beyond turkey, stuffing, and instant potatoes I'm going to have to make myself; everyone else will be spending the day with their families so it's not like I can hang out with anyone, really (which will probably prompt a lot of "you can come celebrate Thanksgiving at our house!" which I won't because it makes me feel like an interloper even if I was technically invited.)

The kitchen renovations are coming along fine, I suppose. The new counters are in and I'm hoping I can at least keep the bar area clear, but I'm not too optimistic about it. Dad, after about six hours of cursing at non-standard plumbing fittings, decided to have an actual plumber put our sink back together. I miss the kitchen sink so bad, didn't really realize how often I use it. So come on, plumber, I want my sink back!

She-ra's started a disturbing new habit of trying to eat my pants while I'm still in them. I can't decide if this is better or worse than her trying to eat my ankle. Maybe she thinks this is an acceptable compromise. The vet is heckling me to bring her in for her six month checkup.
This only forces me to realize that I take my dog to the vet far more often than I visit the doctor. I wish I knew where my vaccine record was...